Development In African Countries Research Articles

Perspectives on biometeorological research on the African continent.

Since the first issue of the International Journal of Biometeorology in 1957, a total of 135 papers have reported on research in or of African countries. The majority of these have been on topics of animal biometeorology (36%), and the greatest proportion (24%) are situated in Nigeria. There has been a considerable increase in papers on African biometeorology since 2011, with those from this past decade accounting for 58% of all African papers in the journal. This occurs concurrent to an increase in the total number of papers published in the journal, driven by a move to the Editorial Manager system. While 66% of the papers on African biometeorology in the journal are authored by at least one person with an affiliation in the African continent, only 15 African countries are represented in the total authorship. As much of the African continent is projected to experience climatic changes exceeding the global mean, as much of the region is involved in animal and plant farming, and as seasonally-fluctuating and climatically affected diseases are common place, this low representation of work in Africa is surprising. This points to the need for greater awareness among African researchers of the discipline of biometeorology, greater involvement of African biometeorologists in International Society of Biometeorology and Commission meetings, and the inclusion of a greater number of African academics in the review process. This would be beneficial to the Society in increasing diversity and encouraging a more cosmopolitan engagement, and to the recognition of scientific development in African countries.

The Significance of Quality Higher Education for Sustainable Growth and Development in Africa: The Case of Ethiopia Context

This paper examines the role of quality higher education for sustainable growth and development for African countries including Ethiopia. In providing access to quality higher education in Africa, using the Ethiopian context as a case study. It draws on Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HEfSD) is being significantly shaped by the global sustainability agenda, and it further explores the potential of higher education program delivery system in an Ethiopian context. In addition, the study explores the policy of the conventional higher education. Two instruments were used to gather relevant data, namely: interviews and document analysis. Three quality indicators used, coherence, efficiency and impact of higher education, were used as tools of analysis.This article is divided into three sections which explore three key linked aspects of the importance of higher education.1) Higher education.2) Its access and Quality.3) Concept of the Sustainable development of African countries, including Ethiopia.The author of this article develops a powerful framework for quality higher education and its essentials for growth and development, and seek to apply this in to various developing countries for sustainable growth and development in a range of international settings. In so doing to make an important connection between theoretical frameworks of the above practical elements. Given the constraint of different segment of the development integration, the finding of this study highlighted the importance of higher education in developing countries including Ethiopia, for fulfilling’s sustainable development agenda of the country.

A Critical Assessment of Macro-Economic, Management and Policy Reforms in Africa

The paper assesses the macro-economic, management, and policy reforms implemented in Africa with the assistance of the Bretton Woods institutions. There is no doubt that they have, to some extent, improved the socio-economic development of African countries. However, they did not take into account the social dimension of their economies (health, education, poverty, employment, etc.). Thus, they were regarded not to have a human face. Therefore, redressing and adjusting African economies with the help of the Bretton Woods institutions are inadequate to propel the continent to higher and sustainable economic growth rates. Hence, African countries should elaborate and implement themselves policies, reforms, and programs adapted to their economies and development needs. Keywords : Macro-Economic, Management, Policy Reforms, CEMAC, Africa DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-9-10 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

Economic growth and prospects for economic development of African countries southward Sahara

This article is dedicated to analysis of the process of economic growth and development in African countries southward Sahara – the least industrializes region of the world. The main prerequisites for industrialization and economic growth in of African countries southward Sahara are the high urbanization ratios: the growing number of workforce, their qualification level, high portion of youth within the population structure, expanding domestic market, growing middle class, de-escalation of internal political confrontations and attenuation of cross-country armed conflicts, advancement of digital technologies. The information and empirical basis is comprised of the data of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the World Bank. The scientific novelty consists in determination of the points of growth in Africa southwards Sahara by means of application of the methods of statistical data analysis. The authors analyze the indicators of economic growth and industrialization of African countries southward Sahara, substantiate the increasing role of this region for the global economy. The article reveals spatial aspects of industrialization of African countries and allocation of the industrial production. The authorities of African countries must manage the industrialization processes, namely focus on the development of infrastructure, improvement of investment climate, transparency of legislation, reduction of administrative expenses for businesses, reduction of corruption, and prevention of armed conflicts. The regional integration would contribute to solution of the aforementioned issues. The key vectors in cooperation of African countries southward Sahara and Russia are the areas of oil extraction, energy sphere, information and communication technologies, and agriculture.

The Coordinated Relationship between Investment Potential and Economic Development and Its Driving Mechanism: A Case Study of the African Region

In order to analyze the coordination relationship between investment potential and economic development and its driving mechanisms, this study integrated the entropy weight method, coupling coordination degree model, exploratory spatial data analysis, geographic detector, and geographically weighted regression model. The developed approach was applied using data from 51 African countries from 2008 to 2016. The results showed that: (1) While the level of economic development in the African continent has increased steadily, the overall investment potential needs to be improved. The mean economic development index rose from 0.116 to 0.151, but the economic gap among countries was still highly evident. (2) Uncoordinated development and barely coordinated development level were the dominant types of relationship between investment potential and economic development in African countries. The spatial distribution showed significant agglomeration characteristics; the sub-hot spot and sub-cold point regions maintained strong dependence with their hot spot and cold point counterparts. The hot spot areas gradually formed an agglomeration in Southern Africa and highly fragmented distribution in other areas. The cold spot areas formed a spatial distribution pattern of “one core and one belt” with some countries in Western Africa forming the core, while some Central and East African countries constituting the belt. (3) The coordination relationship between investment potential and economic development was influenced mainly by factors including economic base, residents’ living standard, industrial construction level, information support level, and business friendliness. Using geographically weighted regression coefficient distribution of indicators, the driving mechanisms of spatial distribution could be divided into five types: economic base driven, industry-driven, information application-driven, business convenience-driven, and consumer market-driven.

State and prospects of RES development in African countries

In the article, the author draws attention to the revitalization of African countries activities on the development of alternative energy sources after participation in the international exhibition EXPO-2017 in Astana (Kazakhstan) on the theme “Development of the future energy. New types of energetics". The transition to "green energy" will make it possible to stop the process of global warming on the planet.

Roadmap for the Transformation of the South Cameroon Interconnected Network (RIS) into Smart-Grid

This article comes as a contribution to the development of a specific roadmap with the intention to transform the RIS into a smart grid, based on examples experimented in other countries, surveys, interviews with resource people and the master plan of energy development in Cameroon. To set up this roadmap, an audit of the current network reveals many dysfunctions such as regular power outages, imbalances, losses power. The proposed roadmap is structured around three stages which can be summarized as follows: in the short term, the establishment of a reflection committee, his Functional organizational chart and its timeline of activities have been proposed; in the medium term, the deployment of certain equipment such as smart meters; finally, in the long term, the complete transformation of the current network into a smart grid. This will make it possible to integrate the renewable energies which are in development in African countries. It can serve as a guide for the deployment of smart grids in countries of the sub-region of Africa and in Cameroon in particular. The lack of related studies and the non-popularization of results by those who have already worked on those issues, make this paper a greater contribution for energy policy and development, mostly for sub-Saharan African countries.

Sino-African Relations: Economic Opportunities and Challenges for China

Africa is known for its massive labour force and natural resources. In terms of economic growth, African countries have faced prolonged phases of economic crises. China is a significant contributor in Africa’s economic stability. This paper analyses and evaluates the current opportunities and challenges related to China’s engagements in Africa and its policies for triggering economic development in African countries. China’s comprehensive approach is more concentrated on the sustainable development of the domestic infrastructure and job creation for the Africa communities. But there exists a gap in the current Chinese policies that have deepened the concerns of the locals about economic growth and progress. China needs to develop policies that would be mutually beneficial, these policies must ensure economic stability, job creation and growth. Various ongoing development projects initiated by the Chinese have in fact created insecurities amongst the Africans. This anxiety among the locals have become a major hurdle for China’s plans in the continent. Ongoing Chinese policies need to be innovative along with the integration of modern economic models. A reform in the current policies would ensure maximum benefits for both economic partners.

Alternative Financing Instruments for African Economies

This paper investigates the alternative financing instruments that can be used to hedge sovereign risks and finance development in African countries. Many heavily indebted countries are exposed to external risks especially the exchange rate shocks due to limited use of hedging instruments. We propose alternative financing instruments to minimize sovereign risks and the cost of debt. Our paper uses the standard model for pricing options, the Black-Scholes model to determine the fair value of options. The findings show that barrier options have an added advantage over plain vanilla options because of its knock-ins and knock-outs features hence they are the most affordable to use. An important aspect of the effective debt management policies should be on developing local bond market to access alternative financing instruments in the world capital market.

Examining the Impact of China-Africa Educational Cooperation: A Case study of Cameroon

Educational co-operation within the China-Africa Relation has been identified as an important sector on which Africa can leverage to boost its education and skill development that have been some of the bottlenecks of Africa’s development. This cooperation centers on China’s role in Africa’s human resource development through soft power with Africa and promoting skill development for African countries. As such, the paper examined the different dimensions of China-Africa educational cooperation and its impact with a focus on Cameroon, through a review of corresponding literature which include; published and unpublished papers, journal papers, government reports and newspapers articles. The study found that there still exits huge skill gap with no formal evaluations, even though there have been records of skill development schemes as well as increase in pledges made with each successive high level summits. Finally, the study maintains that strong internal policies and pragmatic action on Cameroonian side will enable Cameroon to properly engage China for WIN -WIN cooperation. Keywords : China; Cameroon; Educational cooperation; skill development DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-34-03 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Is the causal relation between foreign direct investment, trade, and economic growth complement or substitute? The case of African countries

This study examines causal nexus between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth for 25 African countries within a model that also takes into consideration trade openness using more recent panel data set over the period 1980–2018. We used panel bootstrapping cointegration techniques that account for cross‐sectional dependence to test whether there is a long‐run cointegration relationship or not. The Granger causality approach is employed to conduct predictive analysis among the panel series. Our findings indicate the presence of a long‐run equilibrium nexus between the variables, and we found a bidirectional causality between foreign direct investment, trade openness, and economic growth. This study provides an insight for governments and policymakers in this region to restructure FDI and trade policies in such a way that its positive spillover would spread across the rural areas and local firms, thereby leading to an all‐inclusive sustainable economic growth and development of African countries in the long run.

The impact on development of technology and knowledge transfer in Chinese MNEs in sub-Saharan Africa: The Ghanaian case

The presence of Chinese multinational enterprises in Africa brings with it new technology and knowledge. Yet there is a lack of research on the impact of this on development in African countries. China's recent industrial development may be more appropriate for Africa's development than Western models, and the adoption of technological knowledge from Chinese firms may provide a more sustainable path to Africa's future development because of cultural, institutional, social and historical synergies. However, there may be major barriers to transferring appropriate technology and knowledge. Findings from our study in the construction industry in Ghana suggest an absence of specific technology and knowledge transfer policies and strategies, with human resource development practices, language and some cultural issues also creating barriers. Bidding practices of Chinese firms investigated also appear to militate against successful technology and knowledge transfers to local partners and staff. Yet there appears unrealised potential that has not been addressed by firms. We suggest measures that may be taken to realise this potential and point to implications for policy and future research on the development potential of China in Africa.

Blockchain and catching-up in developing countries: The case of financial inclusion in Africa

Blockchain technology, born as a tool to support Bitcoins (the most popular and controversial cryptocurrency in the world) has set itself in a very short time as a disruptive technology able not only to revolutionize existing businesses but also to create new ones. This work illustrates the main characteristics of the blockchain and its functioning, and then focuses on the potential applications that can be implemented for developing countries. More specifically, the work, considers the case of financial inclusion in Africa, on the basis of the Global Findex 2017 data, the World Bank Survey on financial inclusion. The empirical analysis identifies the weaknesses in the current financial system in Africa and constitues the basis to discuss potential blockchain solutions to reduce the current level of financial exclusion and pursue sustainable development for African countries.

Human Development and Its Effects on Economic Growth and Development

The focus of the current study is to empirically examine the impact of Human Development on Economic Growth and Development in African countries, between 1990 and 2015. The key findings and results of the study suggested the existence of a positive and significant impact of human development on economic growth and development in Africa. The study employed Human Development Index as the main variable of interest with GDP considered as the dependent variable with inflation, capital, investment and labor as control variables. The study also came out with the findings that Labour and foreign aid also have a positive and significant relationship with growth as recorded by most researchers. It was recommended that more efforts should be placed on developing human capacities in all areas. Keywords : Human development, economic growth, random effect, fixed effect * Department of Management Science & Engineering, School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, 212013, P.R. China ** Department of Marketing, Koforidua Technical University, P. O. Box Kf 98, Koforidua, Ghana https://doi.org/10.21632/irjbs.12.2.101-109

Is political business cycle an enemy to human development? Empirical evidence from Africa

Extant literature has argued that, with major extension of democracy since the 1990s, political business cycle has become more intense and has made African political systems more fragile. In light of this, this paper examines both the existence of African political business cycles and their impact on human development. It confirms the existence of political business cycles in Africa. Estimates of a panel fixed effects and system-GMM regression techniques for 38 African countries from 1990 to 2015 also suggest that such cycles worsen human development in African countries. This finding is consistent if we limit our analysis to various sub-regions of Africa, and also at two different income levels.

The Long‐run and Short‐run Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on Financial Development in African Countries

AbstractThis paper contributes to the understanding of the other neglected effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) by analysing how FDI affects financial development in the short run and long run for a panel of 49 African countries over the period 1990–2016. The empirical evidence is based on a pooled mean group approach. With three panels differentiated by income level, the following findings are established: first, while there is a positive and significant long‐run relationship between FDI and financial development in Africa, in the short run the effect of FDI on financial development is negative. Second, the effect of FDI is positive and significant in the long run in the three sub‐samples. However, in the short run, the effect of FDI is negative and significant in lower‐income countries and non‐significant in lower‐middle‐income and upper‐middle‐income countries. Overall we find strong evidence supporting the view that FDI promotes financial development in African countries in the long run.

A Hybrid Semantic Mapping Approach to the Genre Classification of Literature The American Novel as an Example

Egypt, as an African country, was tied over its long history with the people of Nile Basin and Horn of Africa. Therefore, cooperation with the countries of Africa aims at consolidating the relations by using and effectuating mechanisms of cooperation in the field of international relations and boosting the role of Egyptian private sector by driving the fields of Egyptian investment in infrastructure projects. Development and growth of relations depended on internal variables and their external impacts and growth of the power of Egypt to be reflected at the end on strengthening the relations between Egypt and the countries of Africa. Egypt's relation to the countries of Africa shall not be reduced to trade, economy or Egypt's need to Nile water. It is time to revive the soft power of Egypt represented in education, scientific research, media, culture and joint work with civil community organizations to demonstrate the real image of Egypt and Africans and their civilizations. Problem of the study lies in focus of President Abdulfattah Al Sisi on Africa and its development, and the strategic depth of the content in Egypt since he came to power, particularly after tension of relations between Egypt and Africa in 1980s and 1990s and the fact that they were limited to regional and internal official meetings, and after Ethiopia established the Renaissance Dam following January 2011 Revolution. President Sisi endeavored since he came to power to focus on Africa and Development of African countries. The president assures in all his interviews the importance of linking communication between Egypt and Africa, and stresses on the importance of Africa for Egypt and importance of Egypt for Africa. The study depended on the theories of media frameworks to scientifically authenticate the thesis and decision-making theory in international relations because it is one of the theories that interpret the foreign policy of the state as a theory in international relations. In addition, it is used for the decisions made by audience as a result of watching satellite channels. The study used survey of the context of public and private Egyptian satellite channels which address the issue of Egyptian-African relations and the field survey of various community categories to identify the role of public and private Egyptian satellites in forming the approaches of the case.

Nigerian Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016 – 2020: Towards a New Paradigm for Domestic Food Security and Foreign Exchange Earnings in Agricultural Production

Agriculture is key to overall economic growth and development of African countries like Nigeria. A suitable policy that charts a clear roadmap to large scale and commercial agricultural production is necessary to achieving food sufficiency and exports. This paper reviews the Nigerian Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016 – 2020 (APP) in order to determine how it addresses the challenges that have stifled the growth of agriculture in Nigeria, and the attendant negative impacts on the socio-economic development of the country. The adopted methodology is a desk review and content analysis of the Policy Document, together with other literature on Nigeria’s experience in agriculture policy administration. This paper finds that the APP clearly provides a new paradigm in approach and processes towards attaining food security and foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria’s agricultural production in the short, medium and long terms. This paper however recommends that in order for the APP to endure for stable and consistent implementation of its long term solutions to Nigeria’s agricultural challenges, it should be presented to the National Assembly for enactment as a piece of legislation. This is necessary to sustain the current successes and realize the future potentials of Nigeria’s agricultural production as suitably laid out in the APP. Keywords: Agriculture policy, agricultural production, economic development, food security, foreign exchange earnings DOI : 10.7176/PPAR/9-3-07 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

The Role of Philosophy in Twenty-First Century Africa: A Critique of Bodunrin

Philosophy in general and African Philosophy in particular is rocked by the crisis of relevance and is being called upon to justify the huge investment in it by governments. This paper attempts to examine the contributions that philosophy and philosophers can make to the development of African countries. The paper is a counter-discourse to the discourse of scholars like P. O. Bodunrin who thinks that philosophy cannot help in dealing with our present social, moral, religious and economic problems. The paper argues that the professionalization of philosophy which has led to it being treated as a theoretical inquiry does not preclude the capacity of philosophers to reason about the practical problem in the society with a view to providing solutions. It articulates some of the ways by which African philosophers can contribute to social development in Africa such as the development of an ideology, the critique of African values and colonial legacies and the readiness to participate in practical matters so as to translate ideas and theories to social reality. The paper suggests that if philosophers are to be able to be involved in practical matters, there is a need for multi-disciplinary training for them. It concludes by suggesting a philosophy of praxis for Africa. Keyword: Development, Philosophy, Praxis, Professionalization, Relevance DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-3-09 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

Identifying an analytical tool to assess the readiness of aid information and communication technology projects

AbstractIt has been established that information and communication technologies (ICTs) empower the informal sector. However, according to a study, a number of barriers such as affordability, availability, and access lead to the informal sector being a low‐tech environment. Thus, aid agencies and African governments have made notable efforts to promote the spread and use of ICT in Africa in order to support sustainable development in African countries. These initiatives are managed on a project basis. Unfortunately, the success rate of development aid projects is relatively low. Several explanations have been given for these failures. We performed a conceptual analysis where we identify the important drivers that should be considered when assessing the likelihood of success of these projects, namely, project readiness, before such projects are implemented. The analytical framework that is proposed will contribute to the success of ICT projects.