New Partnership For Africa's Development Research Articles

Influence of Geo-Technologies Integration on the Learning of Geography among Public Secondary Schools

Technology integration has become critical globally in pursuit of transforming education. In Siaya County, a persistent dismal mean of scores in Geography subjects among public secondary schools from 2016-2022 at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination has been blamed on the learning approaches. The data from the seven sub-counties indicated that very little learning occurred. Further, no known study has addressed rote learning in Geography using an explanatory research design about Siaya County. The study sought the influence of integrating geo-technologies on learning in Geography among public secondary schools in Siaya County. This study focused on Geo-technology integration influencing learning among public secondary schools in Siaya County, Kenya. The objective that guided this study was to explore the influence of a geo-technology integrated classroom environment on learning Geography among public secondary schools in Siaya County, Kenya. The study sought to answer the question; during 2016-2022, how did the integration of geo-technology in the classroom environment influence the learning of Geography in public Secondary Schools in Siaya County? The study adopted interviews, questionnaires, and observational checklists to collect data. The study employed social cognitive constructivism theory to envision effective learning. The study sampled 102 respondents from 262 public secondary schools based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table. The choice of Siaya County was based on the fact that it is the only county in the larger Nyanza where technology integration was piloted by New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) for quality learning. This study employed a mixed method and explanatory design to carry out the study. The study adopted interviews, questionnaires, and observational checklists to collect primary and secondary data.

NEPAD and the Challenge of Africa’s Development:

Abstract:The critical necessity of development for Africa in the 21ˢᵗ century is an issue around which there is considerable consensus. There is, however, little agreement on the nature of the crisis, the required development framework, and the ‘desired state’. In the context of the debate, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has been promoted by its authors and sponsors as Africa’s development blueprint for meeting its development challenges. Much of the criticism of NEPAD has focused, procedurally, on the lack of consultation in its drafting, and, paradigmatically, on its neo- liberal content, the same set of policy instruments that have damaged Africa over the last 20 years. The latter underscores the sense of betrayal that comes through civil society resistance to NEPAD. The question though is this: Why would a group of African leaders, who seem genuine in their concerns, take responsibility for such policy framework? The paper seeks an explanation in the complex interaction between a set of developments since 1980: the neo-liberal hegemony at the level of state policymaking, internal policy atrophy, coercive power of compliance, but equally the new constituencies (class forces) that have been thrown up in the last two decades – within the state, economy, and importantly the civil society in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the latter is premised on the ‘death of the emancipatory project’ and the dominant politics of the petty bourgeois class in Africa. It is in this sense that we understanding NEPAD as a class project, hence, its import.Introduction

Post-Cold War International Relations and Foreign Policies in Africa: New Issues and New Challenges

AbstractThis paper argues that international relations in Africa have changedespecially in content since the abatement of the Cold War. These changeshave been accelerated by the pressures unleashed by the internationalenvironment, including the reality of Africa’s marginalisation and the forcesof globalisation. These, along with domestic factors, including debt, internalconflicts, the impact of the ubiquitous structural adjustment programmes(SAPs), HIV/AIDS and human insecurity in general have combined tounderscore foreign aid and economic assistance as key driving forces ofthe continent’s foreign policies and diplomacy towards the North. Yet, thenew thrust of foreign policies, informed by the need for foreign aid, has notoccurred without a price. Among other things it has elevated technocrats incentral or reserve banks and finance ministries to positions of prominencevis-à-vis officials from foreign ministries and in the process introduced extra-African actors into the foreign policy making process of the continent. Thisin turn has undermined Africa’s increasingly tenuous economic sovereignty.But above all, it has led to the strengthening of ties with the North andinternational creditors in particular at the cost of intra-African relations.The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the AfricanUnion (AU) recently inaugurated, promise to open a new chapter in Africa’sinternational relations. It is argued, however, that against a background of aconfluence of factors, these new continental projects will make only a minimalimpact in terms of mitigating the consequences of the aid-driven foreignpolicies and thus altering the donor-oriented postures of African states

Harnessing Capacity in Southern Africa to Support and Develop Human Resources for Nursing and Midwifery in Africa: Part 1 Project Description

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Project on Nursing and Midwifery Education in Africa is designed to respond to critical health skill concerns and a pledge made by the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Uganda in 2010 (AU 2010). Ten years later, the State of the World’s Nursing Report (SoWN) (WHO 2020) estimates a shortage of 5.9 million nurses, with the greatest gap (89%) found in low- and lower middle-income countries. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to health and well-being, World Health Organisation (WHO) member states would have to educate enough nurses to eliminate global shortages and to meet changing healthcare needs. In low- and lower middle-income countries, addressing nursing shortages requires an average increase in the number of graduates of 8.8% per year from 2018 to 2030 and an uptake of at least 70% into the workforce. The production and uptake burden facing southern Africa is a double-edged sword; a project such as this attempts to address this dual burden by adopting a novel approach to build nursing and midwifery capacity that espouses the values of collaboration, self-reliance and humanness. In this paper, we report on South-South collaboration as one of the strategies to develop nursing and midwifery education in the context and challenges of universities in southern Africa. The paper outlines the principles and values of the project; rooted in Ubuntu as a theoretical framework, it articulates the project vision, goals, objectives and implementation methodology, concluding with the profile of six NEPAD projects.

Mass media and the challenge of xenophobia in promoting the ideals of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

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After All Is Said and Done: On Fluid Solidarity and Survival

After All Is Said and Done: On Fluid Solidarity and Survival

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Challenges of Good Governance in Africa: An Appraisal of the Nigeria’s Democratic Journey in the Fourth Republic (1999-Date)

Though, Nigeria’s attempt to democratize its political space in the wake of the virtual continent-wide embrace of democracy following the demise of the cold-war was greeted with some attendant political stalemates. The impasse of the June 12th 1993 and the elongated transition to civil-rule programs of the Nigerian military government marked some turning points in the Nigeria’s journey towards democratic governance. The eventual departure of the Nigerian military from the political stage in 1999 and the birthing of democratic government only came into after the abrupt end of the cold war and the bipolar world system which, marked the triumphant emergence of the western liberal democracy, the final withdrawal of the Nigerian military from politics in 1999 and the formation of a democratic administration took over a decade to materialize. However, Nigeria , a leading proponent member-nation of the African home-grown initiative of NEPAD is today, challenged by a myriad of contending problems, arising paradoxically from some of the agenda with which NEPAD as a multilateral platform for the African nations has been put in place to address . This paper is essentially literature-based and therefore, attempts to historicize the Nigeria’s journey and its travails of democratization, as well as, the contradictions, which have also put to interrogation, the country’s democratic credentials amidst its crises of governance. The paper noted that, for Nigeria as a leading country on the continent, there is need for the self cleansing of its domestic polity and the civic space in keeping faith to the sacred creed of sowing the seed of democracy and consolidating such on the African continent.

Can the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Foster a new Paradigm of Development Assistance within Africa?

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was signed at Kigali on 21st March 2018. The basic aim of the agreement is to 'deepen economic integration of the African continent by creating a single market with free movement of people, goods and businesses'. This development is intended to replace existing agreements of regional blocs by compressing Africa into a single market. This paper interrogates this development in the context of development assistance challenges and prospects within the continent. The overarching concern is to examine the prospects of a new paradigm in development assistance, especially in the niche areas of technical assistance, transfer of resources and goods within the continent to promote development, and combat poverty and insecurity. Can this agreement further deepen and elevate existing levels of cooperation within Africa and re-position African countries on the threshold of previous articulations in line with the philosophy of cooperation and development as enunciated in the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD)? The findings show that this level of relationship is possible and economically beneficial. The paper recommends a cohesive policy framework that would instigate commitment, enhance productive capacity and create a mutual beneficial platform for all African countries.

Nepad and the Struggle to Improve the Efficacy of Africa’s Public Sector: A Case Study of Nigeria’s Servicom

This paper evaluates Nigeria's Service Compact with All Nigerians (SERVICOM) policy as a derived policy of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) project to generalize the advancement of Africa's public sectors' functionality in the 21st century. The cardinal policy thrust of NEPAD, of which SERVICOM is consequentially from, is partly to ensure that the continent's public services are poised to deliver accelerated social, economic and political development, as well as ensure the facilitation of good governance. Anchored on Max Weber's bureaucratic theory, the paper notes the lack of political will to commit to purposeful public sector reforms, which undermine the realization of the SERVICOM-cum-NEPAD initiative for public sector effectiveness and efficiency. It also notes that Nigeria‘s public sectors in the 21st century have tended towards underperformance due in part to the abandonment of the tenets of Weber‘s bureaucratic theory in their operations. The paper concludes that greater politics-administration cooperation than dichotomy will improve adherence to the precepts of Weber‘s bureaucratic theory as well as the modernization of public servants through investments in training and re-training. It also concludes that the public should seek to resolutely pursue remedies for infractions by public servants rather than overlook ineffectual operational performances as a way to strengthen attainment of the SERVICOM objectives for accelerated capacity development of public servants.

Dimensions of Governance and Child Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Subnational Analysis

There is broad consensus in the literature on development that effective governance is one of the keys to development. It is against this background of the relationship between good governance and socioeconomic development that the African Union (AU), following its establishment in 2000, indicated good governance in its constitutive act as part of its policy framework for member states in line with the tenets of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The present study examined the relationship between good governance and less child deprivation using pooled data from Afrobarometer surveys and Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in sub-Saharan countries since 2000. The study examined the relationship between such dimensions of governance as democracy, voting, effectiveness and transparency as measured by trust and corruption as well as measures of child outcomes such as availability of toilet facilities, vaccinations, nutrition and mortality. The study found that the relationship between regional governance and children’s well-being was weak and inconsistent. It indicated that although a deepening of democracy might lead to improvements in the long-term outcomes of nutrition and child survival, these improvements would be relatively small. Further, results suggested that, in terms of good governance, trust was not particularly helpful and that corruption was not as harmful as many would suggest.

Open Data Impact Narratives – Stories of Impact of Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition

The GODAN Action project examined the current state of the art of impact evaluation in the field of open data, developed an impact evaluation framework accounting for the specifics of open data use in developing countries, and performed a mix of desktop research and empirical work on case studies to test and underpin its research. This document describes the outcomes of these case studies, examining the potential of open data through the analysis of impact narratives in three thematic topics: weather data, land data and nutrition data. Three use cases per thematic topic have been selected that best illustrated the contexts, impact mechanisms, main actors and barriers towards the achievement of impact. Each thematic topic describes their use cases following a different structure adapted to the specifics of the domain. All cases, however, show the pathways to impact within the different topics and contexts of study, and specific Theories of Change have been developed for each of them. For the weather data case studies, the focus was on the important role of information and service intermediaries as key value chain partner to achieve impact. These case studies are: NOAA Open weather data (United States), a portal that provides weather data information and forecasts including yield predictions; the CommonSense project, which provides Ethiopian farmers with weather forecasts and farm management advice (e.g. based on earth observations and geographic data), to help them make more informed decisions on farming activities; and the GEOBIS project, which provides farmers in Bangladesh with weather related information and advice on farm management (usage of seeds, sowing, irrigation, fertilizers, among others). Land data impact narratives are described according to the different data aggregator levels: local, regional and global. On the global level and working towards a more inclusive data ecosystem, it analyses the work between Land Portal (a free online platform working towards a more accessible land governance information landscape) and Land Conflict Watch (a research-based data journalism project in India). At a regional level and related to the ‘enabling’ factor of data ecosystems, the impact narrative focuses on the Open Development Mekong, an open knowledge platform that advocates for transparency and promotes debate over basic data. Data mapping is described at a grassroots level through the example of NRMC, an advisory firm in India that attempts to bridge information gaps, create evidence-based advocacy and build platforms for connection among land stakeholders. Open nutrition data impact pathways have been assessed by examining the work of an open data intermediary, the Global Nutrition Report (GNR) and its relevance for national and regional policy actors. The GNR is a flagship publication which weaves together (open) data from a variety of sources to create a snapshot of the state of nutrition worldwide and capture progress towards the SDGs. The examination of GNR’s work highlights some additional opportunities and challenges of placing open data at the heart of sense-making and action. The cases of two national/regional initiatives, the Tanzanian Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) illustrate how such initiatives use data of global aggregators in the work they undertake.

Problem formulation for gene drive mosquitoes designed to reduce malaria transmission in Africa: results from four regional consultations 2016\u20132018

BackgroundGene drive mosquitoes have been proposed as a possible means to reduce the transmission of malaria in Africa. Because this technology has no prior use-history at this time, environmental risk assessments for gene drive mosquitoes will benefit from problem formulation—an organized and ordered process to identify protection goals and potential pathways to harm to the environment, or animal or human health. Recognizing this need, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), with support from African and international partners, organized four regional consultative workshops in Africa to initiate this process.MethodsThe workshops were attended by a diverse set of participants and stakeholders, including scientists, ethicists, health professionals, government regulators in the fields of environment health and biosafety as well government policymakers, who met for 4 days to deliberate on protection goals and pathways relevant to the use of gene drive mosquitoes for malaria control. The goal of the workshops was not to produce a comprehensive and detailed environmental risk assessment of gene drive mosquitoes, but rather to introduce problem formulation as a tool to the stakeholder community, and to serve as a starting point for conducting systematic environmental risk assessments in the future, identifying protection goals related to gene drive mosquitoes that are particular to African stakeholders.ResultsParticipants in the workshops frequently identified human health and biodiversity as being relevant broad protection goals. Results of the deliberations provide insight into the concerns of African participants at an early stage in the development of gene drive organism/products that should be instructive to developers using this technology.ConclusionsIn general, the African participants of the consultations had a precautionary perspective with regard to environmental risk assessment of gene drive technology. As gene drive technology develops, protection goals will become further refined and candidate products will be further defined. These workshops represent only the beginning of a continuing process that will ultimately inform environmental risk assessment for gene drive mosquitoes to control malaria in Africa.

Infrastructure for Agricultural & Rural Development in Sub Saharan Africa: Need for a Comprehensive Program and Adequate Investment

This study unanimously confirms that rural infrastructure is a sine qua non for significantly improving the quality of human life and phenomenally accelerating the process of agricultural development in Africa. Infrastructure projects, however, involve huge initial capital investments, long gestation periods, high incremental capital output ratio, high risk, and low rate of returns on investments. Rural infrastructure has direct and strong relationship with farmers’ access to institutional finance and markets, and increasing crop yields, thereby promoting agricultural growth. Agricultural infrastructure has the potential to transform the existing traditional agriculture or subsistence farming into a most modern, commercial and dynamic farming system in Sub Saharan Africa. Increase in investment of agricultural infrastructure leads to increase in output and employment, a full investment formulation that meets the needs of domestic or external (multilateral and bilateral) funding sources will have to be carried out. Overall, a flexible, participatory approach will be needed, with full national and local involvement and commitment, while international partners, including Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), give initial assistance to New partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in this process. The paper therefore recommends that technical and financial assistance will be required to help build capacity in African countries to face the challenges and take full advantage of the opportunities flowing from the multilateral trading systems.

Nigeria and the implementation of NEPAD’s conditions for sustainable development strategy

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which came into existence in 2001, was a vision of African political leaders to bring development to their citizens. The focus of this paper is to examine the conditions for sustainable development strategy which is one of the three key strategies of the NEPAD development programme. Nigeria began the implementation of the programme in2003. The author argued in this paper that, for the lack of “political will” on the part of the government, to create the enabling environment for sustainable development, has not been achieved in Nigeria. The study found that while it is true that the government has domesticated and began implementation of the programme, the elements of the conditions for sustainable development such as peace and security, democracy and good governance, human rights protection, infrastructural development, etc. are far from being attained. The paper recommended that the government must embark on sincere political, institutional and administrative reforms, especially with regard to institutionalizing good governance democracy, so as to create the necessary conditions for sustainable development.Keywords: Development, Sustainable Development, Strategies, Conditions, Institutionalization, Governance, Good Governance

The AU/NEPAD Peace and Security Governance in Africa

Peace and security sustainability in Africa has become a vital tool for the developmental agenda of the Africa Union. Hence, the continent’s conflicting issues and fighting against various groups that emerged from militancy, insurgency and terrorism in Africa is the reason why the peace and security department of the African Union was established for the purpose of solving such problems in order to sustain a peaceful African environment. The main objective of the paper is to draw the role of the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in assisting the African countries in resolving the conflicts which could lead to a state of insecurity. The work made use of qualitative research design through the conduct of interviews as well as the use of other sources such as AU/NEPAD documents, internet sources and journals for the purpose of data collection. The findings revealed that, NEPAD works with the African countries at the country level through the provision of advisory and partnership role on peace and security governance. At the continental level, NEPAD report to the African Union on issues relating to peace and security sustainability which are handled by the AU’s department for Peace and Security.

NEPAD and the AU on Good Governance and Conflict Resolution in Africa

For decades, Africa has grappled with conflicts, non-democratic regimes, under-development amongst other malaises. To address this and put Africa towards the growth path, several initiatives were developed, some by Africans and others through the multilateral institutions. Of all these initiatives, scholars agree that, in its inception, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) captured the imaginations of international community and it was well received by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the donor community. This essay reviewed the existing literature as well as developments in the African continent, so that it could assess successes of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) in embedding democracy, good governance and conflict resolution in Africa. Based on the reviews, it is argued that the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) have not been successful in embedding democracy, good governance and conflict resolution in Africa. A case in point being poor governance practices as demonstrated in the performance of African countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International, lack of transparent and proper democracies as demonstrated by irregularities in elections as well as ongoing conflicts in areas such as the Darfur region, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Somalia.

The Challenges and Prospects for Regional and Economic Integration in West Africa

The age-long practice of the individual survival of nations have long given way to the emergent concept of integration and cooperation among states as an option to meeting the collective development needs of the cooperating states. Practice has shown over time that when states take comparative advantage of each other’s strength and weaknesses, it opens the space and engenders the potentials for specialization, development of the economies of scale and indeed reduces the cost of production. Consequently, it enhances the purchasing power of the citizenry. In recent times, there have been significant increases in the efforts of developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve regional economic integration. The advent of the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have given new impetus to the global African and regional integration processes and has focused particular attention on the need to take decisive action to tackle the continent’s numerous problems through the instrument of the economic integration strategy. This paper appreciates the evolution of regional integration and analyses the rationale for economic integration in West Africa. It evaluates the challenges and prospects of integration in West Africa.

Is agricultural extension positioned to promote agripreneurship in South Africa?

This paper highlights the establishment of development organisations on the African continent and beyond, namely the New Partnership for Africa’s Development’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), and Southern Africa Regional Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (SARFAAS), country forums (CF), and the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). These organisations can be considered as a source of renaissance in agricultural advisory services. They have facilitated the development of structures that advocate for extension and advisory services. These organisations have brought focus, and initiated debate on the concept of extension. The importance of such services is promoted as a means of assisting marginalised farmers and encouraging countries to adopt “pro-poor” approaches to farmer development. A literature review and expert opinion for analysis is provided to illustrate the findings, indicating different understandings of the concept of extension, and that extension actors are organised in sub-regional networks and countries as a link to GFRAS, AFAAS, and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), sub-program CAADP. GFRAS has developed downloadable learning materials to stimulate debate and provide evidence for the importance of Extension and Advisory Services (EAS). Such information could help to strengthen the knowledge base needed to guide farmers’ activities both globally and nationally. In conclusion, some recommendations are made to further promote advisory services in Africa, and beyond. Keywords: AFAAS, GFRAS, CAADP, extension and advisory services

Challenges Facing Teachers in Integrating Educational Technology into Kiswahili Teaching. A Case of Selected Secondary Schools in Kisii County, Kenya.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has brought about profound changes in this 21st century era.ICT has changed the way people communicate and do business. In education, the role of ICT and whether or not it positively influences the learners’ attitudes to work and particularly in language (Kiswahili) has been a matter of much debate. Globally, Kiswahili is taught as a language in universities such as Harvard, Yale, Germany, Osaka-Japan, China, South Korea, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria just to mention a few. Further, the African Union meetings recognize Kiswahili as one of the languages of communication. The use of ICT creates an environment which moves away from the traditional teacher-centered approaches that have been devoid of learner enjoyment and explorativeness which are important characteristics of effective and meaningful learning. ICT allows learners to create, collect, store, use knowledge and information; and it enables learners to connect with people and resources all over the world (Alberta Learning, 2000). The emphasis of teaching Kiswahili language in Kenya is becoming commonplace. The professional development of teachers on the use of ICT enables them develop and update themselves on the ever changing trends and techniques of integrating Educational Technology (ICT-based ) in teaching. The Ministry of Education in Kenya as in many countries in the world realized and accepted the importance of ICT in teaching. It was with this regard that New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) a pilot project was started with an aim of trying to find out the possibility of realizing the dream of integrating ICT in teaching in secondary schools. However, like any new project, there is a possibility of certain challenges such as students’ attitudes and how to impart knowledge and skills which may first need to be addressed in order to guarantee full implementation and success of the project in Kenyan secondary schools. The presenters of this paper did a study of selected secondary schools in Kisii County Kenya. The purpose of the study was to investigate the professional preparedness of the Kiswahili teachers in integrating educational technology into the teaching of the language and establish challenges teachers face while trying to integrate technology into Kiswahili instructional process. The findings have important implications for the future integration of educational technology in the teaching of Kiswahili in Kenya. Will this dream come true? The presenters will share their findings and experience.

Critical assessment of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPIC) Initiative in Africa and the Implication of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) (2001-2016): a theoretical perspective

Many African countries have been struggling to achieve sustainable economics in order to contribute in putting Africa in the path for socio-economic development. This is partly due to the burden of debt that hangs over many African countries that borrowed funds from multilateral partners irresponsibly. As a result of this, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank put in place in 1996 a strategy to provide debt relief to countries that were struggling to repay their debts. This debt relief initiative was reviewed in 1999 to provide adequate results. This paper is, therefore, a critical assessment of HIPIC and the implication of NEPAD from 2001 to date. Keywords: HIPIC, NEPAD, IMF, World Bank, socio-economic development. JEL Classification: H62, H63