The Future of Giving
Does the future of field research lie in augmented reality?
International Funding for African Think Tanks
IRIN reports that international donors are collaborating to provide funding for 24 African think tanks in the next ten years. $30 million is pledged for the program’s first five years. James McGann, director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, cites a lack of capacity to track … Read more
The Bottom 5%
The above map illustrates that by deleting all the countries that make up the bottom 5% of global GDP contributors we eliminate nearly 2.9 billion people, largely from Africa and South East Asia. Could you spot the missing countries? If not here they are… Zimbabwe, Burundi, DR Congo, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Malawi, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, … Read more
Smart Phones, Transparency and Developmental Aid
Africa Interactive is working to build a network of African journalist, photographers and filmmakers. This network consists of 400 individuals in 35 African countries. Last year we started documenting water and sanitation projects for Dutch NGO’s. Local journalist use mobile phones as a tool to document and report on Water and Sanitation projects (See example … Read more
George Ayittey's Advice for Obama
Great thoughts from George Ayittey on what’s wrong with Africa and how Obama can avoid repeating the mistakes that have fueled corruption and abuse by African leaders for decades. A few highlights… 1. Africa doesn’t need aid. Its begging bowl leaks. According to the African Union (AU) corruption alone costs Africa more than $148 billion … Read more
Africa's Top 10 Internet Countries
via InternetWorldStats
"Bandwidth is the new oil."
AMERICANS today spend almost as much on bandwidth — the capacity to move information — as we do on energy. A family of four likely spends several hundred dollars a month on cellphones, cable television and Internet connections, which is about what we spend on gas and heating oil. Just as the industrial revolution depended … Read more
China Wins Ethiopian Development Deal
Ethiopia’s national network will be built by China’s second-largest telecoms gear maker, ZTE. The network, which will allow Ethiopia Telecommunications Corp to provide next-generation network services, will cover 14 major cities in the east African country including the capital, Addis Ababa, ZTE said in a statement. Read the rest at IT News Africa.
