16 research outputs found
Sociocultural paradoxes and issues in e-learning use in higher education Africa
Sociocultural issues are major contributing factors in mass acceptance and
effective use of technology. These issues are often perceived to contradict
the benefits the technology brings about. E-learning use in higher
education in Africa, as a technology, faces some sociocultural barriers
that contradict its promise and benefits. This paper identifies five social
cultural paradoxes, namely globalisation, cultural identity, westernisation,
authenticity and foreign ideologies, with the aim of creating awareness
of, and eliciting the interventions required to improve the acceptance
and use of e-learning. The paper presents the differing and
contradictory views of technology advocates and technology sceptics on
the use of e-learning in higher in Africa
Togo: Thorny transition and misguided aid at the roots of economic misery
The parliamentary elections of October 2007, the first free Togolese elections since decades, were meant to correct at least partially the rigged presidential elections of 2005. Western donors considered it as a litmus test of despotic African regimes’ propensity to change towards democratization and economic prosperity. They took Togo as model to test their approach of political conditionality of aid, which had been emphasised also as corner stone of the joint EU-Africa strategy. Empirical findings on the linkage between democratization and economic performance are challenged in this paper because of its basic data deficiencies. It is open to question, whether Togo’s expected economic consolidation and growth will be due to democratization of its institutions or to the improved external environment, notably the growing competition between global players for African natural resources