Envisioning Africa's future: a story of changing perceptions

This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This paper is part of the Africa 2060 Project, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and symposia exploring African futures in various aspects related to development on continental and regional scales. For more information, visit www.bu.edu/pardee/research/Perceptions about Africa will continue to influence how its future is viewed and thus shaped. The year 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of “The Year of Africa,” and as we anticipate how Africa will develop over the next 50 years, it is important to understand how perceptions of the continent have evolved in the past. This paper explores how the changing image of AFrica has influenced the thinking about its future prospects since the 1960s, and how current perceptions may influence its future development. This paper is part of the Africa 2060 Project, a Pardee Center program of research, publications, and symposia exploring African futures in various aspects related to development on continental and regional scales

Convergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors in the East African Community (EAC): Challenges for the current legislative and regulatory frameworks and lessons from the European Union experience

The East African Community (EAC)'s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has been confronted with the convergence phenomenon. This is a concept that describes the trend of blurring boundaries between the traditionally distinct ICT sectors, namely: Information Technology (IT), broadcasting and telecommunications. This is significant for the EAC since the driving force behind this convergence phenomenon is that of efficiency. It necessitates the need to rethink the current legislative and regulatory frameworks in the ICT sector in order to cope with this phenomenon. The need to address this is pertinent since adapting to legislative and regulatory frameworks that are fully converged will expand access to ICT, stimulate economic growth, technological advancement, and also faster integration process of the EAC. Therefore this paper aims to demonstrate the following: Implications and challenges of this trend for the EAC legislative and regulatory frameworks; the need for a common legislative and regulatory framework that is fully converged. It therefore focuses on the inadequacies of the existing legislative and regulatory frameworks and reveals the lacunae in the present frameworks and how they fail to adequately address convergence phenomenon. The paper recommends effective, workable and consistent proposals on how to address the inadequacies. This brings awareness and deepens the understanding of the regulatory convergence issues to the ICT stakeholders in the region and the challenges of convergence on the existing frameworks. This will contribute to better legislative and regulatory frameworks in the EAC ICT market. It will therefore enable the region to enjoy the benefits of convergence and minimise instances of inefficiency in regulation of these converged ICT markets. --East African Community (EAC),Legislative and Regulatory Harmonization,Convergence,Information and Communication Technology (ICT),Regulation

Initiatives for rural development through collective action: the case of household participation in group activities in the highlands of Central Kenya

"Dimensions of the nature, scope, and complexity of collective action in Kenya have evolved over many years. In studying collective action, the aim is to understand why and how people participate in networks of trust. The purpose of this study was to investigate the different objectives that farmers pursue through collective action with the aim of understanding the patterns of people's participation in collective action, identify factors that influence people to join groups, and identify the costs and benefits of participating in activities of groups. The study was carried out in four sites spread across the highlands of central Kenya. Data was collected from a total of 442 households, focusing on whether members of those households belonged to groups and if so, what type of groups these were and their activities. In addition we looked at how these groups functioned and identified some of the contributions members make to these groups and the benefits from the same. The analysis shows that collective action is used to accomplish a range of activities for different socioeconomic categories and that the majority of households in central Kenya engage in some form of group activity.... The study suggests that where institutions and policies that promote individual or private sector growth are weak, collective action can help to overcome these weaknesses and connect individuals in these institutions and policies." from Author's AbstractCollective action, Trust, Community participation, cost benefit analysis, Household surveys, Gender,

Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development in Kenya

Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD) is a twin-track framework that evaluates adaptation success as a combination of how widely and how well countries or institutions manage climate risks (Track 1) and how successful adaptation interventions are in reducing climate vulnerability and in keeping development on course (Track 2). With this twin-track approach, TAMD can be used to assess whether climate change adaptation leads to effective development, and also how development interventions can boost communities' capacity to adapt to climate change. Importantly, TAMD offers a flexible framework that can be used to generate bespoke frameworks for individual countries that can be tailored to specific contexts and used at different scales. This report compiles the results of TAMD feasibility testing phase in Kenya

A review of current accessibility legislation in Kenya

[Excerpt] The aim of this paper is to review the current accessibility legislation on the built environment in Kenya and document the current situation in the light of persons with disabilities. The paper will briefly explain the various categories of disability. In addressing disability and current legislation, the paper will embark on a detailed description of government policies. In the light of the foregoing information, various legislations will be discussed each in detail as they affect the overall design of the built environment. The paper will compile in its conclusion a list of feasible recommendations which the government can consider in order to cater adequately for the disabled person. In itemizing the recommendations, a distinction will be made of those which can be tackled immediately, i.e. addition of a ramp to buildings and those which require to be implemented over time and for those to be included in new building designs

The trypanosomal transferrin receptor of trypanosoma brucei : a review

Iron is an essential element for life. Its uptake and utility requires a careful balancing with its toxic capacity, with mammals evolving a safe and bio-viable means of its transport and storage. This transport and storage is also utilized as part of the iron-sequestration arsenal employed by the mammalian hosts’ ‘nutritional immunity’ against parasites. Interestingly, a key element of iron transport, i.e., serum transferrin (Tf), is an essential growth factor for parasitic haemo-protozoans of the genus Trypanosoma. These are major mammalian parasites causing the diseases human African trypanosomosis (HAT) and animal trypanosomosis (AT). Using components of their well-characterized immune evasion system, bloodstream Trypanosoma brucei parasites adapt and scavenge for the mammalian host serum transferrin within their broad host range. The expression site associated genes (ESAG6 and 7) are utilized to construct a heterodimeric serum Tf binding complex which, within its niche in the flagellar pocket, and coupled to the trypanosomes’ fast endocytic rate, allows receptor-mediated acquisition of essential iron from their environment. This review summarizes current knowledge of the trypanosomal transferrin receptor (TfR), with emphasis on the structure and function of the receptor, both in physiological conditions as well as in conditions where the iron supply to parasites is being limited. Potential applications using current knowledge of the parasite receptor are also briefly discussed, primarily focused on potential therapeutic interventions

Studies in analytical luminescence spectrometry

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Analysis for prevalence and physical linkages amongst integrons, ISEcp1, ISCR1, Tn21 and Tn7 encountered in Escherichia coli strains from hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients in Kenya during a 19-year period (1992-2011)

Background: We determined the prevalence and evidence for physical linkage amongst integrons, insertion sequences, Tn21 and Tn7 transposons in a collection of 1327 E. coli obtained over a 19-year period from patients in Kenya. Results: The prevalence of class 1 integrons was 35%, class 2 integrons were detected in 3 isolates but no isolate contained a class 3 integron. Integron lacking the 3'-CS or those linked to sul3 gene or IS26 or those containing the ISCR1 were only detected in multidrug resistant (MDR) strains. The dfrAs were the most common cassettes and their prevalence was: -dfrA1( 28%), dfrA12( 20%), dfA17( 9%), dfrA7( 9%), and dfrA16( 5%). The aadA were the second most abundant cassettes and their prevalence was: -aadA1( 25%), aadA2( 21%), and aadA5( 14%). Other cassettes occurred in lower prevalence of below 5%. Prevalence of Tn21, ISEcp1, ISCR1 and IS26 was 22%, 10%, 15%, and 7% respectively. Majority of Tn21 containing integrons carried a complete set of transposition genes while class 2 integrons were borne on Tn7 transposon. The qnrA genes were detected in 34( 3%) isolates while 19( 1%) carried qnrB. All qnr genes were in MDR strains carrying integrons containing the ISCR1. Close to 88% of blaTEM-52 were linked to IS26 while = 80% of blaCTX-Ms and blaCMYs were linked to ISEcp1. Only a few studies have identified a blaCTX-M-9 containing an ISEcp1 element as reported in this study. Multiple genetic elements, especially those borne on incIl, incFII, and incL/M plasmids, and their associated resistance genes were transferrable en bloc to E. coli strain J53 in mating experiments. Conclusions: This is the first detailed study on the prevalence of selected elements implicated in evolution of resistance determinants in a large collection of clinical E. coli in Africa. Proliferation of such strains carrying multiple resistance elements is likely to compromise the use of affordable and available treatment options for majority of poor patients in Africa. There is therefore a need to monitor the spread of these highly resistant strains in developing countries through proper infection control and appropriate use of antimicrobials

Effect of cutting management and nitrogen supply on yield and quality of Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum)

In a series of cutting experiments, average apparent nitrogen recovery of applied fertilizer N by Napier grass was approximately 50%. Incorporation of cattle manure improved nitrogen utilization. Mixtures with Desmodium intortum substantially improved yield and protein content. There was a fair to good relation between morphology and crude protein content and in vitro organic matter digestibility of Napier grass