Transforming international development: The Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) Network

No abstract available

Beating poverty needs partnerships and collaboration – not just money

No abstract available

Advancing Green Economy through Technology Transfer: Experiences from Malawi

The transfer of green technologies to developing countries is often touted as a key green economy measure for alleviating poverty and improving welfare. This qualitative study explores the transfer of renewable energy technologies in Malawi with a view to (i) evaluating how green economy principles have been integrated in technology transfer projects, and (ii) highlighting how successfully implemented pilot and innovative solar energy kiosks and solar fish dryers can serve as case studies on enhancing environmental education efforts. Based on experiences from the projects, a literature review, site visits and key-informant interviews were conducted. A qualitative evaluation was performed based on intuitive judgment and a general framework of internationally agreed-upon green economy principles. The results show that the technology transfer projects integrated a substantial number of green economy principles, and that embracing local traditional knowledge in  implementing modern green economy technologies in the context of helping local communities to alleviate poverty are key factors in encouraging innovation in environmental education, and improving project  acceptability among local communities. We recommend increased knowledge-sharing to popularise the   integration of green economy measures into poverty alleviation projects. This can be accomplished through both technical and educational study visits to the  technology transfer projects, documenting practical, locally generated sustainable ideas, and disseminating information on successes and lessons learnt

Kenya-Malawi Biomass Energy Project Summary Report

This project is intended to carry out an engineering, social and economic evaluation of food processing in the rural areas of Malawi and Kenya. The aim is to collect the information necessary for designing a clean and low-cost energy system for co-generation of heat and electricity from agricultural waste to support food processing. the objective of this research is to survey the following aspects: Technical: The existing energy-intensive food processing industries in the partner countries. Social: Current and historic social resources: e.g. the designers, operators and beneficiaries of the existing processes; Locally available skills for designing and operating alternative energy solutions. End-user: Current and historical regional usages of the agricultural products; Local views on existing problems and their desired goals

Malawi stories: mapping an art-science collaborative process

This paper outlines a project drawing together an artist working on creative GIS, a geomatics scholar, an NGO leader, a rural geographer and soil scientist, an environmental geochemist, and a political geographer. With a shared interest in the social and physical processes affecting people’s lives in Malawi, and the possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration, the team engaged in practice-based mapping of our data sources and respective methodologies. The project relates to two sites in Malawi: Tikondwe Freedom Gardens and the Likangala River. The paper details our practices as we shared, debated, and repurposed our data as a means of situating these practices and data. Using paper and pen, whiteboard, PowerPoint, and web-design software, we note here our effort to map a ‘space of experimentation’ highlighting, and reflecting on, our diverse disciplinary orientations, training, instrumentation, recording, and reporting procedures, as well as bodily practices that enable and give animation to these factors

The cultural significance of plant-fiber crafts in Southern Africa: a comparative study of Eswatini, Malawi, and Zimbabwe

Traditional handicrafts made from various plant materials are produced by most cultures around the world. Many originated through symbolic and utilitarian needs that became ritualized through time, thereby gradually attaining greater value as cultural items or symbols rather than solely functional ones. Here we report on a survey of 343 crafters across Eswatini, Malawi, and Zimbabwe in southern Africa regarding the cultural uses and significance of the items they make from wild plant fibers and sell to local communities or tourists. The plant materials used were largely dictated by tradition and local availability and were crafted into a diverse range of products including baskets, mats, brooms, storage containers, hats, fish traps, ornaments, and furniture. Many products had uses and cultural significance at major ceremonies or rituals, such as weddings, funerals, initiation, and divination. The preparation and design of the different crafts were influenced by tradition as well as market demand as indicated by tourist fashions and advice provided by government or non-government agencies to boost income generation from crafts. Although the crafting of cultural objects is increasingly commercialized and subject to the tastes and fashions of tourist markets in the region, the traditional and cultural significance of such artifacts remains widely recognized and valued

Plant Fibre Crafts Production, Trade and Income in Eswatini, Malawi and Zimbabwe

The production of plant fibre products is considered a promising pathway for contributing to people’s livelihoods particularly in developing countries, where economic options might be limited. However, there are limited comparative studies across countries on plant fibre products, making it difficult to examine how local and broader biophysical, socioeconomic, cultural and policy contexts influence craft production patterns in terms of primary plant resources used, products made and contributions to livelihoods. Using household surveys for data collection, this paper presents findings from a comparative analysis of plant fibre craft production and income in three southern African countries, Eswatini, Malawi and Zimbabwe

Children and wild foods in the context of deforestation in rural Malawi

There is growing recognition of the contribution of wild foods to local diets, nutrition, and culture. Yet disaggregation of understanding of wild food use by gender and age is limited. We used a mixed methods approach to determine the types, frequencies, and perceptions of wild foods used and sold by children in four villages in southern Malawi that have different levels of deforestation. Household and individual dietary diversity scores are low at all sites. All households consume one or more wild foods. Across the four sites, children listed 119 wild foods, with a wider variety at the least deforested sites than the most deforested ones. Older children can name more wild foods than younger ones. More children from poor households sell wild foods than from well-off households. Several reasons were provided for the consumption or avoidance of wild foods (most commonly taste, contribution to health, limited alternatives, hunger, availability, local taboos)

Future Experiences: Sustainable Development and the Global South

The Sustainable Development and the Global South project was jointly conceived by the Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art in partnership with the Sustainable Futures in Africa Network (SFA), and the University of Glasgow. Graduating final year BDes Product Design students from the Innovation School were presented with a challenge-based project to produce a vision of the future based on current trends that relate to Sustainable Development work and the Global South. This project involved working closely with researchers, academics and professionals specialising in human geography, education, health, environment, engineering, cultural practice and community engagement who are part of the Sustainable Futures in Africa Network which includes a Scottish hub, led from the University of Glasgow. Included in the network was a representative from an NGO that builds schools in Malawi, an entrepreneur who runs an ethical clothing company that partners with producers in the Global South, a senior governance officer from the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), a research network administrator, and international graduate students from Africa based at Scottish institutions. In addition to the SFA, external experts from design studio AndThen and GOODD design consultancy were engaged. The objective of this project was to investigate, in both analytical and speculative ways, future forms and functions of Sustainable Development work in relation to the Global South in ten years from now, to develop future scenarios and design the artefacts, services and the experiences associated with these future visions. On completion of the project and learning experience it was intended that the students would be able to recognise and articulate the impact and sustainability of their design propositions, consider the life-cycle of their proposals and the values these might create for the intended users, communities and contexts. The project was completed in January 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning its spread around the world. This unprecedented catastrophe reinforced the importance of supporting those most in need – the citizens of developing regions in the Global South. In April 2020, the heads of all the UN’s major agencies issued an open letter warning of the risks the virus posed to the world’s most vulnerable countries. It called on wealthier nations to increase funding and help to tackle issues such as the cessation of aid as a result of cancelled flights and disrupted supply routes. These and many other concerns highlighted during the crisis are among the topics explored in this project, which feels even more relevant and urgent than when it was initiated in the summer of 2019. One of the most significant societal shifts currently taking place within the field of sustainable development work is its transformation from being understood as a process of growth or, at its most benign, poverty alleviation, to one of community empowerment and civic participation. The public’s role is developing beyond once-passive community members and recipients of aid, into stakeholders valued for their local knowledge, lived experiences, participation in development projects, and contribution towards policy-making and decision-making. This new dynamic is changing the traditional North-South relationship and holds the potential to challenge the geopolitical hegemony of International Development. The impetus for this shift is a decolonial, collaborative approach to development, research and practice; increased local empowerment, and sustainable solutions to problems that are co-created in context with those affected by and affecting the issue in question. This project asked students to consider what happens in this global landscape ten years from now where Sustainable Development has evolved to the extent that new forms of work and communities of practice transform how people engage, learn and interact with each other, with stakeholders and with the global community around them. The brief gave students the opportunity to explore the underlying complexities regarding sustainable futures, the post-colonial dynamic between ‘norths’ and ‘souths’, post-capitalism and human agency, to envision a future world context, develop it as an experiential exhibit, and produce the designed products, services and experiences for the people who might live and work within it. The project was divided into two sections: The first was a collaborative stage where groups of students were assigned a specific domain to collectively research one aspect of the project challenge, these domains included; Health, Energy, Mobility, Economies, Education, Societal Structures and Environment. Each of these domains were examined through the lenses of Social, Technological, Economic, Ethical, Educational, Values, Political, Legal and Ecological (STEEEVPLE) and were tailored in use, as appropriate per domain. The groups focused on researching and exploring their specific domain and gathering as much information and understanding while working with the external experts to further their knowledge. This group stage culminated in a series of Future World exhibits which tangibly manifest the cohort’s collective knowledge and collaborative understanding of what the future could look like in 10 years from now, after exploring the possible consequences of current actions. The second stage saw students explore their individual response to the Future World that had been created in the first stage. Each student developed their own response to the research by iteratively creating a design outcome that was appropriate to the subject matter. This culminated in each student producing a designed product, service or system and a visual communication of the future experience which they had created. A visual summary of the journey and stages (Project Journey Map) is included within the repository and outlines the collaborative process of designing and the innovative nature of the project’s pedagogical model. The project aims to reveal and address the emerging possibilities collaboratively created by Sustainable Development professionals and designers interacting and learning from each other, to present preferable futures which reveal socio-ecological innovations in development work with the Global South in the near future. The deposited materials are arranged as follows: Readme files - two readme files relate to stage one and stage two of the project as outlined above. Project Journey Map - gives a visual overview of the pedagogical structure and timeline of the project. Data folders - the data folders for stage one of the project are named by the domains through which each group explored possible futures. The data folders for stage two of the project are named for the individual students who conducted the work