Tag: Africa
Sustainable building strategies to combat climate change in Africa
In response to climate change, we often resort to energy-intensive heating and cooling systems to maintain thermal comfort within buildings. However, passive solar systems (which harness solar radiation) and smart building designs (that create optimal indoor conditions) are now being adopted across Africa to reduce energy consumption. Building on previous investigations into passive solar systems and design, Michael Santos and […]
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When less is more: Downscaling climate data for improved modelling
Accurate climate modelling requires long-term, high-resolution, and high-quality time series data. However, such datasets are often not available, especially in the Global South. Dr Andrew Fullhart (US Department of Agriculture) is utilising global climate datasets and machine learning to improve global coverage of gridded data. The results provide accurate monthly and daily time series for precipitation across Africa and South […]
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Cara and Researchers at Risk: Offering a lifeline to academics in danger
For nearly 90 years, Cara (or the Council for At-Risk Academics) has offered a lifeline to researchers and academics working in, or forced to flee from, dangerous global contexts. It works with those currently escaping persecution, those who have been forced into exile, or those who pursue their vital research in a home country ravaged by war or oppression. It […]
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An in-depth look at the East Coast fever vaccine
East Coast fever causes significant losses among cattle in eastern, central and southern Africa, affecting the livelihoods of livestock keepers in these regions. There is no conventional vaccine for this disease and, instead, an infection and treatment method is implemented using Muguga cocktail and oxytetracycline. Professor Andrew Peters and Dr Fiona Allan of the University of Edinburgh conducted a systematic […]
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How cultural institutions prevent stigma around Lake Victoria
Professor Koen Stroeken proposes a new method of analysis for understanding cultural practices. His method extends beyond the situational analysis by intervention professionals to focus on the logics of action embedded within cultural traditions. He applies his proposed method of Cultural Analysis to describe the layered meanings within various rituals of Sukuma farmers in Tanzania. He argues against popular understandings […]
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Urban water and sanitation reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa
Many countries in the developing world have undertaken ambitious reforms of their urban water and sanitation. Unfortunately, few have achieved excellent, sustainable results. In his recent book, Empty Buckets and Overflowing Pits, Dr Roland Werchota describes his research into urban water and sanitation sector reforms in four Sub-Saharan African countries, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, and explains why these […]
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Transnational research capacity building: whose standards count?
Background Research capacity building projects are transnational projects funded by a donor in the Global North, targeting universities in the Global South. Inevitably, these projects are embedded in various types of coloniality, as revealed by the capacity-building discourse itself. We offer a view from the Global North, by drawing on our own experiences of such projects and on a […]
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ENACTS: Risk, Resilience, and the Revitalisation of Climate Services in the Developing World
To build resilience and national capacity to manage climate variability and adapt to change, governments and other bodies need robust and decision-relevant climate information at different levels. In many places, however, including most African countries, collection of climate data has been seriously inadequate, and even when available, poorly accessible. The Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative, led by Dr Tufa […]
Group support psychotherapy as a depression treatment in Uganda
Dr Ethel Nakimuli-Mpungu at Makerere University in Uganda works toward making therapy more culturally appropriate, particularly for people living with HIV and depression. She has developed a highly cost-effective group support psychotherapy programme that can be delivered by lay health workers and which has been shown to dramatically reduce depression symptoms and improve adherence to anti-viral medication in those affected. […]
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