The Project Incubator Award highlights African initiatives and spotlights the importance of local and regional partnerships. The Project Incubator Award is critical as it sheds light on potentially lucrative business ideas and projects and most importantly encourages partnership opportunities across Africa.

2011 winner, Everlyne Cherobon head of Emeden Kenya, was determined to win the award to change the course of her business. “Winning the prize was a defining moment for me and my business. It is difficult to put in words, exactly how I felt when my project emerged the winner. It means a vote of confidence on what I hope to do with smallholder farmers in the dry-lands of Kenya. It means there is business sense in working with smallholder farmers in Africa. It means a lot of attention needs to be focused on them.”

The Award’s sponsor, Rabobank Foundation, has been involved since the project’s inception. A global Dutch bank with branches in Africa, it endeavours to provide access to funds for those with innovative and sound projects and especially those that truly make an impact on economic development and food security at the local, national or regional levels, whereby value chain partners can be integrated.

“This prize will incite the future competitiveness of women and men entrepreneurs because the presentations set a tone and generate enthusiasm from a large number of participants to better invest in their businesses and projects,” Maria Odido of Bee Natural, Uganda, winner of the 2010 Project Incubator Award testifies.

The 2009 winner, COOGES, Coopérative Générale de Sepingo, a cashew nut cooperative from Côte D’Ivoire decided to enter the Project Incubator Award for a simple reason: “It was in line with one of our business needs – to gain industry exposure – and we knew that even if we didn’t win, the increased awareness of our business would make it worthwhile and reduce our need to advertise ourselves through other channels. Anyone from Africa that wishes to launch or improve a project, anyone who wants to have confirmation that their business idea is viable and who wants feedback from the business community should be involved in the AgriBusiness Forum”.

The annual pan-African AgriBusiness Forum will be held this year in Dakar, Senegal from 25-28 November 2012 under the official patronage of the Government of Senegal.

Entitled “Boosting Africa’s Agriculture through Partnership, Investment and Technology”, the UNDP (UN Development Program) is a co-organiser for the second year running in addition to PanAAC (Pan African Agribusiness & Agroindustry Consortium) joining forces this year.

The forum is also taking place in collaboration with FAO and Rabobank, bringing together the sector’s leading figures, renown experts, industrialists, financiers, donors, SMEs, small hold farmers as well as multinationals and civil society partners.

Parallel to the forum there will be the Agricultural Exhibition and B2B sessions guaranteeing an environment conducive to launching new partnerships.

Interested candidates are invited to register for the AgriBusiness Forum and to submit their business ideas that embody the inherent entrepreneurship and innovation of the African continent.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

Any customer with an Orange SIM and mobile internet enabled phone will be able to access Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopaedia in the world, through their mobile browser. They can access the Wikipedia encyclopaedia services for as many times as they like at no extra charge as long as they stay within Wikipedia’s pages.

According to Telkom Kenya – Chief Executive Mickael Ghossein, Orange is keen on creating and raising awareness on the benefits of Wikipedia to the more than 70 million Orange customers in Africa and the Middle East (the AMEA region).

This move is the result of a major partnership signed in January this year between the Orange Group and the Wikimedia Foundation.

The partnership will see Orange customers in the Group’s affiliate countries easily access information from the world’s most comprehensive online encyclopaedia with nearly 500 million monthly unique visitors.

“Our subscribers can access Wikipedia services for as many times as they like at no extra charge, as long as they stay within Wikipedia’s pages,” said Ghossein, adding that the mobile phone remains the most preferred and convenient means of accessing the internet while in transit.

Users of this innovative service will also freely browse the millions of articles available on Wikipedia in the languages most widely used in Africa.

“In countries where access to information is not always readily available, we are making it simple and easy for our customers to use the world’s most comprehensive online encyclopaedia in both Kiswahili and English”, Said Mickael Ghossein.

By sponsoring the cost of data for its customers, Orange is supporting the Wikimedia Foundation’s initiative of spreading free knowledge to the billions of people around the world, whose primary opportunity to access the internet is via a mobile device, as the global brand bolsters its image through value added service as its strong differentiator.

Kenya becomes the second country in Africa after Uganda to benefit from this major partnership signed in January between the Orange Group and the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia also plans to enable a functionality soon that will notify users when they log on to the paid up pages.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

1. You cannot leave your previous number
2. You have to pay extra money
3. You have to face bad services
4. Your complain goes unheard
5. You have to carry more mobile phones

“Reality of today if there is service there is no network and if there is network there is no service,” so where is the STANDARD?

Now getting down to a more practical approach a cell number is not just a number. It’s an identity or it’s who you are? No-matter how easily you may say if you need service then opt for the quality one, then what’s the big fuss, where is standardization?

In-fact the customers are burdened to carry two lines NTC as well as Ncell. As they cannot leave the NTC as it’s their older number and Ncell coz it’s quality. I have seen number of people who carry two phones why because it’s not a choice but it’s a compulsion.

I was shocked and amazed when I saw an advertising saying 1.75 per minutes to US using the 1424 by NTC that’s like super cool. I was so tempted by the advertisement that I even used it number of times and to my satisfaction the service was good. But somewhere in my mind I started to compare it with the existing plans and services that are available. You know calling US was cheaper than calling Nepal than what’s the use? Where is our telecommunication industry moving, the service of calling Kathmandu to Kathmandu is bad and the outbound calls are cheap and good. What a joke…….?

Likewise, another issue is these days private telecommunication companies are more focused towards easy distribution of their connection or expanding their network which to some extent is correct from their point of view but what about the quality and standard, do any of these companies follow any norms. They rarely care about any other thing. They work as money making machine where they focus on loud offers and marketing option which in return comes back to us in the form of higher tariff rates so where the government regulator body and what is it doing…?

One thing I could not understand is why aren’t we getting proper service? The infrastructure is there, the mechanism is there, then where do we lack and what should the public expect…

For instance Ncell has the best quality service but once you make a call the money flows like anything where as if you look at the NTC then they have the cheapest service but relatively the quality is down.

Last time I was using my Ncell calling on the same line for about 2 -3 minutes and walla Nrs 8 gone. I cared less but what about the tariff rates and what is happening around? Hello Ncell to ncell is that expensive god save me. Relatively quality matters but hey in a long run money matters as well. It’s the same company that marketed Ncell to ncell free during its beginning days.

I bet the standardization in telecommunication is a big issue that has been ignored in Nepal, the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) the regulatory body of government has been monitoring and controlling the mechanism in a more upper hand way where they manage the bandwidth and bandwidth line but they care less at the public service sector. STANDARIZATION is a more prominent issue that starts from the point of the service generation to the point of its use and impact, but I guess the NTA fails to realize this. At public service level they hold no presence and quality has been subsidized that’s manipulated by companies in their respected ways.

“We need services but with standardization is our demand”

AUTHOR: Shreedeep Rayamajhi
URL: http://www.rayznews.com
E-MAIL: weaker41 [at] gmail.com

Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.
—Benoit Mandelbrot, The Fractal Geometry of Nature

When I was a 5 year old kid, there used to be a popular brand of barley sold under the name ‘Purity Indian Barley’. Though barley is a very useful and widely consumed cereal and known for its health benefits, my early memory of it is dreadful because the barley soup that my mother used to feed me tasted like high quality dish washing water.

However, I do not remember ‘Purity Indian Barley’ for taste or food value. What I remember it for is a picture on the can of it – a mother holding her baby alongside a can of ‘Purity Indian Barley’. Now that was rather interesting as the picture on the can showed the same can itself that had the picture of the same mother, albeit smaller, alongside the same can. I remember that as a kid I tried hard to imagine how many such smaller yet same mothers were alongside same yet progressively smaller cans. That used to be a very interesting journey of my young mind. I had no idea of infinity, of course.

Modern mathematicians now call this ‘self-similarity’ and each such dive into another scale as ‘reiteration’. They believe that ‘self-similarity’ emerges in any naturally growing organization that has become complex – the natural growth implied here is nothing but starting with very simple rules with huge variance and billions upon billions of reiterations with slight modifications as per those rules. Though this reminds us of biological evolution, but ‘self-similarity’, that is, the part looking like the whole in any scale is pretty much everywhere and it takes just an hour’s contemplation to see it. Take a cauliflower and separate a strand of it or take a country and separate a neighborhood – I hope that you are getting my drift.

Physical reality that presents to us and the mathematical formalism that attempts to describe it seem out of sync to many of us. In fact, to most of us the mathematical abstractions seem arcane and we do not see perfect triangles, circles, squares too often neither do we see quadratic polynomials in stock markets. The Nature is replete with systems, structures and functions that are too complex to be described with simple mathematical formalism and E = mc2 do not happen daily. However, what most of us can see with fair distinction are patterns. This appears to be our only common hope to live with complexities. Not maths. Or if maths, highly complex and difficult maths to have any appeal to us.

While the complexity and patterns rule across boundaries of ontologisms – our appreciation of reality is fragmented by studies as different as science, arts and philosophies. It may sound absurd if science has to explain poetry or arts need to make meaning of biological evolution. But as conscious beings we need to understand the whole of reality and we continue to see patterns in everything – as long as we are interacting with the complexity that confront and inspire us. And in these patterns we see ‘self-similarity’. Reality does not seem to present itself to us in a given scientific, artistic or philosophical way distinctly.

The shadow of a common recognition of the complex reality – that higher mathematics fails to deal with in physical sciences – was unveiled and placed on a sound theoretical and applied basis, at least partly, by Benoit Mandelbrot. A maverick visionary, Mandelbrot took the pattern seeking approach to hit on a truth so profound that it put poetry and stock market, big bang and cauliflower in the same realm of human understanding. In 1975, Mandelbrot gave a treatise by the name Fractal which, as a mathematical set, described the inherent imperfection of nature and complex systems that traditional mathematical formalism failed to describe. And, most importantly, it was fun.

I do not intend to intimidate the ‘not-so-mathematically-endowed’ reader with mathematical formulae and trust me there is nothing to be intimidated by Fractals at all. As a conscious human being you are seeing and appreciating it all your life in a more fundamental way than high school maths. You are doing it because it is better and advanced description of the complexity you are immersed in, handling intuitively and trying every minute to make meaning of. Mandelbrot just gave it a name and collated it.

It started with the coastline paradox, which in brief is this. When we measure the length of a coast, say that of Great Britain, how accurate do we think we can get? It is easy to realize that the accuracy of the length of the coastline will increase with the scale of magnification of the coast details or the resolution of the map. The magnification can be infinite (theoretically), so in whichever resolution we measure the coast length it will be very difficult to assert an absolutely correct value of the coast length. This is because the coastline geometry is not Euclidean line but a fractal. Funnily, it has a dimension slightly more than 1 – making it something like a line but not quite. This is essentially the description of a complexity that defies traditional geometry or mathematics and it presents ‘self-similarity’. The smaller creeks and bays and bends of the coast are similar (pattern-wise) in whichever scale you choose to observe it. Read more here.

And all these mind blowing complexities are born from rather simple rules – the complexity is manifest in numerous reiterations of these rules. It’s only advanced computer aided computations that laid bare this truth. For example take Koch’s snowflake.

Starting with an equilateral triangle of finite perimeter, if we set a rule of removing the middle third of each side and inserting two sides of equilateral triangle having sides equal to the removed middle third to have a new perimeter and define this as the first step of possible infinite re-iterations, then we start to see a perimeter of infinite length (just like the coast) and a fractal. The fractal dimension of the perimeter of Koch’s snowflake is 1.26, so we wonder whether it is something like a line but not quite.

Our reality is that of ‘not-quiet’s. I hope you make connections with Mandelbrot’s quotes from your daily experiences. I, despite my limited faculty, see the world around me as fuzzy; shapes, processes, evolutions and renditions as nothing mathematically precise yet wonderfully complex. In this fuzzy warmth of partly feeling and partly knowing reality, I see fractals as beacons of understanding. At the heart of this fuzzy complexity lies simple elegance.

However, fractals describe more than complex shapes. They constitute a unifying framework of patterns that run sublime in human pursuits like social growth and Arts besides Nature. Centuries before invention, fractals deeply influenced African architecture, art and design. From a political perspective, Ron Eglash suggests in his book ‘African Fractals’ that European settlers considered most African settlements to be large villages rather than cities, because instead of the Euclidean street arrangements of Europe, they found complicated fractal arrangements. “Thus fractal architecture was used as colonial proof of primitivism”.

Photo: Balla Village Archetecture – Source Mandelbrot and Frame

Photo: Balla Village Archetechture Line drawing – Source Mandelbrot and Frame

Photo: Kotoka Village Archetechture – Source Mandelbrot and Frame

The same book, as pointed out by Mandelbrot with Michael Frame as a sitting professor of mathematics in Yale University, also mentions African Art as fractally influenced. See Egyptian Column, Bamana headdress and Tuareg leatherwork for examples. I dare say that much of Indian village hierarchy and planning is fractal in nature (it’s a pity Mandelbrot did not study those)but that will be a different article in future.

Photo: Fractal Scheme in Egyptian Columns – Source Ron Eglash

Photo: Fractal design of Bamana Headdress – Source Ron Eglash

Photo: Fractal design in Tuareg Leatherwork – Source Ron Eglash

Perhaps the most fascinating fractal renditions that uncannily imitate Nature (and I strongly contend that Nature follows fractal organization) are the following:

These are computer generated fractional Brownian motion fractal art by Ken Musgrave. When he first showed these in a slide show in Yale University in 1993, many students refused to believe these as virtually created art.

Since I am much inspired by poetry, I think it will be fitting to mention that poems are fractally influenced too – often without the poet knowing it. If we choose a word as ‘root’ in a poem and plot the occurrences of the root in a box graph, we can (sometimes) see the fractal working. Pollard-Gott showed that the word ‘know’ as a root in Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Sail of Ulysses (Canto I)” follow roughly a fractal known as Cantor set.

The wonderful complexity with an elegant simple chance at its heart and proliferating with infinite reiterations is perhaps the true essence of reality. Fractals describe this profound truth showing self-similar patterns in every conscious observation. Mandelbrot called it ‘art of roughness’. I shall invite my readers to take part in an odyssey of such a journey named as Mandelbrot set. This set generates from a complex quadratic polynomial as simple as Zn+1=Zn + c .

Fractals though are only the tip of the iceberg. They set in motion a thinking so radical as to propose a new kind of science. I shall present it the concluding part of this post.

Feature Image: Real Desktop.

AUTHOR: Pabitra Mukhopadhyay
URL: http://pabitraspeaks.com
E-MAIL: mukhopadhyay.pabitra [at] gmail.com

Pakistan’s climate change response objectives include disaster risk reduction and management; vulnerability mapping; community-based adaptation; sustainable land management and building climate resilient infrastructure.

Like many countries around the world Pakistan has been devastated by natural disasters like floods and cyclones that will only increase in a world ravaged by global warming. Many areas of the country are vulnerable to natural disasters including floods along the Indus river is high, and droughts from Baluchistan to the Thar desert.

“Pakistan is at the apex of climate vulnerability in Asia,” Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, chief executive officer of the non-government organisation, Leadership for Environment and Development, said.

“Most of Pakistan’s landmass is vulnerable to extreme events and they will need investments in adaptive capacity,” Anjum Assad Amin, member of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, said. “There is an inescapable linkage between climate impacts and sustaining future development in the country,” the strategy document notes.

Pakistan’s economic growth has slumped to 2.6 per cent in the past three years and the country is beset by large inefficiencies in the agriculture, energy and water sectors, putting stress on natural resources.

The strategy will encourage growth while respecting UN millennium development goals and the proposed sustainable development goals. It is expected to attract support from the private sector.

The estimated cost of adapting to future climate impacts is US$14 billion each year.

AUTHOR: Richard Matthews
URL: http://thegreenmarket.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: smallbusinessconsultants [at] gmail.com

The officials said on Monday that the countries opposed the Bangladesh satellite orbital position, as state telecommunication regulator applied for approval to send the satellite in 102 degree slot.

The state Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said they have applied to ITU (International Telecommunications Union) to send the satellite named after independence hero “Bangabandhu” for 102 degree slot.

The countries who raised the objections argued that the Bangladesh request the position of the satellite likely to have frequency problem.

Space Partnership International (SPI), the U.S. based space satellite consultant for Bangladesh is working to enable that both parties could be benefited.

Bangladesh has alternative plan to send satellite at 69 degree east slot if it is refused the 102 degree orbit. However, ITU will give final decision regarding slot approval.

On the other hand, if Bangladesh is given the 69 degree slot, then Malaysia, Singapore, China are likely to raise objections, BTRC chairman Major General Zia Ahmed said.

Bangladesh spends $ 11-million annually for renting satellite for the local satellite television channels, telephone and radio.

AUTHOR: Saleem Samad
URL: http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: saleemsamad [at] hotmail.com

Prof Margret Kamar

The first forum of African Ministers in charge of science, technology and innovation in Nairobi ended with a call by the ministers to increase investment in the sector.

The ministers said, increased investment will strengthen scientific research in Africa at national and regional levels.

Read by Kenya’s Prof Margret Kamar who is in charge of her country’s science and technology docket, the African ministers said time was ripe for the continent to harness science, technology and innovation to solve societal problems such as water, health, energy and agriculture.

They promised to put in place adequate mechanisms that would facilitate knowledge and technology transfer between countries through strengthening regional networks, south to south and north cooperation.

But there were also hard hitting sessions on the failures of Africa in science, technology and innovation.

Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister for science and technology said it is a pity that so many years after most of Africa gained independence, many African states have no policy guiding the sector.

“There is experience that use of STI would help Africa gain global respect,” said.

STI, she said, could act as catalyst in creating opportunities for the African youth.

She said as ministers, they must insist and demand governments increased funding for this important sector.

Jean Ping, President of the African Union Commission said through his representative, Erastus Mwencha said science, technology and innovation has the capacity to help AU’s vision of having at least 20 of her 54 members states attain middle income status by 2030 besides boosting the continent’s presence in published journals.

He revealed that at the moment that Africa’s access to university education is just 7 per cent, thanks due insufficient resources and low use of ICT.

Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank urged Africa to make use of science, technology and innovation to explore natural resources to create wealth thereby lessen inequalities in the society.

He said Africa’s reliance on the inherited wealth in oil and natural gas among others has led to conflicts but said science and technology offers Africa the opportunity to create wealth devoid of chaos.

The challenge for Africa however, said Kaberuka, is how to bring her youthful population, estimated to be 200 million aged between 15-24 into economic playground.

According to Kaberuka, although there is massive inflow of the foreign domestic investment into Africa, there is however massive unskilled labour, poor infrastructure.

He said 200 million people in Africa are aged 15-24 years. By 2030, he said, Africa will have world’s leading labour force.

“Africa is in the unique position to reap the demographic dividend….similar to the South East Asia. In the 70s, ASEAN captured this…and demographic dividends contributed up to 45% to the GDPs of the countries in south East Asia.

But investors coming to Africa today are hampered by unskilled manpower and poor infrastructure.

The public sector will never have enough resources to meet the need for STI development.

Quality of education is compromised by the need to meet the need for space for higher education.

But there are continental initiatives to help bridge the gap like the Pan African University.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

Naledi Grace Mandisa Pandor

South African minister for science and technology Ms Naledi Pandor Monday joined members of the European Parliament to formerly announce a pact meant to build stronger collaboration between Africa and Europe in the areas of research, development and innovation.

The announcement was preceded by the adoption by the European parliament of the Written Declaration 45 on Science Capacity Building in Africa.

The Written Declaration highlights the potential of supporting Africa-EU collaboration in radio astronomy in the EU’s next Research and Development Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, and recognises the importance of Science Capacity building within the EU’s development agenda, with particular emphasis on the Development Cooperation Instrument. Almost 400 Members of the European Parliament signed the declaration which will be now forwarded to the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the parliaments of the Member States.

Minister Naledi Pandor described her feelings of being “overwhelmed and excited by the progress which we’ve achieved”.

She added that “any advance in science is an advance for humanity, and I think this is what we are doing through the adoption of this declaration.” Minister Pandor also predicted that “we will begin as Africa and the EU but I believe eventually it’s going to be a global partnership. It has to be if we are going to reach the highest level of scientific endeavour and enterprise.”

Written Declaration 45 highlights the value of research infrastructures in promoting human capital development, addressing societal challenges and facilitating inter-regional cooperation. Its goal is to harness the scientific and economic benefits of increasing science capacity in Africa. The declaration seeks to promote this through closer European-African partnerships in radio astronomy, where there is considerable scope for further growth and market opportunities for both continents.

The declaration draws attention to Africa’s exceptional competitive advantages in the study of radio astronomy and gives recognition to Africa’s own investments in this area, reflected in the continent’s extensive array of cutting edge astronomy projects.

“In the EU we have learned that science and research are the engines for growth and development” explained Fiona Hall, a member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee. “Those of us who put forward this declaration have realised that radio astronomy and space can be a driver for growth and development in Africa in the same way. In particular it’s a driver for infrastructure development, for getting broadband in place. It’s a way that young people who might want to leave the continent to further their careers can be held onto.” She concluded that “Africa-EU cooperation in radio astronomy is very much to the advantage of both sides.”

Judith Sargentini, a Vice-Chair for Delegation for relations with South Africa said the radio astronomy-based project will look at Africa as a continent of chances, a continent that is modernising.

“Ssomehow people do not relate the continent of Africa to hard science, and here there is a direct relation. This will change the minds of people about the possibilities that this continent has,” added Ms Sargentini.

Attention will now turn to how Europe can put this message to action. Written Declaration 45/2011 specifically highlights the potential role of Horizon 2020. Many members of European parliament who have signed the Written Declaration are sympathetic to the inclusion of a new chapter in this programme which will be relevant to radio astronomy partnerships.

Horizon 2020 is the name given to the EU’s primary instrument for funding scientific research and development between 2014 and 2020. The European Commission proposals for Horizon 2020 were published in November 2011. This marked the beginning of a negotiation process that will last into 2013. “We have done a great deal in the context of the Seventh Framework Programme and we’d like to see Horizon 2020 locate radio astronomy as a strong part of its focus”” added Minister Pandor.

Fiona Hall added that “In terms of what we do in the European Parliament, I think it’s now a question of being conscious of this as a strand of what we do, whether on the industry committee [or] on the development committee”. Ms Hall concluded that “There are a number of contexts in the European Parliament where we will be able to take this forward.”

A Written Declaration is a text of a maximum of 200 words on a matter falling within the European Union’s sphere of activities. A group of up to five MEPs can submit a written declaration by presenting a text to be signed by their colleagues. If the declaration is signed by a majority of the MEPs, it is forwarded to the President, who announces it in plenary. At the end of the part-session, the declaration is forwarded to the institutions named in the text, together with the names of the signatories.

Europe’s population density and sky coverage are not suitable to host the most innovative observatories. Africa, on the other hand, offers coverage of the astronomically “rich” southern sky, low levels of radio frequency interference, and very little light pollution.

African continent already hosts some of the world’s most exciting astronomy facilities, including the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the Gamma Ray telescope HESS in Namibia and the Astronomy Development Office of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Now South Africa is building one of the world’s largest radio telescope arrays, MeerKAT.

A group of nine African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia) is also a candidate site to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world’s biggest radio telescope that will allow scientists to address many of the fundamental, unanswered questions about the universe we live in.

Such large scale research projects are important for Africa as they attract youth towards scientific studies, boost human capital development and contribute to socioeconomic development. New employment opportunities and development of basic services and infrastructures also effectively contrast the brain drain that costs Africa billions of dollars each year.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

The diplomat added that Germany, currently the third world economic power but with very little cultural affinity to Africa, is struggling to make a mark in the continent. She said unlike the French and the British…who would easily take the risk to invest in Africa, the Germans are risk-averse. “That notwithstanding, however quite a number of Germany companies are interested in doing business in Africa…with a number having African division headquarters in Nairobi, but a number have no adequate knowledge on Africa,” she said. But the digital platform may help change this scenario. Germans have no cultural affinity to Africa…., few Germans have interests in Africa…but information would be key to change all this. She said what should concern Africa is the quality of information goes to the internet.

According to Veni Swai Programme officer Freidrich Naumannn Foundation, Africa is an equal competitor in the world. ”We have to be asking ourselves what the world should be seeing about Africa. Africa has to create the perception,” she said. James Shikwati, the executive director, Inter Region Economic Network said digital revolution, like industrial revolution could free Africans—the later led to the freeing of African slavery while the former could emancipate the 1.8 billion black race worldwide from mental slavery.

According to Shikwati, Africa loses 1.8m trillion dollars annually in terms of natural resources. Further, 60% (2.5 million ha) of Africa’s farmland is leased annually to produce food by and for outsiders while the inhabitants keep roaming the world begging for aid. Agreeing with the assertion, the envoy added that there is lots of information on the internet much of which does not help market Africa as a destination of investment by the German investors.

For an example, she cited the drought in the Horn of Africa in 2009 in which there was lot of hype on Somalia leading to all donations from Germany geared to fighting famine Somalia. It was not easy for her to convince her colleagues in Germany that there were other areas in the region like Turkana which needed there help. She said aalthough there are quite a number of Africans earning scholarships to study in Germany, the problem is having Germans coming into Africa. Small steps are however being taken to help bridge the gap between the Germans and Africa. In Nairobi for example there are quite a number of schools in Kenya which are having some relationship with Germany schools.

Ethics of information

She cautioned Africa to be wary of the kind of information that goes out about Africa. “One may have information but what to do with it is also important to know. On social media, the ambassador said while social media is good for social change, but it can also be negative,” she said. For example, the social media positively brought about the Arab spring…but the same media is also being used to ferment continued unrest through the hate messages seen in lots of social media in tribally-driven politics in countries such as Kenya.

The ambassador said for Africa to attract Germans, they need to provide political stability; stop ethnic rivaling—which is very scary to German investments. “Quite a number of German investors are hesitant to invest in the country given the political instability,” she said. This she said it key given that few governments in Africa have plans to lead digital revolution that would attract investments. “Investors are coming to seek the opportunity for themselves,” she said. Norah Owaraga said the way out for Africa is to ensure that it positions itself to control the content posted on the internet about itself.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

The European Parliament has called for greater collaboration with Africa in the field of radio astronomy, following its adoption of Written Declaration 45 on science capacity building in Africa.

The declaration seeks to promote this through closer European-African partnerships in radio astronomy, as this is an area where Africa holds advantages that are not available in Europe and where there is considerable scope for further growth.

“This means that radio astronomy in Africa has enormous potential for growth and offers opportunities to European researchers and industry that they will not find in Europe” explained Fiona Hall, a member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee.

“The importance of science for socio-economic development in Africa has already been recognised in the Millennium Development Goals. European involvement in African radio astronomy represents a possible driver of socio-economic change” added Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez, Vice-president of the EP and a member of the Committee on Development.

A Written Declaration is a text of a maximum of 200 words on a matter falling within the European Union’s sphere of activities. A group of up to five MEPs can submit a written declaration by presenting a text to be signed by their colleagues. If the declaration is signed by a majority of the MEPs, it is forwarded to the President, who announces it in plenary. At the end of the part-session, the declaration is forwarded to the institutions named in the text, together with the names of the signatories.

Following its adoption by the European Parliament, Written Declaration 45/2011 will now be forwarded to the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the parliaments of the Member States.

Judith Sargentini, a Vice-Chair for Delegation for relations with South Africa, stated that “In adopting this Written Declaration, Europe’s elected representatives have sent a strong message to their fellow policymakers about the future of European cooperation with Africa. They have recognised that radio astronomy has a bright future in Africa and that Europe can play a valuable role in it. High level science in Africa changes our perception of the continent. This is possible in Africa, and only in Africa.”

Attention will now turn to how Europe can put this message to action. Written Declaration 45/2011 specifically highlights the potential role of Horizon 2020 and the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI). Many MEPs who have signed the Written Declaration are sympathetic to the inclusion of new chapters in these programmes which will be relevant to radio astronomy partnerships.

Horizon 2020 is the name given to the EU’s primary instrument for funding scientific research and development between 2014 and 2020. The European Commission proposals for Horizon 2020 were published, in November 2011. This marked the beginning of a negotiation process that will last into 2013.

“Following the adoption of the Written Declaration, a potential addition to Horizon 2020 could emphasise the role of capacity building with a particular focus on astronomy” added Teresa Riera Madurell, MEP and a member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. This would draw on elements of the adopted Written Declaration with a view to establishing collaboration with Africa as a programme theme.

The Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) is the EU’s main instrument for providing development assistance through the general EU budget. It operates under a separate legislative instrument from Horizon 2020. “Following the adoption of WD 45/2011, MEPs are now well positioned to propose a chapter for the DCI introducing science as a driver for implementing the instrument’s objectives” explained Filip Kaczmarek, a member of Committee on Development.

Europe’s population density and sky coverage are not suitable to host the most innovative observatories. Africa, on the other hand, offers coverage of the astronomically “rich” southern sky, low levels of radio frequency interference, and very little light pollution.

African continent already hosts some of the world’s most exciting astronomy facilities, including the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the Gamma Ray telescope HESS in Namibia and the Astronomy Development Office of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Now South Africa is building one of the world’s largest radio telescope arrays, MeerKAT. A group of nine African countries (South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique) is also a candidate site to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world’s biggest radio telescope that will allow scientists to address many of the fundamental, unanswered questions about the universe we live in.

Such large scale research projects are important for Africa as they attract youth towards scientific studies, boost human capital development and contribute to socioeconomic development. New employment opportunities and development of basic services and infrastructures also effectively contrast the brain drain that costs Africa billions of dollars each year.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com