African Union Warns of Threat to Skill Revolution

 By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

African leaders are warning that the continent’s lofty dreams may not be realized without a determined focus on information and communication technology (ICT), skills development and innovation.

Speaking during the opening session of the 10^th edition of  eLearning Africa conference, H.E. Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, emphasized that the African Union’s dreams of catalyzing an education and skills revolution are not going to be easily realized, unless the current creative and innovative capacities are properly harnessed.

He says that there is an abiding imperative for Africa to foster innovation and creative technologies as the basis for advancements in ICT and sustainable economic development.

 It is the duty of governments, the private sector and all segments of society, to participate actively in maximizing the use and application of ICTs to create competitive, knowledge economies, as well as economies of impetus. This will create the foundation of gainful capital in human resource development.

The Deputy Chair also made reference to the African Union’s Pan African University Program which demonstrates the practical efforts being undertaken by the Commission, to facilitate and implement Africa’s collective aspiration for meaningful development underpinned by rapid transformations in science, innovation, research and technology-driven education.

Ministers meeting at eLearning Africa’s Round Table for African ICT and education ministers earlier also warned that ICTs were central to growth and African governments needed to do more to mainstream them, particularly in the education system.

DRC’s First Infrastructure-For-Minerals Partnership

 By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

Members of the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, the U.S Embassy and other foreign diplomats toured facilities and assessed the progress of the new Sicomines joint venture, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first “infrastructure for minerals” partnership.

Sicomines Sarl, a joint venture between Congolese mining company Gecamines SA, China‘s Sinohydro and the China Railway Group Limited, oversees the project, which includes the construction and operation of two copper plants in Katanga province.

The tour included a walk through the Sicomines plants, which are expected to start production in the fall of 2015 with an initial copper output of 50,000 tons annually, gradually rising to an expected 400,000 tons over the next two decades.

The Sicomines plants represent a critical development and capacity-building endeavor for the DRC, employing 3,000 workers, 70% of whom will be Congolese.In addition, the Sino-Congolese joint venture will disburse approximately $3 billion for the construction of roads, dams, hospitals and schools, including infrastructure projects such as the Busanga hydroelectric project.

The progress made by the Sicomines partnership reinforces the DRC’s commitment to strengthening and professionalizing its mining sector, and to help increase accountability in the industry. Production is expected to be initialized in just a few months.

The project is offer global market, job opportunities, it also offers tax revenues for the DRC, employs local labor and the shared experience facilitates the knowledge transfer needed.

 In partnership with the World Bank and the IMF, the DRC has implemented liberalizing reforms designed to increase business activities and create jobs across the country, including reforms in key industrial and commercial sectors.  The country’s’ infrastructure is being rebuilt at an unprecedented rate, with new roads, schools, and hospitals under construction.

Pressure to sharpen skills retention and employee engagement in Africa

By  Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

Businesses across major African economies such as Kenya and Nigeria are coming under increasing pressure to align their strategies for retaining talent, compensating employees and engaging with their workforce with good international practices.

Gerhard Hartman, Head of Department for Sage Payroll & HR’s International Division says that African companies are facing stiffer competition for skills as economies grow, governments pump money into building infrastructure, and professionals are lured into the Diaspora by the promise of big salaries paid in hard currencies.

A recent study conducted by Ernst & Young found that 70% of African firms are recruiting yet many report that they are taking longer to fill vacancies and experiencing higher staff turnover. The skills that are in short demand include engineering, technical and commercial skills, partly because of massive infrastructure products the continent.

It is observed that there is a real hunger for skills in Africa, which means that businesses are demanding that HR departments step up to the plate. They have to craft strategies that help them to attract and retain the best talent, as well as develop human resources in a manner that delivers a high return on investment to the business. Focus should therefore be on sharpening capabilities.

IFAD bankrolls Ghana Farmers

18^th May 2015

Government of the Republic of Ghana and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) signed a US$36.6 million loan and $10 million grant agreement to finance the Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (GASIP).

This new programme will link smallholder farmers to agribusinesses to enhance growth by helping them access the assets they need to increase their productivity, competitiveness and incomes. The grant component is intended to promote climate change adaptation under IFAD’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme.

With a total cost of $113 million, the programme is cofinanced with a $7.6 million contribution from the Government of Ghana, a $1.7 million contribution from the participating districts, and a $4.6 million contribution from the beneficiaries themselves.

It is expected that this investment will leverage additional private investment of at least $17.5 million of agricultural loans from financial institutions over the initial six years of implementation. An additional $35 million will be sought from IFAD’s country allocation for the period 2016-2018.

The financing agreement was signed today in Rome by Fifi F. Kwetey, Minister of Food and Agriculture of Ghana, and by Michel Mordasini, Vice President of IFAD.

“In partnership with Ghana, we are bringing together climate change resilience with smart marketing approaches to strengthen each part of the value chain, which in turn ensures more profits for small farmers,” Mordasini said. “Programmes such as these create a favourable environment for smallholder farmers, particularly for women and youth, to engage in profitable agriculture businesses.”

Domestic and regional demand for food and cash crops is high, and agribusinesses are interested in working with smallholder farmers. However, there is the need to build and strengthen these business relationships along the value chains.

The programme will initially concentrate on cassava, yam, maize, sorghum, fruits and vegetables; and will leverage investments in productive infrastructure and facilities for the selected value chains. It will promote modern forms of conservation agriculture and agroforestry systems to enhance productivity, climate resilience and environmental sustainability of production systems.

GASIP will be implemented by a dedicated unit in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Ghana and will help 12,000 rural households, particularly women and young people, to improve their economic activities and livelihoods.

Since 1980, IFAD has invested a total of $271.5 million in 17 programmes and projects in Ghana, which have generated a total investment of $780 million, benefiting about 3.5 million rural people.

New African language healing tribal division

18th May 2015

A new African language is helping to reduce tensions and bring young people together in areas previously torn apart by tribal violence. And academics are so impressed by the language’s potential that a social media platform promoting it will form the subject of a major presentation at this year’s eLearning Africa, the continent’s leading conference on technology-assisted learning, training and development.

The language - ‘Sheng’ – combines Kiswahili, English and a number of Kenyan tribal words, along with a smattering of Arabic, Hindu, French, German, Spanish and Italian. It was born on the streets of Nairobi, in some of the areas hardest hit by eruptions of post-election violence in 2007- 2008.

Now a ‘social enterprise initiative’ in Kenya, ‘Go Sheng’, is helping to celebrate and promote the language, which is almost exclusively used by young people – so much so that it has become the first language of many young Kenyans in urban areas.

The initiative provides a platform for social dialogue for the language’s growing numbers of speakers. In so doing, it is giving a voice to a powerful alternative culture in Kenya and celebrating the many tribal languages that contribute to Sheng. In turn, this helps to bring some welcome cultural harmony and mutual understanding to a country, which has too often been divided against itself in the recent past

Although Kenya is a modern cosmopolitan nation, it is still plagued by ethnic divisions, which are often exacerbated political, land distribution and cultural issues. To many young people, the Sheng language and culture seem to offer a means of overcoming these traditional divisions. With an array of diverse Kenyan tribal languages within it, Sheng provides otherwise marginalised young people with a sense of ownership, as they help to define this continually evolving language. It also, perhaps, gives them an opportunity to question and challenge the mainstream ideologies and identities that traditionally define them.

‘Go Sheng’ uses a variety of different means to demystify, document, archive and grow Sheng language and culture. . Its most significant achievement, to date, has been the development of a Sheng dictionary, which contains over 3,900 words and continues to grow rapidly. It functions as a socially driven resource where registered members can add words or phrases which then get voted for by other members, before being accepted as authentic. Go Sheng also runs a website, a forum and various social media channels, which have  an online community of around 15000 active participants. As Kelvin Okoth, PR and Projects Officer at Go Sheng, says:

“Sheng has the potential to be with us for generations to come. As curators of this language and culture, we at Go Sheng hope to preserve this urban language and provide a platform for social dialogue among its speakers.”

Go Sheng will be presented at eLearning Africa 2015, which takes place at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on May 20^th – 22^nd.