How can so many people be hungry when farmers produce enough food, at least in theory, to feed every person on the planet?
The answers are complex and involve everything from American farm politics and African corruption to war, poverty, climate change and drought, which is now the single most common cause of food shortages on the planet. more
If anyone's into Dr. Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace prize winner "tree lady" from Africa, i just did a little side gig for WorldLearning editing and putting up a good interview their president got last time she was here in Brattleboro. She's a great talker, I didn't even need any edits (at least not on their budget) except the beginning and end!
Interview on channel: http://www.youtube.com/worldlearning
Video source, with YouTube's new "call to action" lower third popup 10 seconds in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOnYVeaETps
- Caleb Clark
~ Wk: http://gradcenter.marlboro.edu/academics/mat/faculty
~ Hm: http://www.plocktau.com
Kenya has abolished sales tax on computers and in last week’s budget ended the sales tax on new mobile phones. more
'Africa has new trading partners. It doesn’t have to grovel to the west' more
Includes template for partnerships, on open source model, drawn up by lawyer and anthropologist. Intended for nontraditional legal or commercial agreements.
Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai joins a campaign to plant trees to offset climate change - which especially affects African countries like her native Kenya. "In Kenya for example, if the Government directs every farmer to plant 25 trees in every acre of land, our forest cover would increase from the current 1.7 per cent to 10 per cent which is the globally accepted minimum." Full story here.
This article discusses the economic aspects of growing maize.
Most Kenyan farmers still have faith in maize - so much so that 90 percent of them regularly invest in this crop. About 75 percent of Kenya's farmers are small-scale producers, and more than 70 percent of farmers are women
The use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has been controversial in the Kenyan maize sector.
In preparation for abolishing fees, beginning Jan. 2008. This initiative by Kenya's president has been backed financially by the IMF. Read more here.
Namibian Technology and Education initiative (advised by The Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative gesci). Identified as exemplar by Astrid Dufborg (director of gesci) at CAL 07.
GESCI was started by the United Nations ICT task force. It aims at an integrated, end-to-end system which includes content and support. The initiative is well on its way to meet its goal of three to four 'impactful partnerships' with national/regional initiatives, launching in Bolivia, Namibia, Ghana and India. In each case, GESCI consults with government ministry on an ICT and education strategy, projecting long-term costs and providing computer, internet access and 'quality content'. They do not fund these large-scale initiatives, and in each case have yet to raise any funds.
"The Ministry of Education has developed a National ICT Strategy for Education and Training. This Strategy is a comprehensive roadmap has been developed through a stakeholder mobilization from the public sector, private sector, civil society and development partners and spearheaded by the Kenya ICT Trust Fund to guide the Education sector in the adoption and use of appropriate ICT technologies."
See The National ICT Strategy for Education and Training or The Strategy.pdf
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