The Bloomsbury International Development Centre

We should keep an eye (google) on The Bloomsbury International Development Centre due to launch early 2007 this is a collaboration between:
- Birkbeck
- Institute of Education
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Royal Veterinary College
- School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
- School of Pharmacy

which aims to:
- facilitate high quality and relevant interdisciplinary research between staff of the various colleges and other partners
- develop new teaching programmes, with a focus on postgraduate and continuing education
- inform national and international policies on development by generating and synthesizing appropriate evidence and working with policymakers to promote linkages between research, policy, and practice
- build capacity in low- and middle-income countries to address the needs of partner higher education and research institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and government departments

From Matatu to the Masai via mobile

The BBC Newsnight report on mobile phone usage in Kenya (story - video). "Newsnight Geek Week 2.0 - Mobile phones in Africa are helping to provide better services, economic growth and even democratic rights."

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have developed a number of online agricultural education resources which may be of use. These include a variety of Moodle courses on, for example Agricultural Research in Dry Areas.

TESSA - Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

The TESSA project website is now up. "TESSA is a research and development programme creating 'open content' multimedia resources and course design guidance for teachers and teacher educators in Sub-Saharan Africa." This could be useful for content for any educational work.

Can blogs shrink the planet?

Read a Wired report from the a Global Blogging Conference in Delhi. Describes global blogging and the use of blogs for campaigning, justice, shrinking the planet....

WATER - an example project 20km from Kambu

The Usalama Water Project blog aims to bring clean water to a village near Kibwezi and not far from Kambu (more or less here in the middle - kambu towards the bottom right). Engineers without borders (usa) are helping plan and build a pipeline tapping into the existing Mtito Andei pipeline which is 4km away. Obviously we are not going to lay a pipe and that is probably not what is needed anyway but the MDI people might be able to learn/start something useful researching from a blog like this. Note the use of the blog for publicity and accepting donations via paypal.

Want to watch a film about the project?