African Studies Blog

This comprehensive review by the Population Council  covers topics such as the characteristics of sexual and gender-based violence, characteristics of survivors of sexual violence, medical and psychosocial management of survivors, forensic and judicial aspects of sexual violence and developing institutional and community linkages. Also includes a comphrehensive bibliography on the subject.

Read the full text 

Africa was featured prominently in the news this week due to Secretary of State Hilary Clintons’s seven nation tour of the continent.  During the trip she met with rape survivors from Congo’s war, scolded Kenyan politicians for failing to put on trial the instigators of political violence, toured a refugee camp and talked about the oil business with Nigerian leaders. Here is a selection of articles in the newspapers this week.

A piece in the Washington Post titled In Nigeria Sharia fails to deliver discusses the disappointment of the people in Nigeria’s mostly Muslim northern states in the Islamic legal system or Sharia laws that was introduced when military rule ended.  The people had believed politicians’ promises that it would end decades of corruption and pillaging by civilian and military rulers.  According to the article this utopia did not happen and the residents find that the poor are still poor and miserable and politicians are still rich.

In another article in the Washington Post,  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo condemns attacks including rapes on civilians in eastern Congo and calls for the prosecution of soldiers and militiamen who engage in such attacks. She announced $17 million in new aid to provide medical help for victims of sexual violence and improve security in the region.

In an interesting article about Ghana in the New York Times writer Laban Carrick Hill describes vividly her experiences in Cape Coast.  The appealing culture of Ghana, the people, the food all combine to provide a joyous African experience.

The New York Times on Thursday described Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s visit to Liberia and her support of President Johnson Sirleaf who has faced criticism of late for her role during the country’s armed conflict of 1989-2003.

Hilary Clinton wrapped up her seven nation trip to Africa with a stop in Cape Verde, the New York Times reported in Friday’s paper.  The article states that in recent years, the country has had a string of democratic elections and surging economic output, with an average 5.7 percent growth from 1996 to 2006.

Oxfam an NGO based in the United Kingdom published this report detailing the impact of climate change on livelihoods in Malawi.  The report outlines the ways in which people are adapting to these changes. Here are some of the recommendations:

Recommendations for community level:

• the foundation of any initiative to address climate change hinges on communities being aware of the issues, owning the process of adaptation and having the capacity to undertake and maintain adaptation – there must be wider supportive political and institutional frameworks
• women in Malawi bear the greatest burdens from climate change so it is crucial that their participation is made central to adaptation efforts
• local sustainable environmental and natural resource management are essential in order to reduce vulnerability whether caused by climate change or by environmental degradation – these should be strengthened within adaptation and also Disaster Risk Reduction programmes
• it is important to ensure that initiatives to address climate change are equally integrated with the
  promotion and diversification of sustainable livelihoods.

Recommendations for community-based organisations and NGOs:

• CSOs and INGOs should facilitate awareness and capacity-building around climate change, in their
  staff, their partners, government and other organisations, and in the communities which they serve
• advocacy is required, aimed at the Malawian government, to take it up its role in leadership and coordination, and towards industrialised countries to push for a reduction in their carbon emissions.

Recommendations for government:

• strengthen institutional mechanisms for more effective co-ordination of climate change adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction programmes – establish budgetary allocations to finance further climate change initiatives. All these efforts must involve poor communities and civil society
• strengthen linkages between the Environmental Affairs department and the Department of Disaster
  Management Affairs – include developing a methodology for harmonised vulnerability and adaptation assessment
• agriculture and related activities should get priority in climate related research – need to strengthen  the capacity of the Meteorological Department to improve both long-term climate modelling and regular, short-term weather forecasting and dissemination in order to give farmers the information that they need

in view of the current round of crucial intergovernmental negotiations towards a post-2012 regime, the government should immediately strengthen its investment in capacity-building its national relegation and diplomatic corps to join with other Southern governments to press for emissions reductions and new mechanisms to ensure flows of new, additional, sufficient and predictable finance for adaptation in poor countries and communities

Read the full text

This article discusses the future for male circumcision as an HIV preventative measure in Africa pointing to a change in strategy for public health officials who are now looking at male circumcision as a key weapon against HIV/AIDS.  Here is an abstract from ELDIS.

Public health officials are now arguing that circumcision of men should be a key weapon in the fight against infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Africa. Recent studies have shown that circumcision reduces infection rates by 50 to 60 percent among heterosexual African men. This article in the New England Journal of Medicine examines the past research and future obstacles associated with introducing circumcision as a preventative measure. The authors discuss the results from previous randomised trials which suggest that circumcision reduced the rate of HIV infection among heterosexual men by 60 percent. Researchers have also found that circumcision provides increased protection against the human papillomavirus, herpes simplex virus, syphilis, and chancroid.

The authors highlight how most people involved in scaling up adult male circumcision recognise that the surgery is a costly endeavour and a socially complex intervention that may compromise other public health priorities. Reaching women through other prevention methods is also important because there is no direct evidence to date that circumcision reduces the risk of transmission from men to women. The article concludes that although circumcision has increasing support from researchers, donors, and politicians, its status as a non–behaviour-based intervention may ultimately be its biggest obstacle. The scale up of circumcision will require strong political backing, adequate funding, and leaders to champion the cause to ensure that it is a safe, low-cost option available throughout Africa.

Read the full text

This book edited by Udesh Pillay, Richard Tomlinson and Orli Bass assesses the development impacts of the 2010 world cup in South Africa focusing on urban impacts and African legacy. Here is an abstract from ELDIS.

The FIFA World Cup is thought to be the biggest sport and media event in the world. It is a hugely profitable event for FIFA through the sale of television rights and sponsorship deals. The same, however, cannot be said of host countries and cities – economic projections are invariably erroneous, overestimating the benefits and understating the costs. In light of the South African government’s intention to leverage the 2010 World Cup to assist in promoting economic development and halving unemployment by 2014, and given the project 30bn Rand South Africa will spend on the event, the debate and uncertain benefits are issues of great consequence. This book describes the build up to the event and assesses the development impacts of the 2010 World Cup, focusing on urban impacts, the debates and probably African legacy.

The significant opportunity for South Africa in hosting the 2010 World Cup lies in contradicting commonly held representations of Africa by utilising the event to project a contemporary, reinvigorated image of Africa, and through celebrating African culture and identity. Moreover, there is potential to destabilise notions of Afro-pessimism through demonstrating that Africans can successfully manage the World Cup.

Previous sporting events in South Africa, most notably the hosting of the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the winning of the 2007 World Cup, have had a cohesive effect on identity and a positive impact on the image of the country. Yet in some ways this remains a transient moment and its legacy is mythical rather than practical. A worsening economic outlook, inflation, rising interest rates, fuel hikes and xenophobic riots have somewhat eclipsed the positive impact of previous events. Notwithstanding these exceptions, opportunity does still exist to mobilise the World Cup in order to tell different, more meaningful and contemporary stories about African life and experience. If a legacy is to be left in this regard, the potential to destabilise common stereotypes and Africa and Afro-pessimism should not be underestimated.

Read the full text