Connecting the unconnected

On a recent trip to Nairobi, Kenya, I met up with Tonee Ndungu, co-founder of NAiLAB, an incubation laboratory for ICT businesses and start ups. One of the things we discussed in detail was how the internet can be harnessed to have a more ameliorative impact on the lives of ordinary Africans, rather than just acting as a medium for social networking.

We agreed that infrastructure has been a hindrance. Africa has the lowest number of internet users than any other region; with internet penetration at just four percent of the world’s total. Almost half the continents 63 million internet users are in Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco. Going online in Africa is more expensive, and unreliable, than any region in the world. A recent report by the STT Netherlands Study Centre for Technology Trends notes that, before 2009, residents of Nairobi paid up to US$5,000 per month to rent an internet connection equivalent to that of an average European urban household.

Significant progress has been made in recent years. In 2002, sub-Saharan Africa had access to one undersea fibre-optic data cable – the SAT3/SAFE which runs from Spain to South Africa with several landing points along the West African coast. By 2010, the continent had access to seven cables. A further three are scheduled for completion by the end of 2012, by which time Africa can expect 17 terabytes of online capacity.

New and better infrastructure is only part of the solution. Increasing internet penetration won’t automatically mean a greater proportion of people go online, or that the internet will become an increasingly valuable source of information for people to address everyday problems in business to agriculture, healthcare or at home. The rapid growth of internet penetration rates must be matched by concerted efforts to increase local – African – content online.

The majority of Africa’s internet accesses social media sites or adult material. The internet has failed to penetrate much beyond Africa’s urban middle classes, a reality that is hindering its development potential. Education and access are significant barriers. But most importantly, the internet is still not relevant to the majority of people’s lives in Africa. The content on the internet is mostly generated in English-speaking industrialised countries.

The questions that predominantly agrarian populations in Africa ask are not necessarily dissimilar to those an average European or American citizen would ask – but the answers are! Geography, law and culture differ remarkably between regions. The answers exist in Africa. Local knowledge is in abundance. The problem is that this information is not digitalised and readily available online. Unless the dearth of local African knowledge online is addressed, efforts to develop SMS search engines or website translation facilities will have limited impact. The impetus for this must come from both the top and the bottom.

Initiatives are underway. In 2010, Google launched Google Baraza, a community driven question and answer site, as a way of integrating more local knowledge into their search engines. Google Baraza follows a host of other Google products designed specifically for the African continent, including local language search engines, an Africa blog and Google Trader. But Google Baraza and similar products are only likely to have limited impact on localising digital content, largely because they only appeal to Africans who are already online.

More bottom up approaches are needed that tap into the knowledge of people who are not online. Map Kibera uses OpenSteepMap, an open-source online mapping website, to create the first public digital map of Africa’s largest informal settlement, Kibera. It not only records streets and alleyways, but important public goods – including schools, health facilities, religious institutions and water points. Crucially, the map was researched and constructed by local residents with an intimate knowledge of the settlement’s geography. Map Muthare, a project to map another of Nairobi’s large informal settlements is currently underway.

Mocality is Africa’s first business directory accessible through a mobile phone. Over the past year, agents have been scouring Nairobi recording and mapping the city’s small and medium-sized businesses. Each business recorded is allocated a web and mobile page detailing the services they offer, contact details and location. Small businesses in Nairobi are provided with a web presence, and are searchable via Google and the Mocality website.

These are just two examples. Efforts to increase African content on the internet are growing. Kenya’s ICT Board has been trying to encourage local entrepreneurs and businesses to build their web presence through digital content grants. But my point is that more of these initiatives are needed, and fast.

The internet is a public good, but a largely private service. People are required to pay to use the internet. The mere presence of cyber cafes and WAP enabled mobile phones will not entice the vast majority of Africans to go online, unless what they can access is relevant to their everyday lives. Development theorists have long held a lack of information as a principal source of underdevelopment. The source of this information is often far closer to home than many recognise.

Jonathan Bhalla

Research Manager – Africa Research Institute

The cans and can'ts of technology

In late 2010, I travelled to East Africa to explore the region’s budding technology industry. It was not just the growth of telecommunications that interested me, but the emergence of a new generation of technology bloggers and entrepreneurs who are busy designing mobile applications and web platforms to tackle everyday problems. Africans are not merely passive recipients of communication technologies; rather they are actively participating in the development of a new industry by building innovative, locally relevant, software and web platforms.

'The ubiquity of mobile phones is matched only by the ingenuity of their users'. African Affairs, August 2010

The creativity and ingenuity deployed in the development of telecommunications is indicative of a much wider shift in Africa towards more active participation in the global economy. Local innovations, such as Kenya’s Ushahidi, an online platform that maps real time crisis information, has proved to be a robust export and shown that African software developers are globally competitive. Users too have proved to be equally robust innovators. One only needs to look at Kenya’s flagship mobile banking facility, MPesa, to discover the resourcefulness of people who use the service for myriad purposes, whether sending money to rural relatives, paying for services and household utility bills, or purchasing groceries in local supermarkets.

The growth of mobile communication in Africa has received extensive coverage. But one of the consequences has been a great deal of hype about the potential of information technology to alleviate poverty. American economist Jeffrey Sachs championed mobiles phones as the ‘single most transformative technology for development’. Some have heralded the potential for One Laptop per Child to eliminate poverty through education. Others have touted mobile phones as the vehicle to raise rural incomes. The assumption in much of the rhetoric is that information technology is some sort of developmental panacea for Africa, and that it can provide a shortcut to more conventional methods of tackling poverty.

It can’t. Hard evidence to back up such grand claims is thin on the ground. While the notion that information technology can have a positive, lasting impact on African societies is no longer fanciful, much remains to be proved. In almost all instances where technology has been successfully harnessed to promote development, humans have played a far more important role than the technology. Kentaro Toyama, a researcher at the University of California is correct in asserting:

‘technology – no matter how well designed – is only a magnifier of human intent and capacity. It is not a substitute. If you have a foundation of competent, well intentioned people, then appropriate technology can amplify their capacity and lead to amazing achievements'.

Successful application of technology for development is seldom about the technology per se, but the way in which it is utilised by people and organisations to address specific development priorities.

The danger with overstating the development potential of information technology is that it obscures genuine insight into how technology can be best used to alleviate poverty in Africa. Understanding the limitations of technology is crucial when formulating effective policy and harnessing the potential of technology to promote development. It might be productive to establish clearly what technology can’t do for development rather than indulge in wishful thinking about what technology potentially can do.

In 2009, Africa Research Institute published Nursing the Future, which chronicles the evolution of an e-learning programme to provide Kenyan nurses with new knowledge and skills. The programme, run by AMREF in conjunction with the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK), uses rudimentary technology – desktop computers installed with the course material – to address the shortage of skills among frontline health workers.

Since 2007 the programme has trained 2000 nurses with a further 7000 currently enrolled. Previously, the NCK had the capacity to train a maximum of 150 nurses a year. These results could never have been achieved without the technology, however basic. But the computers were only effective because they were deployed within a programme that embraced local knowledge and institutions, addressed the needs of hard-pressed Kenyan nurses, and did not rely on sophisticated or expensive infrastructure.

People have achieved remarkable things with technology in Africa. But until initiatives like Kenya’s e-nursing programme start to proliferate, technology cannot be assumed to underwrite – guarantee – a ‘revolution’ in Africa’s development prospects. The challenge for technology entrepreneurs, business, NGOs and think tanks is to focus attention on clearly documenting what works – how and why – so lessons can be learned and experiences shared.

Jonathan Bhalla Research Manager, Africa Research Institute

Skills migration: from ‘drain’ to gain

The migration of health professionals from Africa in search of higher salaries, job security and career development is by no means new. The NHS has a long history of employing African health professionals. Most observers agree the so-called ‘Brain Drain’ comes at a significant loss to African health sectors, both financial and in terms of human capital. Others point to the long term benefits associated with international migration of skilled workers. A recent report by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) argues that developing countries benefit in kind from migration of skilled workers through remittances, improved trade links and as people return with new knowledge and experience.

A recent article in the Guardian newspaper argues that the UK’s 'one-way' migration policy discourages skilled African immigrants from returning to support the development of their native country, whether temporarily or permanently. The article, by a Nigerian doctor working in the NHS, sparked much debate in our office. While we all sympathised with his decision to leave Nigeria for the UK, one colleague found Mr Anya’s tone a little disingenuous – he said he was concerned about his country but the article focused entirely on his own needs. Another colleague suggested he wanted to ‘have his cake and eat it’ – he liked the idea of returning home but he wanted his status as a doctor to confer benefits that other immigrants would not be entitled to, namely the right to return to country and job.

Granted Mr Anya’s tone implied some selfishness, but he does raise a number of important issues which the Home Office would do well to consider. Most African health workers do not intend to move abroad permanently. There is a genuine will within the Diaspora to contribute to the development of their native country, but very few opportunities to do so. The UK’s visa framework is notoriously rigid. The Points Based System aims to select immigrants the economy needs most. If migrant workers want to return to their native country for longer than six months they risk compromising their visa or citizenship status in the UK.

In this sense, the aims of UK immigration policy are at odds with the aspirations of our £7 billion international development budget. To quote IPPR “there is almost no other area of UK policy which is so clearly international in its scope and yet where the sole objective is to maximise benefits to the UK”. A recent report by the British charity VSO argues for the UK to promote ‘circular migration’, by making provisions for a ‘pause’ in the citizenship journey for migrants workers wishing to share their skills in their native country. This is one of the key recommendations in the World Health Organisation and Commonwealth Codes of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.

In an era of global economic integration, it is neither feasible nor morally defensible to prevent qualified African professionals to seek employment opportunities abroad. But the majority of African countries continue to suffer from chronic shortages of health workers. Of the eight Millennium Development Goals agreed in 2000 those relating to the reduction child mortality and improvement of maternal health are the least likely to be met.

In the run-up to the 2010 general election Africa Research Institute argued that UK should dedicate a share of its aid budget – in proportion to the tax contribution of African processionals in Britain – to reduce the skills deficit in health, education and engineering. In times of fiscal austerity, a programme to encourage circular migration of skilled migrants would be a cost effective way to achieve an ambitious aid target. Skilled migrant workers should be able to take one or two year sabbaticals without having their visa status compromised.

Elections galore: quantity over quality?

Seven African countries are due to hold presidential or parliamentary elections over three months of 2010. Eight have already done so – nine if you count Somaliland, a state in all but recognition. With Kenya’s constitutional referendum, and ballots planned on new constitutions in Niger and Madagascar, more than one third of African nations will have held nationwide elections by the end of the year. Local elections have been organised in a handful more.

Strong on quantity, then, but what of quality? In most countries, voting was relatively well planned, free, and peaceful, and voter turnout was high. Rwanda’s presidential election, which took place in August 2010 was praised by election observers for being highly organised – electoral rolls reflected, by and large, the eligible voter population and there were no reports of people being unable to cast their ballot. In Kenya, the peaceful conduct of the constitutional referendum contrasted starkly with the violence of the 2007 presidential election. The result, lauded by the country’s former anti-corruption tsar John Githongo as an instance of “the ruled imposing their will on the rulers”, reflected widespread support for the democratic process.

Yet most of the elections which have taken place so far this year have fallen well short of ‘fair’. Incumbents have been the clear winners; in Togo, Sudan, Rwanda, and Burundi sitting presidents gained very comfortable majorities. Governing parties also won parliamentary elections in Ethiopia and Mauritius. In all these countries – with the exception of the Mauritius, number one on the Ibrahim Index of good governance – opposition leaders and parties were obstructed. Methods varied from the sophisticated, such as gerrymandering or the creation of ghost parties to confuse the electorate, to the blunt – arrest and intimidation.

Somaliland stood out from the crowd. Not only did the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia, and wannabe independent state, pull off a reasonably free and fair presidential election, but its defeated president actually relinquished power. No government of national unity for Somaliland - opposition leader Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud ‘Silanyo’ became the country’s third democratically elected president in June 2010, an achievement made all the more impressive given the ongoing civil war being waged in southern Somalia.

This and that

Voting gone techy

The Kenyan referendum for a new constitution on the 4th August has been the source of much debate, both within and outside Kenya. The legacy of factional violence that followed the disputed 2007 presidential elections is fresh in the minds of most Kenyans. But, contrary to some predictions, the ballot passed with few signs of disruption or unrest. The historic ‘yes vote’ brings an end to a twenty year struggle for constitutional reform, despite concerted opposition from former president Daniel arap Moi and the churches. The new constitution guarantees the introduction of a Bill of Rights, land reform and dual citizenship. Most significantly, parliamentary oversight of the president has been strengthened – a real milestone considering progress made in this area in neighbouring Tanzania’s Bunge. Interesting perspectives on the referendum from Kenyan bloggers can be found here.

Less attention, however, has been paid to the role of technology used during the referendum. A litmus test for the interim independent electoral commission of Kenya, the ballot saw the adoption of fingerprint recognition technology for voters who registered electronically, greatly speeding up the voting process. Some 20,750 polling stations were provided with mobile phones with data transfer capability to submit voting results to the tallying centre in Nairobi as they were verified. The unfolding results were displayed on a big screen in Nairobi.

The launch of the online platform Uchaguzi – Swahili for ‘choice’ or ‘election’ – is the latest development in election monitoring. Uchaguzi – adapted from the better known Ushadhidi platform – enabled ordinary Kenyans to text, email or tweet real time voting updates to a central server – whether instances of unrest, a hate speech or even a positive development. The results were displayed on an interactive map in real time, and reports sent to relevant election authorities and security services. You can watch a short video about Uchaguzi here.

Rwanda’s election

The run-up to the Rwandan elections sparked far more controversy than the actual polls. The murder of vice-president of the opposition Democratic Green Party, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, and the fatal shooting of Jean Leonard Rugambage, the acting editor of Umuvugizi newspaper, grabbed the headlines – and for good reason. But voting on 9th August came and went with little commotion. President Paul Kagame claimed a much anticipated landslide victory with 93% of the vote. The president’s rebuttal of accusations of intimidation and violence in the UK’s Financial Times can be read here.


Press freedom

In May, Patrick Smith at Africa Confidential wrote an interesting blog about press freedom in Africa. He argued that journalists in Africa are ‘under attack’, citing a spate of unresolved killings and disappearances of journalists in Cameroon, Nigeria Congo-Brazaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He calls for journalists' unions to dedicate a fixed percentage of their incomes to support legal and medical expenses journalists in Africa.

Recent developments in Zimbabwe and South Africa offer an interesting comparison. In May, an important milestone was reached when the Zimbabwe Media Commission granted publishing licences to four daily newspapers – most noticeably the Daily News, Zimbabwe’s leading newspaper before it was bombed and then outlawed in 2003. Although press freedom in Zimbabwe still ranks as the lowest in Southern Africa, an important precedent has been set.

In South Africa, by contrast, debate has raged over the proposed Protection of Information Bill, currently before parliament. The bill increases the power of ministers to classify information – such as "the protection and preservation of all things owned or maintained for the public by the State" – as top secret. State run utilities or government contracts could be exempt from scrutiny. Leading critics include South Africa’s Bar Council and Zwelinzima Vavi, the secretary-general of the Council of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

Welcome to the Africa Research Institute blog. ARI is a non-partisan think tank based in London with a mission to draw attention to ideas that have worked in Africa, and to find new ideas where needed. Please visit our new website where you will find all of our publications free to download. You can also find us on facebook.

Our aim is for this blog to become a useful resource for our friends, colleagues and followers. Here you’ll be able to keep up to date with our current research, here our thoughts on interesting new stories and read our weekly African blog digest. But we also want to hear from you. We hope this blog can become a forum for people to share thoughts, ideas and resources – whether a link to a news story, video or event.

New website - new blog!

Watch this space - the new ARI blog is coming soon...