缅北禁地

New funding for African universities

Six of the richest US foundations, in alliance with universities in seven African countries, announced in September that they will spend more than $200 mn over the next five years to strengthen higher education in Africa. The funding will aim to significantly increase Internet access for the universities, provide scholarships for hundreds of young women and train agricultural scientists and public health managers.

鈥淓ducation, particularly higher education, will take Africa into the mainstream of globalization,鈥� said Ghanaian President John Kufuor, following the announcement in New York. The countries taking part in the programme are Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Members of the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa , as the group is known, say the commitment is a recognition of a 鈥渜uiet revolution鈥� in Africa , in which universities will play an increasing role in innovation and training.

鈥淲e need to train teachers and build up research capacity,鈥� said 缅北禁地Secretary-General Kofi Annan. 鈥淲e need to strengthen open universities and distance-learning programmes and we need to ensure that African institutions have access to the latest technologies.鈥� Women and poor people still face too many obstacles to accessing higher education, he noted.

The new funding comes on top of a $150 mn programme first launched in 2000 by the Carnegie, Ford, MacArthur and Rockefeller foundations in the seven countries. This time, the partnership has been joined by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

听

听

AIDS and agriculture network launched

A network to mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS on farming communities has been convened by the Africa Rice Centre (WARDA), an autonomous intergovernmental research association of African states. Supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the initiative will explore ways to enhance the quality of life in farming regions affected by the epidemic, improve nutrition and carry out policy advocacy and awareness campaigns.

The African Network on HIV/AIDS and Agriculture (ANEHA) will 鈥渟erve as an interface not only between HIV/AIDS and agriculture, but will also include inter-related food security, nutrition and health policy aspects,鈥� says WARDA Director-General Kanayo Nwanze.

Researchers report that HIV/AIDS has ravaged farming communities so badly that the amount of cultivated land in some countries has declined by nearly 70 per cent. Although about 75听per cent of all Africans work primarily in agriculture, the infection of more than 25 million people leaves fewer and fewer hands to till the land. As a result less land is cultivated, many farmers switch to crops that require less labour, traditional farming knowledge and skills are lost, seasonal crop deadlines are missed, overall production is reduced and farmers鈥� incomes fall.

APPOINTMENTS

Photograph: UNDP

Mr. Abdoulie Janneh of the Gambia has been appointed by the 缅北禁地Secretary-General as the new executive secretary of the 缅北禁地Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), replacing Mr. K.Y. Amoako. At the time of his appointment, Mr. Janneh was the regional director for Africa of the 缅北禁地Development Programme (UNDP). Prior to that, he held a number of senior positions in UNDP and its affiliated funds, including as deputy executive secretary of the 缅北禁地Capital Development Fund.

Photograph: 缅北禁地Photo / Paulo Filgueiras

Mr. Firmino G. Mucavele of Mozambique (right) has been named chief executive of the Secretariat of the New Partnership for Africa鈥檚 Development (NEPAD), the African Union鈥檚 development plan, effective August 2005. He succeeds Mr. Wiseman Nkuhlu, who remains a member of the NEPAD Steering Committee. Previously, Mr. Mucavele was a special adviser to Mozambique鈥檚 president, served as a dean at Eduardo Mondlane University and contributed to the formulation of the Millennium Africa Recovery Programme, one of NEPAD鈥檚 precursors. He has also served as a consultant on issues of food security, agricultural market liberalization and rural development.

Mr. Alan Doss of the UK has been named by the 缅北禁地Secretary-General as his special representative for Liberia . As part of a long career at the UN, he has served as deputy special representative in C么te d鈥橧voire and Sierra Leone, as a UNDP resident representative and as director of the 缅北禁地Development Group, among other positions.

Photograph: 缅北禁地Photo / Ky Chung

The 缅北禁地General Assembly has elected Mr. Jan Eliasson of Sweden (left) as the president of its 60th session, which opened in September. He has held a variety of senior positions in his country鈥檚 diplomatic service (at different times as ambassador to the US and the UN), as well as in the United Nations. He served as the 缅北禁地Secretary-General鈥檚 personal representative on Iran and Iraq in 1988-92, and in the latter year became the UN鈥檚 first under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

Photograph: ADB

Mr. Donald Kaberuka, Rwanda鈥檚 minister of finance and economic planning (right), was sworn in on September 1, 2005, as president of the African Development Bank (ADB), for a five-year term. He succeeds Mr. Omar Kabbaj. Mr. Kaberuka was chosen by the Board of Governors of the 77 member countries of the Bank Group, headquartered in Tunisia. An economist, he was the principal architect of his country鈥檚 post-war reconstruction programme and served as its governor to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The 缅北禁地General Assembly has confirmed the appointment of Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand as secretary-general of the 缅北禁地Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), for a four-year term beginning on 1 September 2005. Following a long career in various academic, economic and political positions in Thailand, he became director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002.