West Africa’s Democratic Evolution

Kofi Akosah-Sarpong in GhanaWeb:

A democratic consciousness informed by West Africans’ gloomy history is helping to nurture the region’s democracy. The fundamental theme is using democracy to address development challenges in a region with high unemployment, large number of restless ethnic groups, dangerously bulging youth, never-ending poverty, and certain cultural inhibitions that entangle progress...In the past 20 years or so, the intellectual climate of West Africa, encouraged by the international community and diasporan West Africans, is changing and the beginnings of deliberately thought-out reform movements for democracy is emerging. In the face of West Africa’s murky political history, the contending issues are whether West Africa should adopt Western democratic liberalism or democracy brewed from within West Africa’s history and cultural traditions. Western liberal democracy is cooked in Western cultural context with all its attendant limitations. While West Africa may borrow from the West, it has to be blended with the West African culture. In Nigerian political scientist Claude Ake’s Democracy and Development in Africa, he argued, “Even at its best, liberal democracy is inimical to the idea of the people having effective decision-making power. The essence of liberal democracy is precisely the abolition of popular power and replacement of popular sovereignty with the rule of law.”

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In Somaliland, less money has brought more democracy

Nick Eubank writing in the Guardian:

Somaliland was part of Somalia until 1991, when it seceded during the country's civil war. When Somaliland first declared independence, its government was built around a single clan and lacked accountable political institutions. Business leaders eventually agreed to provide funds, but not until the government agreed to develop representative and accountable political institutions (a concession that politicians made only out of necessity, as it weakened their own grasp on power). In one notable incident, the government was forced to implement democratic reforms in exchange for tax revenues from Somaliland's main port. These revenues total less than $30m a year – a fraction of the more than $100m the government would have received from aid organisations if Somaliland had been eligible for international assistance. It is difficult to imagine that the owners of the port would have been able to exact the same concessions if the government had other funding options. As a result of these negotiations over tax revenue, Somaliland has become an exceptional democracy. It has held multiple presidential, parliamentary and district-level elections. It has seen multiple peaceful handovers of power, including to a minority clan. It even survived a presidential election that was decided by an 80-vote margin without resorting to violence.

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The importance of Funding our own Movements

Sarah Mukasa in Pambazuka:

Image of Sarah Mukasa

Philanthropy in Africa has become an area of increasing interest in the past 10 or more years. A key focus for interrogation is the manifestation of philanthropy in the African context - its areas of strength and weakness. Another is how to build on the traditions of philanthropy in Africa to attain stronger institutional processes that scale up localized forms of giving and ground these in principles of social justice, equality, peace and sustainable development. Africans are challenging the notion that Africa is purely a ‘donor recipient’ continent and instead are pointing to the rich traditions of giving and philanthropic practice in Africa – which in many instances have been the mainstay of entire communities.
Whilst it is known that philanthropy is an age-old practice in Africa, there is little recognition of the contributions it has made in developing and sustaining communities. In Africa today, much of the giving takes place in familial and informal community networks responding often to immediate/ welfare concerns. Burial societies, individual support to the payment of school fees and, building of community facilities are examples of philanthropy that can be found in many variations on the continent. Religious organizing has also formed a critical avenue for much of the more formal and institutionalised mechanisms for philanthropy, with programmes driven by local actors providing a range of services including education, health services and feeding programmes...[continue reading]

How Nigeria gave Birth to Extremism

From Salisu Suleiman:

A few years ago, former Central Bank Governor ‘Comical' Chukwuma Soludo reeled out the results of studies which clearly indicated that the north east geopolitical region of Nigeria was the poorest and least developed. Is there any coincidence with the fact that the same region has now become the haven of extremist groups posing serious security threats to the entire country? Why are we seeing almost daily attacks and loss of lives and property from Bauchi, Gombe to Maiduguri?
That Nigeria as a country is facing unprecedented political, social and economic crises is not in doubt. While each state has specific challenges, the north east region faces the risk of disintegration from the activities of extremist groups that seek to bring about violent change. The role of the region's political elite and fraudulent governors who have systematically narrowed the economic and political space to the exclusion of the majority, who wallow in poverty, unemployment, insecurity, cannot be discounted. Taking advantage of youth unemployment, the Gombe State government supported the ‘kallare' group; Bauchi State gave tacit support to the ‘sara suka', while the Borno government openly related with the ‘ecomog' group which directly or indirectly metamorphosed into the ‘boko haram'.

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Gaddafi’s Demise, a Lesson for the African Union and Dictators

Jacob Sax Conteh writing in Cocorioko

After months of diplomacy led by President Koroma and others, it was the French that finally backed the forces loyal to Alassane Qattara, the legitimate leader of the country, to snuff the illogical and pompous Laurent Gbagbo from power. When the Libyan conflict started six months ago and the liberation fighters took over Benghazi, instead of taking an active role to mediate, the Union simply wanted the freedom fighter to surrender to Gaddafi. That made AU representatives very unpopular throughout the conflict. For Sierra Leoneans, the fall of Gaddafi should bring out celebration from all quarters. For years, the Libyan dictator has been meddling with Sierra Leone. During the Siaka Stevens regime, the rogue Libyan leader fermented trouble in Freetown when he saturated the city with his infamous Green Book and called for the overthrow of the government. Later, it was Gaddafi that trained Sierra Leonean terrorists Foday Sankoh, Sam Bockarie and Issa Sesay to cause unfathomable atrocities in Sierra Leone. To cover his tracts, the flamboyant bizarre leader visited Sierra Leone after the war and donated rice and cash to the defunct SLPP regime.

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Revolutionary tips from Tunisia's Badiaa Bouhrizi

Maha ElNabawi in The Daily News Egypt:

Subtle seeds of change have started to blossom through the liberation of artistic expression, since former Tunisian president Zine Al-Abdine Bin Ali’s ousting in January.Cue Badiaa Bouhrizi — the underground Tunisian singer/songwriter whose Ethno-musical positions reflect passionate socio-political convictions and the dilemma of personal freedom.
Bouhrizi, recently sat down with Daily News Egypt to discuss her music, politics, and the absolute importance of the free spirit.
“I believe every free spirit is a revolutionary at heart and I want to express this feeling through my music and keep my spirit alive,” said Bouhrizi. “You see, the free spirit refuses oppression — only fear can kill the spirit.
“To have a free spirit, one must go beyond fear. No one person can take away your eternal freedom; they can only convince you to take your own.”
There is a passionate conviction that fuels Bouhrizi’s message. Her younger brother Khaled, also a musician, was imprisoned three years ago under alleged drug charges. Khaled had been gaining increased scrutiny from Ministry of Interior for his politically charged rap lyrics that directly addressed the corruption of Bin Ali’s regime, leading him to seven-year in detainment...[continue reading]

Think Different

Here's to the misfits...the crazy ones...the people who change the world. via Oreilly

Why Factory Asia beats Factory South Africa

Barry D Wood writing in Moneyweb:

“Among the non-western economic blocs, East Asia has the highest intraregional trade, comprising largely intermediate goods, underpinning the region’s global trade and competitiveness agenda, and attracting ample FDI. In other words, Factory Asia has worked well. Factory Southern Africa has not. Southern Africa remains the least integrated region in the world despite the presence of a customs union and a free trade area.” Report co-author Sandeep Mahajan says a successful Factory Southern Africa requires dynamic trade based on nimble networks of multi-national firms. Formal and informal trade barriers have to be removed. “South Africa,” he says, “needs to open up, as well as integrate its own rural and advanced regions.” Current policy, he says, “tends towards mercantilism, at the cost of much larger gains from trade based on the principles of comparative advantage."

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via Trade Africa

Seeds of Hope for Somalia

Iman in the HP:

courtesy of NNDB

Somali people like me are angry, frustrated and heartbroken, but we don't give in to despair. Somalia's problems are systemic, complex and interwoven, not susceptible to easy, instant fixes. Yet we must not sit down and do nothing in the face of misery. We must plant seeds of hope, so that the Somali people may begin to re-envision how food security is linked to a durable peace and respect for human rights...[continue reading]

Minimum Wage Distractions

In Think Africa, Lucky Idedia on the unintended consequences of Nigeria's new minimum wage:

To pay the new wage, some states like Lagos will increase taxes or devise new taxes to increase their internally generated revenue. The ripple will hit the informal sector—the biggest employment sector in Nigeria. A market woman in Lagos, struggling to meet her tax responsibility in addition to other inflated costs, has no choice but to increase the price of tomato, fish, or garri. The same goes for commercial bus operators, and landlords. The load eventually falls on consumers, and that includes labour.

Organized Labour should focus on meaningful solutions:

Living conditions cannot be improved simply by increasing wages. Using the national union, workers should fight the cankerworm that chews holes in the pockets where that wage – however small – ends up. Organized labour has a lot of leverage, and is selling it cheap on the minimum wage issue. But they could really exert effective pressure for far-reaching change. This is not to say that Nigerian workers do not need a living wage. But there would be bigger and better rewards to be had if labour campaigned on a much broader range of governance issue. That way, they can ensure the government implements policies capable of improving the economy and sustaining a genuine living wage.

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A League of Arab Democracies

Larbi Sadiki writing in Aljazeera

Regionally, the hearts of most Arabs pounded for the courage of the Libyan people. Now the League of Arab States has a rare opportunity to reconstruct into a League of Arab Democracies. Not long ago the Saudis invited the Jordanians and the Moroccans to join the Gulf Co-operation Council. It is still not clear what motivated such a move, other than monarchical affinity. The moment right now favours democratic synergy. Nabil Al-Arabi, the Arab League chief, should be inspired by the Libyan people's coming victory to restructure the organisation he presides over, even if he creates a second chamber for the purpose of the greater sake of co-operation among the Arab world's new democracies. Libyans did not begin the Arab revolution. However, they are about to close one link in the Arab revolutionary chain: three neighbouring countries with a total population of 100m Arabic-speaking people, covering a surface area of more than 3m square kilometres, are free. That is how it must have felt when the colonists left Algeria to join Morocco or Tunisia, or when the free officers came, one by one, to ditch monarchical rule in several Arab states. The three countries should experiment with open borders and the free movement of people, goods, and ideas to show that the dawn of Arab democracies will not have any semblance to the era of Gaddafi, Mubarak and Ben Ali. Mr Al-Arabi has a golden opportunity to make this a reality. Just as Arab youth are steadfast in the struggle for freedom and democracy, their elder statesmen should meet them halfway in helping reconstruct a better Arab world.

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Quick Hits

In Botswana researchers record traditional remedies
Africans are democrats
Spending time with the African traders of Chungking Mansions
Jugaad and its Relationship to Innovation
Immigrant entrepreneurs "Issac Osei in NYC"
Amy Lockwood on the donating or dumping discussion

Becoming a Local Food Content Activist

Ndidi Nwuneli founder of AACE Foods writes:

Image courtesy of Alhaji's Groove

In my current status as a local food content activist and food processor, I have become a keen observer of the activities of restaurants, caterers and food processing companies. Sadly, my observations reinforce the Minister’s assertions – at least 60% and in some cases, up to 90% of the food on our shelves and in our tummies is imported. For example, I visited a local restaurant outside Lagos early in the month and decided to run the same test. I asked the chef for the sources of the different food being offered to the clients. What surprised me was that in a relatively “local” joint, owned by Nigerians and focused on catering to our local taste buds, the menu was tilted in the favor of imported products or products that were imported and repackaged in Nigeria. Interestingly, the chef did not seem to give much thought to the issue of the source of food. In her mind, she was looking for the most convenient and cost effective options. When I asked her why the restaurant used imported instead of local chicken, she simply said that “they purchased it in the local market.”

African Summer?

Calestous Juma writing in the FP:

The sudden pace at which revolutionary fires swept across North Africa took the world by surprise: It was a hopeful Arab Spring for many. The rest of the continent, however, appears to be experiencing a long African Summer characterized by incremental democratic change and slow but steady economic growth. True, there have been protests in a few African countries since the onset of the so-called Arab Spring, but the results have been mixed. Recent protests in Malawi and Senegal have been portrayed as signs that revolution might be catching on, but similar attempts in Zimbabwe were quickly suppressed and the country appears to have returned to its unsteady and oppressive state...[continue reading]

Medical Equipment "Donations Hurt"

Are African medical charities taking note of this? Robert Malkin's contention is that ""if you have donated medical equipment you have probably hurt the recipients" local innovation, not handouts.Tina Rosenberg however believes that we can "make medical donations work". We take the view that they don't, if anything they stifle local innovation and encourage dependency:

via IIH

The Manufacturing Imperative

Is Africa listening? Dani Rodrik writing in Al Jazeera:

We may live in a post-industrial age, in which information technologies, biotech, and high-value services have become drivers of economic growth. But countries ignore the health of their manufacturing industries at their peril. High-tech services demand specialised skills and create few jobs, so their contribution to aggregate employment is bound to remain limited. Manufacturing, on the other hand, can absorb large numbers of workers with moderate skills, providing them with stable jobs and good benefits. For most countries, therefore, it remains a potent source of high-wage employment. Indeed, the manufacturing sector is also where the world's middle classes take shape and grow. Without a vibrant manufacturing base, societies tend to divide between rich and poor - those who have access to steady, well-paying jobs, and those whose jobs are less secure and lives more precarious. Manufacturing may ultimately be central to the vigour of a nation's democracy.

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The Self-Help Project | Africans saving Africa

Jamie Doran writing in Al Jazeera:

Ethiopia is a poor country, with most of its population living in what is termed 'extreme poverty' (accepted definition: less than $1 per day). But Ethiopia should not be a poor country; large areas are lush green with plenty of opportunity for cultivation. The key is to direct aid in such a way that it avoids sporadic development and, instead, achieves long-term success through integrating all of the requirements a community needs to thrive. In other words, what's the point of building a school when the kids are too hungry, or sick with malaria, to attend? You need to provide them with food, health care and education at the same time. This is only part of it, but you get the idea. The fancy phrase is 'holistic development' and it's not pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking; I saw it with my own eyes during my visit: large swathes of land being irrigated to produce cash crops which, in turn, could be sold at market (the tradition had been to grow maize, more maize and more still); schools being built, new health centres, savings and lending schemes allowing investment in rudimentary tools which revolutionise production and, crucially, food storage to ensure that if the rains do not arrive one year there's enough food to feed their families. In short, a major success story run entirely by Ethiopians themselves. A group called Self Help Africa runs the project in the Sodo region I visited, along with others in various parts of the country. To see such immense pride on the faces of the farmers planting their new crops, on the children walking to their new schools and, particularly, on the women who run the savings and lending schemes is a memory which simply doesn't fade. Whole communities coming together, hundreds of men, women and children digging ditches, building dams: millions of gallons of rainwater which had previously crashed off the mountainside, dragging topsoil from the land below until eventually pouring uselessly into the river and being lost forever, now being stopped in its tracks. That rainwater now seeps into the ground, raising the water table.

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Flipped Eye Publishing

Founded by Nii Ayikwei Parkes:

...Flipped Eye publishes original poetry and prose on a not-for-profit model. The not-for-profit approach has allowed flipped eye to focus on developing new writers with potential, thus facilitating the emergence of truly unique literary talent. We are dedicated to producing consistently high quality fiction, non-fiction and related products, with a focus on poetry and authors who are comfortable with a live audience. This means that, while we seek to publish high quality literature, our authors are signed, not only based on how well they write, but also how well they communicate with an audience. This is because we consider conversation to be the oldest and most enduring form of literary creation.

Watch their 8th year anniversary video after the jump.

Quick Hits

Corruption still threatens democracy in South Africa listen here

Egypt needs science powered by people, not big projects
The Scandal of the “Ill-gotten Gains”
Struggle Over the River Nile

Kitintale Skateboard Park

Over at Core 77:

We caught wind (or should we say air) on an incredible build project benefiting the Uganda Skateboard Union in Kitintale, a working-class suburb of the city of Kampala. The neighborhood is home to East Africa's first skate park and has become the ongoing subject of photographer Yann Gross' series, Kitintale Skates. As Gross explains:

Image courtesy of Yann Gross

As a skateboarder myself, I started to document the birth of this subculture since the early beginning and will follow its expansion, influenced by the Ugandan daily life context and African culture. For the last few years I have been going back to Uganda for two months every year to document the growing scene. This subculture grows every year and the idea of the project is to document the evolution in the next decade.

Northern Nigeria's Militant Insurgency-Boko Haram

Murray Last in the Royal African Society:

Political assassination is new neither in Nigeria nor in the history of Islam (nor indeed in Christian histories). But, in the large northern-Nigerian metropolis of Maiduguri, Boko Haram’s current campaign of assassination, both to intimidate systematically all opposition to it and to revenge itself on the authorities who sought to destroy it in 2009, is indeed new. I refer to the group as “Boko Haram” (or BH) because “Boko Haram”, though that is just its Hausa nickname, has now come to signify more than just a set of unconventional religious ideas. It is important to view the current campaign as both political and religious; though there is a religious dimension, it would be wrong to write off BH as religious ‘cranks’. Theirs is also an insurgency against the local Nigerian state which, in the eyes of BH, is secular (or at least not properly Muslim)...[continue reading]

"There Are Still too Many Non-Africans Speaking for Africa"

Think Africa in conversation with Wiebe Boer chief executive of the Tony Elumelu Foundation:

What was the inspiration behind the Tony Elumelu Foundation?

After retiring from UBA Mr Elumelu wanted to give back something to the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders in Africa. Tony’s story is the kind you don’t often hear. He was born and raised here in Nigeria, where he did all his education and has spent all his career, and he has still been able to be very successful and build a pan-African business that’s worth several billion. His vision is that if you can remove the obstacles that are preventing other African businesses from emerging, then a lot more companies like UBA can be built in Africa, become pan-African and help transform the continent.
The Foundation is quite unique in that although there are a growing number of foundations in Africa founded by Africans, we are African-founded, African-funded, in Africa and pan-African focused. I don’t actually know of any other like that. And part of what we want to do is set the policy so that if people set up foundations like this they get some kind of tax benefit.

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African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World

An illuminating historical exhibition at the NYPL:

Image courtesy of the NYPL

Over the course of nearly 20 centuries, millions of East Africans crossed the Indian Ocean and its several seas and adjoining bodies of water in their journey to distant lands, from Arabia and Iraq to India and Sri Lanka.
Called Kaffir, Siddi, Habshi, or Zanji, these men, women and children from Sudan in the north to Mozambique in the south Africanized the Indian Ocean world and helped shape the societies they entered and made their own.
Free or enslaved, soldiers, servants, sailors, merchants, mystics, musicians, commanders, nurses, or founders of dynasties, they contributed their cultures, talents, skills and labor to their new world, as millions of their descendants continue to do. Yet, their heroic odyssey remains little known.
The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World traces a truly unique and fascinating story of struggles and achievements across a variety of societies, cultures, religions, languages and times.

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4 Artists at the Tate Modern

At the Tate Modern 4 artists from Africa:

Image from Aolphus Opara's series on Yoruba chiefs

Contested Terrains features four artists working in Africa who explore and subvert narratives about the past and present. Kader Attia, Sammy Baloji, Michael MacGarry and Adolphus Opara engage with ideas of history and identity that in Africa have long been shaped by the claims and disputes of conflicting ideological and economic interests. Drawing connections across time and space, their works examine the impact of imperialism, notions of historical truth, and the representations and mechanics of power...[continue reading]

One Hen: Microfinance for Kids

One Hen empowers kids to become social entrepreneurs who make a difference for themselves and the world. We do this by equipping educators with educational resources to inspire kids to four values: financial responsibility, personal initiative, global awareness and giving back-website

Adinkra Patterns as Educational Tools

In the NYTimes Ron Eglash of African Fractals fame outlines his interest in using Adinkra patterns as tools of instruction:

From left to right: rotation, scaling and reflection transformations.courtesy of Ron Eglash

At first every image I showed them was interpreted as if it was an adinkra symbol – like when I showed them an example of reflection symmetry in Mangbetu design, they related it to the pattern “Wo nsa da mu a,” a symbol of democracy. It took me a long time to get them to understand that I was interested in the abstract concept of reflection symmetry (and my own fascination with their symbol interpretations didn’t help). But by the end of the day I had their explanation for the difference between linear and nonlinear spirals, as well as their translations in Twi for three geometric transformations (reflection, rotation and scaling), plus a really beautiful cloth made for me on the spot, to illustrate the transformations.

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Africa’s Moment has Come

In Memory Bank:

Expectation of rapid economic improvement soon in Africa seems counter-intuitive at this time, especially given its symbolic role as the negation of ‘white’ superiority. Black people have played this role for centuries as the stigmatized underclass of an unequal world society organized along racial lines; and never more than now, when American and European dominance is being undermined by a shift in the balance of economic power to countries like China, India, Brazil and, within its own region, South Africa. Rather than face up to a decline in their economic fortunes, the whites prefer to dwell on the misfortunes of black people and on Africa’s apparently terminal exclusion from modern prosperity.Failed politicians and aging rock stars, such as Blair and Bono, announce their mission to ‘save’ Africa from its presumed ills. It all goes to reassure a decadent West that at least some people are a lot worse off than themselves.

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The Art of Abyssinia

Maddy Fry of Think Africa on the art of Ethiopia,in the words of SOAS scholar Jacopo Gnisci:

Triptych with Virgin and ChildFlanked by archangels Nancy and Robert Nooter Collection. Tadias

“14th to 17th century Ethiopian art is unique in that it incorporated a variety of influences in its language. Works came from as far as the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Basin, yet many artists remained faithful to their African roots.”

Examples include Coptic crosses made in the northern town of Lalibela bearing Greek inscriptions and 14th century manuscripts edged with Byzantine gold, despite gold plating not being a widely used technique in Ethiopian industries. Likewise, images from the 14th and 15th centuries of Adam and Eve, the Madonna and Child and the Crucifixion of Christ show prominent Venetian and Jewish influences.

However, Ethiopian artists had notably little interest in aesthetics. Art was created with a specific purpose, designed to bring the observer into greater contact with the metaphysical. Given the centrality of Christianity to life in Ethiopia, appreciating Ethiopian art appears essential in understanding the very soul of the country itself, providing an insight into the history, culture and beliefs of many of its peoples.

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Famine in the Horn

Why is this happening again? The Economist reports:

Image courtesy of the Economist

...for years famine seemed to have departed Africa. But after the worst drought in 60 years, it has returned. Northern Kenya, south-eastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Djibouti have been worst hit. The UN estimates that more than 12m people in the Horn of Africa need urgent help; tens of thousands have already died and hundreds of thousands more risk starvation. Livestock have been annihilated. Hundreds of thousands of people are streaming into refugee camps in search of help. Malnutrition rates in some areas are five times more severe than the threshold aid agencies use to define a crisis. Many children are already dying of starvation.

Aziza Brahim-Activist and Singer

A Freedom to Create profile:

Image courtesy of Freedom to Create

Aziza Brahim was in exile even before she was born. In 1976, her heavily pregnant mother fled to a refugee camp in Tindouf when Morocco annexed the land where she lived. Azizas family comes from El Aaiun, the capital of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Aziza never met her father, who stayed behind in the occupied city.At the age of 11, she received a scholarship to study in Cuba but left school when she turned 18 to pursue a musical career. Aziza has never forgotten her roots and she returned to the camps, not as a 19-year-old musical ingnue, but as a voice for the Saharawis, a people fighting for independence.
Aziza embodies the new voice of the Saharawis. Her songs evoke exile, the right to freedom and human rights. She dedicates all her songs to her peoples struggle. Her song titles are evocative: Peace, Son of the Clouds, The Battle of Guelta, Memory of the Tank, and Return, a tribute to the Saharawis pursuit of self-determination and independence. She has been nominated for an album of her songs, Mi Canto.

Modern Science needs Traditional Knowledge

Charles Dhewa writing in SciDev:

Knowledge acquired through conventional science, which is usually closed and formal, can be scaled up through indigenous knowledge systems, which are open and informal.Conventional science formulates principles and theories that describe nature, whereas indigenous knowledge systems evolve values, beliefs, customs and ceremonies based on an understanding of nature and the universe.While conventional science relies on conceptualisation, empirical experimentation and interpretation to generate and share knowledge, indigenous knowledge puts more emphasis on experience and practice.Unlike indigenous knowledge, conventional science works best when dealing with what is observable and measurable. But accepting the role of indigenous knowledge is essential so that we do not mislead ourselves into believing that only what is measurable is real, and only what is controllable is valuable.

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Fred Halla-Tanzanian Art Catalyst

In Creative Economy:

courtesy of Bongotoon

Founded by Fred Halla The Rafiki Arts Trust was formed 2001 and registered in 2006 due to the lack of an active establishment linking artists in Tanzania. It has now filled this niche, acting as an umbrella association for internal and external links for Tanzanian visual artists. It is so far the only organisation that has managed to conduct international workshops, artist residences, training and exchange programmes.

More recently he founded the Nafasi Art Space

which is responsible for, among other things, creating a centre of excellence that promotes the creativity and professionalism of Tanzanian visual artists and designers.

Ghana's "Self-Invented Bicycle Culture"

In Bombastic Elements:

Bikelordz : Stunts and Styles from Accra, Ghana from Bikelordz on Vimeo.
A short documentary from Accra about the self-taught, self-invented bicycle culture which young people in Accra have created and passed on to their younger contemporaries over time. It follows crews of these young bicycle gurus as they try and use their skills to make money, gain recognition, and live on their own terms/ Bikelordz

"The God Complex" by Tim Harford

At TED Global 2011 Tim Harford "asks us to embrace our randomness and start making better mistakes."