In Africa, 80% of agriculture production comes from smallholder farmer, about 50% of which come from rural women (FAO, 2011). However, women continue to face constraints that hinder them from realizing their full agricultural production potential. They include: poor land tenure, lack of access to credit facilities, lack of participation in agricultural decision making processes […]
The importance of gender equality and women’s rights has become a familiar chorus and African countries have made progress over the years by signing up to and implementing progressive continental conventions and legislation at the national level. However, there is not much to show for sustainable progress in gender equality and enforcement of women’s rights […]
Among the Greek and Roman gods imbued with superpowers is one called Janus. He would have been a terrifying being to behold if he ever physically appeared to humans. Unlike normal beings who take the expected anthropomorphic form, he had two faces; one at the front and the other at the back of his head. […]
The International Open Data Conference (IODC) 2018 came to a close on 29th September, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. More than 1,500 participants from 70 countries descended on the Usina del Arte, an early 20th-century electrical power plant-turned-arts venue whose auditoriums and gallery space were home to this year’s 2-day event. Among the participants were […]
The worldwide push for gender equality has and continues to gain momentum to bridge existing and emerging gaps that continue to perpetuate inequality. Beyond the moral incentive there exists a huge development incentive for gender equality. In Africa alone, the exclusion and or ineffective participation of women and girls in development processes sets back the […]
Smallholder farmers in low-income contexts face a variety of challenges while attempting to boost their productivity so as to escape subsistence-level farming and poverty. One of these is access to affordable key agricultural inputs (seeds and fertilizer) in a timely fashion. This access, unfortunately, is often the exception rather than the norm which then leads […]
While gender equality continues to be a problem across the world, there has been a coordinated effort globally to work towards bridging inequality even though there is still to be done. Bridging this gap would ensure that women and girls achieve their full potential since it eliminates barriers that limit this. The global push to […]
With 90% of the data in the world today having been created in the last 2 years this, it appears, is the era of data revolution. According to IBM, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are collected every day. The presence of this data is important for necessary development to effectively take place in any country. […]
The world is generating more data than in other time in history. However, with the increasing quantity and quality of data flooding our cyberspace comes new challenges. One clear challenge is how to make meaning of all this new data, a feat that will continue to be difficult without some level of data interoperability being […]
On October 15th, we celebrate the International Day of Rural Women. The role of women as key players in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is with time becoming more evident. So much so that World Food Day is also celebrated on 16th October followed closely by International Day for Eradication of Poverty on […]
Previously posted on the Open Institute’s blog Buntwani is a Swahili word for the open air space in rural African communities where people congregate to discuss issues of common interest, meet with elders or other local leaders and formally receive guests from other villages. It is also the name of an event organized by Open Institute through which […]
GODAN was formed in 2013 out of a meeting that was inspired by the G8. You can read the backstory here. Although global south governments are a big part of their agriculture sectors, they weren’t prominent in GODAN at launch. With some like the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Mr Willy Bett, taking a keen […]