Over the past few weeks, we have explored key elements of Resilience in Disaster Risk Reduction. The vital role played by data and information was the first in this series and it illustrated the importance of awareness in resilience building because, as Judith Rodin explains in her book The Resilience Dividend, we must know what our strengths and assets are, what […]
In our first post of the series, we established our compound working definition for ‘developmental state’ as we explore the context within which a data revolution would play out in Africa; “A developmental state is one whose ideological underpinnings enable it to act with authority, credibility and legitimacy in making deliberate and serious attempts to […]
According to the World Bank, the African continent is home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world. However in the same breath, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) asserts that disasters in sub-Saharan Africa are increasing in frequency, severity and impact. On average, almost two disasters of significant proportions are […]
It was the winter of 1997-1998 when the granddaddy of El Niños — the one by which all other El Niños are judged — vaulted this name, now a common term associated with climate change, to household name status. In Kenya, El Niño led to the closure of schools, wide scale flooding, displacement of people […]
The data revolution in Kenya has not only begun but is also inspiring other Africa countries on how data can help us achieve the ambitious Agenda 2063. The National Forum on Harnessing the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development held on August 28-29th 2015 is a platform that has catalysed the formation of a National Partnership on Development Data in Kenya. It […]
This next January, Africa will be celebrating 9 years since the adoption of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. It will have been in force for 4 years in February 2016 and calls upon state parties to implement it in accordance with its explicitly stated 11 principles which include; Respect for human rights and […]
“The revolution and women’s liberation go together. We do not talk of women’s emancipation as an act of charity or out of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the revolution to triumph.” Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso, 1983 – 1987 Gender equality and women’s empowerment remain central tenets for […]
We also call for a data revolution for sustainable development, with a new international initiative to improve the quality of statistics and information available to people and governments. High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Development Agenda Africa has not been idly waiting to be handed a development agenda. We adopted Agenda 2063 in 2014 and […]
The 1st National Forum on Harnessing the Data revolution on Sustainable Development will be taking place on the 28-29th of August. The theme “Transformation through Evidence” embodies the aim of the data revolution: to involve, inform and transform. The Data revolution takes off at a time when the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s to) are […]
Women all over the world account for 50% of the population but still have not achieved true equality 20 years since the Beijing Conference. For example globally only half of women participate in the labor force, compared to three quarters of men. Even when women are employed, their pay is still lower for the same […]
Local Development Research Institute is a nonprofit African think-tank that supports African Union member states in the pursuit of equitable local development on a continent where no one is left behind. Local Development Research Institute is registered in Kenya as a non-profit organisation. We support the efforts of African governments and non-state stakeholders to achieve long […]
Agenda 2063 is Africa’s pre-eminent framework for progress over the next 50 years. It will be implemented through a series of medium term plans with the long term development plans of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and member states progressively more aligned with the continental framework. Like the global post-2015 agenda the aspiration for Agenda 2063 […]