Ghana, Promoting

10 Ideas for Africa

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If you have any ideas on how to improve the continent, now is the time to put them on paper. UNESCO is calling for “ideas” to be presented in Paris in mid-June, see this call for 10 ideas for Africa.

The way to go about is it to choose a topic (UNESCO have provided the 10 to chose from, see below) and brainstorm out of there. I was most interested in Topic 1, 2 and 3 as they relate to my interests – new information technologies, policy and leadership, migration.

Each proposal is expected to develop one idea which would amplify the positive effects and reduce, or contain, the negative impacts of the major trends observed in Africa on one of the 10 following topics:

Topic 1: Economy and Development (Environment, Food Security, New Information and Communication Technologies…)
Topic 2: Governance, Policy, Institutions, Leadership
Topic 3: Regional Integration, Population, Migration, Urbanization
Topic 4: Cultural Identities (Languages, Religions…)
Topic 5: Youth
Topic 6: Human Rights, Gender and Justice
Topic 7: Diaspora
Topic 8: Peace, Security and Conflict
Topic 9: Health, Education and Social Development
Topic 10: International Relations

It seems like the perk for writing down your idea in less than 1000 words is the trip to Paris. Yeah, and a venue for spreading your BEST IDEA for THE CONTINENT!
Deadline is April 30th 2010.

What Topic would you choose?

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PhD

>Gallup World Poll Supports My Migration Research

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>Right now I am extremely excited as comparative evidence supporting my research is available from Gallup.

What I am interested in is why so many of the Ghanaian university students seems to want to leave the shores of Ghana.

What sets my research apart from a lot of other migration research is that I do not study the people who actually migrated, the returnees or the remittances/funds migrants send to their counties of origin. Instead I, along with other researchers such as Jorgen Carling who has written about Cape Verde, am interested in the migration aspiration or potential migration as Gallup names it in recent articles stemming from the Gallup World Poll. Looking at what people think could be looking at the causes for future movements as actions, especially those which requires planning and funding, are preceded by thoughts.

Gallup goes as far as calculating the impact on the population if people who were interested in migrating actually did (or could). Even though I think this particular calculation is suggestive rather than academically helpful as it adds flows together robbing them of their unique causes, it shows some interesting trends. Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index (PNMI) shows that Ghana would loose and gain inhabitants resulting in a drop of 45% of its population! This while neighboring Cote d’Ivoire and Benin would drawback only 20% and 10% respectively. Why these differences?

Also, this newly presented data suggests – just like I have suggested in my research – that richer individuals are more likely to want to migrate compared to poorer individuals. This seems to be true for all income level countries, contrary to the common belief that people would like to migrate for pressing economic reasons. Similarly, evidence from China suggests that the higher your education, the higher your desire to migrate is. I have the hunch the same is true for Ghana.

Finally, it feels like a tap on the shoulder to read that Gallup’s Chairman and CEO Jim Clifton (read his whole article here) with all the information he has access to calls migration, my field of interest, “the great global dream” and predicts that

The evolution of ‘the great global dream’ is going to be the material of a million Ph.D. dissertations.

I know he is at least right about one such dissertation!

Pic: Dolled up African ladies thinking about migrating?

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Uncategorized

>Step Forward

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> Today, I have been invited to give a seminar on my proposal at University of Ghana. I have prepared a simple outline of the most important stuff: working hypothesis, theoretical backdrop and methodology and will in between argue for the relevance of this study.

Wish me luck!

Pic: Science in Ghana in the 1960s as presented by Prof Abena Osseo-Asare.

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PhD

>Forward Ever, Backwards Never

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> Exhausted by the Nkrumah celebrations, I return to the blog with some less than monolithic notes about my daily life, hope thats ok…

Thursday and Friday are my days for research (Mon-Wed I teach and prepare for class or grade stuff) but so far very little research has been done since University of Ghana has not yet gotten back to me on my PhD application. I note my own naiveté in this post from 2007, when I thought the application process would be swift. Ha.

Here is the full story (well, minus all the trips I’ve taken to “check on my application”): I submitted in March. The university then extended the application period with a month. Sigh. Then the Graduate School went on vacation, then they had to check if my application was complete (it was), then it was sent to the department I wish to study at – Institute of African Studies. The semester started. Then their board met to discuss the graduate proposals, I believe that was on the 2nd of September, so now I don’t know what they are waiting for.

I intend to go there today to find out and push my fate. Forward ever, backwards never.

Then I’m having lunch with a very interesting friend and maybe a meeting with Gordon of Aedhotep Developments that I wrote on here.

Later in the afternoon, 3-5 PM there is a meeting on Women and ICT at Kofi Annan Center for Excellence (AITI-KACE). Lets see if I make it there, it does sound interesting.

In the pic, me at University of Ghana in March of last year after starting my application by beginning on my proposal…

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Promoting

>On Private Universities in Ghana and Africa

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> Did you know that private higher education in on the rise in Ghana and Africa?

Read about why and what consequences it is having on Ghana in my feature article in University World News – a newsletter about global and local academic trends.

You can subscribe to the African version of the informative newsletter here.

Picture of a sculpture of a graduate from a public Ghanaian university, University of Ghana just outside of Accra. Photo: Kerstin Alm

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PhD

>Dead Aid Debate II: Interview with Moyo

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>Radio journalist Dave Lucas sent me this link to an interview with Dembisa Moyo in where she gets to explain her argument. She is well-spoken and lays out her arguments clearly. A man from Nigeria also voices his critique against the book and interestingly also talks about how to reverse the brain-drain out of Africa which I have touched on in these posts. Moyo then replies to the critique.

The interview is a 12 minutes I recommend to everyone interested in the aid-debate.

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>Investment Opportunities in Africa

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>
As the financial markets of the world crumble, investment opportunities in Africa are still highly profitable. In the TED talk posted above, Nigerias former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala suggests there is “a new wave on the continent” in terms of democracy, transparancy and opportunity. Sectors like energy, telecom, housing and retail are in their infancy, meaning they need investment and suitable policy, but are very likely to grow substancially.

One part of it is the new middle-class of educated Africans and their demand for goods. Some of them have lived abroad and aquired new tastes there, all of them are making money that give them room to spend. However, they need things to buy.

I have myself a few things on a list of things that I would like to purchase, but haven’t seen anywhere (a bar-height table, a comfortable and affordable sofa, silver earrings) and information about where to find stuff is part of many conversations I have with others here.

With the financial crisis in the North, it is likely the so called development assistance is coming to an end. However, just as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says in the video clip, growth in Africa is probably more dependent on solid investments leading to more jobs thus sustainable growth, than it ever was on aid.

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PhD

>The Academic Future of Africa

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> I have spent a few days at The University Leaders’ Forum 08, organized by Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) in collaboration with University of Ghana. It was a conference around the topic of the New Generation of Academics.

Because of the emergence of a global knowledge society, enrollment rates world wide are increasing, in Africa even more so, putting pressure on the aging group of university lecturers and highlighting the need for new blood. At the same time, young well educated people move abroad in search of better opportunities, hence increasing the pressure on those remaining.

Even if the enrollment rates are increasing, its not enough. Many drop out, many more do not have access to tertiary education and finally very few become university lecturers in Africa. The consequences are two; there will not be enough teachers to educate the new generation, even at lower levels. Additionally, with a low output of tertiary graduates, Africa will be left behind in the knowledge economy.

My research looking at why Ghanaian students migrate (or don’t) was a perfect fit for the conference. I was the most junior participant and enjoyed the discussions and academic input. It was highly rewarding to meet with Vice-Chancellors from the whole continent, researchers whose works I’ve read and foreign founders who work relentlessly to change the academic environment in Africa, but will the change come from them?

The map from Worldmapper.org shows the territory size by world wide proportion of people enrolled in tertiary education, who live there. Thanks to the VC of University of Western Cape, Brian O’Connell for pointing me to this effective visualizing aid.

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PhD

>Inspiring People

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> An inspiring person, just one, can change your whole outlook on life. When you see someone talk with that sparkle in their eye, work hard and deliver the most amazing outcomes and move around life as if the situation was custom made for him or her – then I want to do the same. My interest in my surroundings, work morale and heck – even joy of being alive – gets a boost.

Some inspiring people that has crossed my lucky path recently here in Ghana are June Arunga, a young Kenyan woman who works in the IT industry here in Ghana, gives globalization speeches and have traveled the continent in the TV program The Devil’s Footpath. She is fast and fun and a person I am just getting to know (including her inspiring book shelf, thanks June!).

Michael Boampong is youth activist and founder of the NGO Young People We Care and one of the 40 most active in Taking IT Global, an online community which seeks to inspire, involve and inform young people. I have not had the opportunity to meet with him yet, but through Internet I know of him and maybe he soon knows of me as well! (all this also inspiring, isn’t it?)

I sat down with Nii Mantse just last week who is the editor of Jive, a magazine covering entertainment in Ghana. He has also worked in TV production, for instance with Studio 53 which covers Africas 53 nations, but also with Ghanaian television. We spoke about what matters at work, what young people like to do in Accra and an hour flew by.

All these three people have that energy/drive/sparkle in their eye that inspires me.

Migration Research Update: June has also done a documentary on why the educated youth leaves the continent called “Africa’s Ultimate Resource” and Michel wants to be a “migration expert” in the future. I think I need to talk to both of them in preparation for my upcoming migration studies.

In the pic the Ghanaian fertility symbol Akuaba to illustrate the mind fertilization and inspiration in this post.

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Political

>Panafricaism in Ghana

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> Check out my article (only in Swedish) in the latest edition of the Swedish Travelling Exhibition/ Riksutställningars Newsletter Spana!.

After visiting the cool national museum in Accra, I wrote about its history, organization and visitors and in do doing managed to combine my two top interests art and politics in one project! Additionally, when interviewing the management of the museum I found that migration/brain-drain is a problem also in the museum sector. As a result this post has the most “tags” I have ever given to a text on the blog.

Enjoy!

Picture taken by me of two young museum visitors, and beutifully reddened by Spana!’s editor Mårten Jansson.

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PhD

>December in Dakar

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>
An event I really wish I hadn’t missed was the African Gender Awards 2007, held this past December in Dakar, Senegal. The award is organized by the organization Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) and was this year given to Rwanda and its president Paul Kagame for the efforts of bringing women into national desicion making. Rwanda has currently 48% women in its parliament.

The forum attatched to the award ceremony had the theme “African Women for African Development: Building Partnerships with the Diaspora” and the issues discussed were very close to issues I’d like to include in my research like “Migration and the changing genderroles” and “Curbing emigration: What steps can Africa take to better train and retain its human resources?”

Now I just have to console myself with that some of the documents used for discussion are available online, and that maybe in 2009 I can join the Femmes Africa Solidarité somewhere else on this beautiful continent.

In the picture the statuette of the Award inspired by the African woman Nandi. A film on her talking to her daughter about the future of the continent can be seen here.

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PhD

>Destination Unknown

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>Last week I attended the graduation ceremony for University of Ghana where graduates from the student body of 27 000 was awarded their diplomas. The sun was shining over bright smiles as they one by one were called to the podium to be recognized. But after accepting the diploma, what happens to the graduates?

The research project I am about to start will investigate what people do leave Ghana for supposedly greener pastures abroad and what groups stay. For instance if half of the medical doctors trained in Ghana leaves for Europe and US, why do the rest stay? These days I am collecting and reading articles on the subject and spending time thinking about how to narrow my topic down. Will I focus on groups of university graduates and look at how migration patterns differ between the sexes? Or will I look at other groups too since the educated group is relatively small – although influential on the country’s development? What sectors should I choose? Will I compare the situation in Ghana to another African country? The destination is unknown both for me and for my fellow students in Ghana.

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