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Despite its middle-income status, Nigeria’s health system cannot provide even a rudimentary level of care for most citizens – particularly in rural areas.  As the prevalence of chronic and infectious diseases increases, indigenous medical knowledge must be utilised. In Nigeria, but also globally, there is growing recognition of the need to integrate traditional medicine into mainstream health systems to bolster their ability to cope with an ever-increasing burden.

In the early 1990s Father Anselm Adodo, a Benedictine monk, became increasingly aware of the tragic inter-generational loss of indigenous medical knowledge in his locality.  In 1996, he founded Paxherbals at the monastery in Ewu, Edo State, to preserve this valuable resource and apply scientific rigour to the manufacture of natural remedies.

Two decades later, “Pax” is the largest private sector rural manufacturing enterprise in Edo State and an industry leader in Nigeria.  It is regarded as an undoubted success story, one of which the monastic and local communities are justifiably proud. Success is based on joint endeavour. While Pax has created many jobs in its factory and laboratories, and economic opportunities through its local supply chain, its neighbours are suppliers of knowledge, skills and raw materials. They are also consumers. Pax is firmly rooted in, and has transformed, its surroundings.

This Policy Voice documents how Pax professionalised the production of traditional natural remedies and set about demonstrating that herbal medicines can be a force for innovation and progress in health care. An estimated two-thirds of Nigerians use these products, often in tandem with orthodox drugs. But Anselm is adamant that open dialogue, scrutiny and regulation are crucial if negative perceptions of non-orthodox treatments are to be dispelled and the economic potential of the sector realised. More than 30 Pax products are government-certified.

For Anselm, and Pax, “traditional” medicine must be modern, professional and based on science if it is to contribute to improving health systems and outcomes. With appropriate federal and state involvement, thriving traditional medicine and pharmaceutical industries could be fostered in Nigeria; and the transformation that Pax and the local community have brought about in Ewu could be typical, rather than exceptional. Indigenous knowledge, resources and enterprise remain under-exploited.

The post Modern African Remedies: Herbal Medicine and Community Development in Nigeria appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

Download the Grain Revolution Policy Voice

Food shortages are the root cause of poverty in Zimbabwe’s Gutu district. Rainfall is generally low and erratic. In most places the soil is sandy and over-cultivated. High population density means that the vast majority of the district’s 40,000 households are restricted to farming on small plots. By the mid-2000s the effect of an economic crisis on the government’s agricultural budget and an over-reliance on growing maize, a crop that requires high rainfall, had drastically undermined food security in Gutu. The perennial fear of food shortages in turn stymied agricultural and economic innovation, ensnaring the population in increasingly precarious subsistence farming.

Following a severe drought in 2005, the Chinyika Communities Development Project was conceived by Dr Chidara Muchineripi as a means to overcome the persistent threat of food shortages – and even famine – in Gutu, his home district. His objective was to persuade farmers dependent on maize production to plant finger millet, a neglected crop that is indigenous to Zimbabwe. Chidara’s rationale is simple: finger millet is drought-resistant and better suited to semi-arid and arid areas than maize. Although its cultivation is more labour-intensive, it requires fewer expensive inputs than maize. It is also highly nutritious and can be stored for up to 25 years.

By 2014 almost every household in Gutu had participated in the project. Farmers with a nucleus of finger millet production each have 3-5 years of strategic food reserves and the collective capacity to produce a surplus of up to 2,000 tons a year. Accumulated reserves of finger millet exceed 20,000 tons. Families in Gutu now have a stable, dependable supply of food. This has been achieved without any external intervention or funding. As Chidara makes clear in this timely and instructive Policy Voice publication, the success of the Chinyika Communities Development Project is grounded in participatory research, community engagement and local ownership. Traditional knowledge and culture have been very much in the vanguard in addressing Gutu’s predicament.

The narrative is about much more than switching from one crop to another. A stable supply of food – and behavioural change – has imbued farmers with the confidence to pursue various income-generating activities. Chidara is adamant that farming is a business. In Gutu, finger millet has been the key to the emergence of a diversified and innovative family farming system. Elsewhere the transformative crop – or animal – might be different.

In the long term, Chidara’s aim is to develop a vibrant cash market for small grains in Zimbabwe and the wider region. While optimistic about the potential, he is candid about the obstacles and delivers clear recommendations regarding the practical and policy measures that would further transform the livelihoods of farmers in Gutu and other rural districts of Zimbabwe.

Grain Revolution is a sequel to Chidara’s Policy Voice “Feeding five thousand: The case for indigenous crops, in Zimbabwe”, published in 2008.

The post Grain Revolution: Finger Millet and Livelihood Transformation in Rural Zimbabwe appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

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La fiscalité figure parmi les priorités actuelles de l’Afrique. Sur le plan international, des groupes de défense ainsi que le G8 revendiquent une action plus soutenue pour lutter contre les multinationales coupables d’évasion ou de fraude fiscales. Dans de nombreux pays d’Afrique subsaharienne, une campagne similaire – sinon plus urgente – est menée dans le but d’améliorer la capacité de l’État de percevoir ses revenus fiscaux.

Au Burundi, les perspectives d’une amélioration dans l’administration des impôts n’auraient pu être de plus mauvais augure. En 2009, après la fin d’une guerre civile qui avait coûté la vie à plus de 200 000 personnes, le Burundi avait le PIB par habitant le plus faible du monde: soit 150 $US. 80% de la population vivait en dessous du seuil de pauvreté avec moins de 1 dollar par jour. L’Indice de la Corruption de Transparency International pour l’Afrique de l’Est classait le Burundi en tête des pays les plus corrompus de la région. Et son administration fiscale a été désignée comme étant l’institution la plus corrompue.

Malgré ce contexte manifestement peu prometteur, le gouvernement a mis en place des dispositifs visant à améliorer la gestion financière, dont, notamment, la création d’une nouvelle administration fiscale semi-autonome, l’Office Burundais des Recettes (OBR). En 2012, les recettes se révélaient 75% supérieures à celles de 2009, représentant une hausse en valeur réelle de 25%. Ainsi, la contribution des impôts au PIB a augmenté, passant de 13.8% en 2009 à 16.7% en 2012.

Dans ce Policy Voice, les hauts responsables de l’OBR donnent une description détaillée de la réforme de la perception et l’administration fiscales dans l’une des nations les plus pauvres d’Afrique. Dans leur récit, ils soulignent les mesures prises pour réduire la corruption, améliorer les services, mettre en oeuvre des réformes législatives, et pour élargir l’assiette fiscale. Les auteurs s’expriment avec franchise sur les difficultés auxquelles l’OBR doit faire face. En guise d’exemples, le taux d’exonération fiscale reste trop élevé, et les coûts nécessaires afin de taxer la majeure partie de l’économie informelle dépassent les revenus financiers que cela apporterait. La création d’une autorité fiscale efficace dépend d’un contexte législatif, économique, et politique favorable.

La réforme fiscale ne se limite pas à la perception de revenus pour le gouvernement central. La santé du trésor public au Burundi dépendra assurément d’une hausse des recettes. Cependant, la construction d’une démocratie viable au Burundi dépendra, à son tour, d’un déploiement judicieux des fonds publics ainsi obtenus.

The post Pour l’Etat et le citoyen: la réforme de l’administration fiscale au Burundi appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

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Urban and regional planning is under the spotlight in Kenya. The 2009 National Housing and Population Census forecast that the percentage of Kenyans living in urban settlements will increase from 32 percent to 54 percent by 2030. Residents of Nairobi await the details of a new city master plan. The devolution of power and allocation of central resources to the 47 county governments created by the 2010 constitution is under way – a process that requires integrated development plans to be in place.

In the post-independence era, urban planning was deployed as a tool for “modernisation” in Kenya. But in the 1980s and 1990s modernisation was supplanted by autocracy and straitened economic circumstances. In turn, planning became a means for securing control, exclusion and further enrichment of political and economic elites redolent of the colonial era.

Legislation based on outdated and inappropriate models such as the UK’s 1947 Town and Country Planning Act was routinely used to carry out mass evictions and demolitions in informal settlements in Kenya. By the end of the 20th century, the planning profession had become irrelevant or discredited to all but its few beneficiaries.

In this timely Policy Voice, Professor Peter Ngau describes in detail how he and colleagues at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) at the University of Nairobi – and other institutions – have sought to revitalise the education and training that planners receive and encourage the adoption of more progressive approaches among planning professionals. Curricula reform, research and innovation, close links with other planning schools in Africa, and working partnerships with civil society organisations in informal settlements are the bedrock of the effort to ensure that Kenya’s future urban planners are equipped to manage rapid urban transformation.

The post For town and country: A new approach to urban planning in Kenya appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

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Tax is high on the agenda in Africa. At an international level, advocacy groups and the G8 have called for greater efforts to counter tax evasion and avoidance by multinational companies. But in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a similar – and arguably even more pressing – campaign is being waged to improve the capacity of the state to collect domestic revenues.

In Burundi, the prospects for improving tax administration could not have been more inauspicious. By 2009, following the cessation of a civil war that claimed more than 200,000 lives, Burundi’s GDP per capita was the lowest in the world at US$150. Four-fifths of the population subsisted below the US$1 income per day poverty line. The Transparency International East African Bribery Index listed Burundi as the most corrupt country in the region. The country’s tax department was named as the most corrupt institution.

Despite the signally inhibitive outlook, the government implemented a number of measures to improve financial management. These included the creation of a new semi-autonomous revenue authority – the Office Burundais des Recettes (OBR). In 2012, tax revenues were 75% higher than in 2009 – a 25% increase in real terms. The contribution of tax to GDP had risen from 13.8% in 2009 to 16.7%.

In this Policy Voice, the OBR’s senior management describe in detail how tax collection and administration has been reformed in one of Africa’s poorest nations. Their account highlights the actions taken to reduce corruption, improve services, implement legislative reforms and widen the tax base.

The authors are candid about the difficulties confronting the OBR. Among other things, tax exemptions remain too high and the costs of taxing much of the informal economy outweigh any financial benefit. The establishment, and continued success, of an efficient revenue authority is dependent on a favourable political, business and legislative backdrop.

Tax reform is about more than simply raising revenues for central government. Higher revenue will be essential for the health of the public purse. However, the judicious deployment of public funds will be critical for building a viable democracy in Burundi.

The post For state and citizen: Reforming revenue administration, in Burundi appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

The Conference of Elders of the Communities of Somaliland in Borama established the institutional foundations of an independent state. More than 2,000 people attended the gathering. The 150-member Guurti – a council of elders drawn from all clans – constituted the voting delegates. In the course of four months, consensus was reached about disarmament and demobilisation following the overthrow of President Mohamed Siyad Barre’s government, inclusive political representation and the creation of institutions – the bedrock of two decades of relative peace and stability.

The personal accounts set out in these pages offer important insights into the experiences of Somalilanders in negotiating peace and building inclusive democratic institutions. In Section 1, the Speakers of the Somaliland Parliament recall the evolution of democratic politics, citing a longstanding history of participatory dispute resolution between clans, the conduct of the Somali National Movement, and adoption of a new constitution by referendum in 2001. Section 2 explores the important function elections fulfil in establishing equitable representation for Somalilanders – and maintaining stability. The emotive debate about the role of women in formal politics is also discussed.

Section 3 focuses on the functioning of parliament. Particular attention is given to the House of Elders –its relationship with the executive and the House of Representatives, and its participation in lawmaking. In Section 4, Somaliland’s Minister for National Planning and Development reflects on his experiences of dealing with international donor organisations, and sets out clear priorities for job creation, revenue generation and infrastructure development. A thoughtful and constructive postscript is contributed by the co-ordinator of the international election observation missions in 2005, 2011 and 2012.

The political and economic achievements outlined in After Borama, the latest publication in Africa Research Institute’s Policy Voices series, should be widely acknowledged and lauded – but not romanticised. For two decades, Somaliland has ploughed its own furrow – through success and setback.

Listen to launch event of “After Borama”

The post After Borama: Consensus, representation and parliament in Somaliland appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

Author – Dr Janet Chikaya-Banda

Listen to the ‘Duty of Care’ launch event in Lilongwe with distinguished MPs, lawyers, diplomats and journalists 

The post Duty of Care: Constitutional and law reform, in Malawi appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

The post Patience and Care: Rebuilding nursing and midwifery, in Somaliland appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

In this timely study, Martha Byanyima chronicles the history and development of agricultural standards in Africa. Although international standards often are considered a barrier to trade, she argues that they are in fact an opportunity – both within and outside Africa. Martha recognises the progress made by African countries to comply with agricultural standards, but is candid about that the difficulties which lie ahead. Institutional reform, education of smallholders and coordination of supply will test the skills and determination of African countries keen to increase their stake in a burgeoning global trade.

Author – Martha Byanyima

The post Ground Control: Making the grade in agriculture appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

In this highly personal and keenly argued commentary, James Gikunju Muuru makes the first detailed response by an African smallholder to the controversy over ‘food miles’. His account describes the serial feats of coordination, discipline, productivity and manual labour which make Kenyan horticulture competitive in global markets. For anyone who has ever asked how some of the poorest populations can reap the benefits of world trade, the example of James’s four-acre plot in the Mwea district of Central Province is a compelling reply.

The post Kenya’s Flying Vegetables: Small farmers and the ‘food miles’ debate appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

The post Nursing the Future: e-learning and clinical care, in Kenya appeared first on Africa Research Institute.

In this Policy Voice, former British Ambassador to Madagascar Brian Donaldson argues that Britain should increase existing funding for small grants in developing countries, and commit to supporting independent small grants schemes in countries where it does not have a diplomatic mission. Based on his own experience of managing small grant schemes in Madagascar, he identifies four main advantages of this method of channelling money to the poor:

1. Value for money – the simple structure of small grants schemes ensures low administrative costs, and maximum spending on the ground.
2. Reactivity – small grant schemes are nimble. Unlike large aid agencies, they can react rapicly to local needs.
3. Ownership – projects are initiate, and managed by local communities.
4. Momentum – small grants create a positive dynamic in local communities.

The post Think Small: The example of small grants, in Madagascar appeared first on Africa Research Institute.