Currently we are working in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and The Gambia.  It is thus clear that the focus of our activities has moved back to Africa which is where the company started almost 30 years ago.

We are currently preparing a major proposal for an AfDB-financed Market Competitiveness Study in Malawi.  This contains many similarities to the Smallholder Enterprise and Marketing Project we have been managing for IFAD in Zambia for the last 7 years.

MASDAR has recently won two small assignments in West Africa. The first, in The Gambia, is to prepare a Baseline Survey for the Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Programme (PIWAMP).  The second, in Ghana, is to assist with the Monitoring and Evaluation of the eGhana Project.

We are currently negotiating an extension to the highly successful Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) financed by DFID and AusAID.  RHVP has published two important sets of Briefs on social transfers, with a particular focus on southern Africa (Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe). RHVP is run by a consortium headed by MASDAR.

 Policy Briefs - We’ve just released a series of Advocacy Briefs on social transfers. In the briefs, we  examine what social transfers are, as well as addressing various aspects of social transfers, from why they are important to how they can be delivered and more. 

 A fundamental reappraisal is currently taking place about how best to tackle the chronic poverty and hunger which is prevalent, and increasing, throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. Typically, governments and donors have reacted to these problems only after they have become acute. Moreover, responses tend to be reactive and short-lived, focusing on humanitarian assistance; and, once the crisis has been alleviated, attention drifts away and the problem is forgotten until another “emergency” once more pushes it into the headlines. In the face of growing evidence, governments and donors alike are recognising that such treatment provides little more than a temporary dressing to a festering sore.

 In RHVP’s series of Policy Briefs, the case is presented for a different approach – an approach which not only provides for and protects the poor and hungry, but also seeks to promote them out of poverty. In situations where this approach has already been applied, it is becoming evident that individuals, previously victims of circumstance, can regain control over their lives, that national economies can benefit and that the dependency culture can be overturned. This approach is through predictable social transfers.

 To view the entire series of Policy Briefs, go to http://www.wahenga.net/index.php/advocacy/policy_briefs/

 REBA Case Study Briefs - This series of Case Study Briefs was prepared on the basis of 20 individual social transfer case studies undertaken under RHVP’s Regional Evidence-Building Agenda (REBA). They were drawn from the six RHVP countries in the southern African region in the period 2006-07. The case studies were selected within and across these countries as the outcome of a stakeholder consultation process that emphasised knowledge gaps and scope for lesson learning.
 
The chosen case studies provide a varied representation of social protection practice in southern Africa. Some are small-scale and of limited duration, while others have national coverage and are permanently in place, secured by legislation and provided as a right to their recipients. Small-scale projects are often innovative and some were designed as pilots or experiments in cash transfers to vulnerable beneficiaries, with a view to their potential for scaling-up in the future.
 
To find out more, go to http://www.wahenga.net/index.php/regional_evidence_building_agenda_reba/case_study_briefs/

In addition to managing projects for the major donors, we are taking an increasing interest in alternative energy sources suitable for rural dwellers in Africa.  We recently completed a Study for the Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP) in The Gambia looking at the use of firewood and how alternative energy sources could be used for household cooking.  It is a frightening fact that the practice of cooking over an open, wood-burning, fire is extremely unhealthy and Practical Action estimate that over 1.5 million people, mainly children, die every year from smoke inhalation in the household kitchen.  In The Gambia it was found that girls aged under five, carried on their mother's back during cooking in smoky huts had a six times higher risk of lung cancer - a substantially higher risk than if their parents smoked!  These health risks, combined with very serious deafforestation make the search for alternative energy sources highly relevant and urgent

As a direct result of this study, MASDAR has assisted PIWAMP set up a model demonstration village at Sintet.  Known as the Sintet Green Village Programme this has already undertaken the following:-

• 6 biogas plants are operational, providing cooking and lighting for local families

• A new improved cooking stove has been successfully designed and developed.  It has proved very popular in local trials and is about to go into production

• Briquette making has been successfully piloted using different mixtures of local waste materials (paper, stover, sawdust etc.).  Again they have proved popular and can now be produced on a commercial basis

• A pioneering waste-paper recycling scheme is in operation with 2 local hotels.  The waste paper is collected on a regular basis and converted into briquettes for the improved stoves.

eMapSite, our on-line mapping company is experiencing a period of rapid growth and expansion.  Projected turnover for 2008 is £2.5 million and market penetration has been excellent. .  Please visit their website www.emapsite.com for further details.

AgriVisual, the specialist media company within the MASDAR Group continues to fight the war against Poverty of Information which we believe is a major handicap to the social, economic and political development in many countries in Africa. 

The most effective weapon in this war against Poverty of Information is the AV DRUM 21 mobile communication unit, which can be seen on our website www.agrivisual.com

 In Nigeria, 14 x AV DRUM 21 mobile units have been delivered to INEC, a body responsible for the organisation of information for the recent Presidential Elections.

 In Ghana, AV DRUM 21 mobile units have been delivered to the National Commission of Civic Education to provide information directly to out lying rural areas. 

In Nigeria, a contract for 24 x AV DRUM 21 mobiles has been awarded by the Avian Influenza Control and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Response Project and a major bid is under consideration in Tanzania for the HIV/AIDS Commission.