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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:-
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6 biogas plants are operational,
providing cooking and lighting for local families
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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
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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
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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.
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