FOR most of us here in Africa what we know has always been defined by what others know or rather what they think they know about us. Externally generated forms of knowledge and paradigms tend to shape what is possible for us as people and as nations. At TrustAfrica, we believe that higher education should be a critical engine for redefining and repositioning ourselves for shared economic growth and social progress. We realize that our future and that of the next generation depends on improving the quality and relevance of higher education to ensure that it adequately responds to the challenges that we face as a continent. This e-book presents some important thinking that can potentially contribute towards specific actions that need to be taken and hopefully help us forge this new future.

Aicha Bah Diallo Chair TrustAfrica 

Edited by Tendai Murisa, Tendai Chikweche

A cause des flux financiers illicites (FFI) l’Afrique perd chaque année environ 50 milliards de dollars américains. Le rapport du Groupe d’experts de haut niveau de l’UA/ CEA sur les flux financiers illicites ainsi que d’autres études indiquent que l’Afrique a perdu plus de mille milliards de dollars américains sous forme de flux financiers illicites au cours des 50 dernières années, soit un montant similaire à l’aide publique au développement reçue par le continent au cours de la même période.

Africa loses approximately US$50 billion annually through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). The AU/ECA’s High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows report and other studies argue that Africa lost over US$1 trillion through IFFs in the last 50 years - an amount similar to Official Development Assistance in the same period. 

Africa is on the verge of embracing an exciting new paradigm of higher education. It envisions a future of broad-based prosperity, and importantly, a century in which Africans define their own needs and ambitions. The new higher education paradigm strives for excellence across the disciplines—the humanities, mathematics, the sciences, technology—and gives strong emphasis to gender. We saw this paradigm emerge earlier this month at the continent-wide higher education summit in Dakar organized by TrustAfrica and our 12 partners. These stories capture some of the new thinking behind a future we will shape together.

Tendai Murisa, Executive Director, TrustAfrica

We are pleased to share On Africa’s Farms, an eBook that compiles articles published in the Mail & Guardian Africa. They are a result of TrustAfrica’s partnership with the Nairobi-based news organization which seeks to enhance coverage of development issues.

This book contains findings of eight of the several research projects sponsored by the Investment Climate and Business Environment (ICBE) Research Fund in Uganda. It’s an effort to provide evidence to inform policy that improves the business environment in Uganda. The findings coincide with the efforts of the government to implement policies and programs targeting private sector development, solving daunting problems of unemployment, economic growth and development. The studies have been carried out by Ugandans and address issues pertinent to the Ugandan economy, but also to other developing countries.

Giving to Help, Helping to Give (with Amalion Publishing) deftly explores African philanthropic experiences, their varieties, challenges and opportunities. The 21 contributors to this book deftly tackle the varied modes, forms, vehicles and means in which philanthropy is expressed in multifaceted Africa.

Contributors: Tade Akin Aina • Mohammed A. Bakari • Bertha Chiroro • Kwaku Asante Darko • Marwa El Daly • Alan Fowler • Ibrahima Hathie • Jenny Hodgson • Andrew Kingman • Christa L. Kuljian • Halima Mahomed • Bhekinkosi Moyo • Robert Muponde • James Muzondidya • Connie Ngondi-Houghton • Kayode Samuel • Fondo Sikod • Mohamadou Sy • Gérard Tchouassi • Susan Wilkinson-Maposa • Saïda Yahya-Othman

Available in print only. Order from: Amalion Publishing  

Date of publication: June 2013

Author: Tade Akin Aina & Bhekinkosi Moyo (Eds.)

This book is a collection of studies about the Kenyan economy undertaken by Kenyan researchers with funding from the Investment Climate and Business Environment (ICBE) Research Fund. The ICBE Research Fund is a partnership between TrustAfrica and IDRC of Canada, initiated in 2006. The overall goal of the Fund is to promote reform of the business and investment climate in African so as to enhance the performance of private enterprises and their impact on livelihoods. The ICBE uses competitive research grant mechanisms, capacity strengthening and policy dialogues to enhance evidence- informed policy making on the African continent.

Together with the Southern Africa Trust, we have published a 429-page book about the legislative environment for civil society in 18 countries in Central, East and Southern Africa.

(Dis) Enabling the Public Sphere: Civil Society Regulation in Africa (Volume 1) was edited by Bhekinkosi Moyo and features a foreword by Graça Machel. Print editions are available in both hardcover and softcover. Readers can also download individual chapters, or the entire book, in PDF format. A second volume is now in the works, focusing primarily on West Africa.

Order the hardcover or softcover edition.

Read the introduction by Bhekinkosi Moyo (pdf)

Read the foreword by Graça Machel (pdf)

Agricultural conditions and means of achieving food security are long overdue. Despite the claims that the food crisis of 2007/8 was a temporary shock, data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other independent sources suggest that food prices will increase steadily over the next decade, despite occasional fluctuations (Evans, 2009). The number of the world’s food insecure is growing. Latest estimates indicate that approximately one billion people are food insecure or one in seven go to bed to hungry every day (FAO, 2009, Action Aid, 2010: 7). The majority of these poor households are based in Africa’s countryside.