<div><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/threepsmars/image/upload/v1662311357/z0j6ghko7gslcomhbnrx.png" alt=""> </div>Bitcoin might conjure up visions of dark doings on the Silk Road website and wildly fluctuating value for some – but could it provide a safe haven for the money sent home to loved ones by Africa’s diaspora?Over 30 million Africans live in the diaspora. They sent almost $40bn (£26.5bn) home in 2014, a figure that is likely to grow significantly in the coming years.While north African countries such as Morocco, Algeria and Egypt receive the most, east African countries are particularly dependent on remittances.The average per migrant is almost $1,200, representing 5% of GDP on a country-by-country average.Yet the cost of sending this money is high.Read more: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31735976" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31735976</a>&nbsp;

3PSMARS Analytics

Could Bitcoin ease the pain of Africa’s migrant workforce?

People's Parliament

News

Videos

Press Releases

Interviews

World

Government

Africa

Economy

United Nations

Development

Public Adminsitration

SDGs

Health

Business

Education

Security

Civil Service

Equal Rights

Wealth

Africa Debates

Start up

Too many times, when we speak about the future of Africa or the future of technology in Africa, we do so with an air of ignorant homogeneity.

Innovation and the future of Africa: A tale of two countries

Voters casting ballots in 5 African countries – Voters in five African countries casted ballots last  Sunday, including four presidential elections and a constitutional referendum. Incumbents in Niger and Republic of Congo are expected to sail to re-election, while Benin’s runoff vote is less certain. Here is a brief look at the contests:

Voters casting ballots in 5 African countries

Votes: the hope of the Common Man – Countdown to the February 14, General Election. In the collective march to democratic stability, we must go out en masses to vote. Our votes count – it is our power. Nothing should dissuade us from performing our civic responsibility. Would be voters to ensure collection of Permanent voters Cards (PVC). Although, there has been escalating violence in the nation and acts of vandalization even during the electioneering campaign, we should not allow it to intimidate us.

Votes: the hope of the Common Man

Resources

In African culture and spiritual life, the conception of togetherness has grounded a categorical responsibility for caring for the community, addressing its needs, and safeguarding its communal essence.

International Seminar on Africa’s Ethics of Care Facing COVID-19

Each year, 10 to 12 million sub-Saharan African youth enter the labour market. They face fierce competition for jobs, in part because Africa has the largest population of young residents in the world. Competition is heightened because employers demand skills critical to the 21st century workplace that are too often lacking among new entrants to the labour market.

The golden year: Solutions for Africa’s youth unemployment

By: Kelechi UdoagwuToo many times, when we speak about the future of Africa or the future of technology in Africa, we do so with an air of ignorant homogeneity.We speak of Africa like we speak of one country, and in so doing we [sometimes] forget that there are 54 countries on the continent, and that each country is growing at its own pace.We forget that each country operates by its own policies and that these policies affect its rate of growth. We forget that each country has its own cultural practices and a political history that affects the way the citizens conduct business.With predictions of a huge population boom, advanced technology and the ubiquity of smart devices, we get excited and optimistic about “Africa’s Rising,” and forget that Africa is not one country — it’s a mesh of 54 diverse nations with their governments, numerous local religions and over 2000 indigenous languages.African countries could not be more different in their preparations for the futureWhile some are progressive in the sense that they study and embrace technology knowing it will impact every industrial sector and change, improve, distort the current standard of living of their citizens, others are either moribund or regressive. If they are bothered about this future, it is not obvious from their policies and actions.Two prominent examples from each group are Rwanda and NigeriaWhy these two?Both countries are definitely on the landscape when you talk about Africa Rising in terms of technology, startups, investment and innovations. Both have a history of ethnic civil war and genocide.While Rwanda has progressed massively since the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Nigeria’s growth has been start-stop, slowed down by corruption, lack of vision and wicked problems, like Victor Asemota calls in this articleRwandaUnder President Paul Kagame, Rwanda has seen tremendous growth. The country has introduced policies that actively encourage economic development and the ease of doing business.Last year, Rwanda surged 15 places to no. 41 in the World Bank Doing Business Report. It is now ranked the second best country to do business in Africa after Mauritius.The year before that, it ranked 56th globally. Rwanda’s growth has been fueled by its embrace of technology.This growth was sparked by specific policies that make it easier for startups and SMEs to operate. The country upgraded its systems to make available the Building Permitting Management Information System. This BPMIS cut down the time and cost of obtaining building permits by at least 10 percent. Rwanda also improved its tax payment system and improved its ability to protect minority investors by 16.66 percent.Rwanda embraces technology like few other countries in Africa do.For example, a startup called Zipline, in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Health, uses drones to deliver blood to citizens around the country. In the past year alone, it has delivered more than 5,500 units of blood. This has helped reduce maternal mortality rates and drive down incidences of malaria-induced anaemia, mostly in children. No other country in Africa has yet embraced this technology.NigeriaNigeria, on the other hand, has not lived up to its potential. It is a country still very dependent on oil as its primary revenue source. This, so much, that a crash in the global oil price in 2015 sent the country into its worst economic recession in 25 years, erasing 55% of its oil revenues.Despite its population of 180 – 200 million people, who are predominantly young; Nigeria, as a country, has made very little technological advancement. I write about the dangers of letting young people grow in such unsupportive business environment here.Government shortsightedness and mispriorities, power supply deficit, expensive electricity bills, bad roads, security issues, real estate deficit and poor education systems are just some of the problems plaguing Nigeria and holding back city-level technological advances.Technological advancement in Nigeria is significantly driven by the innovativeness of private organisations, hardly ever in partnership with the government.The country has a vibrant startup scene, especially in Lagos, in spite of Nigeria. Being the first stop during Mark Zuckerberg’s 2016 Africa visit validated this. Mark had meetings with Federal Government officials and Aso Villa Demo Day was organised days later, but little progress has been made on that initiative since then. The Demo Day has never been organised again and has now become a controversial subject, tainted by allegations of mismanagement.Looking into the futureWhile governments are greatly responsible for the direction of their countries, private corporations also play a vital role.One way they do is by adopting new technologies to improve their business processes and create more jobs for the youthful population. Recently, Standard Bank group, one of Africa’s largest banks, employed WorkFusion to improve its customer onboarding process, cutting down the time from 20 days to 5 minutes, and creating new and more fulfilling roles for its employees.When new technology is adopted by big businesses, it could soon be fragmented and democratised to the point where small businesses have access to it too — this has happened with telecommunications, the Internet, fintech services, digital marketing, etc.It is only logical to conclude that while some African countries will continue to leapfrog and run with technology; for various reasons, many others will continue to regress.So, when we speak of Africa and the future, we must do so with care and specificity, lest we ignore the many complexities that surround the continent, and the countries within it.About the AuthorFormer Comms Director at MEST, entrepreneur and gig economy advocate, Kelechi Udoagwu is a communicator with a passion for empowering others to utilise basic technologies and digital tools to improve their lives, careers and businesses.<a href="https://techpoint.africa/2018/04/24/innovation-and-the-future-of-africa-a-tale-of-two-countries" target="_blank">Courtesy: TechPoint Africa</a>&nbsp;

<div><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/threepsmars/image/upload/v1661986229/qnsd2o6yi6etimvg1afm.png" alt=""> </div>Voters casting ballots in 5 African countries – Voters in five African countries casted ballots last Sunday, including four presidential elections and a constitutional referendum. Incumbents in Niger and Republic of Congo are expected to sail to re-election, while Benin’s runoff vote is less certain. Here is a brief look at the contests:BENIN — Benin’s president is stepping down after the maximum of two terms, enhancing the West African country’s democratic credentials. Sunday’s race is between the current prime minister and a prominent businessman who was once accused of trying to poison the outgoing president, an allegation he denies.NIGER — The election in Niger pits the incumbent president against an opposition figure who was jailed from November to March on charges critics say were politically motivated. President Mahamadou Issoufou is campaigning on his credentials in the fight against Islamic militancy. His opponent left the country this past week to seek medical treatment in France for an unspecified ailment.REPUBLIC OF CONGO — President Denis Sassou N’Guesso, 72, who has been in power for more than 30 years is seeking another term after he organized a constitutional referendum that did away with an age limit that would have disqualified him from running again. The run-up to the October referendum was marred by violence, and mobile phone service was blocked in the country, which borders the much larger and well known nation of Congo.SENEGAL — Senegal is voting on a constitutional referendum that proposes 15 reforms that would make sweeping changes. In contrast with many African leaders, Senegal’s President Macky Sall is asking voters to shorten the country’s presidential term from seven years to five. The proposed changes also call for a strengthened National Assembly, better representation for Senegalese abroad, and greater rights for the opposition in national elections.ZANZIBAR — Voters are also casting ballots in Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous archipelago off the coast of Tanzania, though opposition parties there have called for a boycott. Zanzibar’s vote in a re-run of an October ballot, which the main opposition parties say runs counter to Zanzibar’s electoral laws.<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/voters-casting-ballots-5-african-countries-165123421.html" target="_blank">Credit: Associated Press</a>&nbsp;

Votes: the hope of the Common Man – Countdown to the February 14, General Election. In the collective march to democratic stability, we must go out en masses to vote. Our votes count – it is our power. Nothing should dissuade us from performing our civic responsibility. Would be voters to ensure collection of Permanent voters Cards (PVC). Although, there has been escalating violence in the nation and acts of vandalization even during the electioneering campaign, we should not allow it to intimidate us.Government must provide an enabling environment for the election, and they have already pledged that the election shall be free and fair. We have no choice than to take their words for it. We should educate ourselves on proper election behaviour. The masses must not boycott elections but be optimistic that it shall be non-violent.Time to rend our voice – Nigerians on the march again!By Titi Oladele.

Alternative Perspectives and Global Concernes (ap-gc.net)By Dr. Mahmoud MasaeliThe 6th International SeminarAfrica’s Ethics of Care Facing COVID-19In African culture and spiritual life, the conception of togetherness has grounded a categorical responsibility for caring for the community, addressing its needs, and safeguarding its communal essence. This responsibility is best manifested in African ethics of care in such a way that it is fundamentally different from the Western-based version of such ethics. In this particular ethics, taking care of other’s life is interwoven with not only a pathway to the formation and consolidation of the identity but also a sense of brotherhood and responsibility for the common good. In responding to the urgency of the COVID-19 calamity, and moving toward the construction of social life in the Post COVID-19 era, Africa’s ethics of care must play a role which is essentially different from the response to the pandemic by the western societies. It is quite evident that Africa complies with science and new discoveries in coping with the tough and unsettled situation. However, Africa enjoys a rich cultural and spiritual character that can help its people extend beyond the scientific aspects of dealing with the situation and provide complimentary assistance for the affected and vulnerable people. The questions raised for discussion in this seminar are:<ul><li>Would ethics of care in Africa’s culturally diverse perception, affect the current and standard scientific efforts in dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic?</li><li>What is the essence of this ethics and what implication could it have for the pandemic and the Post COVID-19 era?</li><li>Could Africa’s spiritual and cultural worldview share its achievements with the rest of the world in the time of crisis? How?</li><li>In what way could ethics of care become a source of inspiration in fostering capacity-building, empowering vulnerable individuals, and restoring their dignity?</li><li>Given the experience learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, what advice could these ethics provide for social protection policies related to the affected people?</li></ul>This topic and exemplary questions raised will be discussed by our participants who are experts in Ethics, spirituality, politics, social activism, and politics. This seminar format webinar will be held via a Zoom teleconference and will be broadcasted live. It will also be recorded for offline social media.We encourage our speakers to submit a short paper of 1500-2500 words to be published on the website of APGC. The collected paper will also be published in a public e-book by APGC.Date: Friday, July 10th, 2020 Time: 13h00 East Canada and the US, 20h20 Central Europ, and 17h00 in NigeriaRegistration and Participation: Free of chargeZoom informationTopic: Africa’s ethics of careTime: Jul 10, 2020 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meeting<a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86000667724?pwd=eW1FdDQrcmtrWmkwRzhUME90WitLdz09" target="_blank">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86000667724?pwd=eW1FdDQrcmtrWmkwRzhUME90WitLdz09</a>&nbsp;Meeting ID: 860 0066 7724Password: 875117The panelistsDr. Stanley Uche Anozie teaches at Indiana University Kokomo, Indiana. He is also an adjunct professor at University of Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2007, he was awarded a Master’s Scholarship from SSHRC and a Doctoral Fellowship from Ontario Graduate Scholarship (Canada) for 2011-2012. Anozie is Vice-President APGC (ap-gc.net). He has published extensively, among them is the 2020 Hans-Georg Gadamer and African Hermeneutic Philosophy. Anozie’s areas of research include Western Philosophy, African Philosophy and Religions, Africana Studies, Applied Ethics, Hermeneutics, Continental Philosophy, Hermeneutic of Political Belongingness, Social and Political Philosophy.Dr. Aderemi Oladele specialises in international development policy, Africa’s geopolitics, governance and public sector management. He works as a Senior Research Officer at the Permanent Delegation of Nigeria to UNESCO in Paris. His research interests are in Africa’s geopolitics and political economy; sustainable development; results culture in international development management; and the linkages between internationally development policy, national and local development.Aderemi is the Founder and Lead Analyst at 3psmars International, a nonprofitthink tank focused on capacity building and knowledge management for development effectiveness, with special focus on Africa.Dr. Kanakulya Dickson is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Makerere University. He holds a PhD (Makerere-Uganda); Licentiate (Linköping-Sweden); MA Philosophy (Bergen-Norway) and BA (Makerere-Uganda). He has research interest in bioethics, governance philosophy, sustainability studies, social justice, philosophy of peace, and futures research. Dickson has been involved in national, regional and international collaborative research and has several published works to his credit. He’s also a member of various research networks including: Alternative Perspectives on Global Concerns (APGC) group; Africa Policy Centre (APC) think tank; the European Society for Research in Ethics (Societas Ethica); and the Academic Network on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (ANLEP).Dr. Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu is a Professor of African Religion and Cultural Studies. He is currently the Rector of Villanova Polytechnic, Imesi Ile, Osun State and a Visiting Professor to the University of Jos, Plateau State and the Augustinian Institute, Makurdi. He is a member of the Governing Council of Veritas University Abuja, Nigeria; the Global President of the World Cultural Studies Research Association (WCSRA) based in India and the President of the Association for the Promotion of African Studies (APAS). Kanu is the Editor-in-Chief of IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities (IAAJAH); Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development (JASSD); Villanova Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and AMAMIHE: Journal of Applied Philosophy.Dr. Mahmoud Masaeli is a Canadian Iranian political philosopher, ethicist, spiritualist, poet, and a global think tank leader. His area of research interest includes Global Ethics, Global Justice, Hermeneutics of Selfhood, Human Rights, Human Development, and universal spirituality. Mahmoud is the Founder and Executive Director of APGC (ap-gc.net). Mahmoud has published extensively in global ethics, global development, spirituality and ethics of globality. He also a visiting professor at Ottawa University. He will chair and speak in this seminar.<a href="https://ap-gc.net/events/" target="_blank">Read more on APGC’s Website.</a>&nbsp;

Rights: Can view and downloadLicense: CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike LicenseAPGC (Alternative Perspectives and Global Concern) 6th International Seminar on Africa’s Ethics of Care Facing COVID-19Date: Friday, July 10th, 2020Time: 13h00 East Canada and the US, 19h00 Central Europe, and 17h00 in NigeriaRegistration and Participation: Free of charge

Each year, 10 to 12 million sub-Saharan African youth enter the labour market. They face fierce competition for jobs, in part because Africa has the largest population of young residents in the world. Competition is heightened because employers demand skills critical to the 21st century workplace that are too often lacking among new entrants to the labour market.This skills mismatch is a major problem. Young people who are unable to find work in their first year after school earn 21 percent less over the course of their lifetime than peers who get jobs in that first year.The first year of workplace exposure is crucial in charting career success. Extended periods of unemployment – especially at the beginning of one’s working life – carry a serious long term penalty.<h2>Why the divide?</h2>A big part of the problem is that young people in sub-Saharan Africa do not typically develop the soft skills such as customer service, problem solving, detail orientation and work planning that employers test during interviews. This is in part because schools are focused on teaching technical skills, and often rely on rote learning.Students do not learn these skills at home either, often because parents did not need these skills for jobs in the previous century. At the same time, part-time jobs and internships – environments in which young students can develop soft skills over time – are rare in these countries.Employers are placing an increasing emphasis on these skills. Sectors such as retail and hospitality are among the fastest growing sectors on the continent, and they are highly reliant on skills such as customer service. Manufacturing meanwhile is becoming increasingly mechanized, requiring employees to perform higher order problem solving tasks rather than operating machinery.Given these changes, it is no surprise that employers often complain about the lack of work readiness among candidates.<h2>Closing the gap</h2>There are a few training programs in Africa that are seeking to close this gap in soft skills. The International Youth Foundation has developed a global curriculum for soft skills, and is making it available in a number of countries around the world.Organisations such as Harambee in South Africa and Education for Employment (EFE) in North Africa are also developing and delivering soft skills training to unemployed youth. Others, including ALU in Mauritius and Spire in East Africa are going a step further by developing tertiary education systems that are closely linked to job market needs. Unfortunately, not enough of these programs exist.One rapidly scalable solution to this problem is developing of an ecosystem of internships or apprenticeships across Africa. Apprenticeships are a time tested concept. In most societies around the world, apprenticeships are the means by which youth learned specific skills and prepare to earn their livelihoods.Youth gain technical expertise by supporting and emulating experienced practitioners, who also serve as a mentor, teaching them how their particular trade fit into society. Traditionally, these mentors were often one of the young person’s relatives. In modern economies, apprenticeships can continue to play an important role across industries and sectors by providing on-the-job learning to recent graduates.The potential for gains is significant. For disadvantaged youth, time bound apprenticeships can provide much needed exposure and real experience in the workplace. For those who excel, an apprenticeship can translate into a long term job offer, or serve as a reference for other prospective employers.If young people are able to find and keep jobs for one year, they are 85 percent more likely to avoid unemployment. Even when youth do not excel in a particular role, the experience can provide valuable soft skills as well as clarity on their individual strengths and weaknesses. These can help them find more suitable employment.For employers, the time bound nature of apprenticeships enables them to test larger numbers of prospective hires before focusing on those most likely to succeed. The additional investment in such programs can be partially offset by the savings from reduced staff turnover, as a result of hiring well-suited youth into full time positions.Where employers are hesitant to invest in these programs because of the possibility of turnover, governments should step in and subsidize these programs through stipends to apprentices and tax credits to employers.While these programs exist worldwide, a few economies have succeeded in making them an engine for growth. Germany in particular is renowned for its apprenticeship programs, which result in 60 percent of apprentices receiving a permanent position. Overall youth unemployment peaked at just 8 percent during the financial crisis.Despite their differences, successes in Germany present compelling lessons for African economies struggling to keep their youth in work. It could be valuable to pilot similar models in Africa to test their effectiveness.<h2>Taking pilots to scale</h2>Once successful models are developed and proven, they can be scaled up through collaboration between employers, governments and donors. National youth programs already exist in several African countries including Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. Ghana alone has 200,000 youth in the program in any given year.These programs can partner with private sector employers, especially small and medium enterprises. These businesses are numerous enough to absorb a large number of youth, and are typically more risk averse when it comes to hiring untested employees. Government supported youth placement programs can provide a big boost to small and medium-sized enterprises, which would further the overall economic development agenda.Youth unemployment is not a simple problem to solve. It is driven by many complex factors, and it will require a combination of context-specific solutions. Apprenticeships offer one such solution that is promising because of its potential to deliver a lot of training at a relatively low cost.Investing in these programmes could be a key to preparing a rapidly growing youth population for the 21st century workplace.By <a href="http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/ftauthor/view/Devang+Vussonji" target="_blank">Devang Vussonji</a>, <a href="http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/ftauthor/view/James+Mwangi" target="_blank">James Mwangi</a> <a href="http://www.thisisafricaonline.com/" target="_blank">http://ww w.thisisafricaonline.com/</a>&nbsp;

Could Bitcoin ease the pain of Africa’s migrant workforce?

Related Content

Innovation and the future of Africa: A tale of two countries

Voters casting ballots in 5 African countries

Votes: the hope of the Common Man

International Seminar on Africa’s Ethics of Care Facing COVID-19

International Seminar on Africa’s Ethics of Care Facing COVID-19

The golden year: Solutions for Africa’s youth unemployment