News & Events

Maru Shete Bekele successfully defended his thesis on the Impacts of large-scale farming on local economic development, household food security and the environment in Ethiopia on 25 October at Leiden University. The study concludes that the approach of large-scale mechanized farming contributes little to the economic and agricultural transformation of the nation. Local people generally lose out in respect of land transactions and investments, and they are expropriated from their customary land rights to the benefit of national goals.

The Africa Yearbook covers major domestic political developments, foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa - all related to developments in one calendar year. This year's editors: ASCL senior researcher Jon Abbink, Sebastian Elischer (University of Florida), Andreas Mehler (Arnold Bergstraesser Institute)and Henning Melber (Nordic Africa Institute). ASCL senior researcher Klaas van Walraven wrote the chapter on Niger.

On 18 October the Dutch company Groasis received a National Icon award from the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs. This award acknowledges their position as one of the three most innovative companies in the Netherlands and highlights the promise that the Groasis Ecological Water Saving Technology holds. The Cocoon Initiative Kenya research project of the ASCL conducts trials with the Groasis Waterboxx, which can be used in arid regions to grow plants using up to 90% less water.

The jury of the Africa Thesis Award 2016 has announced this year's final 4 nominees (in alphabetical order): Seun Abimbola, University of Ibadan, Nigeria: 'The legend of Ajala’s travels and transnational backpacking in Africa'; Leonor Faber-Jonker, Utrecht University: ‘More than just an object. A material analysis of the return and retention of Namibian Skulls from Germany'; Silvana Gamboa, University of Groningen: 'Assessment and Optimization of energy systems in rural health facilities: A case in Rwanda'; Tanja Hendriks, Leiden University: 'Home is always home. (Former) Street Youth in Blantyre Malawi and the Fluidity of Constructing Home'.

ASCL senior researcher Azeb Amha has started a new research project entitled Placing the Dead and Nurturing the Living: Documentation of house construction and terrace farming in Zargulla, an endangered Omotic language. The project on this East-Ometo speaking group of approximately 8000 people examines the interactions of language, culture and environment through a study of house construction and landscape architecture.