News & Events

The Africa Works! conference on 16 & 17 October was a big success! More than 700 people joined in the Holiday Inn in Leiden. The conference brought together knowledge institutes, companies, NGOs and policymakers to create new partnerships. Julia Duncan-Cassell, the Liberia Minister of Gender and Development, was guest of honour. Hans Docter, Dutch Special Envoy on Ebola, received a petition that was drawn up during the conference. Lilianne Ploumen, Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, closed the conference. Read on to find some of the keynote speeches and an overview of media coverage. Have a look at the pictures!

ASC researcher Akinyinka Akinyoade and Bisola Adebayo from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, currently drafted to the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EEOC) in Lagos, have written an ASC web article about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and elsewhere. The article goes beyond giving statistical updates of the spread of the Ebola virus; it highlights medical as well as socio-cultural issues, like the strong advise not to shake hands anymore - 'The social soul is now seen as a possible route of transmission of the dreadful disease' -, patients suffering from other diseases getting rejected at medical facilities, and rising foodstuff prices.

The ASC has produced three brand new thematic maps. One in cooperation with Nuffic: 'Dutch cooperation programmes to strengthen post-secondary education and training in Africa (1996-2013)', one in cooperation with the Rotterdam School of Management: 'The challenge of Dutch sustainable diplomacy', and one in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 'Composition of financial flows to Sub-Saharan African countries: ten years into the Monterrey Consensus on the Millennium Development Goals'. The maps can be ordered at the ASC, free of charge.

'BerichtenBuitenland', monthly magazine for the Dutch agrarian business sector and issued by the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs, gives extensive attention to the Africa Works! conference in its September issue ('Africa special'). Ton Dietz, director of the African Studies Centre, is quoted as saying that during the first edition of Africa Works! in 2012, mutual trust was built between scholars, entrepreneurs and policy makers, and that during this year's edition, the time is ripe to move ahead and create real partnerships. Africa Works! will be held on 16 and 17 October in Leiden.