News & Events

In the EADI webinar "How to reach the (extreme) poor through inclusive development policies in sub Saharan Africa?", Marleen Dekker (Leiden University) and Nicky Pouw (University of Amsterdam) introduce a policy analysis framework to understand inclusive development from a bottom-up perspective of the poor and diversified vulnerable groups, the stakeholders involved and the importance of uncovering the transaction costs related to access and reaping the benefits of the interventions, programs and processes.

The Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa (CFIA), in which the ASCL participates, has started a new series of blogs that focuses on the role of frugality and frugal innovation in times of Corona in different parts of the world. The first blog is written by André Leliveld, Associate Director of CFIA and senior researcher at the ASCL. He pleads for a frugal approach to cope with the resource constrained situation in the medical world.

The COVID-19 epidemic has exposed the limitations of South Africa’s democracy. Very little has been achieved to address the critical issue of racialized poverty in the country. At the heart of it all is the failure of the democratic state to resolve the land question, writes Lungisile Ntsebeza of the University of Cape Town, who received an honorary doctorate from Leiden University on 7 February. Read his post in the ASCL Africanist Blog!

Simone Reinders wrote a blog on behalf of a Leiden Edinburgh Research Group that focuses on inequalities in higher education in Africa. She asked two experts on higher education in Ethiopia: How have COVID-19 and the consequent shutdown of universities affected equity and inclusivity?

This volume, published by Brill in the African Dynamics series and edited by Klaas van Walraven, investigates the development of biographical study in African history and historiography. In addition to methodological insights, the book offers many case studies, e.g. of Abdullah Abdurahman (first South African politician of colour elected to public office), Cornelius Badu (born in 1847 in Elmina, Gold Coast, current Ghana), and politicians like Barthélémy Boganda (CAR) and Laurent Kabila (DRC).

This book, published in 2019, explores Africa’s vulnerability to disease and epidemics, as well as how recent epidemics have been dealt with and controlled. The authors make a case for a multi-faceted approach to building effective national health systems and combating epidemics, arguing that political, socio-economic and environmental factors are all at play. A good read given the challenge which Africa and the world now face in the form of COVID-19. Read the Library Highlight!