In addition to protecting schools, the trauma violent attacks inflict on children needs fixing COMMENT | Jan Egeland | It was scorching hot when I arrived at a cramped classroom in the world’s largest refugee camp, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. But the children I came to meet, a graduating primary school class …
Read More »Rebuilding trust in science
Discussions to hold scientists accountable must involve civil-society, policymakers, and regulators COMMENT | Nicholas B. Dirks | From the growing presence of artificial intelligence in our daily lives to novel medical therapies, progress in science and technology affects us all – mostly in positive ways. But the pace of change brought by …
Read More »The knowledge mismatch
Policymakers and innovators remember that it is not any knowledge, but useful knowledge, that empowers us COMMENT |Â Dani Rodrik |Â Knowledge holds the key to economic prosperity. Technology, innovation, and know-how all come from learning new ways to produce the goods and services that enrich us. Knowledge is also the archetypal …
Read More »Did we imagine Kakwenza’s mutilated back?
COMMENT | Olivia Nalubwama | It is now a year since a firestorm erupted in the wake of writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija’s torture ordeal in state custody. In December 2021, state agents broke into Kakwenza’s home, abducting him. In early January 2022, court ordered police to release Kakwenza – the police did …
Read More »How to transform African agriculture
It requires understanding of challenges, clear vision for meeting them, and commitment to solutions COMMENT | Safia Boly and Omid Kassiri | The COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by supply-chain disruptions and surging inflation, has highlighted the fragilities of Africa’s food systems, leading to a 60% increase in hunger across the continent in 2020 …
Read More »Free online courses
They could be a path to higher education in African countries but awareness is low COMMENT |Â Mphoentle Puleng Modise |Â Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the largest regions in the world and has the lowest rates of participation in higher education anywhere in the world. The World Bank reported in 2020 …
Read More »Why Parliament debates homosexuality
The declaration of the Anti-Homosexuality Act as unconstitutional upset the patriarchal matrix of power COMMENT | Frank Mugisha | The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among and her deputy Thomas Tayebwa last week led the August House into a debate about homosexuality. Parliament’s fear was that there is promotion of homosexuality …
Read More »An encounter with just a few cats made me give up smoking
How I abandoned an addictive habit that had kept me company since my Senior 2 at Tororo’s Manjasi High School in 1976 SPECIAL FEATURE | Alfred Geresom Musamali | Flamboyant former Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) spokesperson Simon Kasyate was around 2018 taking members of the Public Relations Association of …
Read More »How threatening are threats?
How threat talk motivates conspiracy theories, misinformation, and shapes elections and investments COMMENT | Michele J. Gelfand and Virginia Choi | From climate-change alarms and “tripledemic” concerns to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock, we are awash in dire warnings. News and social media alert us daily to the dangers of …
Read More »More war means more inflation
Why that will lead to larger fiscal deficits, more debt monetisation, and higher inflation in future COMMENT |Â Nouriel Roubini |Â Inflation rose sharply throughout 2022 across both advanced economies and emerging markets. Structural trends suggest that the problem will be secular, rather than transitory. Specifically, many countries are now engaged in …
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