South Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning is revealing the secrets of its successful digital transformation to developing countries. This is in the framework of world Bank Democracy Development Program (DDP) forum held in Seoul on October 15-19, 2018. The forum that gathers 40 representatives of 25 countries including some people from the Smart Africa Alliance countries, will...

The US has decided to significantly increase its support ($60 million) to the joint force G5 Sahel, Florence Parly, French minister of the armed forces, revealed during a recent conference with her American peer, Jim Mattis, visiting Paris.   This announcement, relayed by AFP, pleased Sahel countries, which have been elaborating different strategies to combat terrorist groups in...

President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, will lead a Bank delegation to the World Food Prize 2018 edition taking place in Iowa, U.S. The Bank will participate in various events to showcase its Technologies for Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) and other key initiatives. The Bank recently launched TAAT, a US$1 billion initiative to rapidly scale up agricultural technologies....

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a Naira investment equivalent to US$ 10 million in Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF). This investment aims to meet the country’s infrastructure investment needs, including in the power and energy infrastructure sectors. NIDF is the first and the only listed local currency infrastructure debt fund...

The African Development Bank recently convened a meeting of experts and stakeholders in the agricultural sector to design integrated pest and disease management mechanisms for controlling the spread of the Fall Army Worm in East Africa. The Fall Army Worm or Spodoptera frugiperda is an invasive insect threatening food supplies and incomes of millions of African smallholder farmers. The...

On Thursday, October 4, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a study titled “What Do We Get Out of It? The Human Rights Impact of Bauxite Mining in Guinea.” HRW sheds light on the social and environmental impact of mining activities in the Boké region. Two companies in the region are targeted in particular: the historical operator Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) and Société Minière...

Kenya seeks up to $545 million during the current fiscal year to fund its social housing project, Charles Hinga, Principal Secretary, State Department for Housing and Urban Development indicated. According to the official’s statement reported by Bloomberg,  a new 1.5% tax on workers and their employers should facilitate the mobilization of those funds. Thanks to that tax, the...

It is finally the Nigerian company Teleology Holdings that Uganda government trusted for the majority stakes in Uganda Telecom (UTL).   The company which was competing since May 2018 with five others agreed to increase its initial bid of $60.5 million for 67% stakes to $70.8 million. In July 2018, the Economist Intelligence Unit of Uganda was presenting Mauritius Telecom as the...

Abdelkader Messahel and Geoffrey Onyeama, foreign affairs ministers of Algeria and Nigeria respectively, updated their countries’ partnership for the fiber optic that should link Algiers and Abuja. This operation was conducted during the fourth session of the Algeria-Nigeria High Joint Cooperation Committee held in Algiers on October 14, 2018. During the meeting, a new roadmap was established...

The Gender, Women and Civil Society Department (AHGC) hosted a two day workshop from 8-9 October 2018 in Abidjan, Côte d’ivoire with a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This workshop was a promising first step to exchange knowledge, ideas and expertise on how to respond in a timely and judicious manner to the needs and priorities of the population –...