You can find a collection of bioinformatics resources here
BMC Bioinformatics is an online journal that publishes research peer-reviewed articles. All articles published are accessible immediately upon acceptance. The journal is published by BioMed Central Ltd, Middlesex House, 34-42 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4LB, UK.
National Center for Biotechnology Information seeks to develop new information technologies to aid in the understanding of fundamental molecular and genetic processes that control health and disease.
The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) is a not-for-profit research institute whose primary research interests are in structural, functional and comparative analysis of genomes and gene products from a wide variety of organisms.
The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) is a non-profit academic organisation that forms part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
The bioinformatics.ca is the source of information about bioinformatics resources in Canada.
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the leading genomics centres in the world, dedicated to analysing and understanding genomes.
CBR is dedicated to providing the research community with convenient, effective access to widely used bioinformatics tools and databases.
The South African National Bioinformatics Institute for the analysis of Genomes relevant to South African Health Research and Biotechnology aims to bring genome information, computational biology, and analytical tools to the South African research community.
BioAfrica is Bioinformatics unit for HIV research, Africa Centre
Climate Change: There is a general agreement that Africa is disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change which is likely to derail many of the recently hard-won economic and social development gains.
Orphan crops: Orphan or understudied crops are important as they contribute to the diet of a large population of resource poor consumers and generate income for small holder farmers in Africa.
There is a general agreement that Africa is disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change which is likely to derail many of the recently hard-won economic and social development gains. The new issue of the Journal will seek to address, among others, the following questions:
What are the lessons that Africa should learn from Copenhagen in terms of future commitments to reduce or set carbon emission target as it strive to develop, mitigate the effects of and adapt to climate change?
What are the opportunities does the current debate, measures and mechanisms - technological, social and economic- can Africa capitalize on to meet its own development aspirations?
Which technologies are likely to meet both carbon-neutral growth and rapid economic goals of African countries?
Based on past experiences, how can international commitments be operationalized to meet the challenges of climate change in Africa?
How can Africa best prepare itself to limit, with or without Copenhagen, the effects of climate change on its technological and economic development?
To what extent are climate change regulations and requirements going to add to existing trade barriers against Africa and how should the continent prepare its firms to face and overcome these challenges?
ATDF Orphan Crops
Orphan or understudied crops are important as they contribute to the diet of a large population of resource poor consumers and generate income for small holder farmers in Africa. With Climate change on the minds of many today; Orphan crops are also important because they perform better than the major crops in adapting to draught and high temperatures. These crops however produce lower yields due to the lack of genetic improvement. This next issue will address the significance of these crops and how best they can be improved. It will also explore the technologies and innovations at hand and new ones to further develop these crops.
This issue of ATDF Journal Volume 6 is devoted to the multifaceted nature and the changing face of educational institutions – ranging from low cost private schools to national vocational and professional systems. It also addresses the different and critical roles that education plays in society – as a tool for economic and social development, economic recovery and technological advancement, among others.
Low Cost Private Schools as Part of the Solution for Education for All
James Tooley
John Perkins
Building Knowledge by Overcoming the Dualistic Mindset in Education
Darcia Narvaez
Verena Weber and Annette Kull
Education as the Key to Long-term Recovery
Andreas Schleicher
Humanist Education as a Tool of Empowerment
Philipp Aerni
Climate Change and Africa’s Technological and Economic Development
There is a general agreement that Africa is disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change which is likely to derail many of the recently hard-won economic and social development gains. The new issue of the Journal will seek to address, among others, the following questions:
What are the lessons that Africa should learn from Copenhagen in terms of future commitments to reduce or set carbon emission target as it strive to develop, mitigate the effects of and adapt to climate change?
What are the opportunities does the current debate, measures and mechanisms - technological, social and economic- can Africa capitalize on to meet its own development aspirations?
Which technologies are likely to meet both carbon-neutral growth and rapid economic goals of African countries?
Based on past experiences, how can international commitments be operationalized to meet the challenges of climate change in Africa?
How can Africa best prepare itself to limit, with or without Copenhagen, the effects of climate change on its technological and economic development?
To what extent are climate change regulations and requirements going to add to existing trade barriers against Africa and how should the continent prepare its firms to face and overcome these challenges?
Reaching the poorest
Enrolling the world’s poorest children in school needs new thinking, not just more money from taxpayers
In India, for example, research by the World Bank reveals that 25% of teachers in government-run schools are away on any given day; of those present, only half were actually teaching when the bank’s researchers made spot checks. That is dreadful but not unusual: teacher absenteeism rates are around 20% in rural Kenya, 27% in Uganda and 14% in Ecuador.
Despite the inspiring rhetoric that accompanied the adoption of the UN’s “Education For All” goals in 1999, progress has been patchy. The numbers of unenrolled school-age children dropped by 33m in 2007 compared with 1999. About 15m of that fall came in India alone (though UNESCO says statistics may understate the problem by up to 30%). In countries like Liberia and Nigeria the numbers have hardly budged since 1999. Of the 72m still outside school, 45% are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Read Reaching the poorest
Source: The Economist 2010
Abstract: Low Cost Private Schools as a Solution
Empirical research in Asia, Africa and Latin America strongly suggests that low cost private schools are part of the solution and definitely not part of the problem in global efforts to provide quality education for all. Education bureaucrats may be right to point out that there are still problems with access and equity, as well as the quality of pro- vision. Yet, compared to public sector schools, low costs private school seem to address the needs of the poor more effectively and exceed in performance by almost every measure. Even though the problems associated with low-cost private schools are real they are not insurmountable. This article discusses various policy instruments that helped to increase the incentives of low-cost private schools to improve teaching quality, student performance, responsiveness to local needs and reputation in the private sector and academia.
Read Low Cost Private Schools as a Solution
Nairobi — Safaricom and Zain transferred a whopping Sh318.4 billion through their mobile money transfer services in 12 months up to June last year, according to the Central Bank of Kenya.
The bank says Safaricom and Zain transferred the money, which translates to about Sh1 billion per day, between June 30, 2008 and June 30, 2009 through their M-Pesa and Zap services respectively.
This represents a 421 per cent growth over the Sh61.1 billion transferred in the year to June 30, 2008, the speed and size of the transferred funds clearly indicating the power of the mobile telephone industry in opening up the economy.
This is critical especially to the millions of rural and unbanked Kenyans who live in abject poverty, most on less than a dollar (Sh75) a day, and have to rely financially on relatives and friends in the cities.
"Similarly, the number of transactions increased from 21.8 million to 125.1 million over the same period," CBK governor, Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, says in the bank’s annual report to be presented to Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.
Registered mobile phone money transfer customers increased from three million to 7.4 million last year.
Given that Zain launched Zap in March 2009, Safaricom’s M-Pesa accounted for the lion’s share of the transactions, overall transfer and customers. Zain had another service, Sokotele, operating before then but was phased out in late 2008.
Yet, significant changes have not only taken place, but are also likely to continue unfolding with the incumbents digging in and new players joining.
For instance, M-Pesa has almost 8 million registered users and the value of cumulative person-to-person transfers since inception had hit Sh230 billion by August 2009.
Zain Kenya managing director, Rene Menza, said they are engaged in partnership discussions with various companies for third party payments.
"Cumulatively, we have moved more than Sh750 million in person-to-person transfers. We have over 400,000 customers on the Zap platform but this year, we project to have more than 1.5 million customers using the service," said Mr Menza.
The service has been launched in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone and Malawi.
As Telkom Kenya’s Orange, the country’s third mobile phone operator, is said to be planning to venture into the sector, Essar Group—the fourth operator, yu, brand owners—partnered with Obopay, a mobile phone money transfer service company, to launch its yuCash service in December 2009.
Contacted on Friday, yu chief commercial officer Kunal Ramteke said they are rolling out a countrywide network of agents and target over 3,000 agents.
Source: AllAfrica.com
The challenge of agricultural development and food security provided the theme for UNCTAD`s second multiyear expert meeting on International Cooperation; South South Cooperation and Regional Integration. South-South cooperation according to UNCTAD offers real opportunities for the transfer of policy experiences and technologies necessary for boosting agricultural productivity in developing countries, and also opens new investment and market opportunities on a more level playing field than currently exists for many agricultural producers.
Where countries have successfully developed agricultural technologies specifically for small-scale farmers, and have designed and implemented the right policies to help raise investments in the rural sector, mechanisms need to be devised to share these experiences with other developing countries.
The background note suggests that tackling the scourge of global hunger "hinges on the possibility of raising productivity across the full range of farming units, including by increasing the use of machinery and technological know-how, improving land and water management, and introducing sustainable farming practices."
Listen to the audio presentations here
Source: UNCTAD 2009
The Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Wen Jiabao (Nov. 2009) announced eight new measures to enhance cooperation with Africa. Four of the measures (2, 5, 7 and 8) directly address the sharing of science, technology and knowledge between China and Africa and specific cooperation in agriculture by increasing agricultural technology demonstration centers, agricultural technology teams and training agricultural technology personnel to boost the continent’s food security
New Chinese measures to enhance cooperation with Africa
1. Establish a China-Africa partnership in addressing climate change. China would enhance cooperation on satellite weather monitoring, development and utilization of new energy sources, prevention and control of desertification and urban environmental protection. China has decided to build 100 clean energy projects for Africa covering solar power, bio-gas and small hydro-power.
2. Enhance cooperation with Africa in science and technology. i. China proposes to launch a China-Africa science and technology partnership to carry out 100 joint demonstration projects with Africa on scientific and technological research ii. China to receive 100 African postdoctoral fellows to conduct scientific research in China.
3. China to help Africa build up financing capacity and provide 10 billion U.S. dollars in concessional loans to African countries, and support Chinese financial institutions in setting up a special loan of 1 billion dollars for small- and medium-sized African businesses. For the heavily indebted countries and least developed countries in Africa having diplomatic relations with China, China would cancel their debts associated with interest-free government loans due to mature by the end of 2009.
4. China will further open up its market to African products. China would phase in zero-tariff treatment to 95 percent of the products from the least developed African countries having diplomatic relations with China, starting with 60 percent of the products within 2010.
5. China will further enhance cooperation with Africa in agriculture. China would increase the number of its agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa to 20, send 50 agricultural technology teams to Africa and train 2,000 agricultural technology personnel for Africa, in order to help boost the continent’s food security.
6. China will deepen cooperation in medical care and health. China would provide medical equipment and anti-malaria materials worth 500 million yuan (73.2 million U.S. dollars) to the 30 hospitals and 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers built by China and train 3,000 doctors and nurses for Africa.
7. China will enhance cooperation in human resources development and education. China would build 50 schools and train 1,500 school principals and teachers for African countries. By 2012, China would increase the number of Chinese government scholarships to Africa to 5,500, and would also train 20,000 professionals for Africa over the next three years.
8. China will expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges. China proposes to launch a China-Africa joint research and exchange program to increase exchanges and cooperation, share development experience, and provide intellectual support for formulating better cooperation policies by the two sides.
Full text of Chinese premier’s speech
Source: chinaview
New SMS Tool Underscores Importance of Mobile Technology to Global Development Agenda
Today many NGO field workers manually collect information, entering information into a centralised database over time. With the FrontlineForms tool a single mobile phone can be used to collect structured data while off-line. Collected data can then be sent via SMS from a mobile phone in the field to a central database where it can be aggregated, analysed and shared.
Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) conducted field-tests of FrontlineForms in Niger – a country of more than thirteen million people in which remote populations live in some of the harshest deserts in the world. “Simplicity is crucial for on-the-ground organisations using data collection and dissemination systems,” Grégory Rebattu, Niger Representative for TSF see a real potential for FrontlineForms to collect important health indicators and monitor cases in remote areas.”
FrontlineForms is an important enhancement to FrontlineSMS – kiwanja.net’s free, multi-use text messaging platform which has helped NGOs in more than forty countries use text messaging to deliver a range of humanitarian and development initiatives. Masabi – an influential developer of secure mobile applications – built FrontlineSMS and FrontlineForms. Students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology validated the new SMS tool’s architecture with the needs of isolated communities in mind.
By integrating a data collection tool into FrontlineSMS kiwanja.net is further opening up the potential of mobile technology to transform a global development agenda which today includes healthcare, the environment, food security, poverty reduction and election monitoring. As this agenda evolves, the launch of FrontlineForms means NGOs have a powerful, new mobile technology tool to use – not solely to deliver their initiatives, but to decide how to advance these initiatives in line with the unique needs of the rural communities they serve.
“Technologies that advance social change in the developing world will continue to centre on mobile applications and rural community realities,” said Ken Banks, kiwanja.net Founder. Banks explained, “In this sense the potential for FrontlineForms will be fully realised once it gets into the hands of individuals who can and will use the tool to revolutionise ways NGO’s advance rural development initiatives.”
See most recent UN-Vodafone report on mhealth
UN news on mobile phone subscriptions in Africa
Further contacts:
Ken Banks Tel: +44 (0) 7775 906 169 +1 (650) 245 7727 Website: kiwanja
Nick Dillon +44 (0)7725 761 450 +44 (0)207 0210 103
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