SOUTHERN AFRICA
January 2011
"Human Capacity"
Book Chapter
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Nowhere is the missed opportunity to build human capacity more evident than in the case of women and agriculture in Africa. The majority of farmers in Africa are women. Women provide 70%–80% of the labor for food crops grown in Africa, an effort without which African citizens would not eat. Female farmers make up 48% of the African labor force. This work by women is a crucial effort in nations where the economy is usually based on agriculture."
January 2011
"Enabling Infrastructure"
Book Chapter
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Enabling infrastructure (public utilities, public works, transportation, and research facilities) is essential for agricultural development. Infrastructure is defined here as facilities, structures, associated equipment, services, and institutional arrangements that facilitate the flow of agricultural goods, services, and ideas. Infrastructure represents a foundational base for applying technical knowledge in sustainable development and relies heavily on civil engineering. This chapter outlines the importance of providing an enabling infrastructure for agricultural development."
January 2011
"Advances in Science, Technology, and Engineering"
Book Chapter
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"The Green Revolution played a critical role in helping to overcome chronic food shortages in Latin America and Asia. The Green Revolution was largely a result of the creation of new institutional arrangements aimed at using existing technology to improve agricultural productivity. African countries are faced with enormous technological challenges. But they also have access to a much larger pool of scientific and technical knowledge than was available when the Green Revolution was launched in the 1950s."
AP Photo
May 20, 2011
"God and Terror"
Op-Ed, Public Discourse
By Timothy Samuel Shah, Daniel Philpott and Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
"...[R]eligion has made a political comeback, abetted by globalization, democratization, and technological development. Those religious actors who are most closely integrated with state authority and who hold a political theology that calls for state sponsorship, the subordination of minorities, and the use of violence are most likely to be violent. Those who have remained independent of state authority and carry a political theology that prescribes democracy, peace, and reconciliation are most likely to be peaceful and democratic."
AP Photo
April 18, 2011
"Juma Mwapachu: Legacy of an Entrepreneurial Leader"
Op-Ed, The East African
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Mwapachu will be remembered as a true entrepreneur with a passion for creating new institutions that improve the lives of the majority of people. He operationalised the EAC Customs Union, led negotiations for the EAC Common Market that came into force in 2010 and laid the groundwork for the forthcoming EAC Monetary Union. He also oversaw the admission of Rwanda and Burundi into the EAC."
AP Photo
April 11, 2011
"Growing the Economy"
Op-Ed, Public Service Review
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"Sustaining African economic prosperity will require significant efforts to modernise the continent's economy through the application of science and technology in agriculture. In other words, agriculture needs to be viewed as a knowledge-based entrepreneurial activity."
April 5, 2011
U.S. Book Launch of The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation In Africa
Announcement
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
The U.S. book launch event for The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa by Calestous Juma will be Friday, April 22, 2011, 10:30am – 12:00pm at Preston Auditorium, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, Washington, D.C. RSVP for this event here: http://bit.ly/hmE773
Spring 2011
Belfer Center Newsletter Spring 2011
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Spring 2011 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This issue highlights the Belfer Center’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the United States and Russia to prevent nuclear catastrophe – an effort that began in the 1950s. This issue also features three new books by Center faculty that sharpen global debate on critical issues: God’s Century, by Monica Duffy Toft, The New Harvest by Calestous Juma, and The Future of Power, by Joseph S. Nye.
Photo by Martha Stewart
Spring 2011
"Juma: Africa Can Feed Itself in a Generation"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Greg Durham, Former Project Coordinator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project; Faculty Assistant to Calestous Juma
Africa can feed itself in a generation. Calestous Juma's newly released book The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa offers this bright outlook for the continent’s future.
AP Photo
February 2011
"Africa—From Basket Case to Breadbasket"
Op-Ed, New Agriculturalist
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
"...Africa is also actively learning from the experiences of other agricultural giants such as China, Brazil and India. But more importantly, it is also learning from itself. African presidents meet more regularly than in any other region of the world. They learn a great deal from each other and are starting to draw on their own experts openly."
