How NOT to run events in Africa

Looking to run events in Africa soon? Here are 15 things you must NOT do if you want to increase your chances of successfully organizing an event in Africa.

Do not think you can get away without doing full and thorough research
Do not go without an up-to-date and verified database
Do not forget that Africa has 53 countries, and that each one of them has a different culture and different values
Do not assume that just because something works in West Africa, it will also work in the East, the South and the North
Do not arrive with preconceived ideas about anything
Do not organize events that have no actual relevance to African issues
Do not think you can succeed without a trustworthy and knowledgeable local partner
Do not assume that your team on the ground can be fully operational without a learning curve
Do not assume time has the same meaning in Africa as it does elsewhere – things will not happen as fast as you want them to
Do not be surprised if ‘yes’ ultimately turns out to mean ‘no’
Do not bank on having a reliable or fast Internet connection
Do not assume that hotels will be either cheap or comfortably equipped
Do not assume that prices are not negotiable
Never bank on a successful outcome even after you have already paid out thousands to local participants
And finally, whatever happens, do not forget to smile, to learn and to take something positive from the experience.

Facing up to the Future in Africa

A recent trip to Africa, where I had the opportunity to visit many schools and meet students who are aspiring to a better education, to serve their countries, to help their families and even to become tomorrow’s leaders, was a thought-provoking and dispiriting experience.
Education is a basic right of every human being, but it is a right that is being well and truly violated in Senegal.

Senegal is one of the 53 African nations that celebrates this year 5 decades of independence from its colonizers. Sadly however, it would be a mistake to think that this independence has made a difference to the educational system.
The Senegalese government is failing kids at all levels. The system is too complex and hopelessly out of date.
Kids go to school with low expectations and have to work in dreadful conditions, including classrooms that are hot, sandy and dirty.
Teachers’ lack of proper training is spreading mediocrity to thousands every day but nobody is monitoring the situation. Thousands of students in Senegal struggle to find books, (maths, history, geography, science), computers and other basics. Libraries and place of learning are rare in Senegal. Books are too expensive and lessons are still copied from the board.
The Senegalese curriculum is too heavy, often changed without consultation and not adapted to international or local standards. Outdated and in-adapted philosophy textbooks are studied that serve no use to anyone and science lessons are pitched too high. The work of Leopold Sedar Senghor – Senegal’s first president, one of Africa’s leading 20th century intellectuals and the first black man to become a member of the French Academy – will not be found in the more rural and isolated parts of Senegal, simply because there are no books at all or the French language is not understood and/or spoken badly.
When you are poor and have few resources, basic survival comes first.

The government is spending on real estate, by building hotels and other luxury developments, but little is being invested in education. Recent government claims that it is to spend 40% of the annual budget on educating its people are misleading.
Conditions of study throughout Senegal are tough. Kids that have poor parents will continue to be penalized by the system, while those from wealthier families will not fulfill their potential either because the program is not adapted to their needs. Most kids from privileged backgrounds finish their studies abroad. The prospects for building a stronger, better-equipped Senegalese workforce in the next 10 years look grim. Unless the conditions of study and investment in education are looked into with urgency, I don’t see any future for the current generation. This is the sad reality in Kaolack today in 2010.

Climate change decoded for Africans

This image was the most shocking image I saw in my recent visit to Africa, Senegal. I took it on my way to a village called Kaymor. Trust me, its more dirty place I have ever seen on earth. Nearby lives thousands of women, men and children. There is a market where people shop every single day. Its a dump. All the recycling of that town in dumped there. Now, Tell me about climate change and Africa. How can you talk about climate change in Africa, if the government themselves are not educated and things like this is happening at their door. Why would they fly all the way to Copenhagen if their countries are like this. What would they learn?
I would love to see some African countries teaching civility lessons in school really, because unless we decode climate change and its impact to the grass rots in Africa, no chance!

My view is this, Africa, climate change, or whatever it is, let’s educate people on climate change, ask them to educate their people first on the subject. Millions of dollars will be spent on Africa in order to help them with their climate change programs, but I say , until we educate, mobilize our people on being civil, clean and take responsibility for their towns, villages and cites these dollars will be wasted or end up on the hands of the African Leaders.