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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A Kenyan science teacher from a remote village has been named the world’s most outstanding educator and has received a $1 million prize. Peter Tabichi beat 10,000 applicants to win the 2019 Global Teacher Prize and was given the award in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at a ceremony attended by the country’s crown prince. To pay for school supplies and help his students, Tabichi had been donating 80% of his salary. Tabichi teaches science to high-schoolers in the semi-arid village of Pwani, where almost a third of children are orphans or have only one parent. Drought and…

UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM On the outskirts of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Mariama Mamane sat in the dust tinkering with a blue generator. The 29-year-old environmental engineer attached a large blue square bag containing biogas to a generator with a long tube. She was trying to kick-start the machine branded “Jacigreen” — the name of her company founded in 2016. “It will work!” she urged. Jacigreen tackles the problem of invasive water hyacinth plants that choke the city’s water supply. Her invention cuts up water hyacinth, fermenting it into a fertilizer and compost for farmers called Jacigrow. The byproduct of the…

THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION Researchers are using a monitoring tool that tracks water supplies worldwide and factors in social, economic and demographic data to forecast water-related conflict.  The tool being developed by the Netherlands-based Water, Peace and Security partnership (WPS) was tested in Mali’s Inner Niger Delta and successfully predicted more than three-quarters of conflicts. Many deadly conflicts begin as disputes over scarce natural resources, and the group hopes the tool will allow for early intervention and mediation.  Artificial intelligence can predict where conflicts will break out up to a year in advance and allow action to prevent them, researchers say.…

VOICE OF AMERICA Kenyan innovators are betting on digital technologies to attract young people to an agriculture industry that is dominated by an aging population.  As a young girl in central Kenya, Peninah Wanja witnessed firsthand the challenge of raising cattle without professional help. Her mother’s cows produced only 2 cups of milk per day. Today, Wanja is an agricultural extension officer and has seen how gaps in information have made farmers continue to rely on trial and error in growing crops and raising livestock. “It’s a gap that I saw, because when you look at the statistics and the…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Yam production in Nigeria is thriving, and the United Nations says that Nigeria produces more than 60% of the world’s crop. Despite this, Nigeria is not one of the world’s top exporters. Its neighbor, Ghana, produces far less but exports more yams to European countries, including the United Kingdom, than Nigeria does. Spotting this discrepancy, Nigeria has launched an ambitious yam export plan. It is hoped that exporting more yams will diversify Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy, which has plunged into its worst recession in 25 years because of falling global oil prices over the past couple of…

History shows that wars are not always won with just bombs and bullets. To defeat an enemy and preserve the peace, Soldiers must win the hearts and minds of civilians. This is particularly important in peacekeeping operations where foreign forces can be viewed with suspicion and fear. To overcome this challenge, militaries must invest time and energy in civil-military engagement projects. These can be as complex as building a new bridge or as simple as organizing a football match. No matter the scale, these projects help the local population see Soldiers in a different light. For these efforts to be…

It is said that it is only in the service to one’s fellow human that one’s mettle is truly tested. And the Armed Forces of democratic South Africa can be justifiably proud of having produced Soldiers of resolve, of steadfastness and of great patriotism. Through National Armed Forces Day we want to display to our people the capabilities and state of readiness of our Armed Forces. We also want to expand the public’s understanding of the military’s function and purpose in our society. We all recall the iconic image of a young mother, clutching her newborn baby, Rosita, as she…

Algeria’s pyramid tombs, called the Jeddars, are unique relics of an ancient era. The 13 monuments, whose square stone bases are topped with angular mounds, are on a pair of hills near Tiaret, 250 kilometers southwest of the capital, Algiers. Built between the fourth and seventh centuries, the tombs are believed to have been the final resting places for Berber royalty. Some are as tall as 18 meters. Algerian authorities and archaeologists are pushing to get the Jeddars listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. About 20 archaeology students and their teachers have been working at the monuments. When the…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Malawi has launched the world’s first malaria vaccine in a program to prevent a disease that kills hundreds of thousands across Africa and around the world each year. Mosquirix was rolled out in the capital, Lilongwe, in April 2019. It was extended to Ghana and Kenya weeks later. The program aims to immunize 360,000 children ages 2 and under in the three countries to assess effectiveness and whether the delivery process is feasible. Four successive doses must be administered on a strict timetable to be successful, and the children must continue to use other preventive measures such as…

In 2015, a puff adder bit 4-year-old Chepchirchir Kiplagat. She lost the use of the left side of her body. Sleeping beside her, 2-year-old Scholar also was bitten. She died. “We saw two blood spots on her (Chepchirchir’s) wrist,” said their father, Jackson Chepkui, in the village of Embosos in Kenya. “That’s how we were able to conclude that they were bitten by a snake.” Chepkui traveled 160 kilometers to the hospital in Eldoret. The trip included two stops at clinics along the way and took nine hours. Chepchirchir was in the hospital for two months. Snakes bite 5.4 million…