By Sharon Kantengwa

"We did a market survey and interviewed teachers, school administrations and parents. All of them were very excited to have such a tool being effective, as it was improving the student's lives," he says.

The software compiles all course reports and sends an SMS to the parents every day after school hours to keep the parents updated and helps schools to communicate with parents, even for those who cannot access internet.

He says parents will be able to focus on the ability of their children to study well if they receive daily reports on their performance and discipline.

"A child can't succeed if he is absent or late, he can't succeed if he is sick, absent minded or sleepy in class, and doesn't have access to basic hygiene needs. Our main target is to have a smart kid as early as possible as well as have a future generation with values."
 

"The teacher will simply use it to update his report after each class, where all his students will be evaluated on 5 indicators; attendance, performance, behavior, health, and hygiene. We provide a laptop in every classroom for the teachers and we train them on the use of the software," he says.

The project pilot phase will start at Lycée Notre Dame de Citeaux with over 750 students through the last quarter of the 2016 academic year.

The pilot phase is intended to help adjust the software for better use by the teachers and enable them have better interaction with parents.

"Once we are through, we will implement the project from January 2017 in 20 schools per month, providing a solution to over 600 classrooms per month which means 18, 000 students added every month," Kasasira explains.

"For parents without mobile phones, we link them with different operators in Rwanda so as to use this opportunity. We also encourage them to develop strategies so that they can reach those clients."
 

"We can contribute by pointing the names of parents in need of cell phones. To receive the message, there is no need for internet, it's a rural oriented project," he says.

Rwanda's school dropout rate

Statistics from the Ministry of Education indicate that the overall, school dropout rate decreased by more than a half as it went down from 10.5 per cent the previous year countrywide.

"School dropout is still an issue although we constantly have intervention of local leadership. After some research, we didn't find any ICT oriented solution in Rwanda or abroad. This is how we decided to create our own platform," Karasira says.

He (Karasira) and his partner Victor Nkindi, came up with the idea to brainstorm about a solution to improve school attendance by simply using a rural oriented desktop application for the teacher.

A vision to make Rwanda a database hub for Africa

Part of Smart Africa's agenda, is to use ICT oriented solutions in the education system to improve social development and access to ICT. This is why 'Smart initiative' was endorsed by African leaders when it was presented to them during the recent African Union Summit in Kigali, a month after it was initiated.
 

"All institutions in charge of education can have our support and use generated data to take decisions. It is our wish to have a Rwandan product being successful in Rwanda, Africa and all over the world," Karasira says.

With Rwanda being at the centre stage of its development-with many projects underway to turn the country into an ICT hub in the region, the system provides real time data to be used by government institutions as data measurement for development in the Smart Africa agenda.

"We are using this system in Rwanda and very soon in Africa. We want to cover Africa within 3 years, this is our own vision 2020, if only entrepreneurs in Rwanda would think big, and share our vision with the rest of the world," Karasira says.

In Europe, the initiative is already present in Greece and the software is already being adapted in the countries. It has also already gained solicitations from across Africa where the solution is being implemented in six countries namely; Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Gabon, Gambia and Uganda where Karasira is currently doing the project pilot phase.

"Once we are able to generate metrics on a district or province's school evolution through a quarter or a semester, we can identify the need on time but most importantly, the data we generate, will allow Rwanda to become a real database hub in education for the entire Africa," he says.

outh African Airways (SAA) has banned the charging of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on board all its aircraft effective from Saturday, amid battery explosion reports.

"South African Airways has taken a decision to prohibit the charging of Samsung Note 7 mobile phones on board all its aircraft," SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali told Fin24.

"SAA will make appropriate announcements on board to remind passengers of this restriction and our crew has been briefed as well.

"This does not amount to an outright ban of the device on our flights. We trust that all our customers will cooperate fully and observe this request which the airline is making based on safety considerations for passengers and crew," he added.

Tlali said that the decision will be effective as of Saturday 10 September until further notice.

Civil aviation authority, Comair respond

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has also taken note of recent reports of exploding Note 7 batteries and concerns raised regarding the device.

"Moreover, the SACAA has also noted the announcement by Samsung to stop the sales of the Galaxy Note7, and the company's offer to replace similar devices already in customers' possession," SACAA said in a statement to Fin24.

"In light of these developments, the SACAA is currently and carefully looking into this matter and will take an appropriate decision in due course," the statement read.

However, the SACAA said that the current regulations do not prohibit airlines and operators from introducing additional and appropriate measures that would enhance civil aviation safety and security.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Comair – which operates Kulula.com and British Airways flights in South Africa – said that the company's aircraft were not fitted with power sockets, so they would not be affected by faults which have been encountered with the Samsung Note 7.
 

"It's thus not necessary to ban the Samsung Note 7 from our flights," Martin Louw, Comair operations director, told Fin24.

"That said, we adhere precisely to the very specific procedures outlined by the Civil Aviation Authority and Boeing, including those procedures which involve electronic devices. The safety of our crew and passengers is always our foremost priority," Louw said.

Comair said it had not yet received instructions from regulators on the use of power-banks and personal chargers. But if that changed, they would ensure adherence on board aircraft to any new instructions.

"As stated, the safety of our crew and passengers is always our foremost priority," Louw said.

Samsung halts pre-orders

Samsung South Africa on Thursday put a stop all pre-orders of the Note 7 in the country, amid 35 cases of faulty devices as reported by the company.
 

Initial reports suggested that charging the device without the original charger led to the risk of exploding batteries.

The company also told Fin24 earlier that the availability date, which had initially been set as September 23, has also been postponed until further notice.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has this week joined four Australian airlines in banning usage of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on board flights.

Source: Fin24

GE’s offer of best-in-class training for young engineers, known as the Graduate Engineering Training Programme, is open to women and men alike. However, women in technical positions the world over are  frequently in the minority. We recently caught up with two female  participants to chat about their experience and to hear their take on women  involvement in the sector.

Claudia Giurriuta, 31, is from Mozambique and has an interest in subsea drilling. She sees an opportunity to apply her technical knowledge in her home country, where gas is a significant sector.

“My father is an auto electrician. When I  was a child, I used to see my father working at home on weekends and I used to ask questions and spend my time with him. So I realised that I liked what he was doing because it involves technology. It’s not just about using tools. There was more to what he was doing, so my passion for engineering started then,” she says.

She’s one of only two women in the programme. “At the university, we were only two girls in the class with about 30 boys and I got used to the situation. Even as a woman, I have knowledge and the ability to face any professional situation the same way men do,” she says.

Giurriuta faced significant opposition in her career choice. “My father didn’t agree about my choice to be an engineer. He said engineering is not for women and my mother wanted me to be a lawyer. So I had to lie for one year that I was studying to be a lawyer. When I told them I was studying engineering, they didn’t support me at first, so I explained to them that it’s what I want to do professionally and it’s what I’m happy doing. Nowadays, they are proud of me. I am the only woman engineer in my family.”

Marian Muthui, 26, from Nairobi, Kenya, was attracted to engineering because she believes it is a field that has the greatest potential for social impact as it seeks to solve the world’s most “pressing issues”.

“From a young age, I loved science-based subjects and would often tinker with everything I could get my hands on. I would take things apart and put them back together just to try to understand their intricacies and how they worked,” she says.

When she has completed the GETP,  Muthui would like to focus on the energy field as she believes there is a proven correlation between energy security and economic development. “My  future interests are in research and development of various microgeneration technologies in renewable power and transportation,” she says.

Muthui has a mechanical  engineering degree and joined the GETP when it was still being conceptualised. She says she expected to be in the minority. “Sadly, this is not a strange phenomenon. It has been this way since my days in university and it still persists now in the job  market. But, I am optimistic that this will change as the number of women in engineering increases,” she says.

“The programme has been a great opportunity to increase my technical skills and to network with various business leaders. It has definitely been challenging, but I have used those challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow,” she says.

Luckily, Muthui has always had the support of her family to rely on. “Despite the fact that we did not know a single engineer, we educated ourselves on the topic  and saw it as a perfect fit for me in accomplishing my future goals,” she says.

To encourage more girls and young women to study science and engineering, Muthui says exposure is the key factor. “Most young women do not know what exactly engineers do and some believe that it is a  field just for men. In my downtime, I hold workshops with young high-school girls to mentor and encourage them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This is my personal contribution to increasing  the number of women in engineering,” she says.

By Zelalem Girma

A large number of people in developing countries are still poor, undernourished, and with no adequate health-care facility. They don't have access to clean water, and are facing challenges such as in alleviating climate change and in enhancing their development processes.

Both the environmental and development challenges are coming together to hurt the poor of developing countries as well as the world at large. Thus, developing countries like Ethiopia need a new economic and environmental scheme to tackle both climate change and development challenges.

The current economic model, which is just copied from the American and European, could neither solve the developmental nor the environmental challenges. Hence, developing countries need a new economic model, which not only serves the larger poor and the vulnerable but also ensures to protect the environment.

In Ethiopia, about 20 per cent of the total population is poor, and with no access to electricity. The poor is also affected by diseases. The forest coverage was 40 per cent in Ethiopia at one point in time. But currently, it is about 10 per cent. This indicates that the forest coverage has been lost in the effort to utilize the forest resources for cooking and construction purposes.

The destruction of forest also leads to soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. That in turn affects ground water boost undesirably. Hence, when there is high run off, the agriculture sector will suffer a lot.

Ethiopia must develop using its large number of renewable energy potentials. Recognizing the fact, Ethiopia has been building small, medium and large dams. This could help the country harness its resources and provide electricity for its people abundantly.
 

Though Ethiopia is rich in sunshine and wind, the country needs to promote hydro-power and wind-generated energy to provide electricity for the people.

In any case, generating electricity is still not sufficient, it needs to promote something like social forestry. Indeed, there are two kinds of forestry development approaches. One is conservation of forest for environmental reasons and the other is social forest where you grow trees because you cut trees for different purposes. We all need trees. We need wood for cooking foods, making furniture, and for various other purposes. So, Ethiopia should have a programme of social forestry where the people grow their own trees and for their demand.

This is the way Ethiopia has to move. Developing countries do not need to follow American way of using gas to cook food. Gas is fossil fuel and would cause to bring climate related disasters. Ethiopia has the opportunity to move to renewable energy sources such as hydro-power, wind energy, and social forestry, to meet the needs of the poor and to meet environmental and developmental needs.

Consequently, developing countries should look into different solutions; and do not have to copy the model from developed countries. They have the opportunity to develop various sources in a friendly manner.

Any countries want development because they want to be happy, to prosper, to proceed, and need our environment to be sustainable so that our development lasts not only for us but also for our children in the future.
 

Our forefathers both in Ethiopia used the environment abundantly, and they preserved the environment properly. But, the current concern is on the economic development only.

Such problems are not only confined to Ethiopia, these are everywhere in developing countries. That is governments at all levels have to reconsider and take steps. Individuals, farmers, students, teachers, government, donor society and all others who support development, should provide emphasis to the environment.

In doing so, the concerned bodies would understand the linkages between development and environment. When understand the impacts of development they would reduce the negative impacts.

To curb the challenges of climate change and development, knowledge, understanding and research are needed. Researches should be done locally on local environmental systems. Knowledge coming from Europe or anywhere else may not be directly applicable to Ethiopia. What we need is to understand our own system here in the highland Ethiopian agriculture. When we develop our agriculture, we can develop our business, and keep our local environment safe and sustainable.

Every stakeholder ought to make efforts to incorporate environment and development together and to take development to the general public especially to the farmers in the villages of Ethiopia who are producing food.

Though this agricultural productivity has been bolstering by small farmers scattered all over Ethiopia, they need support, and input. This input comes from governmental or other non-governmental organizations. Governments should acquire fundamental understanding about the causes and effects of environmental degradation, and on the ways of developing the agriculture productivity.
 

Of course, energy is a very important issue. The villagers do not get enough electricity or fossil fuel. Thus, they depend on biomass energy which comes from wood and forest. They are obliged to utilize forest and wood that causes deforestation. They need safe and clean energy.

Ethiopia has rich energy sources from its many rivers. Its rivers are potential source of hydroelectric energy. Although there may have very small hydroelectric projects undertaken in small courses with only 2000, 4000 megawatt usages, the energy from small units cannot supply full electricity service to all villages sustainably. Though biomass fuel comes from forest and agriculture waste, the villagers may not stop using biomass fuel for their social purposes.

Therefore, Countries would use these renewable energy resources to increase soil fertility and high agricultural production. In this regard, countries also need to look for energy from hydroelectric projects, solar and wind energy. Consequently, this would enable people stop using biomass energy, and reinforce Ethiopia to raise the people standard of living speedily.

On the other hand, education must meet the needs of the country. Students should have adequate facilities in the classrooms, as well as need to go to farms and industries to understand the basic knowledge. The Ethiopian education system also must meet the needs of the people.

By Kwame Dankwah

Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has lashed out at the economic prowess of the John Mahama-led government, saying it has done little to save the domestic currency.

According to Dr Bawumia, since 2001 the Cedi has performed worst between 2012 and 2016, the period of John Mahama's first term.

The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank expressed these at an ongoing lecture at the National Theater.

The lecture is on the theme: 'The State of the Ghanaian Economy – A Foundation of Concrete or Straw'. The lecture is chaired by Former President John Agyekum Kufuor.

By Tebagano Ntshole

Gaborone — Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) in collaboration with the Botswana Bond Market Association (BBMA) hosts the Bond Market Conference in October in a bid to support growth of the bond markets in the country.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, BSE chief executive officer, Mr Thapelo Tsheole said the bond market was relatively illiquid but appreciated the fact that it had grown tremendously over the years.

He said at the end of 2015, the bond market accounted for 7.5 per cent of GDP, a modest improvement from 7.2 per cent in 2009. Mr Tsheole said the liquidity amounted to 8.5 per cent in 2015 compared to 5 per cent in 2009.

The total bond market capitalisation is close to a quarter, 24 per cent, of the total domestic equity market capitalisation.

He said the number of issued bonds had risen since the 1990's when there were only three bonds in comparison to 39 bonds listed on the BSE by 15 different issuers. Mr Tsheole said this year, they were expecting historic issuances. "All in all, we are better than we were about two decades ago, but we seriously recognise the need to address challenges that are slowing our growth and to do so as a collective," he said.

He said the BSE undertook a survey in 2010, among the bond market participants to try and understand the issues or structural impediments negatively affecting development of the bond market in Botswana.

"At the same time, we requested for recommendations that can address these structural impediments," he said.

Following the survey, they compiled the Botswana Bond Market Development Strategy.

Mr Tsheole said the BSE put together a Bond Market Steering Committee which comprised of the BSE and representatives from the market in 2011 to help the BSE drive the bond market development strategy.

"The committee was tasked with establishing the Botswana Bond Market Association and the Association was formally registered with the Registrar of Societies in September 2013," he said. He said the association has 24 corporate members and three individual members.

Mr Tsheole said the bonds were economically important hence they have chosen 'The Bond Market – A Pillar of the Economy' as the theme of the conference to be held October 6 at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC).

He said the primary role of the conference was to bring together relevant stakeholders and participants in the bond market to engage in discussions on a wide range to topical issues covering the buildings blocks of a robust bond market.

Mr Tsheole said the African Development Bank (AfDB) has agreed to participate in the conference and said they considered them their strategic partner given their involvement in the development of local currency bond markets in Africa through their initiative called Africa Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI), which is under the African Domestic Bond Fund.

By Manase Otsialo

Miraa trade between Mandera and the neighbouring autonomous Jubaland state is going on normally despite the flights ban imposed by the Somali government.

Mandera Miraa Traders Association chairman Mohamed Abdi said it is business as usual between Mandera and Bula-hawa, Damasa and Borache in Jubaland.

The towns, which are near the Kenya-Somalia border, get daily miraa supplies from Mandera-based traders.

"We are receiving miraa from Maua in Meru County and supplying it to our customers in Somalia without any problem," he said.

"The flight ban has only affected plane transport to Mogadishu but our vehicles are transporting [miraa] to our customers across the border," he said.

Mandera gets three truck-loads of miraa from Maua daily, with each vehicle loaded with 1,500 kilogrammes or more of the crop.

SH3M DAILY

"We sell locally at Sh700 per kilo and Sh800 per kilo to clients in Somalia. The three vehicles make around Sh3.1 million daily," he said.

According to Mr Abdi, the flight ban is an unfair treatment to those depending on the crop for their livelihoods.

"Miraa has opened opportunities to many people locally and if totally banned, then it will leave many jobless," he said.

He, however, cited insecurity as the main challenge affecting miraa trade in the area, saying militants lay ambushes targeting their vehicles.

The government yesterday was urged to withdraw the KDF from Somalia and strengthen border security to retaliate Somalia's suspension of miraa imports.

Miraa Green Gold ambassador Rajesh Hirani said Somalia's temporary suspension of miraa imports is in retaliation for Kenya's closure of the Daadab refugee camp. It houses mostly Somalia refugees.

A statement sent to the Miraa Cargo Operators, the Interior ministry, Ministers of Transport and Finance in Mogadishu and Airport managers by the Somali Civil Aviation Authority said they have suspended all flights transport

By Kimeng Hilton Ndukong

Cosmos Educational Press on September 6, 2016, in Yaounde offered assistance to 10 pupils worth 1 million FCFA.

Cosmos Educational Press Limited on September 6, 2016, in Yaounde offered textbooks, stationery, Mathematics sets and exercise books worth a million FCFA to 10 underprivileged nursery and primary pupils. Some 10 trash cans were also donated to 10 elementary schools in Yaounde. Each pupil received items worth 100,000 FCFA.

The gifts were handed over by Ndjock Christian, Cosmos Marketing Manager, who explained that the gesture was part of the publishing company's support of government's policy of education for all. In the past three years, Cosmos has donated about 500 trash cans to schools in the Littoral, South West, North West and Centre Regions.

Cosmos Educational Press Limited was founded by Eselecha William (Bill) Forcha in 1983, with headquarters in Limbe, in the South West Region. While still in high school, Bill authored and published three books in Economics and Commerce. Today, Cosmos has numerous course book series' in English Language, French, and Mathematics, almost all of which are on the National Book List of the Ministry of Basic Education.

Dr. Leo Cheng, a maxillofacial reconstructive surgeon with the UK National Health Service, spends two to three weeks of his leave each year volunteering on board the Africa Mercy, the world's largest charitable floating hospital run by international charity Mercy Ships. His patients suffer from large benign tumours on the face and neck. Many of them have never received any kind of healthcare before they meet him.

Earlier this year, Dr. Cheng joined the Africa Mercy to travel to Tamatave in Madagascar, where more than 90% of the population live on less than a dollar a day. For every 10,000 residents, there are only two physicians and three hospital beds available.

The Africa Mercy has five state-of-the-art operating rooms and advanced equipment to help make fast and accurate diagnoses. Dr. Cheng and the ship's team are always on the lookout for new methods and technologies that can improve the work they do while aboard.

"Ahead of this latest journey, I initially inquired about a laptop-style ultrasound machine. Once I found out about the Vscan with Dual Probe, I immediately felt that I must introduce this to the ship clinicians," Dr. Cheng said.

Equipped with GE Healthcare's Vscan™ with Dual Probe – a pocket-sized ultrasound that allows easy visualisation of internal organs – Dr. Cheng and the other clinicians on board were able to reduce patient waiting times and referrals thanks to the ultrasound's ability to quickly obtain high quality images. The Vscan™ with Dual Probe was also recently used in rural parts of Africa where distances between hospitals can make accessing medical care difficult.

"The Vscan with Dual Probe can be used in clinical situations without the need of connecting it to a main electricity supply," Dr. Cheng commented. "On the Africa Mercy, we used it for intravenous access, scanning lumps on the face, and to help us identify exactly where to inject a nerve block. Without this type of equipment, clinicians like us would not be able to do this safely."

"It was particularly helpful when our conventional laptop-style ultrasound machines were not available and it allowed us to diagnose vascular lesions and to ensure accurate instrumentation without unpredictable complications," Dr. Cheng said.

Once a patient has been diagnosed, the Mercy Ships team can proceed with treatment. Dr. Cheng performs about two to three operations a day but he finds that for many of his patients, the journey towards healing begins by offering human contact and acceptance, which sometimes starts with a simple handshake. Many of Dr. Cheng's patients have been shunned by their families and by society because of their deformities.

"So many of the patients I meet on board are trapped behind their facial tumours and from my experience, the healing process begins when you show them a bit of human contact and acceptance. Seeing the tremendous joy and happiness that overcomes the patient once their tumour or deformity is removed is such a special moment to witness," Dr. Cheng added.

One of Dr. Cheng's patients suffered from a large benign jaw tumour which had been slowly growing for six or seven years. Being benign, it had not spread to other parts of the body but had grown so large that it was covering most of his face.

When he met Dr. Cheng, he was living in a cattle shed because he had been rejected by his family for his facial deformity. Some of the villagers had even thrown stones at him when he visited public spaces because they believed his large facial tumour meant he was cursed.

Dr. Cheng was able to successfully remove the tumour and reconstruct the patient's jaw using titanium metal plate. After the surgery, the patient looked at himself in the mirror and could not believe what he was seeing. "That's not me," he said.

Dr. Cheng will join the team of volunteers on the Africa Mercy again next year to travel to Cotonou, Benin, West Africa.