Franco-Malagasy Collusion to Undermine SADC

Last weekend was a wild one in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. Former President Marc Ravalomanana tried to return to his homeland to meet 30,000 supporters at the airport, but his flight was turned back before it could enter Malagasy airspace by current "transitional" President Andry Rajoelina. Here is my favorite recap of that day so far, which includes the line "The ride had been rockier than Def Leppard in their crotch-guitaring prime."

Now allAfrica has a report directly criticizing France for colluding with Rajoelina's government to keep Ravalomanana out of Madagascar, thereby undermining the SADC's roadmap and overall attempts to end the almost-three-year-long political crisis that started with a coup. Here is the biggest claim in the article:

Security services in the region say they are aware of a 6-point strategy devised by Paris and Antananarivo to prevent Ravalomanana from returning. According to these sources, Rajoelina, his heads of security and France decided to:
Deploy security forces loyal to Rajoelina inside the Ivato International Airport in Antananarivo.
Deploy Rajoelina supporters outside the airport to antagonise and destabilise the estimated 100 000 Ravalomanana supported expected at the airport to welcome him home.
Issue statements threatening the Ravalomanana supporters with arrest.
Threaten to arrest Ravalomanana on arrival.
Lobby the international community to persuade SADC not to allow Ravalomanana back.
As a last resort, issue a Notice to All Airmen (NOTAM) to deny landing rights to all airlines. This effectively closed down the country's airspace.

The link between France and Rajoelina has been alluded to for a long time, especially in Madagascar where Ravalomanana supporters (and even some of his opponents but supporters of democracy) claimed France was behind Rajoelina's power grab. The claim at the time was that Ravalomanana had shifted business focus from France to regional neighbors, China, US, etc... While the facts suggested a connection, there was no real evidence of French involvement. Now allAfrica is claiming there is. This is very interesting times for followers of Malagasy politics and sovereignty and conflict resolution...

Fundraising for Local Madagascar NGO Community Center (and other follow-up links)

The Peace Corps Volunteer who was in Amparafaravola with me, Teena, has launched a Peace Corps Partnership project with the local NGO "ONG Zahatra" to build a community center. Teena describes the project:

ZAHATRA plans to construct a center equipped with proper dining and lavatory facilities which will allow it to expand its services to 30 children and their families. This crucial intervention will not only restore the health of the children and give them the education they need to break the cycle of poverty, it will restore the dignity of their guardians by providing them with the vocational training, skills and materials they need to earn a living and provide for their children.

You can see her full post here. You can also go directly to the Peace Corps site to contribute here.
Longtime readers of this blog may recall my brief work with ONG Zahatra (about half way down, second paragraph under If a Coup happens and no one cares...). As a reminder, I spent some time playing with the kids and talking a bit about nutrition, brought them some educational posters and books, and trained the staff on moringa trees. Here are a few photos:

Henri teaching about nutrition

The kids teaching themselves

ONG Zahatra planting Moringa seeds

The Moringa trees starting to grow 

The kids eating their healthy meals

This organization is pretty special, driven by dedicated Malagasy who want to improve their own community. So take a look at the project and help out if you can!

A few other follow-up links from previous posts:
-Here is a link to the video from the Sudan talk I mentioned a few months ago.
-In case you are interested in the rice experiment I mentioned, here is a nice video showing the researcher using an Android tablet to determine fertilizer amounts:


-Nice write-up on Zimbabwe here, a good piece after my conflicted feelings from Mugabe and the White African.

Practice What You Preach: Rice Edition

Sure, best management practices sound great in theory, but do they work in reality? Often times, experts preach certain techniques or methods without any first-hand knowledge of their success rates. Well over the next few months, two experts from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) want to change that. They have embarked on the IRRI Agronomy Challenge, an attempt by two experts to grow a high-yielding rice crop themselves at the IRRI research center in the Philippines. Specifically, they are aiming for a 7 ton yield. Their approach:

We have chosen a single field of 0.25 ha size (25 x 100 m), which is quite typical for Asian rice farming. The soil is a deep, heavy clay. The location is in the humid tropics. In the dry season rice needs to be grown with irrigation.
We will obtain all information on recommended Best Management Practices (BMPs) from publicly available IRRI sources, particularly the Rice Knowledge Bank. We will do most field operations ourselves, to experience on the ground what works and what doesn’t. We’ll adjust as we go, just as a farmer would do while learning.
We will explain and document what we’re doing and we’ll share our experiences with you.

One of the experts, Achim Dobermann, described his motivation to take on this challenge as follows: "As a scientist and research leader I have been involved in rice research for 25 years, in many countries. My own research background is in soil science and agronomy, areas in which I have published numerous scientific articles and also a few books. But there is something that I keep wondering about: why is it that many of the research findings and technologies developed by scientists don’t seem to be used by rice farmers?"

This sort of practice, and the accompanying transparency in the results (the two are blogging weekly and recording short youtube videos at each stage of the crop's progression), is very refreshing. Granted, they are using some heavy machinery, so it is not identical to the implementation of rural farmers. But it is a step in the right direction, and hopefully other experts will work to implement their techniques before propagating them!  You can follow along at the blog here to see if they succeed or fail!

Check Out This Agricultural Mobile Data Collection Project

Here is a post I wrote for Columbia SIPA's New Media Task Force blog, focusing on the work of Eric Couper, the ICT and Agriculture Coordinator for the Africa Soil Information Service, leading an ICT4Ag Pilot Survey. His survey was conducted with Android devices running Open Data Kit. Click here for the full article.

Blattmania, Sachs Addiction, Opaloholism, and more!

This is for the handful of development nerds reading: What sort of a blog reader are you? When, after a long trip or a week at the library, you return to a backlog of posts in your RSS feed, where do you start? As a fun Friday distraction, I brainstormed some fan club names for some of the blogs I read. Maybe you fall into one of the below categories (Warning: Bad puns galore!)

Blattmaniacs or Blattfans

Duncan' (n)GoNuts (like the small New England coffee chain...)

Cave Dwellers or maybe Roosters... because they rise with the DAWNS... yikes that was awful

Opaloholics

Displaced Longhorns

Talking Heads (yea, not very original...)

Pragmatic Searchers

Barder Brava (had to give the Englishman's fans a football supporters' club name! ...even if it's an American one...)

Liebertarians

RaForesters

ICT4D-orks (whoops wrong nomenclature!)

Geographers (AFIACs sounds too much like a US military designation)

DevHeads

C Students

Marginistas

Sachs Addicts

BEasterlies

Dani's Fanis

Nostalgics (Could also apply to fans of here, or here, or here...)

Solo Artists

Uh.... Expat Aid Workers

Well, I had fun, at least! Feel free to offer other names for any of these, or for the many worthy blogs I forgot. As for me, I am usually a Blattfan, though there are days when I am more of a  Duncan' (n)GoNut or an Opaloholic. On a daily basis, though, I am a Customs Officer...

Educating Tomorrow's Leaders in Developing Countries

As a certified Duncan (n)GoNut (more on this term later today), I often read his blog posts and am tempted to comment. But there are so many thought-provoking posts that I often get caught up in another post before I have time to comment on a previous one. Such was the case with one of Mr. Green's posts from mid-December focusing on tertiary education. Take a look at the post, where he talks about targeting universities in developing countries where leaders emerge from, with the aim of influencing their formation.

This post made me think of another (semi-)related issue in tertiary education in developing countries. In my experience, many university students in developing countries have little experience in the poorest regions in their own countries. They come from wealthier areas and have little in common with the poor (especially the rural poor). At first glance, maybe this does not matter so much, but as I mentioned earlier this week, it is important for development professionals to stay connected to the people they are working for/with. I think this is just as important for any profession.

You may point out that many American students enter university just as disconnected from the rural and urban poor in their own country. I agree, but the difference is that many universities actively work to change this. They offer urban plunge experiences, alternative spring break programs, and other ways to connect with communities they may otherwise not know. After graduation, programs like AmeriCorps and Teach for America aim to provide future leaders with experience in poverty-stricken areas.

It is crucial for the future leaders in developing countries to connect with the poor in their own countries. (One of my colleagues in graduate school recently did this in India). Universities could increase this awareness by: offering internships/externships in rural areas or urban slums; increasing efforts to enroll students from poorer areas in the country through scholarships(*); and increasing the post-graduation service requirements that many countries employ for certain professions (such as teachers and doctors) to serve in rural areas to all graduates. I think some universities/countries are implementing some of these ideas, but it would be great to see them all on a large scale! After all, the measure of the quality of one's education is not limited to the classroom...

Be Wary of Generalizing Based on Your Experiences

In development, as in any other sphere of life, it is important to remember that your experiences are not necessarily indicative of over-arching themes. In fact, most of the time, your experience in a particular village one year is not even indicative of that village's broader situation. It is just the experience you had, which you hopefully have learned from, but do not attempt to extrapolate too much from it.

Duncan Green covered this while reviewing the book Delivering Development. To open his review, he references another book*, Whose Reality Counts, to note how most development professionals "'gain direct field experience only early in a career if at all,’" and Green uses this to say the following:

One feature of that path is that the year-in-the-village shapes each person’s thinking for the rest of their careers, acquiring a special claim to truth, even if research and data suggests that in some areas, that experience may not be typical. Discussions often end up in ‘well, when I was living in Malawi….’ as though that is the final word on the matter.

Too often, this sort of generalization based on one's own experience becomes canon. I have certainly been guilty of this, although I try to qualify my comments on my experience with lines like, "where I lived in Madagascar" or "from my limited experience in small villages along the eastern rain forest in Madagascar." Such lines get clunky, though, and it is easier to generalize. Just ask Thomas Friedman or Nicholas Kristof ("My taxi driver had an ipod AND a cell phone; this country is developed!"). But it is important that we all strive to not take the easy way out, and instead work towards accurate statements based on wide studies and experiences. Indeed, it is critical (in my mind) that development professionals strive to get into the field as frequently as possible. They should also aim to live in rural villages at different points in their careers, in order to maintain perspective on their work while simultaneously breaking out of the image of development workers driving a convoy of land crusiers from one walled compound to another. Such aims may be difficult, but if development workers at least begin with maintaining perspective and avoiding generalizations, it would be a step in the right direction!

* I have not read either book, but I think both sound interesting and hope to get to them... some day...

Do We Need Heroes to Tell an Important Story?

In a recent post, reader Madalife commented how people are looking for "political saviors" this year in countries around the world, including the US and Madagascar. While I think people often feel the need for a champion of their cause(s), it is really the media that often truly needs heroes and champions to tell its stories (and then reinforced by the history books).

Tonight I finally "got around" to watching a documentary that I had heard about for a while, Mugabe and the White African. The film is about a family of white Zimbabweans fighting (in court) to keep their farm from President Mugabe's eviction and redistribution plans. The film is pretty unsettling, focusing on the hardships the family faces in keeping their land. Here is the trailer:


It is also unsettling for other reasons: the film focuses on the White Hero to tell its story. The family continues its fight despite mounting physical and legal dangers, and they are portrayed as shedding light on the extremes of the Mugabe regime. The film makes cursory mention of the many black Zimbabweans standing up to the regime, whether in court, on the farms, or in the streets. It appears the film makers felt it necessary to portray whites as the champions of the anti-Mugabe cause, in order to appeal to viewers around the world. Perhaps the reasoning for this portrayal is similar to aid organizations using Poverty Porn to elicit donations: "because it works!" This is hard for me to accept. I do not understand, for instance, how the story of fighting the Mugabe regime could be told less-effectively from the perspective of the (black) opposition candidates briefly seen in the film, or the (black) lawyer representing the white family. Include the white farmers' personal story as one aside, but focus elsewhere to provide both a more realistic view of who is fighting the violence and corruption of Mugabe's government and a fresh documentary look at justice in an African country. Whether in terms of development, conflict resolution, or any other story in Africa, we need to move away from the "White in Shining Armor" story framework and towards more realistic and inclusive stories.

I was wondering if I was along in thinking this, as the movie was well-reviewed and received awards (and it is a pretty powerful movie, emotionally/graphically/story-wise... especially if you ignore the subtexts). So I decided to search my favorite blog on Africa, Africa is a Country, which is usually full of righteous venom towards critically-acclaimed portrayals of the continent. And I was not disappointed, as you can see here.

 "the danger of this movie is that is posits the White farmers as trying to help, as just being ‘good guys’. Too many other people are trying to pass themselves off as ‘good guys’ in Africa (see: International Development), there’s no need for any more."

The whole article is worth a read, at least if you watch the movie. I do think it is a bit too venomous; the article seems to preach "an eye for an eye"-type of tactic for developing a country post-oppression (in this case post-colonialism/ post-apartheid). But such strategies are drastic and dangerous; I would argue South Africa's success was due to a President who favored reconciliation over retribution. But I digress a bit...

A final thought: the Zimbabweans who are taking the land and the farms are portrayed as feeling it is their right to do so. They see the land as their own. They feel entitled to it. It is hard to argue with someone whose family has been oppressed for generations that they deserve something in return. And the wounds of colonialism are still fresh in Zimbabwe, due to its independence coming in 1980. This is why land redistribution in former colonies, much like reparations for slavery in the USA, is so rarely discussed at high levels. Development sages focus on new policies and investments to counter the unfair wealth and resource distributions in former colonies, yet steer clear of the questions of nationalization and redistribution of resources. It is indeed a tough topic, but one that needs to be openly discussed. Now, before you go calling me a pinko-communist for even mentioning these inequities, I will close by saying the feelings of these Zimbabweans seeking to "reclaim" the white family's land reminded me of Herman Cain, of all people. While doing laundry this morning, the laundromat's television was on the View, and Herman Cain was on to talk about something or other. Besides announcing a coming "unconventional endorsement" (one guess was "endorsing Obama!"), he mentioned one of his catchphrases that I felt actually rings true in development and equity relations around the world: going from an "entitlement society to an empowerment society." That, I like to think, is the end goal: empowering people to improve their own lives. But when and where do entitlements play into that empowerment?

Learn to Code

If you're like me, you have long found computer programming interesting but seemingly impossible to learn. It appears to have a steep learning curve, especially for those of us whose solution to every computer problem is "control+alt+delete". Well now is your chance to start coding, with Codeacademy's online tutorials (as part of "Code Year"). If you sign up, they will email you new lessons each week, in order to "turn anyone into a computer programmer." I've played around with the lessons a bit, and they are really easy (at least at first), and they follow a similar format to the excellent Khan Academy (track your progress, offer "badges" for completing levels, etc.). Even Mayor Bloomberg is resolving to learn coding via the site!

What does this have to do with development? Programming is becoming an increasingly sought-after skill in every employment field, and in international development it has become a major trend. Every sector is putting an "m" in front of itself to denote its dedication to mobile technology (m-health, m-ag). While there is plenty of debate over the nomenclature of ICTs in development (dare we call it ICT4D?), there is less debate about the potential for ICTs. But whatever your chosen career path, I think programming can be very useful, so check out the site, play with the tutorials, and maybe learn something too!

Direction of the Blog in the New Year

Happy New Year! I cannot say for certain that it will be a good one, but it will certainly be an interesting one! Since my return from the Peace Corps in Madagascar, this blog has become a hodgepodge of postings on my travels, graduate school, Madagascar, development, the Peace Corps, events I attended, environmental issues, etc.(and lots of collections of links). I enjoy this freedom to discuss a variety of topics, and will probably with such a mixture of topics. But if you have any suggestions moving forward, please let me know via email or the comments section (or Twitter!). While the blog will continue to be a somewhat random collection of issues, here are a few things you can expect:

-1 post per week average. I am really going to try for this, with some weeks seeing more than 1 post and others less. I may also start writing more frequent, shorter posts.
-Plenty of writing about "development," from small-scale implementation to tools to books to grandiose ideas. Most of my thoughts have been focused on school-related projects, but I am hoping to use this semester to flesh out ideas and concepts from my classes in more detail here. Also probably more recaps of events I attend, if only because there are some cool talks and symposiums that you might not hear about otherwise.
-More about Madagascar. With the "upcoming" elections (some day), the issues of Madagascar will be of continual interest to me (for instance, Madagascar was just denied a renewal of AGOA again). Also, it does not seem like many people outside Madagascar are really writing about the challenges and successes there.
-More about other issues in Africa, especially areas I am studying (such as Malawi). Malawi, recently a poster-child for development successes, is quickly turning into a pariah among donors...
-Once I solidify my summer internship location, I will write more about that experience (before, during, and after). It will definitely be in a developing country, and may be at a Millennium Village site, which means I may be unwittingly dragged into that debate (well it is not so much a "debate" in the blogosphere, as most are in opposition to the MVP, so I will start preparing my McAfee Snark-blocker software now...)
-Sports? I am unsure about this one; I enjoy all sports, but have trouble working them in here. Perhaps with the Olympics next summer...? In the meantime, if you have interest in Notre Dame sports (and hopefully eventually soccer/football/etc.), two of my best college buddies have a nascent sports blog they are working on here.
-Politics. Like it or not, 2012 will be the year of the 29-hour-a-day election news cycle in the US (FoxNews  fairly and balanced-ly). I will probably limit myself to international development and other international policy, and even then I am just an average person pointing out some interesting aspects of the race. For instance, with Ron "Cut all foreign aid" Paul poised to have a nice showing in Iowa tonight, I found this article an excellent read. I am not sure I will fully reevaluate my standing as a progressive-type, but Paul provides a useful voice in these often same-sounding political debates (reminds me of Nader in 2000... Not a realistic Presidential option but a fresh voice in the wilderness. Here is a music video showing the similarities of the two mainstream candidates back then, and while we are here, a music video a decade ahead of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Obviously, my digressions are not going anywhere in 2012).

So that is it for now. Until school starts again in a few weeks, I am enjoying the novelty of reading for pleasure instead of as work. I recently received a Kindle and have been reading that way (it is awesome, but I will miss "real" books). I am mixing non-fiction and fiction interests; so far I read Krakauer's take-down of Greg Mortensen and now have started the Hunger Games trilogy... other books on my to-read list include Drezner's Theories of International Politics and Zombies, Poor Economics (or maybe More than Good Intentions?), and Harry Potter in French (seems like a fun way to keep working on the language). Also, the pleasure of movies and tv: I recently saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (awesome, if you like confusing spy movies) and have been working through Parks and Rec (also awesome). And I need to finish Game of Thrones... But enough rambling...

Happy Apocalypse Year!