Links I liked

Fantastic Port Harcourt photography from Enefaa Thomas

• GiveDirectly is launching a new basic income program in Kenya.  They’ll match the first US$10 million of donations, and (on my grad student budget) I’ve just contributed $250.  There’s substantial evidence that this type of program is effective at reducing poverty, and this is a great chance to support it.

• In Ghana, six female executives have started a new network to launch the careers of younger women in business.  Perhaps we’ll be reading about them on the Nzinga Effect soon.

• Nigeria offers innovative lessons in public-private partnerships for tax collection.

• “Almost every respondent completed the section with the response ‘Somaliland’ rather than ‘male’ or ‘female’.“

• Sierra Leone’s universities face a staggering range of challenges, including student : professor ratios of 1000 : 1 (and that’s not a typo).  Keep this in mind when reading this excellent exchange on the state of the African academy.

• Technological change is afoot in southern Africa, as Namibia pioneers large-scale wastewater recycling, and South African farmers begin using drones to monitor their crops.

• Inspirational stories of the day: the Jalada Writers’ Collective is supporting African literature that’s not written in colonial languages.  African writers can also apply for a chance to study with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Lagos.  A Nigerian-American student has been accepted to all eight Ivy League universities.