From Farm to Table: Waste Not, Want Not (Infoboxx)
My latest column for Infoboxx on farm waste in African food supply chains, with a focus on inefficiencies in Ghana and Nigeria.
Growing up, children around the world are admonished to finish their dinner plates with the common reproach, “Finish your food. There are starving children in Africa.” With the pervasive images of African poverty and malnutrition, it may come as a surprise, even to some Africans, that Ghanaians alone waste $8.9 billion worth of food each year. In the region that can perhaps at least afford to waste food, a great portion of it goes uneaten or is thrown away.
#TBT: "We the People"
I stumbled across an old blog post I wrote during my days as a columnist for the Yale Daily News. The piece consists of my musings as I stood in the freezing cold at President Obama's 2012 inauguration, reflecting on the power of community. It feels particularly apt today as we face as contentious campaign period filled with divisive rhetoric.
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At 4 a.m. on Monday morning, in the dark parking lot of RFK Stadium, four buses full of Yalies awoke to make the trek downtown for the second inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama.
Between the long Metro lines and security measures, I anticipated an arduous trip to the National Mall. Even once we arrived, we waited hours in the cold for the festivities to begin.
To our left, a rainbow flag flew high. To our right, a huddled group of college students played Trivia. As I looked around at the crowds that had ventured from afar to support the president, what struck me the most was the symbolism of the diverse group of Yalies that had journeyed to D.C. The contingent of students I traveled with was sponsored by the Intercultural Affairs Council (IAC), which seeks to promote campus dialogue between students of all cultures and backgrounds. Given the diversity of that IAC-sponsored group, which integrated students from various parts of campus, watching my peers’ reactions to Obama’s various policy prescriptions was a study in the evolving nature of our society and a reminder of how very different people — permanent residents, international students, guest workers, undocumented immigrants and refugees — can have vested stakes in the same laws and traditions.
Obama’s call to remember the principles behind the Founding Fathers’ concept of “We the People” must extend to those who hold some rights in this country and are subject to its laws, and to those abroad who fall within our nation’s sphere of influence. “We the People” entreats us to consider the common man, in the global sense, in addition to the common American. Speaking about climate change, the president enjoined us to work towards greener lifestyles for the sake of posterity. That posterity extends beyond our borders to the broader global community.
Following the principles of engagement and diplomacy laid out in the inaugural address, the idea of camaraderie and cooperation for the sake of progress must shape our perception of security issues. The cultivation of friends at home and abroad will afford us a more stable position worldwide. As one of the largest and most powerful nations in the world, and one with a large immigrant population, America must recognize that its domestic policy and its foreign policy remain intertwined, because positions at home — on everything from the federal budget to immigration — have large repercussions abroad. Obama’s entreaty to recall community should propel us towards exogenous, rather than endogenous, action.
So, as I stood on the National Mall, surrounded by Yalies of every color and creed and of varying nationalities, I was reminded that, despite their origins, they are my sisters and brothers. And their hopes and their dreams are tied to how this country chooses to frame and promote its dream of world order.
Making COP21 Work for Africa (Infoboxx)
My latest column for Infoboxx on how Ghana can give its climate change commitments some teeth post-COP21:
As the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP21, draws to a close on December 11, success will be marked by the measures taken to slow the pace of climate change in Africa, the region that causes the least environmental damage, yet suffers the most. At this year’s conference, African heads of state showed they meant business: they arrived with a unified front and policy points. Forty-seven African countries submitted their “intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs),” outlines of their respective strategic plans to mitigate climate change. The pledges were impressive: Comoros, a small island nation north of Madagascar, committed to reducing emissions by 84% while Ghana committed to a 15% reduction (pledging to increase its commitment to 45% if external support were made available).
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The INDCs and the AfDB plan can be successful if they follow the four essential elements for climate change success that UN Secretary Ban-Ki Moon laid out in an op-ed in Le Monde: durability, flexibility, solidarity, and credibility.
How can Ghana, in particular, craft a sustainable mitigation strategy that recognises these principles?
Ending Violence Against Women Begins with Community Engagement (Infoboxx)
My latest column for Infoboxx on community engagement strategies to end violence against women:
Violence against women is one of the world’s most common, but also most tolerated violations of human rights. One in three women worldwide are survivors of sexual violence – a figure far higher than terrorism, yet one that fails to make many headlines, especially across the continent.
Gender-based initiatives and legislation are, by now, commonplace in most African countries. Ghana, for example, has enacted a wide range of laws aimed to address sexual violence, including the Children’s Act, Domestic Violence Act, Human Trafficking Act, and various amendments to Criminal Offenses Act. Ahead of many of its peers across the continent, Ghana even has Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Secretariats. Yet with all of these laws and institutions, why do one in three Ghanaian women experience domestic violence?
Passing bills alone cannot solve the issue.
Removing English As Ghana’s Language of Instruction: Not So Simple (Infoboxx)
My latest column for Infoboxx on proposals to remove English as Ghana's language of instruction
Just a few weeks ago, the Minister of Education, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, called for Ghana to bid a similar farewell to English as the primary language of instruction in public schools. According to Minister Opoku-Agyeman, English Language instruction hinders the working class from better education. In a forum at the University of Ghana, she cited the example of Korea as a country that used to be on par with Ghana in development but advanced through teaching children in their native language.
While Minister Opoku-Agyeman’s declarations may help instill more ethnic pride and respect for African languages, the link between economic development and instruction in mother tongues is not so simple. Nor is the expectation that instruction in local languages will stir national or ethnic pride.
Shea: Women's Gold (News Decoder)
Take a look at a piece I recently wrote for News-Decoder breaking down the shea industry, and how sustainable business contributes to development.
I knew it was used in cosmetics. But chocolate and medicine?
Before I started working with the Global Shea Alliance in Accra, Ghana, I was familiar with shea as a cosmetic product.
So I was surprised to learn that shea — from the tree of the same name — is mostly consumed in chocolate, and in Africa’s Sahel region it is used as a vegetable oil. Butter from the tree’s nuts is even used as an anti-inflammatory balm and to treat dermatitis.
Shea plays a critical role in West Africa’s economy. In the cosmetics industry, shea is well known for its excellent moisturizing properties and has become a popular go-to for hair and body products.
In the chocolate industry, shea is used as a cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) because it helps prolong chocolate’s shelf life without altering its taste.
As shea’s reputation grows in the food and cosmetics industries, it has the potential to substantially drive regional growth, especially in under-resourced communities, where shea can account for up to 12 percent of a family’s income.