peter singhateh | Peter "Just Loves Flying"

A ‘Marshall Plan’ needed to tackle Africa’s unemployment challenge – Comment – www.theeastafrican.co.ke

January 13, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, Development, Economic Growth, Gambia, peter singhateh, unemployment Leave a comment

A ‘Marshall Plan’ needed to tackle Africa’s unemployment challenge – Comment – www.theeastafrican.co.ke.

To Africa’s many challenges, add one more: unemployment.

Unemployment, independent of any other factor, threatens to derail the economic promise that Africa deserves. It’s a ticking time bomb with no geographical boundaries.

Economists expect Africa to create 54 million new jobs by 2020, but 122 million Africans will enter the labour force during that time. Adding to this shortfall are tens of millions currently unemployed or underemployed…

Dublin student wins Young Scientist for maths project – Science News | Daily News from The Irish Times – Fri, Jan 10, 2014

January 13, 2014

Peter Singhatey Irish News Education, Ireland, peter singhateh, Research Leave a comment

Dublin student wins Young Scientist for maths project – Science News | Daily News from The Irish Times – Fri, Jan 10, 2014.

A Dublin student who found answers to previously unsolved mathematical problems has won the 50th BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the RDS. Paul Clarke undertook months of research into complex mathematical theory to become the young scientist of the year.

A project by students from Kinsale seeking to understand people’s attitudes to older people in the work force took the prize for best group. The runner up individual award went to a Dublin student who developed a laboratory management system and the runner up group prize was claimed by students from Mayo who designed and built a gumshield communication device for managers and players…

Why is the African Union still failing its people on peace and security? – By Martin PlautAfrican Arguments | African Arguments

January 10, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, African Standby Force, African Union, Gambia, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Why is the African Union still failing its people on peace and security? – By Martin PlautAfrican Arguments | African Arguments.

“The conflict in the Central African Republic is spiralling out of control. “Strife in Central African Republic could turn into religious war and spill over borders, UN warns,” reads the headline in the UN’s latest report. The UN’s head of Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, told the Security Council that killings were continuing daily, dividing the country along religious lines – nearly 1 million have been driven from their homes and half the population needs aid.

This is exactly the kind of catastrophe that the African Union was designed to address. The organisation’s constitution was specifically written to allow it to step in where its widely discredited predecessor – the Organisation of African Unity – had failed to act. As its constitution puts it, the African Union can directly intervene in a member state in: “…grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.”

This was introduced to ensure that Africa’s senior organization would never again allow itself to stand idly by, as it had done during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Or so we thought…”

Final phase of broadband in schools project – Education News | Primary, Secondary & Third Level | The Irish Time – Tue, Jan 07, 2014

January 7, 2014

Peter Singhatey Irish News Broadband Internet, Education, Ireland, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Final phase of broadband in schools project – Education News | Primary, Secondary & Third Level | The Irish Time – Tue, Jan 07, 2014.

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte and Minister for Education RuairíQuinn announced that every secondary school will have access to 100Mbp/s connectivity by the beginning of the next school year, as they launched the final stage of the national project.

With high-speed broadband already installed in 516 schools through the project, yesterday’s announcement detailed a further 270 to be connected in counties Carlow, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.

“Completing the final phase of the national programme will mean all our post-primary schools have been equipped with top class, future-proofed broadband,” said Mr Rabbitte.

“This will enable and motivate them to grasp the teaching and learning opportunities that the internet provides.”

Foresight Africa: Top Priorities for the Continent in 2014 | Brookings Institution

January 7, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, Development, Education, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey Leave a comment

Foresight Africa: Top Priorities for the Continent in 2014 | Brookings Institution.

As Africa’s position in the world continues to grow and evolve in 2014, the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative continues its tradition of asking its experts and colleagues to identify what they consider to be the key issues for Africa in the coming year. Join the conversation on Twitter using #ForesightAfrica and tell us what you think are the critical issues Africa must pay attention to in 2014.

50 Years Later, War on Poverty Is a Mixed Bag – NYTimes.com

January 7, 2014

Peter Singhatey Uncategorized Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh, Research Leave a comment

50 Years Later, War on Poverty Is a Mixed Bag – NYTimes.com.

WASHINGTON — To many Americans, the war on poverty declared 50 years ago by President Lyndon B. Johnson has largely failed. The poverty rate has fallen only to 15 percent from 19 percent in two generations, and 46 million Americans live in households where the government considers their income scarcely adequate…

…But in the meantime, the greatest hope for poorer Americans would be a stronger economic recovery that brought the unemployment rate down from its current level of 7 percent and drew more people into the work force. The poverty rate for full-time workers is just 3 percent. For those not working, it is 33 percent.

Five Leadership Resolutions for 2014

January 5, 2014

Peter Singhatey Uncategorized Gambia, New Years Resolutions, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Five Leadership Resolutions for 2014.

Resolve to spend 15 minutes a day listening. Refuse to make statements, just explore. After you’ve mastered 15 minutes, up it to 30. Most leaders talk too much.
Spend an hour every week with someone you admire. The people you hang with reflect your future.
Talk about the past in terms of lessons learned. Stop circling the past like a vulture eyeing a carcass. Everyone captivated by the past repeats it. The past is a tool for learning not a target for circling.
Reject isolation; embrace connection. The double trouble of failure is pulling into a shell. Isolation is a symptom of sickness and fear.
Don’t talk about it unless you plan to do something about it.

Thinking on obesity is overly simplistic – Education News | Primary, Secondary & Third Level | The Irish Time – Thu, Dec 19, 2013

January 2, 2014

Peter Singhatey Health Ireland, obesity, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Thinking on obesity is overly simplistic – Education News | Primary, Secondary & Third Level | The Irish Time – Thu, Dec 19, 2013.

The simple thermodynamic conclusion that weight gain, leading to obesity, results from consistently ingesting more food calories than are burned off in various activities, hides the complex roots of the epidemic.

Prof Mike Gibney, director of the Institute of Food and Health, UCD, explains these roots in his book Something to Chew On: Challenging Controversies in Food and Health (UCD Press, 2012). Gibney argues persuasively that the two main popular explanations of the current epidemic of obesity, namely that the epidemic is caused by socio-economic and food-chain factors, are simplistic…