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African Activist Archive

This project aims at preserving a record of the activities of organizations and individuals in the U.S. who supported the struggles for freedom and democracy in Africa from 1960-1994 with special attention given to the anti-apartheid movement. Among other things, the project has collected materials produced by these organizations and preserved them in archives at depository institutions.

African Higher Education Partnership Initiative

This project collection aims at providing support for the African higher education communities. The fora are online and include databases and other resource directories including: The African Higher Education Resource Directory, the South African Higher Education Resources, and the South Africa-US Higher Education Partnerships Project.

African Higher Education Resource Directory

The most comprehensive online directory of African higher education institutions, this website links to many other African higher education associations, conferences, papers, and resources. Initiated in 2002, this project is a collaborative effort with the African Studies Association (ASA), and the Association of African Universities. Funding for the project comes from the Rockefeller Foundation.

African Media Program (AMP) Database

This project offers an on-line reference guide to more than 14,000 films, videos, and other audiovisual materials on Africa and African issues. The database has been in continual updating since the 1980s. It provides key information on the content, sources, audiences, geographical and topical foci, and distributors of the media.

Afrobarometer

The Afrobarometer conducts a comparative series of national public attitude surveys to measure the social, political and economic atmosphere in Africa. Results are shared with decision makers, policy advocates, civic educators, journalists, researchers, donors and investors, as well as average Africans who wish to become more informed and active citizens. The third round of surveys has been expanded to include 18 countries.

Agriculture Biotechnology Support Program at the Institute of International Agriculture (IIA)

A multi-regional, multi-partner program that has researched various agricultural crops in Egypt and South Africa, as well as training and policy-related projects in East Africa, Southern Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Uganda.

An A-Z of African Studies on the Internet

This directory of websites, electronic discussion lists and any other e-resources of relevance to Africa or African studies.

Archaeology in the Kalahari Desert

This project investigates the spread of domesticated livestock into the Lake Ngami area of the Kalahari in Botswana, focusing on the interaction between climate variation and the livestock’s arrival and dissemination. The project is an archaeological and paleoenvironmental study run by Larry Robbins.

Atlantic Connections: Africans and Portuguese on the Upper Guinea Coast and in Brazil, 1600-1800

Bean-Based Foods to Improve Nutritional and Immune Status of HIV Positive Children in Tanzania and Botswana

This project involves researchers at Michigan State University, Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania, and the University of Botswana. Researchers are measuring the nutritional and health outcomes of a diet including a bean-based cereal product fortified with vitamins and minerals for children infected with HIV/ AIDS.

Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP)

The Bean / Cowpea CRSP has worked in collaboration with dozens of institutions in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa to generate knowledge and technical outputs that contribute to increased bean/cowpea production, utilization, and consumption. The project has implemented measures to become self-sustaining.

Broadening Access and Strengthening Input Market Systems (BASIS) Collaborative Research and Support Program (CRSP)

The BASIS CRSP project is concerned with the institutional dimensions of water policy reform in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. One important aspect of the research includes decentralization of water resource management on women and the poor’s access to water.

Buruli Ulcer Disease in Ghana: The Role of Aquatic Insects in Transmission

Buruli Ulcer Disease in Ghana: The Role of Aquatic Insects in Transmission This project in Ghana investigates Buruli ulcer disease, common in West Africa and worldwide. It is the third most common type of mycobacterial disease after leprosy and TB that can cause skin ulcerations and deformities if left untreated.

Cerebral Malaria Project in Malawi

This project aims to better understand cerebral malaria and its effects on children. The research is conducted in Malawi and the U.S. and clinical trial sites have been developed in Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, Gabon, and Gambia. This project also supports University of Malawi College of Medicine graduates to receive specialty training in pathology and doctoral training in epidemiology and public health.

Chinkankata Epilepsy and Fever-Associated Study (ChEAFS)

Within the Chikankata Catchment area of Zambia, epilepsy rates substantially exceed expected rates. While it is unclear why epilepsy rates are so high in the area, one possibility may be due to the recurrent complex, febrile seizures experienced by the children in the region. This study is aimed at assessing whether febrile seizures among Zambian children predispose to later epilepsy.

Climate-Land Interaction Project (CLIP)

This MSU collaborative project works with African universities to conduct long-term research focusing on the relationships between land use/land-cover and climate change. The principle countries of research are Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Collaboration between the University of Mali College of Agriculture (IPR/IFRA) and MSU

This two-year collaboration at the University of Mali has sought to strengthen their post-high school program in agricultural technology. The program is designed to educate a new generation of Malian farmers and agro-entrepreneurs to be scientifically trained and attuned to a market economy.

Competition and Coordination in Cotton Market Systems

This is a collaborative research project with Imperial College London, examining the impact of reforms on cotton production and marketing systems in Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

EQUATE

Begun in 2003, EQUATE is a USAID initiative working to provide technical assistance to USAID missions and strengthen their work to promote gender equality in basic education. Current activities include strengthening activities related to gender in basic education in Zambia and South Africa.

EQUIP (Educational Quality Improvement Program) II

EQUIP II is for policy level work to improve the quality of basic education in the national, sub-national, and cross-community levels. EQUIP II has had projects in Egypt and Namibia.

Entrepreneurship Training Program: A Ghana-United States Exchange Program

An MSU-University of Ghana exchange program that will strengthen institutional linkages between the two countries and enhance the capabilities of Ghanaian institutions to develop women’s workforce participation.

Epilepsy in Southern Africa

This research project aims to understand the high incidence of epilepsy in Southern Africa and the social and economic consequences of the stigmatizing of adults with epilepsy. The project’s aim is to design community-based interventions to improve the lives of people with epilepsy.

Epilepsy-Associated Stigma in Zambia (EASZ)

Epilepsy has long been recognized as a stigmatizing disorder. Most people with epilepsy reside in the developing world, but little is known regarding the impact of epilepsy-associated stigma in this environment. In sub-Saharan Africa, traditional belief systems and lack of access to antiepileptic agents may worsen the burden of disease and stigma among people with epilepsy (PWE). This research attempts to understand the social and economic consequences of epilepsy in Zambia.

Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity

This online project is a place where one can learn about the rich and diverse aesthetic traditions of Ethiopia through the lives and works of eleven Ethiopian artists and artisans.

Exploring Africa

This project is an on-line module in African Studies designed for middle and high school social studies courses. The module covers traditional disciplinary fields as well as lessons on specific regions of Africa. The project also offers an eight-day summer residential program for high school students interested in learning about Africa.

Faculties of Educational Reform Program (FOER)

MSU is participating in a five-year project begun in 2004 to reform the teacher education system in Egypt by working with education ministries and ten faculties of education in universities located in the governorates of Alexandria, Aswan, Beni Suef, Cairo, Fayoum, Minia, and Qena.

Food Security III Cooperative Agreement

A long-term collaborative research project focusing on food security issues in Africa. Research sites include Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia and the Sahel.

H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences On-Line) Africa Lists

This project provides the opportunity to advance teaching and research in the arts and humanities and social sciences by providing an on-line forum for Africa related topics. Presently, there are 11 listservs on H-Net for scholars interested in Africa.

In Pursuit of Access and Equity: Race, Gender and Institutional Change in South Africa

Reitumetse Mabokela has designed this project in order to understand the experiences of marginalized populations of Blacks and women in South Africa. Her project investigates how race and gender informs people's professional lives and leadership identities. This project also aims to influence policies to increase access and equality for these groups.

Internet Access for Disadvantaged South African Communities: A Partnership between Tertiary Institutions and Disadvantaged Communities in Kwazulu-Natal (South Africa) for Capacity Building and Using Internet Technology

This project aims to build and promote the use of the internet for community based organizations in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The project is a collaborative venture between esATI, MSU and community based organizations.

Internet Capacitation for the University of Mali

In 2002-03, MSU’s Matrix provided training to faculty and staff at the University of Mali in using the Internet for teaching and research. This was funded by USAID’s DOT-COM program, which is designed to improve digital opportunity and communication technology for under-served people.

Involving Users in Management: Introducing Co-management to Malawi’s Natural Resource Sectors

This project works alongside Malawi’s implementation of new techniques emphasizing the need of environmental co-management strategies with the involved stakeholders. Legislation as well as policies and administrative rules have been drafted as a method to aid this strategy.

Landscape Ecology of Anopheles Mosquitoes

This project looks at the relationship between humans and their behavioral change related to the presence of Anopheles mosquitoes. This project is a collaborative effort with Kenyan colleagues.

Language Research Training Project with North-West University

This project works to train faculty in the English Department at North-West University to develop skills for conducting theoretical and applied research in language studies. The goals of the project are to provide NW University English faculty with the tools necessary to conduct research, to contribute to the research literature, and to successfully participate in grant competitions.

Legume Best Bets to Acquire Phosphorus and Nitrogen and Improve Family Nutrition

The goal of this project is to improve Malawian families' access to nutritious legumes while promoting sustainable farming through diversified crop species that access soil nutrients for long-term productivity.

Lymphatic Filariasis (Elephantiasis) Elimination Program

Since 2000, this project has begun to set up the health structures through which 3 billion people have been treated with anti-parasitic drugs for the treatment of lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis).

Maghrebi Women Writers

This project is a comparative study of the way postcolonial literary productions and writings by women in Maghrebi societies and Beur communities in France engage with social realities to promote change and civic engagement, inform public opinion and challenge institutional discourses. The project is organized around the analysis of the role of Maghrebi and Beur women’s writing in (re)defining the architecture of the public and private spheres.

Mali Agricultural Growth and Nutrition Linkages [a Food Security Project]

This project investigated agricultural growth patterns and variations in food crops and their effects on children’s nutritional status in Mali.

Mali National Food Security Strategy Project [a Food Security Project]

A collaborative project with the Food Security Commissariat in Mali to make Mali’s National Food Security Strategy operational. The project focuses at the national, regional and local levels.

Mosquitos and Malaria in Eastern Africa

This project is researching the occurrence of epidemic, highland malaria in southwestern Uganda and Kenya. Additionally, the project studies the efficacy and sustainability of insecticide treated bed nets as a malaria intervention.

Mozambique Project Policy Analysis and Research Support [a Food Security Project]

This project worked in Mozambique to formulate and implement agricultural sector policies, strategies, and institutional reforms through formal on-the-job training.

Multi-Country Review of Cotton Sector Reform Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa

Multi-Country Review of Cotton Sector Reform Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa: Building on previous work in East/Southern Africa, this project (with funding from the World Bank) involves colleagues from World Bank, Imperial College (UK), and experts in Francophone Africa in a review of cotton sector reform experience in nine countries of East/Southern Africa (Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda) and West/Central Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Benin).

Multi-Lingual Digital Library Project for West African Sources

This project serves as a multi-media digital library of West African language sources that may be used by scholars and students of African languages in both the US and Africa.

Negotiating Environment and Development in South Durban: Communities, Industries, and the State

This project focuses on the way in which black and white Durban communities mobilized to mitigate pollution in the industrial zone following apartheid, as well as investigating sustainable waste management programs.

New Fossil Discoveries from Tanzania at the MSU Museum/Department of Geological Sciences

This collaborative project in southwestern Tanzania has uncovered important new fossil evidence that is contributing to knowledge of life on the Southern Hemisphere supercontinent of Gondwana.

Partnership Schools Program – A MEPI Program: Linking Secondary Schools in Algeria and the United States

This is a pilot program linking 11th and 12th grade students in Algeria with 11th and 12th grade students in the United States. The goal of the program is to increase understanding of the students in both countries by using computer technology and the Web to share stories about their schools, lives, and communities. Students will create community profiles, take pictures, and create videos that tell their stories and then exchange them with their partner school in the other country. The project will enable students in both countries to better understand culture, diversity, and the communities in which they live. It will also meet both country’s’ need to learn about our global society and the program will serve as a model for the use of online technology to meet education and curriculum goals.

Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL)

PEARL is helping to rebuild Rwanda’s damaged agricultural sector following the 1994 civil war and genocide by building, improving and introducing Rwandan coffee to the growing specialty coffee market. The efforts have had a significant and positive impact on the communities involved.

Partnership for Food Industry Development—Fruits and Vegetables (PFID-F&V)

PFID - F&V project collaborates with public and private partners to increase the competitiveness of small and medium scale producers in local, regional and international markets.

Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa (PCHPA)

This project focuses on increasing effectiveness of aid to Africa and mobilizes support for increased levels of assistance for Africa’s agricultural and rural development.

Program on the Lakes of East Africa (PLEA)

This project is designed to facilitate research, training, and service collaboration with the fisheries of Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda, especially in the areas of fisheries management and development, gender issues, the socioeconomic impact of introducing new species and relations of production in the Great Lakes region.

Projet d’Appui au Système d’Information Décentralisé du Marché Agricole (PASIDMA) / Mali Market Information Support Project [a Food Security Project]

The project to assist the Malian government to create and strengthen agricultural marketing strategies for farmers. The project is also focused at policy level change.

Research on large mammalian carnivores in Kenya

Dr. Kay Holekamp has been conducting research on large carnivores in Kenya since 1988, focusing on competition within and between carnivore species as this affects extinction risk, especially among lions and hyenas. Data are being collected in two Kenyan parks, Amboseli National Park and the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Responsible Governance: A U.S. – Nigeria Exchange Program

The overall goal of this program is to establish a long-term partnership among local government officials, non-governmental organizations and university scholars in Nigeria and the U.S. The program will facilitate a continuing exchange between Nigerian and U.S. participants and will focus in demonstrating the importance of citizen participation in governmental decision-making.

Rural and Agricultural Incomes with a Sustainable Environment (RAISE)

MSU and RAISE work in collaboration to assist public and private policymakers and aid agencies on measures to ensure food safety and promote other environmentally-sound strategies for economic growth in Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia.

Rwanda Food Security Research Project (FSRP) [a Food Security Project]

The goal of this project was to increase food security in Rwanda as part of a broad-based, market-oriented sustainable economic growth strategy.

Sahel Regional Program (West Africa Regional Project) [a Food Security Project]

MSU-supported program at the Institut du Sahel to develop improved policies and technologies in agricultural research. Focus countries include: Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. Current focus is on making databases on agriculture and demography available in query form on the web.

South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid, Building Democracy

This project is creating educational materials and designing curricula about the end of apartheid and beginnings of democracy in South Africa. It will be available on the Internet.

South African Film and Video Project (SAFVP)

This project is designed to provide access for American and African scholars to Southern African films and videos. The project is creating an on-line database to provide access to film and video records held by many different media archives in Southern Africa.

South African Higher Education Resources

This directory includes contact information on all South African universities, technikons, higher education consortia, and associations, background documents on South African higher education, as well as numerous policy documents and speeches from the South African Department of Education. The project began in 1998 as part of the MSU support for the Higher Education Forum of the U.S-South African Bi-National Commission.

South African National Cultural Heritage Training and Technology Program

South African National Cultural Heritage Training and Technology Program. This collaborative project aims at identifying and training people in a variety of different professional positions to use new media and best professional practices when working in South Africa on cultural heritage projects.

South African Traditional Arts Exhibition

This project aims to create a traveling exhibition on different aspects of South African cultural heritage to museums within South Africa and the U.S. and a series of smaller regional exhibitions at cultural resource centers throughout South Africa.

Southern African Maize Marketing and Trade Project, with the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)

Michigan State University and regional partners are collaborating on analysis and outreach dedicated to promote food security in Southern Africa through improved regional maize marketing and trade networks. The countries involved in the project include Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia.

Strengthening Local Governance: A Partnership among Ghana, Malawi, and the U.S.

A CASID initiated project involved in professional education and training programs for participants from developing countries in order to acquire expertise and development leadership skills.

Study of Insecticide Treated Bed Nets

The purpose of this project is to understand how insecticide treated bed net function behaviorally, ecologically, and epidemiologically in sub Saharan Africa.

Teacher Education and Development Study (TEDS)

This research project focuses on the preparation and induction of teachers for mathematics teaching in elementary and lower secondary school. Namibia is set to participate and other African countries may be added.

Tegemeo Agricultural Monitoring and Analysis Project (TAMPA II) [a Food Security Project]

An MSU-Kenyan collaborative project to collect and analyze data on household income and farming in Kenya.

The African e-Journals Project

This project is working with the journal publishers in Africa to increase the number of African scholarly journals that are available online. There are currently twelve journals available online.

The Center for Global Change and Earth Observations

The mission of CGCEO is: To specifically address the international aspects of the coupled social, land and climate systems in global environmental change studies using advanced geospatial tools, models, and observations. The overarching goal of CGCEO is to contribute to the understanding of the interrelations among human, land, and climate systems in an international context, as reflected in MSU’s Boldness by Design. Building on existing strength in interdisciplinary approaches to understand the social processes, land use and land cover patterns and processes, and environmental impacts and responses at regional to global scales, the Center addresses the following key science questions: How are social processes altering and impacting global environmental dynamics? How do these changes, in turn, respond to and affect land and human systems? The research activities at the Center attempt to identify, understand and model land surface processes, determine and quantify socioeconomic root causes of and responses to global change, and assess human/animal health and ecosystem services.

The Internet and Women’s Democratic Organizing

This project aims to facilitate women’s social and political activism and networking using internet technologies. The training has included workshops at MSU and in West Africa. Participant countries have included Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and Mali.

The South Africa-US Higher Education Partnerships Project

This project seeks to share information about existing U.S.-South African higher education partnerships through an on-line database of partnerships that is searchable by name of institution, type of partnership, funders, disciplinary topic, etc. The project also seeks to promote successful and mutually beneficial partnerships by proposing ethical guidelines for and fostering discussion of best practices in international partnerships.

The e-LCTL (Less Commonly Taught Languages) Initiative

The e-LCTL Initiative is creating a national web-accessible database of language-learning materials, learning objects, and language modules in the LCTLs on-Line. All African languages that are offered in higher educational institutions in the U.S. are included in the database.

at Michigan State University

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