‘Mobilize armies to build better Africa’
Editor’s note: Calestous Juma is Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of Innovation for Economic Development Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Twitter @calestous.
(CNN) — As Africa celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity, the focus of the celebrations is renewing Africa’s vision for continental unification as envisaged by its founding fathers such Kwame Nkrumah.
It is not the lack of political will that hampers Africa regional integration, it is poor infrastructure. Africa’s challenges have less to do with fragmentation of state but more to do with the lack of infrastructure connectivity, especially energy, transportation, irrigation and telecommunications.
The World Bank estimates that Africa will need to invest nearly $93 billion annually over the next decade to meet its infrastructure needs. A third of this cost will go to maintenance. Part of this investment can be met through public and private sector investment, including novel facilities such as the infrastructure bonds proposed by the African Development Bank.
But the urgency to address Africa’s infrastructure requires additional non-conventional interventions such as the mobilization of the continent’s armed forces. Historically, there is a long legacy of military involvement in infrastructure projects going back to the Roman days.
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African armed forces possess extensive human resources and equipment needed to build infrastructure projects. They regularly use such facilities during emergencies and are at the forefront of developing robust systems such as smart microgrid systems that can provide decentralized power supply for rural Africa. What is needed is an explicit policy to extend their role in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure projects in cooperation with civilian agencies.
Many African countries have been converting military facilities to support civilian infrastructure activities. Rwanda, for example, turned a military barracks into the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, which played a vital role in the reconstruction of the country after the genocide. The role of the military in Rwanda’s civilian affairs involves a wide range of operations which include the awareness-raising annual Army Week.
One of the most explicit commitments to the role of the military in infrastructure projects comes from Uganda. The country’s armed forces recently established Africa’s first University of Military Science and Technology which is training engineers to build and maintain infrastructure projects. Uganda has been collaborating with the US Army on how to rehabilitate its railway networks.
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These efforts are targeted interventions and differ remarkably with cases such as Egypt, where the military controls a large proportion of the economy. It is much harder for countries where the military is an economic class to be creative. The role of the military in civilian projects needs to be under democratic control for it to rise above popular suspicions and distrust.
Senegal, for example, has established clear policies and operational guidelines that have since independence steered its “Army-Nation” program. The program includes activities in infrastructure (especially water supply and road construction), healthcare and environmental management.
In 1999 Senegal set up the civil-military committee in support of development to bring together representatives from parliament, the military, government ministries, civil society and the private sector to collaborate on implementing public programs. Its broad membership helps to foster trust and coordination.
It can be argued that deploying the military in civilian infrastructure activities could divert attention from essential defense functions. To the contrary, the military would strengthen its national security activities by building infrastructure projects.
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Many of Africa’s armed conflicts occur in isolated regions with limited opportunity for economic growth. Poor infrastructure and lack of economic opportunity traps populations in spirals of poverty and conflict over limited resources.
Countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are responding to the challenges of poverty to deploy their armed forces to fill the gap in civilian capacity to build infrastructure projects. Similarly, building robust infrastructure networks makes it easier to police national borders.
Investments in Earth observation satellite infrastructure, as well as the ability to deploy troops along national boundaries, is an important element in maintaining peace. Infrastructure built to address economic needs has the additional purpose of helping to maintain internal law and order as well as maintenance of national security.
New countries such as South Sudan face the challenge of keeping large armies that were built up to fight for independence. They can choose to dismantle their armed forces or convert them to a force of development. They are better advised to do the latter; their potential role in infrastructure rehabilitation pays for peace building.
As Africa celebrates the 50th anniversary of its declaration of unification, it should also reflect on the fact that it has recorded about 80 successful military coups. Led by an increasing number of technocratic presidents, Africa’s armies can give future generations hope by helping to build infrastructure — the motherboard for all economic activities.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Calestous Juma.
Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/opinion/africa-military-infrastructure-calestous-juma/index.html?eref=edition
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/37GlnMZU20k/mobilize-armies-to-build-better-africa
The Bare Conductive paint pen contains a non-toxic electrically conductive paint. The pens work the same way as glitter glue pens, and are designed to help people explore elecronics, and learn about circuit making.
Bare Conductive’s House Kit contains two paper houses, wired with conductive paint, which light up in the dark.
Rather than hiring an electrician to install switches, conductive paint could be used to send power across the surface of your wall. Indeed, a whole wall could feasibly be coated with conductive paint to make fumbling for a light switch a thing of the past.
Designer Patrick Stevenson-Keating developed a conductive paint-powered lamp for the 2012 Milan Furniture Fair. The lamp consists of a layer of liquid paint suspended in oil. When standing vertically two electrodes make contact with the conductive paint sending power to the bulb. By rotating the lamp horizontally, the contact is broken and the light goes off.
Bare Conductive’s Matt Johnson travelled to Budapest Design Week and ran a workshop with University students at the Bloodmountain Foundation.
The company has created a collection of prototype posters that respond to touch. When activated, the posters play audio, which they hope might be used in poster campaigns promoting festivals, music, TV shows and film.
Last year, conductive paint was used in a collection of interactive postcards created by Liverpool-based design agency 
DJ and producer Calvin Harris mounted a project with Bare Conductive, with painted dancers whose movements triggered loops from Harris’s hit song Ready for the Weekend.
Dundee University printed invitations to their 2011 product design MSc launch party with conductive paint. When plugged in to a system at the show, the invitation turned into a musical instrument. Users could control pitch by hovering one hand over a large circle of conductive paint, and frequency by pressing buttons with the other. 
A rare Apple 1 computer is to be auctioned for up to $400,000. The original Apple was the first computer to be built by the California-based technology company. Up for auction is one of only six surviving “Apple 1″ computers still in working order. 
The Apple Lisa, from 1983, was produced for only one year, and was one of the world’s first mouse-controlled computers. It is now extremely rare.
The Scelbi-8H was built around the first Intel 8-Bit microprocessor, and fell within the budget of an average person. It was available either assembled or in kit form. It was regarded as one of the first truly ‘personal computers’.
Three hundred years before the birth of Steve Jobs, the French philosopher, physicist and mathematician, Blaise Pascal, was designing the world’s first mechanical calculator, the ‘Pascaline’.
Like many experimental technologies, though, the Pascaline was expensive and rather unreliable.
An 1895 Ford typewriter with filigree copper grille. The invention of typewriters in the mid 19th century changed the face of professional writing. The QWERTY keyboard is still the most common modern-day keyboard layout.
This portable copying press was devised by legendary English steam-engine inventor James Watt. The copying apparatus, consisting of metal damping box, pressure plate and special moistened copying paper, was housed in an elegant brass-bound mahogany box.
A 1905 L.M. Ericsson Co. desk telephone known as the ‘coffee grinder’ for its circular shape and distinctive lithographed decoration.
An aerial view of the destruction caused by the massive tornado that struck areas south of Oklahoma City on Monday, May 20, shows the magnitude of damage left in its path. The storm’s winds topped 200 mph as it 
The storm, which touched down near Newcastle, Oklahoma, spanned 1.3 miles. Some areas along the path were completely flattened.
Officials from the National Weather Service gave the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20 a preliminary EF5 rating — the highest score on the scale that measures tornado intensities.
The tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburbs, hitting the town of Moore the hardest. It packed winds that topped 200 mph.
A search-and-rescue effort to find survivors shifted Tuesday to one of recovery, officials said.
The devastation in Moore was so complete that the mayor said city officials were racing to print new street signs to help guide rescuers and residents through a suddenly twisted and unfamiliar landscape.
A group of homes was reduced to rubble.
Debris from homes and structures was strewn for miles around. 
In some areas, the homes of an entire street were destroyed.
Rescuers and first responders immediately began searching through the rubble of structures on May 20.
Large trees were uprooted and flattened.
Given its breadth and power, the tornado ranks among some of the strongest storms ever to strike the United States, CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen said.
Homes in some areas were relatively undamaged while others very nearby were destroyed.
Police, firefighters, volunteers and nearly 180 National Guard troops joined forces Tuesday in searching the rubble and securing areas hit by the storm.
In 1999 and then again in 2003, Moore took direct hits from tornadoes that took eerily similar paths to 2013′s twister. The 1999 storm packed the strongest wind speeds in history, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb said.
A section of a bridge outside of Oklahoma City was blown off its foundation.
The path of the tornado is clearly visible with dirt and debris painting a wide path across the Oklahoma landscape.
The scene — block after block of flattened homes and businesses, the gutted remains of a hospital and hits on two elementary schools — left even seasoned veterans of Oklahoma’s infamous tornadoes reeling.
View more galleries: 
A woman searches for belongings at a home in Moore, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, May 22, two days after it was destroyed by a tornado that ripped through the area. View more photos of the aftermath in the region and another gallery of aerial shots of the damage.
Michael Pritz swings a golf club while taking a break from helping his friend to salvage belongings on May 22.
Debris litters what remains of a classroom at Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. Seven children died at the school in Monday’s tornado.
A makeshift shelter stands next to a home destroyed by the tornado on May 22.
Casey Angle walks on the bunk bed she shared with her sister Sydney, who was among the students killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School during the tornado.
Tara McDonald shows some items salvaged from her home on May 22.
A swing set sits warped at Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22. 
Plaza Towers Elementary School students Monica Boyd and Lavontey Rodriguez sit at the parking lot of their tornado devastated school.
Travis French and his wife, Amy, of Capitol Hill Baptist Church hand out fresh fruit, water and hygiene packs to Thomas and Kelcy Trowbridge.
Teachers from Fairview Elementary School help clean up former school counselor Kay Taylor’s home in south Oklahoma City on May 22, two days after an extremely powerful tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma. 
Jake English, 12, cleans up retired school counselor Kay Taylor’s home on May 22 in south Oklahoma City, just west of Moore. The storm was part of a tornado outbreak that began in the Midwest and Plains on Sunday, May 19. 
A man talks on his cell phone in front of a destroyed house on May 22.
A man looks through a pile of clothing at a roadside relief camp on May 22 in Moore.
Volunteers form a chain to retrieve clothing and other household items on May 22.
Jon Booth moves a piece of debris from his mother’s destroyed home across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School on May 22.
Matt Johnson salvages items from his grandparents’ home on Tuesday, May 21.
Two men fold an American flag found in the debris of a house on May 21 in Moore.
A young girl stands among the rubble outside Briarwood Elementary School on May 21.
A doll covered in dirt is among the rubble scattered throughout a neighborhood in Moore on May 21.
Bonnie Lolofie, left, and Ashley Do carry belongings from their apartment, which has no power, on May 21.
Residents salvage belongings from their demolished homes in Moore on May 21.
Kelli Kannady weeps after finding a box of photographs of her late husband in the rubble near where her home once stood in Moore on May 21.
Tufts of pink insulation hang from the rafters of a store in Moore on May 21 that was destroyed in the storm.
Natalie Johnson searches through her mother’s destroyed car outside Briarwood Elementary School in Moore on May 21.
Rescuers dig out a house in Moore on May 21. 
June Simson embraces her cat Sammi after she found him standing among the rubble of her destroyed home in Moore on May 21.
A man stands on the roof of a destroyed home in Moore on May 21.
A man helps move a resident’s belongings from a destroyed home on May 21 in Moore.
Air Force Airman First Class Justin Acord sifts through the rubble of his father-in-law’s home in Moore on May 21.
People recover belongings from the rubble of a home in Moore.
People sort through a leveled home in Moore on May 21.
Debris lies among headstones in the Moore Cemetery on May 21.
Workers clean up the Warren movie theater in Moore on May 21.
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett surveys damage in Moore on May 21.
Piles of debris lie around the north side of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore on May 21.
As dawn breaks, storm clouds roll in over a devastated neighborhood in Moore on May 21.
Members of the Oklahoma National Guard look for survivors in rubble in Moore on May 21.
A National Guardsman assists in the search for victims on May 21. 
A rescue worker leads a horse from the wreckage of a day care center and barns on Monday, May 20, in Moore.
Men tie an American flag on debris in a neighborhood off Telephone Road in Moore on May 20.
Children wait for their parents to arrive at Briarwood Elementary School in south Oklahoma City on May 20.
Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary School on May 20.
Teachers lead children away from Briarwood Elementary School on May 20. Read more about the photo.
A fire official drives through the rubble of Moore Medical Center on May 20.
Abby Madi, left, and Peterson Zatterlee comfort Zatterlee’s dog, Rippy, on Monday, May 20, in Moore.
A woman is treated for her injuries on May 20 at a triage area set up for the wounded.
Two girls stand in rubble in Moore. 
Rescue workers help free one of more than a dozen people who were trapped at a medical center in Moore on May 20.
Oklahoma City firefighters check on Gene Tripp on May 20 as he sits in his rocking chair where his home once stood.
A nurse helps an older man who suffered a head injury on May 20 in Moore.
Cars marked with an orange X, meaning they have been checked for occupants, are piled up in front of the entrance to the damaged Moore Medical Center on May 20.
Jim Routon hugs his neighbor, 7-year-old Hezekiah, after the tornado strikes on May 20. An earlier version of this caption incorrectly stated that Routon was Hezekiah’s teacher. See an interview with the pair. 
People look through the wreckage of their neighborhood after a tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20.
Dana Ulepich searches inside a room left standing at the back of her destroyed house in Moore on May 20.
Residents look through the debris in Moore on May 20.
A man looks through the remains of a home after the massive tornado struck Moore on May 20.
A woman is transported on a stretcher after she was rescued from the damaged medical center in Moore on May 20.
A woman walks through debris in Moore on May 20.
A man is taken away from the IMAX Theater in Moore that was used as a triage center on May 20.
A girl wraps herself in a blanket near the Moore Hospital on May 20.
A nurse walks by the destruction at a Moore hospital on May 20.
Destroyed cars scatter the landscape in Moore, Oklahoma, where hundreds of homes and buildings were put to ruin on May 20.
A woman with an arm injury is helped on May 20 in Moore.
Extensive damage from the tornado destroyed cars and demolished structures in Moore on May 20.
Onlookers stop to view a portion of the destruction left behind on May 20 in Moore.
Overturned cars are among the rubble from the tornado that hit Moore on May 20.
A woman is comforted after the May 20 tornado in Moore.
A shredded tree stands amid debris in the aftermath of the storm in Moore on May 20.
A shopping center parking lot is covered with debris and damaged cars on May 20.
Law enforcement officers block a roadway in Moore where there was extensive damage from the tornado.
A massive tornado approaches Moore on May 20. The storm first touched down to the west of the city near Newcastle, Oklahoma. Visit CNN.com/impact for ways to help the victims.
Introducing Gypsy Rose II, a 12-meter pirate ship created by U.S. boat builder, Captain Tim Woodson.
The Gypsy Rose II is one of six pirate ships built by Woodson (pictured with girlfriend “Wench Maria”), and sailed along the Mississippi River as part of sightseeing cruises. 
Woodson uses old house boats as the base for his pirate ships, covering them in planks of wood and staining it in varnish to “make it look like something from 1689.”
Among Woodson’s six converted pirate ships is another 12-meter boat now lined with 18 bunk beds for school trips. “We can thank Pirates of the Caribbean and Captain Jack Sparrow for the renewed interest in pirates today,” he said. 
