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About 100 years ago visitors to Rwanda’s royal court would have witnessed an age-old athletic performance akin to modern-day high jumping. Numerous accounts supported by pictures and film describe these performances as nothing short of breathtaking and – in one case – a “spectacle that has never been seen at the Olympic Games”. But how true is this? Ine Van Caekenberghe made it her mission to find out. She concludes from her research that indeed the performances of the athletes would have secured them a place in the finals of the Olympic Games. But she stops short of concluding that they broke world records of the time.
Today France’s Emmanuel Macron will host African leaders and global funding organisations in a summit designed to mobilise resources for a continent in recession due to COVID-19. Far removed from headline-grabbing initiatives such as special drawing rights and new debt relief arrangements, novel efforts are being pioneered on the ground to raise money for social welfare projects. One such initiative is social impact bonds, under which investors provide working capital upfront to nongovernmental organisations to deliver services. Repayments are made according to targets being met. Zoheb Khan assesses how two of only a handful in the world have
fared in South Africa.
Leaders meeting in Paris might also be forced to confront an unhappy truth laid bare by the desperately unequal distribution of COVID-10 vaccines: the skewed relationship between donor giving and donor receiving countries. Tigist Mekonnen Melesse sets out what’s wrong with the current architecture, and how it can be changed.
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Julius Maina
Regional Editor East Africa
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Getty Images
Ine Van Caekenberghe, Ghent University
Gusimbuka athletes could jump very high, probably due to their inherent talent, which was recognised early and developed further.
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Zoheb Khan, University of Johannesburg
Two social impact bonds that have concluded in South Africa showed that they got innovation going where it was desperately needed.
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Tigist Mekonnen Melesse, University of California, Berkeley
The way foreign aid is disbursed needs to be revisited to avoid the traps it's fallen into in the past.
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Arts, Culture + Society
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Fiona Ramsay, University of the Witwatersrand
Spurred by the impetus of the #MeToo movement, South Africa's is the latest film and TV industry to introduce intimacy protocols to guide how intimate scenes are conceived and executed.
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Tyina Steptoe, University of Arizona
Released at the height of the Vietnam War, Marvin Gaye's hit-heavy album explored themes of race, environmentalism and conflict. It also marked a new direction for the Motown record label..
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Podcast
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shutterstock.
Ozayr Patel, The Conversation
Moringa as a crop is on the rise in South Africa. But more must be done to make use of this versatile, climate resilient plant.
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From our international editions
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Smriti Sharma, Newcastle University; Finn Tarp, University of Copenhagen; Saurabh Singhal, Lancaster University
Paying out for vital services has a serious impact on mental health.
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Tara Hurst, Birmingham City University
Reports of fully vaccinated people getting infected with coronavirus shouldn't cause alarm.
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Featured events
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Future Africa, Pretoria, Gauteng, 0083, South Africa — University of Pretoria
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MS Teams, Western Cape, 7600, South Africa — Stellenbosch University
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Zoom, online, Zoom, online, Gauteng, Zoom, online, South Africa — University of Pretoria
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Lynwood Road, Hatfield, Pretoria, Gauteng, 0002, South Africa — University of Pretoria
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