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Research-grounded essays about the institutions, choices and human realities shaping Africa and the world.
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Read the latest essays below on institutions, incentives and the realities shaping African economies.
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Discover Changing the Batteries →Showing 24 of 629 matching essays
We Tell Mothers to Breastfeed for Six Months. We Rarely Tell Them Why.
Why public-health guidance becomes more useful when families and employers understand the science behind it.
Read the article →The hurdle rate just went up.
A September 2026 market commentary on risk, liquidity and the choices facing Kenyan investors.
Read the article →The Duvet That Starves Two Economies at Once
An examination of migration, informal trade and the economic consequences of restricting foreign-owned livelihoods.
Read the article →The Manganese Sink, the Water Cartel, and the Coming Hydro-Wars: Why Africa’s Water Crisis Is an Economic and Geopolitical Scam
A household water problem opens a wider examination of infrastructure, pricing and accountability.
Read the article →Oil Nears $100. Kenya Holds—for Now.
A dated market bulletin examining oil prices, Kenya’s economy and the signals investors were watching.
Read the article →The Machine, Not the Miracle: What Nine Countries That Beat Poverty Actually Built
What the institutions and delivery systems of nine countries can teach us about reducing poverty.
Read the article →The Ride That Feeds a Nation and Starves the Man Who Drives It
A closer look at the people, costs and incentives behind Kenya’s ride-hailing economy.
Read the article →The Vegetable That Poisons Two Markets at Once
An examination of food safety, export standards and the protections available to domestic consumers.
Read the article →The HIV Response After the Donor Shock: Africa's Real Test Is No Longer Money
How funding pressure raises larger questions about the design and ownership of Africa’s HIV response.
Read the article →Kenya's Unfinished Business: Why Vision 2030 Failed, and Why That Failure Is the Answer
A critical reflection on Vision 2030, delivery constraints and Kenya’s next development choices.
Read the article →The Poverty Files: Why Poor Families Need Case Owners, Not Slogans
China didn't beat poverty with a slogan. It treated poverty like a file — every poor household assigned to a named official who was personally answerable for the result. Most governments never do this, which is why the poor stay poor while programs reset every election. Here's what that really teaches African governments and wealthy democracies alike — and the one question none of them like to answer: when a family stays poor for ten years, who is responsible? #PovertyReduction · #DevelopmentPolicy · #PublicAccountability · #Africa · #Governance #SocialProtection #PanAfrican African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) African Development Bank Group African Union Development Agency-
Read the article →The Poverty Files: Why Poor Families Need Case Owners, Not Slogans
The case for assigning responsibility for families’ progress within poverty-reduction systems.
Read the article →Nairobi Doesn't Have a Money Problem. It Has a Plumbing Problem.
Last week, I argued that Nairobi's chaos is a design problem, not a discipline problem. The question I got most: with what money? Part 2 answers it. Nairobi isn't a poor city — it's a leaking one. I make the case that we don't need new taxes; first, we need to close the holes in the bucket we already have; that technology won't save Nairobi, but trust will (lead with rights and open dashboards, not "surveillance"); and that the rivers can be a youth-jobs engine, not just a cleanup. I also do something most plans avoid: I separate the numbers that are solid from those that still need verification. Still an open blueprint, still not a pitch for any office. Whether you're in city hall, a donor
Read the article →Foreign Aid Is Shrinking. Development Cannot Shrink With It.
Foreign aid is shrinking, but development cannot shrink with it. Mark Suzman’s recent argument in Foreign Affairs is not a funeral notice for aid. It is a warning that the old development model is no longer enough. For Africa’s R&D institutions, universities, think tanks, funders, and policy leaders, the question is no longer simply: “Who will fund us?” The better question is: “What will remain when the funding ends?” This article argues that the next era of development will reward institutions that move from projects to platforms, from proposal-writing to problem-solving, and from research outputs to systems that governments, communities, and markets can actually use. The future belongs to
Read the article →Kenya’s Agriculture Does Not Need Another Beautiful Plan. It Needs a Bankable One.
FINAS 2026 has ended. The lanyards are going into drawers. The summit photos are circulating. The hashtags are cooling. Now Kenya faces the real question: can we finally finance the food system we keep promising—or will we continue holding…
Read the article →From Kakuma to Capitol Hill: Can Operation End Starvation Pass the Test of Trust?
The Daily Pulse In January 2025, the United States abruptly cut off funding to the World Food Program's operation in Kenya. The grant — $112 million the previous year — simply stopped, with no warning and no runway to find a replacement.…
Read the article →Don't Kill the Baby Before It's Born
How a Submarine Cable, a Cartel, and a Stubborn Permanent Secretary Built a Continent — and Why Africa is About to Lose AI the Same Way We Almost Lost the Internet The Daily Pulse · By Julius Kirimi Sindi, Ph.D. Picture the scene. It is…
Read the article →The Marriage Recession: When Dating Became a Market — and the Market Stopped Working
Field notes from three weeks of conversations in Addis Ababa, Nairobi, and what economics, biology, and African philosophy have to say about a society quietly forgetting how to form families. By Dr. Julius Kirimi Sindi — The Daily Pulse |…
Read the article →An Apology to the Egg Fertilization Was Never a Race. And the Egg Was Never Asleep.
The Daily Pulse Picture the scene. A biology classroom in Kisumu. Or Lagos. Or Manchester. Or anywhere humans have ever explained to children where babies come from. The teacher draws a frantic crowd of tadpole-shaped athletes on the…
Read the article →Geneva Stalls, Washington Signs, Ituri Bleeds: Inside the Quiet Economy of African Outbreaks
On 19 May, a missionary doctor named Peter Stafford was airlifted out of Bunia, in DRC's Ituri Province, on a high-security medical evacuation. His destination: the Charité hospital in Berlin — Europe's most decorated biosafety facility,…
Read the article →The Intelligence Layer: After Nairobi, Africa's Next Sovereignty Test Is Being Quietly Decided in the Cloud
ICT4D 2026 just spent three days in Nairobi celebrating AI in agriculture. The harder question — who owns the harvest when the farm becomes a data mine — barely made the programme. It will define the next twenty years. By Dr. Julius Kirimi…
Read the article →Diesel and Discontent: How Kenya's Fuel Crisis Exposes the Whole Model
The pump has become a verdict on the state. Roads are blocked. EPRA has blinked. The arithmetic is finally talking back. But Kenya's real fire is not at the petrol station — it is in the model. By Dr. Julius Kirimi Sindi — The Daily Pulse…
Read the article →The Tariff Trap: China Has Opened Its Market. Can Africa Actually Enter?
When Beijing opens a gate, Africa must ask who owns the road leading to it. That is the uncomfortable question behind China’s latest trade offer to the continent. From May 2026, China has extended zero-tariff treatment to imports from 53…
Read the article →Africa Does Not Lack Knowledge. It Lacks Decision Weight
On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger rose into the Florida sky. Seventy-three seconds later, it broke apart. Seven people died. A nation froze. Children watching from classrooms saw ambition turn into smoke. But the most…
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