AidData lab receives $1.7M to advance agriculture and mining … – William & Mary

To effectively address globally important questions such as how to grow crops that will best serve regions affected by climate change or how to assess the environmental and economic impact of mining for transition minerals used in car batteries, policymakers need accurate data.

That’s what William & Mary’s AidData research lab is providing with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which recently awarded the lab two grants totaling $1.7 million. This funding continues a more than decade-long partnership between the Hewlett Foundation and AidData, which operates under the Global Research Institute, a multidisciplinary hub comprising over 60 faculty and staff and more than 200 students.

The first grant, worth $1.2 million, will fund up to four collaborations with partner organizations in Africa that expand on the types of agricultural and economic projects AidData already has underway. These focus on geospatial impact evaluations, using satellite imagery and on-the-ground interviews to find ways to improve farming outcomes and reduce poverty in Africa. The collaborations will also focus on examining Africa’s gender-related policies in urban settings and enhancing agriculture policy researchers’ ability to use geospatial tools for evaluation and analysis.

A second grant for $500,000 will enable AidData to better understand Chinese development financing in mining for transition minerals that are essential for a renewable future. Minerals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel and magnesium — the quest for which has sometimes been dubbed “a new gold rush” — are necessary for batteries in electric vehicles and in incredibly high demand. China currently controls much of the market for the raw materials used in electric vehicle batteries — from mining operations to processing plants.

Through this project, AidData will collect and analyze granular data on dozens of mining sites, focusing on how operations are affecting the local environment in their surrounding communities, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

“Like all things that we do at AidData, the main motivation is to bring new data and evidence to inform important public decision-making taking place around the world,” said Ammar A. Malik, senior research scientist at AidData, who leads the Chinese Development Finance Program.

Malik is heading up the minerals project that will build upon AidData’s existing dataset of Chinese development projects worth $843 billion across 165 countries.

“We will focus on the financing and implementation networks enabling projects — including the banks and contractors involved in the delivery of mining projects,” Malik said. “Because China does not disclose details of their overseas development activities, there is very little data on these projects. We are trying to systematically and rigorously understand this issue in a consistent way.”

Researchers will consider environmental, health and safety impacts from mining, such as deforestation and reduced air quality.

“When a mining operation starts up, it further exposes where governance systems aren’t working,” Malik said. “If you don’t have good labor rights or environmental protections, it makes underlying problems worse.”

The AidData team will also look into the economic and social effects of mining, he said: “Does it exacerbate inequities between the haves and the have-nots in those societies? Are men benefiting more than women?”

Environmental protection, response to climate change and exploring the role of gender are common threads across the projects funded by both grants.

In Ghana, AidData is partnering with an agricultural research organization, the International Potato Center (known as CIP), to study how to promote and sustain the growth of sweet potatoes. These tubers supply nutrients that are necessary for child development and are lacking in some of the country’s other staple crops.

Encroachment of the Sahara Desert, termed desertification, is a major hindrance to crop growth in parts of the country.

“They’re having longer and longer dry seasons with less and less rain,” said Ariel BenYishay, chief economist and director of research and evaluation at AidData as well as a William & Mary associate professor of economics.

Typically, a portion of the crop would be set aside for replanting the next year, but storing it through the lengthening dry season presents a challenge, he said: “A lot of these potatoes are basically not viable as seeds for that long.” CIP developed a solution to protect the potatoes for replanting by storing them in layers of sand.

Moving forward, AidData and CIP will study the spread of information about crops and nutrition through varied sources in the villages — men, women, people of higher status and lower status — to evaluate accuracy of the information, how it is spread and how listeners respond.

“In Northern Ghana, the responsibility of growing things like sweet potatoes falls predominantly to women, and women are also making most of the decisions about which foods to feed their children,” BenYishay said. “But that doesn’t mean women get all the say about what they grow and what they feed their kids. It will be interesting to see whether spreading the information through one gender’s networks versus another’s makes a difference.”

AidData’s previous experience in Ghana has demonstrated the importance of collecting data about farming from both men and women, because surveys in which only the head of the household is asked questions tend to produce less accurate results. Conclusions from the earlier study — funded by the Hewlett Foundation and Innovations for Poverty Action — will be released in an upcoming working paper that will be submitted to an academic journal.

For that study, AidData partnered with the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) to collect data from over 2,400 households and compare it with satellite imagery of farming plots.

In addition, AidData is working with CDD-Ghana to explore gender bias in artificial intelligence applications for estimating poverty. AidData and CDD-Ghana will host a workshop in Ghana for a mix of policymakers, aid donors, researchers and advocacy groups interested in addressing gender equity in decision making using survey data, poverty estimates and AI.

The workshop is being funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Equitable AI Challenge. The USAID initiative invests in programs that help identify and address gender biases within artificial intelligence systems, particularly those relevant to global development.

AidData’s work funded by the Hewlett Foundation helped catalyze a major Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant last fall to broaden the use of satellite imagery for studying agriculture and climate resiliency in developing countries. Each foundation is funding a portfolio of projects that are complementary in terms of their agricultural and gender focus, BenYishay said.

“We hope that when we put all that together, we will have upwards of 10 projects that are letting us learn a lot about what’s working, where there are points of synergy and ways to move forward more holistically,” he said.

BenYishay emphasizes that half of the $1.2 million Hewlett Foundation grant will be shared with African partners who are collaborators on the projects.

“We’re trying to have these partners to participate in the research design from the outset,” he said. “The underlying research partnership is meant to flow in both directions. We meaningfully exchange ideas and they help to shape the longer-term direction here as well.”

Editor’s note: Data is one of four cornerstone initiatives in W&M’s Vision 2026 strategic plan. Visit the Vision 2026 website to learn more.

Tina Eshleman, University Marketing

Agriculture

Zim takes investment opportunities to Türkiye indaba – The Herald

Africa Moyo Deputy News Editor
Zimbabwe’s investment opportunities will take centre-stage during the 4th Türkiye-Africa Business Forum where Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava is expected to lead the country’s delegation.
The economic business forum is set for Thursday and Friday next week at the Istanbul Congress Center in Istanbul.
In an interview yesterday, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Türkiye, Alfred Mutiwazuka, confirmed Harare’s participation.
He said Zimbabwe’s delegation will comprise officials from ZimTrade, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Government institutions and private sector companies.
“In line with Zimbabwe`s engagement and re-engagement drive, Minister Shava will have a meeting with Professor Dr Omer Bolat, Minister of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye to discuss among other issues: the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement signed in 2018 and ratified by Türkiye in February 2022 and implementation of the Agreement to Establish the Türkiye-Zimbabwe Business Council signed in 2016 by the CZI and Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board,” said Ambassador Mutiwazuka.
“The Minister will engage players in the agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and infrastructure sectors with a view to inviting them to invest in Zimbabwe.”
Ambassador Shava is also expected to participate in a panel on “Türkiye and Opportunities under the AfCFTA”, a topic that the Turkish authorities have shown great interest in, as they advance Türkiye-Africa cooperation.
Some members of the Zimbabwe delegation will participate in other panel meetings on digital transformation, health technologies, sustainability of value chains in the agro-industries and manufacturing sectors, women entrepreneurship, free zones, the AfCFTA, financing of trade and investments and banking during the two-day conference.
Ambassador Mutiwazuka said the Türkiye-Africa Economic Business Forum offers mutual benefits to both Africa and Türkiye, through increased economic cooperation.
“The Forum demonstrates the emerging role of African countries as dynamic players in the global business arena. African countries and Zimbabwe, in particular, benefit from the increasing economic development of Türkiye economic cooperation hinged on the ‘win-win’ principle,” he said.
Africa benefits from this forum in various ways including facilitating increased trade and investment between Africa and Türkiye by promoting economic relations and encouraging Turkish businesses to invest on the continent.
Increased investments are expected to lead to job creation, infrastructure development, and increased revenue for African nations.
African countries are also expected to benefit from infrastructure development since Türkiye has expertise in infrastructure projects such as construction, transportation, and energy.
Through the forum, Africa can benefit from Turkish investments and technologies, which address crucial infrastructure gaps in many African countries.
Türkiye also has experience in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, which can be shared with African nations to enhance their own industrialisation efforts.
President Mnangagwa has reiterated that Zimbabwe is on an unrestrained path to industrialisation and modernisation, and the country is expected to benefit from its participation in the business forum.
It is expected that collaboration with Türkiye in the manufacturing and industrial sectors can help Africa develop local industries, reduce import dependency, and create employment opportunities.
With many countries experiencing food shortages, it is expected that through participation in the business forum, African countries will benefit Türkiye’s advanced agricultural technologies — machinery and implements — and knowledge that help to improve productivity, increase food security, and enhance agricultural value chains.
This knowledge transfer can contribute to sustainable agricultural development in Africa.
The Türkiye -Africa Economic Business Forum also promotes tourism and cultural exchanges and investment in the tourism industry, thereby creating employment opportunities, and fostering cultural understanding.
African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, Ambassador Albert Muchanga has said this year’s Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum convenes against the background of global challenges of climate change and its adverse impact of heat waves, flooding and drought, inflation, geopolitical tensions, food and energy insecurity as well as the lingering Covid-19 pandemic is some parts of the world.
But he said while this is a period of multiple challenges, it is also a period of opportunity and hope, and the “key lever is cooperation because it is a vital instrument in meeting the world’s complex challenges which no country or region can solve on its own”.
“The Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum is a strategic lever in this regard,” said Ambassador Muchanga.

Africa Moyo Deputy News Editor

Zimbabwe’s investment opportunities will take centre-stage during the 4th Türkiye-Africa Business Forum where Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava is expected to lead the country’s delegation.

The economic business forum is set for Thursday and Friday next week at the Istanbul Congress Center in Istanbul.

In an interview yesterday, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Türkiye, Alfred Mutiwazuka, confirmed Harare’s participation.

He said Zimbabwe’s delegation will comprise officials from ZimTrade, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Government institutions and private sector companies.

“In line with Zimbabwe`s engagement and re-engagement drive, Minister Shava will have a meeting with Professor Dr Omer Bolat, Minister of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye to discuss among other issues: the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement signed in 2018 and ratified by Türkiye in February 2022 and implementation of the Agreement to Establish the Türkiye-Zimbabwe Business Council signed in 2016 by the CZI and Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board,” said Ambassador Mutiwazuka.

“The Minister will engage players in the agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and infrastructure sectors with a view to inviting them to invest in Zimbabwe.”

Ambassador Shava is also expected to participate in a panel on “Türkiye and Opportunities under the AfCFTA”, a topic that the Turkish authorities have shown great interest in, as they advance Türkiye-Africa cooperation.

Some members of the Zimbabwe delegation will participate in other panel meetings on digital transformation, health technologies, sustainability of value chains in the agro-industries and manufacturing sectors, women entrepreneurship, free zones, the AfCFTA, financing of trade and investments and banking during the two-day conference.

Ambassador Mutiwazuka said the Türkiye-Africa Economic Business Forum offers mutual benefits to both Africa and Türkiye, through increased economic cooperation.

“The Forum demonstrates the emerging role of African countries as dynamic players in the global business arena. African countries and Zimbabwe, in particular, benefit from the increasing economic development of Türkiye economic cooperation hinged on the ‘win-win’ principle,” he said.

Africa benefits from this forum in various ways including facilitating increased trade and investment between Africa and Türkiye by promoting economic relations and encouraging Turkish businesses to invest on the continent.

Increased investments are expected to lead to job creation, infrastructure development, and increased revenue for African nations.

African countries are also expected to benefit from infrastructure development since Türkiye has expertise in infrastructure projects such as construction, transportation, and energy.

Through the forum, Africa can benefit from Turkish investments and technologies, which address crucial infrastructure gaps in many African countries.

Türkiye also has experience in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, which can be shared with African nations to enhance their own industrialisation efforts.

President Mnangagwa has reiterated that Zimbabwe is on an unrestrained path to industrialisation and modernisation, and the country is expected to benefit from its participation in the business forum.

It is expected that collaboration with Türkiye in the manufacturing and industrial sectors can help Africa develop local industries, reduce import dependency, and create employment opportunities.

With many countries experiencing food shortages, it is expected that through participation in the business forum, African countries will benefit Türkiye’s advanced agricultural technologies — machinery and implements — and knowledge that help to improve productivity, increase food security, and enhance agricultural value chains.

This knowledge transfer can contribute to sustainable agricultural development in Africa.

The Türkiye -Africa Economic Business Forum also promotes tourism and cultural exchanges and investment in the tourism industry, thereby creating employment opportunities, and fostering cultural understanding.

African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, Ambassador Albert Muchanga has said this year’s Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum convenes against the background of global challenges of climate change and its adverse impact of heat waves, flooding and drought, inflation, geopolitical tensions, food and energy insecurity as well as the lingering Covid-19 pandemic is some parts of the world.

But he said while this is a period of multiple challenges, it is also a period of opportunity and hope, and the “key lever is cooperation because it is a vital instrument in meeting the world’s complex challenges which no country or region can solve on its own”.

“The Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum is a strategic lever in this regard,” said Ambassador Muchanga.

Agriculture

Zim takes investment opportunities to Türkiye indaba – The Herald