My area of interest is centered on francophone Africa, the status of minorities and immigrants in Europe & media biases. Raised in Madagascar, I hold a Master of Public Policy from Princeton University at the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs with a focus on international development & international relations and PhD in Medical Sciences from Purdue University. I can be found on twitter at twitter.com/lrakoto.
Latest posts by Lova Rakotomalala from October, 2012
Chad: President's Plane Botched Landing in Kalait
Blogger Malaika reports [fr] that the plane carrying Chad president Idriss Deby botched its landing in the Kalait region. No one was hurt in the accident. The president was to...
Madagascar: How Much Does a Political Crisis Cost?
Since 2009, an additional 4 millions people now earn less than $1.25/day, 500,000 more children have dropped out of school and 336,000 jobs were lost because of the prolonged political crisis. Blogger...
Entrepreneurship, Culture and Solidarity in Africa
Despite strong economic growth, the African continent is still struggling to develop a class of local entrepreneurs to manage strategic industries. Many African scholars and researchers try to better understand...
Haiti: Flooding in the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
Haiti Libre reported that the the General Hospital in Les Cayes was flooded when Hurricane Sandy hit Haiti on october 23. Haiti Libre added that a woman drowned trying to...
Manufacturing a Car in Open Source and Modular Design
I don’t know whether we will need gasoline, electric or hydrogen cars tomorrow. I don’t have to know, because I designed my car so that I can change the motor...
Madagascar: A Case Study for Small Scale Mining
The Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) in Protected Areas and critical ecosystems (“PACE”) programme (ASM-PACE) has released a case study on how Madagascar can “ensure continued socioeconomic development without undermining ecological...
On the Challenges of Discussing Precarity in Africa
Despite robust signs of growth in Africa in 2012, precarity remains an ever-present problem right now for the majority of people living there. Inequalities are undoubtedly broadening but the very...
Madagascar: Preserving National Heritage with Video Archiving
A Civil Society Initiative has been set up to preserve the 'collective memory' of Madagascar by digitally archiving videos detailing its, often controversial, history. The Fl@H Association was set up...
Benin: Organizing Volunteer Holidays to Share Specific Expertise
Youphil writes [fr] about a project driven by Espace Volontariats du Bénin and supported by France Volontaires that promotes volunteer holidays in Porto Novo and Sô-Ava. The project will help experts...
Cameroon: Students and Researchers Evaluate the Welfare System
Welfare Systems are rapidly evolving in Sub-Saharan Africa, with some countries having implemented systems allowing evaluation of measures taken several decades ago. Students and researchers from Cameroon have closely examined...
Burundi: Celebrating The First Democratically Elected President
Jean Marie Ngendahayo writes about [fr] the relatively unknown story of Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically elected president of Burundi after winning the 1993 election. Ngendahayo states that what stood out with...
Chad: ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ Winner & Human Rights Activist Attacked at Home
DJAMIL AHMAT in Chad reports that Jacqueline Moudeina, a lawyer, human rights activist and winner of an Alternative Nobel Prize Award was attacked at her home (fr) last night (October 19). Moudeina...
Mauritania: Confusion Reigns over “Accidental” Shots that Wounded President Aziz
“@weddady: The official version on Aziz being “wounded lightly” was completely nonsense. He is seriously injured à la Dadis Camara.. #Mauritania“ Twitter update from Mauritanian activist Nasser Waddady upon hearing official...
Madagascar: Global Voices in Malagasy Reaches Milestone
Lingua project Global Voices in Malagasy has just published its 5,000th post. The project was started on September 12, 2007 and was one of the first African lingua project. There are...
Mali: MOJWA Threatens the Lives of Hostages and French President over Military Intervention
The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) via its speaker Oumar Ould Hamaha has threatened the lives of hostages and French President [fr] because of the planned military...
General-Secretary of La Francophonie Wants a Seat for Africa at the UN Security Council
Abidjan Net writes [fr] that General-Secretary of La Francophonie Abdou Diouf demanded at the opening of the 2012 Francophonie Summit [fr] that the African continent be granted a seat at the UN security Council. He argues...
DR of Congo: Tension Between Kinshasa and Paris as Summit Commences
Le Potentiel writes that [fr] French president Hollande's assessment of Human Rights violations in DR of Congo were not taken lightly by the Congolese government as the Francophone Summit is set to...
France, World Bank to Help African Nations Negotiate Mining Contracts
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Franc Zone monetary cooperation agreements, the president of Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, and the French Minister of Finance, Pierre Moscovici, have published a...
France : Mystery of Blue Honey Bees Solved
Vkarole writes [fr] that bees in Ribeauvillé, France (Alsace region) started to produce a mysterious blue honey. After an investigation, the beekeepers determined that the color came from a dye...
African Viewpoints on the US 2012 Election
The US presidential election will be held on November 6 and the campaign is entering the home stretch. African bloggers have various takes on how the election will unfold and...
