Resources

While my research bothers with political-economic matters across different regions, my preferred geographic interest is the African continent, specifically the sub-Saharan parts. Collecting (credible) data, cleaning this data, and then analyzing data relating to this region is arguably one of the most difficult things.  You will find databases, news sites, blogs, forums, academic journals – basically places to find/access publicly available data on the African continent here in my resource library. My goal is that this resource library adds value to any step in your research and/or contributes to your knowledge about the African continent. Hope you find these helpful!   P.S. If you know of other sources I should include, please send me an email me at [email protected]
CIVIL SOCIETY
Apolitical
“Apolitical equips public servants to do their jobs - through free access to Courses which enhance skills tailored to the needs of modern policymakers, Articles, Online classes and talks from leading innovators, and making connections with public servants on the same learning pathways.”
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Oriire | African Heritage site
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Z-Library. The world's largest ebook library.
Z Library has over three million books and over seventy million articles, which puts it as one of the largest, easily accessible, and free eBook library on the internet. Looking for Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa for example - simply type in the author’s name OR the title of the book/article OR both the author’s name and title, click search, download the item to your device, and start reading!
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SSOZINHA
“This site is a haven for those who enjoy written and visual content, that enhances their knowledge of African History and current affairs, to feed your curiosity in a modern and fresh way. Fundamentally Ssozinha aims to bring people together through isolated topics that young people may not find themselves engaging in on a day to day basis.”
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Global Fund to End Modern Slavery
The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) is a public-private partnership developing a $1.5+ billion fund and coordinating a coherent, global strategy to address modern slavery. “GFEMS collaborates across sectors and geographies with a focus on three core programmatic pillars: rule of law, business engagement, and sustaining freedom. GFEMS also prioritizes using innovative technologies for collecting data and evaluating impact.”
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Africa is a country
Africa Is a Country was founded by Sean Jacobs in 2009 and is a site of opinion, analysis, and new writing. All the content on Africa Is a Country is published under a Creative Commons license.
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Understanding Slavery Initiative
The Understanding Slavery initiative (USI) is a national (United Kingdom) learning project which supports the teaching and learning of transatlantic slavery and its legacies using museum and heritage collections. Over the past eight years six museums across the UK have worked in partnership to share expertise, develop resources, training opportunities and school sessions.
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Tralac - Trade Law Centre
tralac (Trade Law Centre) is a public benefit organisation based in the Western Cape region of South Africa. tralac develops technical expertise and capacity in trade governance across Africa. They are committed to the principles of rules-based governance at the national, regional and international levels. tralac believes that better governance and strong institutions are essential elements for inclusive and sustainable growth.
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Africa Blogging
"Africa Blogging is an online platform featuring a plurality of voices and views supporting democratic culture and debate in Sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in 2015 in Johannesburg, its members believe that blogs play a major role in providing information and diversity of opinion in Africa and they are committed to encouraging open debate on matters not adequately covered by traditional media."
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How We Made It In Africa - Africa Business Insight
How we made it in Africa talks to Africa’s most interesting entrepreneurs and businesspeople to reveal: how they built their companies – from the initial idea to commercial success; the business lessons they’ve learnt on their journeys so far; and the latest business trends and untapped opportunities in their respective sectors and countries.
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Africa at LSE - Blog
"Africa at LSE is a platform for the latest expert analysis on African political, social and economic affairs, placing the continent at the heart of contemporary global debates. Multidisciplinary in scope, the blog provides accessible yet critical commentary and analysis from academics, practitioners and policymakers to enhance public understandings of the continent."
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Africa at LSE - Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa
The Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa (FLCA) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) focuses on the study of, and engagement with, Africa. The FLCA promotes the visibility of Africa in LSE’s teaching, research, and policy engagement. It supports independent multidisciplinary academic research and teaching; open and issue-oriented debate; and evidence-based policymaking.
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Community Development Toolkit
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Global Slavery Index
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ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY​
Georgetown University - Resources for Africa south of the Sahara
Georgetown University library’s comprehensive compilation of research items from/for their African Studies & African History departments.
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Columbia University - The African Studies Library
This link leads to Columbia University library’s comprehensive compilation of guides to research on Africa and much more.
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Columbia University - Contemporary African Politics: Home
Columbia University library’s comprehensive compilation of research materials on African elections, civil society list, and general African politics resources.
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University of Michigan - African Studies Library
This link leads to the University of Michigan African Studies library. This library comprises a comprehensive compilation of guides to research on Africa.
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Stanford University Libraries - Africa South of the Sahara
This link leads to Stanford University’s selected internet resources which is basically an annotated directory of online resources about Africa.
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Indiana University Library - Francophone Africa
“This web page contains a list of useful websites for the study of Francophone Africa. These websites mainly focus on current events, the humanities, and social sciences. Websites were selected for being up-to-date, reputable, and relevant to the study of Francophone Africa."
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Africa University - Jokomo/ Yamada Library
This web page contains a list of useful websites for the study of Africa. To access the library database outside the campus, one has to contact the Duty Library at the Enquiries Desk for more information and for a personal username and password.
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National Research Database of Zimbabwe
This website contains a list of universities in Zimbabwe which have open access repositories. According to the website, “the NRDZ is an online integrated and comprehensive “one stop shop” covering all public domain research in Zimbabwe.”
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Universiteit Leiden - African Studies Centre Leiden
“The African Studies Centre Leiden is the only multidisciplinary academic knowledge institute in the Netherlands devoted entirely to the study of Africa. It has an excellent library that is open to the general public. The ASCL is an interfaculty institute of Leiden University.” This amazing library has an impressive compilation of resources from various sectors on the African continent. Very useful data and content on contemporary Africa can be found in the following linked pages:
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The Africanist Blog
“The Africanist Blog which is written by scholars and other staff members of the African Studies Centre Leiden contains insights from the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL) professors, members of the Collaborative Research Groups, and project researchers about their research, fieldwork, conferences, new publications, and teaching experiences.”
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The ASCL Country Portal
The ASC country portal provides a list of free internet resources and other information on Africa. It was initially set up for the general public but those with greater in-depth knowledge of Africa will also find some of the resources valuable. The ASC country portal aims to present information on each African country at a glance.
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The ASCL AfricaBib
“AfricaBib is a collection of Africana social science titles, presented in one easily accessible location on the internet. It is the culmination of over forty years of Africana research. The site consists of two bibliographic databases covering Africana periodical literature (Africana Periodical Literature) and African Women's literature (African Women). You will also find a comprehensive bibliography on women travelers and explorers to Africa (Women Travelers, Explorers and Missionaries to Africa).”
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ASCL’s Connecting-Africa
"“Connecting-Africa (C-A) is a service that provides access to African research information produced worldwide. The service provides: details of Africa experts (researchers, policymakers, development practitioners); details of development-related organisations, universities and research institutes; titles of published research on Africa; digital resources on Africa (full-text of publications, images and sound) in almost 90 institutional repositories.”"
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University of California Berkeley - African Studies: Web Resources
This web page contains a list of useful, up-to-date, and highly accessible resources for research on Africa.
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Columbia University - Health Information & Health Organizations on Africa
In addition to general health and health organizations in Africa, Columbia University has created this helpful gathering of information related to COVID-19 in Africa.
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NEWS MEDIA
Polity - South African news
Polity offers a unique take on news, with a focus on political, legal, economic and social issues in South Africa and Africa, as well as international affairs.
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African Arguments
African Arguments is a pan-African platform for news, investigation and opinion. They seek to analyse issues facing the continent, investigate the stories that matter, and amplify a diversity of voices.
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allAfrica
allAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing news and information from over 140 African news organizations and their own reporters to an African and global public. AllAfrica's multi-channel platform is the only independent, comprehensive pan-African news source, with unrivaled reach and reputation.
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Quartz Africa
Quartz is a guide to the new global economy for people in business who are excited by change. Quartz Africa covers business, economics, markets, finance, technology, science, design, and fashion happenings on the continent.
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Africa Intelligence
"Africa Intelligence publishes daily exclusive information essential to understanding the local and regional challenges the continent faces today. Their publications chronicle the political, diplomatic and economic lives of the African states in detail."
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Africa News
Africanews aims to support an Africa Rising and to empower African people by giving access to independent, trustworthy and relevant national, regional and international news, business, culture, sport, sci-tech stories. Africanews is a media for all views and voices, ideas and perspectives.
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BBC Africa
BBC Africa broadcasts the latest breaking news, features, analysis and special reports plus audio and video contents from across the African continent.
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Pan African Visions
This online news site provides sufficient news summary on happenings on a wide range of issues on the African continent including sports, entertainment, health, politics, and many more.
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Africa Times
Africa Times is an independent participative online news site for Sub-Saharan Africa. They aim to empower all African voices through publishing content by a range of people, from academics to bloggers. Africa Times is dedicated to bringing the world an African view on life, up-to-date African news and analysis, and giving the young voices of Africa a chance to tell their stories.
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Africa Speaks 4 Africa
How we made it in Africa talks to Africa’s most interesting entrepreneurs and businesspeople to reveal: how they built their companies – from the in“AfricaSpeaks4Africa is an independent online magazine that promotes information and issue exchange; while serving as a source of contemporary and historical information about Africa and Africans. It features stimulating perspectives, dialogue, debate and discourse on a variety of issues. The magazine is sponsored by USA for Africa in collaboration with TrustAfrica.” itial idea to commercial success; the business lessons they’ve learnt on their journeys so far; and the latest business trends and untapped opportunities in their respective sectors and countries.
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Africa at LSE - Blog
"Africa at LSE is a platform for the latest expert analysis on African political, social and economic affairs, placing the continent at the heart of contemporary global debates. Multidisciplinary in scope, the blog provides accessible yet critical commentary and analysis from academics, practitioners and policymakers to enhance public understandings of the continent."
Click Here
Africa at LSE - Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa
The Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa (FLCA) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) focuses on the study of, and engagement with, Africa. The FLCA promotes the visibility of Africa in LSE’s teaching, research, and policy engagement. It supports independent multidisciplinary academic research and teaching; open and issue-oriented debate; and evidence-based policymaking.
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Community Development Toolkit
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Global Slavery Index
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INTERGOVERMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS​
United Nations
"“The United Nations (UN) is an international organization founded in 1945. It is currently made up of 193 Member States. The mission and work of the United Nations are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.” “The United Nations has specialized agencies. These specialized agencies, listed below, are legally independent international organizations with their own rules, membership, organs and financial resources.”"
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United Nations iLibrary
The United Nations iLibrary is the comprehensive global search, discovery, and viewing source for digital content created by the United Nations. It provides librarians, information specialists, scholars, students, policy makers, influencers and the general public with a single digital destination for seamlessly accessing publications, journals, data, and series published by the United Nations Secretariat, and its funds and programs.
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United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization
"“The United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encourages international peace and universal respect for human rights by promoting collaboration among nations.” UNESCO also has sub-organs which comprises inter-governmental bodies that are listed below."
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International Geoscience Programme (IGCP)
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Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
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Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC)
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International Coordinating Council of the Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MAB)
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Intergovernmental Council of the Management of Social Transformations Programme (MOST)
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Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport (CIGEPS)
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Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in the Case of Illicit Appropriation
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Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP)
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Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC)
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Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programmes (IFAP)
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International Labour Organization
"“The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the only 'tripartite' UN agency. It brings together representatives of governments, employers and workers to jointly shape policies and programmes. This unique arrangement gives the ILO an edge in incorporating 'real world' knowledge about employment and work. The ILO is devoted to advancing opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.”"
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Food And Agriculture Organization
"“The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. The goal of the FAO is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.”"
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International Civil Aviation Organization
Established in 1947 by the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is dedicated to developing safe and efficient international air transport for peaceful purposes and ensuring a reasonable opportunity for every state to operate international airlines.
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World Health Organization
“The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO's broad mandate includes advocating for universal healthcare, monitoring public health risks, coordinating responses to health emergencies, and promoting human health and well being. WHO provides technical assistance to countries, sets international health standards and guidelines, and collects data on global health issues through the World Health Survey.”
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World Bank Group
"“The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The World Bank is not a bank in the ordinary sense but a unique partnership to reduce poverty and support development.” The World Bank Group comprises five institutions which are listed below."
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The International Finance Corporation
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments.
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The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries.
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The International Development Association
The International Development Association (IDA) provides interest-free loans — called credits — and grants to governments of the poorest countries.
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The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) was created in 1988 to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people’s lives. MIGA fulfills this mandate by offering political risk insurance (guarantees) to investors and lenders.
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The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) provides international facilities for conciliation and arbitration of investment disputes.
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International Monetary Fund
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”
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Universal Postal Union
"“The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players. It helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services. In this way, the organization fulfils an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and provides technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail, parcel and financial services volumes and improve quality of service for customers.”"
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United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF works to improve the lives of children and their families. Despite remarkable challenges around the world, UNICEF staffers fight for the rights of every child seeking safe shelter, nutrition, protection from disaster and conflicts, and equality.
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UNICEF Zimbabwe
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF Zimbabwe that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in Zimbabwe.
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UNICEF Angola
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF Angola that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in Angola.
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UNICEF Liberia
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF Liberia that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in Liberia.
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UNICEF Nigeria
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF Nigeria that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in Nigeria.
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UNICEF Ghana
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF Ghana that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in Ghana.
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UNICEF United Republic of Tanzania
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF Tanzania that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in Tanzania.
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UNICEF Gabon
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF Gabon that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in Gabon.
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UNICEF South Africa
UNICEF compiles well-researched and comprehensively collected data, information and analysis on children and women. This link contains research, data, reports, programmes, campaigns, and other initiatives by UNICEF South Africa that make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of children in South Africa.
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UN Women
"UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women focuses on priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality, and that can unlock progress across the board."
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United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. UNDP helps countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results.
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United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Accelerator Labs
Created as a part of UNDP’s drive to be an incubator for the future, the Accelerator Labs are designed to close the gap between the current practices of international development in an accelerated pace of change. They model a new capability to make breakthroughs on the future of development: inequality, decarbonization, the 4th industrial revolution and new forms of governance. This Accelerator Labs is the world’s largest and fastest learning network on sustainable development challenges with 60 Lab teams covering 78 countries creating actionable intelligence and test solutions with national partners.
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UN Innovation Network
"“The UN Innovation Network (UNIN) is an informal, collaborative community of UN innovators interested in sharing their expertise and experience with others to promote and advance innovation within the UN System. The work of the UNIN is driven by the interests and needs of its members. The Network hosts regular knowledge sharing sessions to review and discuss the application of new innovation trends and how they can contribute to achieving the SDGs. It also helps Agencies share tools, resources and best practices for innovating in the UN. The Network also engages with senior UN leaders and advises them on how to build structures to promote innovation, activate innovation partnerships and create a culture of innovation in their organisations. UNIN is open to innovators from all UN Agencies and to date, representatives from over 65 entities in over 100 countries have joined the Network.”"
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United Nations Institute For Training And Research
"The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is a training arm of the United Nations System, and has the mandate to enhance the effectiveness of the UN through diplomatic training, and to increase the impact of national actions through public awareness-raising, education and training of public policy officials. UNITAR also conducts research on innovative learning approaches, methods, and tools, as well as applied research to address critical issues, such as disaster risk reduction and humanitarian emergencies"
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UNITAR Satellite Analysis and Applied Research
“The increase in the occurrences of natural disasters and the high numbers of victims of conflicts are urgent issues that require effective and rapid action. However, accurate and precise information for ensuring prompt and efficient humanitarian responses are often inaccessible or hard to understand. To minimize the impact of crises and disasters, UNITAR delivers satellite imagery analysis as well as training for capacity development on the use of geospatial information technologies to Governments and relief organizations within and outside the UN system on this site.”
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FREE ONLINE EDUCATION
Coursera
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edX
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FutureLearn
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Cognitive Class
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Iversity
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Youtube
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Udacity
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Open University UK
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Khan Academy
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Udemy
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iTunesU Free Courses
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MIT OpenCourseWare
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Stanford Online
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Codecademy
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Open Culture Online Courses
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Shaw Academy
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PROGRAMMING
Atlas.ti
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R / R-Studio
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Tableau
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Microsoft Office Suite
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Google Suite
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Survey Design Instruments
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