Welcome to AfricArXiv
This initiative showcases UbuntuNet's commitment to fostering knowledge sharing, collaboration, and accessibility within the African research community. With AfricArxiv, researchers across the continent have a dedicated platform to disseminate their findings, making them accessible to a global audience. By facilitating open access to scholarly work, UbuntuNet Alliance plays a pivotal role in advancing the principles of open science, enhancing research visibility, and driving innovation across Africa.
Communities in AfricArXiv
Select a community to browse its collections.
- The general repository is open for individual submissions by researchers, librarians and research administrators.
- Showcase of project activities, presentations, and scholarly contributions curated by the AfricArXiv initiative.
- Scholarly items sorted by country > Institution > Department
- A Rapid Grant Fund to address research questions and implement science engagement activities associated with COVID-19
Recent Submissions
Effet des pâturages sur la composition et la diversité floristique dans le groupement de Mbinga-Nord en territoire de Kalehe.
(2026-03-10) Paul Lunyerere Munihire.; ISAAC MAKELELE; Erick BAHATI
Les activités humaines transforment de plus en plus les écosystèmes naturels, notamment à travers l’expansion agricole et les pratiques pastorales. Le pâturage constitue l’un des facteurs les plus influents affectant la structure de la végétation, la composition floristique et la biodiversité (Milchunas & Lauenroth, 2019 ; Eldridge & Delgado-Baquerizo, 2018). Cette étude analyse les effets de l’intensité du pâturage sur la diversité végétale et la composition floristique dans le groupement de Mbinga-Nord, territoire de Kalehe, à l’est de la République Démocratique du Congo.
Les relevés de végétation ont été réalisés dans trois zones représentant différents niveaux d’intensité de pâturage : zone fortement pâturée, zone moyennement pâturée et zone non pâturée. Des parcelles de 100 m² pour la végétation ligneuse et 1 m² pour la végétation herbacée ont été utilisées. Les indices de diversité Shannon, Simpson et l’équitabilité de Pielou ont été calculés.
Au total, 86 espèces appartenant à 78 genres et 59 familles ont été recensées dans l’ensemble des sites étudiés. Les résultats montrent que la richesse floristique diminue avec l’augmentation de l’intensité du pâturage. Les zones non pâturées présentent la plus grande diversité spécifique (Shannon = 2,99 ; Simpson = 0,947), tandis que les zones fortement pâturées présentent les valeurs les plus faibles (Shannon = 2,51 ; Simpson = 0,903).
Ces résultats confirment que le pâturage intensif peut entraîner une réduction de la biodiversité et modifier la structure de la végétation (Zhang et al., 2024 ; Zhao et al., 2024). L’étude souligne la nécessité de mettre en place des stratégies de gestion durable des pâturages afin de préserver l’équilibre écologique des écosystèmes pastoraux.
Mots-clés
Pâturage, diversité végétale, composition floristique, biodiversité, Kalehe, République Démocratique du Congo
Africapitalism and the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: A Critical Systematic Review of Evidence, Structural Tensions, and Governance Imperatives
(2026-03-10) Abimbola, Ini-Abasi Laura
This article presents a critically grounded systematic narrative review of Africapitalism's theoretical claims and empirical contributions towards advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. Applying a structured evidence-quality rubric that assesses source independence, design rigour, and risk of bias across five outcome domains (employment and poverty reduction; inequality and distributional justice; gender equity; environmental sustainability; and community development and human capital), the review evaluates the philosophy's four foundational senses (Progress & Prosperity, Parity, Peace & Harmony, and Place & Belongingness) as elaborated by Amaeshi and Idemudia (2015). Drawing on postcolonial theory, institutional economics, stakeholder theory, creating shared value scholarship, and environmental justice frameworks, we position Africapitalism within a broader theoretical ecology, identifying both its conceptual contributions and structural limitations. The analysis reveals that while Africapitalism demonstrates plausible contributions to SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) through entrepreneurial ecosystem development, its capacity to meaningfully advance SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDGs 13–15 (Environmental Sustainability), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) remains empirically unsubstantiated and theoretically contested. Four critical gaps are identified and argued: the absence of independent longitudinal impact assessment; insufficient engagement with postcolonial structural power dynamics; underdeveloped gender analysis; and the conflation of elite philanthropy with systemic development. A forward research agenda is proposed, grounded in institutional accountability, intersectional equity, and environmental justice. The article concludes that Africapitalism's transformative potential hinges on genuine governance commitments that transcend mere rhetorical ambition.
Leveraging Taiwan’s competency-based curriculum model: implications for low- and middle-income countries
(Springer Nature, 2026-01-12) Gulled Mohamed Yasin
This qualitative study examined how Taiwan’s 12-Year Basic Education Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) was designed and implemented and what elements are transferable to low- and middle-income African contexts. The researcher triangulated five national policy/curriculum documents with 15 key-informant interviews (professors, principals, and policymakers) who had direct involvement in the CBC design, development and reforms and analyzed data using thematic analysis. In this regard, the research identified several core themes. A decentralized, bottom-up approach was fundamental, engaging a wide spectrum of stakeholders including educators, parents, industries, and communities in a multi-year co-design process. Competencies were contextualized from global frameworks (OECD DeSeCo) and systematically woven into both national mandates and school-based curricula to ensure local relevance. Implementation was underpinned by systemic, government-funded teacher professional development focused on shifting pedagogical practices and a move toward authentic assessment tools to measure holistic student growth. Furthermore, the curriculum was explicitly tailored to economic needs through strategic industry-education partnerships. Despite the participatory design, challenges included resistance from teachers accustomed to exam-centric instruction. The study concludes that Taiwan’s CBC is not a one-size-fits-all model but offers a transferable blueprint for context-responsive reform when adapted to local capacity, culture, and equity priorities.
LSR: Linguistic Safety Robustness Benchmark for Low-Resource West African Languages
(Fagmart Lab, 2026-03-13) Faruna, Godwin Abuh
Safety alignment in large language models relies predominantly on English-language training data. When harmful intent is expressed in low-resource languages, refusal mechanisms that hold in English frequently fail to activate. We introduce LSR (Linguistic Safety Robustness), the first systematic benchmark for measuring cross-lingual refusal degradation in West African languages: Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Igala. LSR uses a dual-probe evaluation protocol - submitting matched English and target-language probes to the same model - and introduces Refusal Centroid Drift (RCD), a metric that quantifies how much of a model's English refusal behavior is lost when harmful intent is encoded in a target language. We evaluate Gemini 2.5 Flash across 14 culturally grounded attack probes in four harm categories. English refusal rates hold at approximately 90 percent. Across West African languages, refusal rates fall to 35-55 percent, with Igala showing the most severe degradation (RCD = 0.55). LSR is implemented in the Inspect AI evaluation framework and is available as a PR-ready contribution to the UK AISI's inspect_evals repository. A live reference implementation and the benchmark dataset are publicly available.
Realising Kenya’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy
(UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking, 2026) Ogot, Madara
The Kenya Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy 2025-2030 seeks to position Kenya as a leading AI hub, aligned to Kenya’s national development priorities, especially in agriculture, healthcare, education, finance and public administration. The Hierarchy of Engagement with AI model offers a practical framework for the Strategy’s implementation. The model frames engagement with AI across eight progressive maturity levels, integrating technical capability, governance, ethics, workforce, and ecosystem collaboration into a manageable, measurable stage-gated journey. Realising Kenya’s AI Strategy requires a clear evidence-based pathway that the HE-AI model provides. The model’s sequenced logic and delineation of actor roles, both aligned with the Strategy, will support its implementation.