Nigeria Zero Hunger/IITA Policy Brief No. 3: Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review – Nutritional Status of Children under the Age of 5 in Ogun State, Nigeria

The “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (also known as Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs), has 17 goals [1], to which the Federal Republic of Nigeria committed to achieving in September 2015

Nigeria Zero Hunger/IITA Policy Brief No. 2: Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review – Nutritional Status of Children under the Age of 5 in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

The Federal Republic of Nigeria committed to achieving the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (also known as Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs).

Nigeria Zero Hunger/IITA Policy Brief No. 4: Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review – Nutritional Status of Children under the Age of 5 in Sokoto State, Nigeria

The United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (also known as Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) has 17 goals [1], to which the Federal Republic of Nigeria committed to achieving.

Nigeria Zero Hunger/IITA Policy Brief No. 1: Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review – Nutritional Status of Children under the Age of 5 in Benue State, Nigeria

In the Global Nutrition Report (GNR) of 2015, Nigeria was grouped along with other countries where only a minority of children are growing healthily [1].

Nigeria Zero Hunger/IITA Policy Brief No. 5: Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review – Nutritional Status of Children under the Age of 5 in Kebbi State, Nigeria

The Federal Republic of Nigeria committed to achieving the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (also known as Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) in September 2015.

A TRIZ Approach to Reliable Megaproject Sustainability

Purposes: This article presents a recent research into megaproject sustainability with a particular focus on identifying a structure of its body of knowledge so as to establish the methodology of megaproject assessment on sustainability (MAS), which consists of a research roadmap toward megaproject sustainability and a system reliability analysis. In response to the research topic on “Reviews for Advanced Construction Management” at Frontiers in Built Environment, this article aims to make a contribution with the description about a generic approach to conducting literature review based on a whole range of relevant evidence in a systemic way.Methodology: The research described in this article is underpinned by the use of several methods. The nine-square process (NSP) of Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) is the method for facilitating a systemic evidence-based learning (EBL) process to identify further research into MAS. A normal process to establish research roadmap was then introduced to summarize what has been identified as specific research tasks alongside lifecycle processes on megaproject delivery, to which RIBA Plan of Work 2020 was adopted as the prototype. An event tree analysis (ETA) was eventually introduced by incorporating the novel measurements on system reliability to support quantitative MAS in terms of both practices and research.Findings: This article presents several findings from the described research, and these include that the use of NSP led to the formation of a systematic procedure for literature review, a procedure to support MAS, a research roadmap to facilitate efforts to be made for megaproject sustainability, and the feasibility of system reliability analysis to measure the status of sustainability underpinned by research and practices throughout megaproject lifecycle.Implications: The described research provides four modules to foster further research into megaproject sustainability, and these include a TRIZ-based module to facilitate systemic literature review for EBL, a lifecycle process module for MAS, a prototype research roadmap to guide research and development for megaproject sustainability, and an ETA module to support a system reliability analysis in the dynamic process of research and practices toward megaproject sustainability.Value: The research described in this article has made an initial effort to conduct a strategic review, development, analysis, and discussion about tactics for research and development toward megaproject sustainability. Research findings can be used for related research and practices with regard to technical guidance and best practices in megaproject delivery.

Reacting to the Decline of the West?

This article discusses the European Union (EU)’s strategic adaptation to the relative decline of the United States (US)-led Western world order by introducing the concept of hedging: a strategy of concomitant engagement with the system leader and its competitors aiming to minimise the risks of confrontation with either of them. To grasp the EU’s shift towards strategic hedging, the article analyses the subsequent 2003 Security Strategy, 2008 Implementation Report, 2015 Strategic Review and ongoing 2016 Global Strategy, and then puts the latter’s core concepts of ‘principled pragmatism’ and ‘strategic autonomy’ into perspective vis-à-vis international developments since 2016, related to ‘America First’ and the Sino-American rivalry. The article ultimately argues that, confronted with global power diffusion but constrained by the preponderance of transatlanticism, hedging has become a primary strategic option for the EU to emancipate from the US without alienating it and to compensate for the waning of the Western world order.

A systematic review of the spread of information during pandemics: A case of the 2020 COVID-19 virus

The 2020 COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic represents a severe threat to the continent of Africa – to its people, its fauna (as COVID-19 can spread to non-human creatures and human respiratory diseases are often deadly to other primates) and its economy. The context of Africa is unique in its relation to COVID-19 in that Africa has recently suffered from – and still suffers from – severe viral epidemics of HIV and Ebola virus, which creates both more significant vulnerabilities and relevant experience combatting viruses. Within the pandemic, there is a secondary ‘infodemic’ of misinformation which has served to complicate and worsen the effects of COVID-19 itself by undermining the public health measures necessary to prevent the spread of the virus. The purpose of this strategic review of recently published and relevant literature was to assess initial response to pandemics on the continent of Africa, in order to identify how the conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation related to COVID-19 may be identified and mitigated throughout the coming months and years and suggest a research agenda for better informing these issues. The study took the form of a systematic review of the literature relating to COVID-19 misinformation in Africa, especially as it relates to prior viral epidemics of HIV/AIDS and Ebola virus. This research is significant as it sheds light on potential means of mitigating the spread of disinformation, and therefore saving lives as we move through this ongoing pandemic.