12/03/2016
Hello Everyone,
In 2012 this project was birthed and given life, and for the past 2 years for reasons beyond our control, the YARA Team has been on a compulsory break, nevertheless we deeply apologise for going on such a break without giving you proper notice, but it was inevitable.
This project started as an avenue for young Africans to tell the African Story using the African narrative through our blog, and now it is bigger than that. Now we do not just tell the African story anymore, now we contribute to the education of Africans in our own capacity.
Late last year 2015 and earlier this year, UNESCO made a switch from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In making the transition, it was made clear that the world has failed its citizens woefully because the world fell short of fulfilling the MDGs, especially in Africa (which is really an indictment on African Leaders). Now, with the MDGs gone and the SDGs taking its place, one of the core goals of the latter is to see the literacy rate improve in Africa as well as make education more open and accessible on the continent.
Open Education is not just about easy access to education, it is also about easy access to research and academic materials both online and offline, and with the case of Africa where the literacy rate is poor (and most likely falling), the few who have access to education at all will be frustrated when they are required to pay to access research materials on the internet ergo discouraging intellectual growth.
It is not that there are no online Library out there, but a lot of these Libraries either want a subscription fees, or they are just simply hard to find. Nevertheless the YARA team dedicated time to finding and discovering online libraries from different Tertiary Institution (and also from Non-profit organizations) all over the world with open access to its library and ease of use. Also the papers found in these libraries must be used based on the copyright restrictions of such online library and the author of the research materials. All these among other things are going to be made available on our website to those in urgent need for research help.
In addition to this, the YARA team is extending its journal contributions and publications from "Only law students" to "everyone in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Law". The team decided to include the Social Sciences and Humanities because academic writing and research is not exclusive or limited the Law alone and these other faculties also deserve a chance to showcase their work.
Amazingly we never lost any follower, on the contrary we had lots of likes even during our 2 years hiatus, we thank you for keeping up with us and we assure you 2016 is just the beginning.
We may be far off from January 2016, we still hope you all enjoy the great moments of 2016 to come.
Thank you all for your patience.
Best
The YARA Team
