Stephen Chan: In an extract from a new book, China's aspirational approach to education and investment in Africa is distinguished from the west's focus on basic needs
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Africa has the wealth to combat poverty, but it needs help holding on to it.
With Africa’s economies riding the crest of the global commodities wave, there is an unprecedented opportunity to convert the region’s vast resource wealth into investments that could lift millions out of poverty, create jobs, and bring hope to future generations. Seizing that opportunity will require strengthened governance backed by international cooperation to stem the hemorrhage of revenues associated with tax evasion, secret deals and illicit financial transfers. Delete the scoop?
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China has committed $75bn on aid and development projects in Africa in the past decade, according to research which reveals the scale of what some have called Beijing's escalating soft power "charm offensive" to secure political and economic clout on the continent Delete the scoop?
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Does sustainable intensification mean large-scale, industrial agriculture, or can it build on the traditional methods of many African farmers? This week in Dublin, world leaders, policymakers and civil society representatives met to discuss the urgent and interrelated issues of hunger, nutrition and climate justice that are faced by the poorest people and nations. In parallel, the global community is already discussing the goals and metrics that should shape sustainable development once the millennium development goals expire in 2015. Delete the scoop?
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Sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth is set to outpace the global average over the next three years, according to the World Bank. Higher commodities, increasing investment and a general pick-up in the world economy should all boost the continent's growth to more than 5%. But the World Bank added that African governments had to do more to ensure that this growth reduced poverty. Delete the scoop?
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The 6th Joint United Nations Economic Commission for Africa-African Union Commission meeting of Finance, Planning and Development Ministers met in Abidjan on the 25th and 26th of March. Intensive discussions emphasised the imperative to reverse the economic quagmire of the past decades by focusing on industrialisation as a necessary path towards sustained wealth creation for an emerging Africa. Delete the scoop?
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Bob Geldof is a humanitarian activist. He is also an egotist, a celebrity economist, and quite wrong on Africa. Geldof, the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, sprung to global prominence with his role in Band Aid to raise money for the Ethiopian famine. The single sold nearly 12 million copies; the Live Aid concerts raised £150m. For these efforts Geldof received an honorary knighthood and was elevated to a spokesman for African development. Delete the scoop?
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Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo says the future is bright for Africa, and that China can play a key role in its development. Delete the scoop?
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“You can achieve incredible progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that goal…,” said Gates. That’s true.We need reliable information that can help 3 billion young people—nearly half of the world’s population—under the age of 25, according to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), a Washington D.C- based nonprofit organization that “informs people around the world about population, health and the environment.” Delete the scoop?
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Le Global Peace Index publie un classement mondial des pays du plus sûr au plus violent. Une dizaine de pays du continent figurent parmi les plus gangrenés par la guerre ou cherchant à en sortir. Delete the scoop?
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When we think about the role of the African diaspora in political engagement and policy on the continent, what comes to mind? Not a lot? That's right, we don't usually think about the diaspora in that way at all - or at least I know I didn't until recently. Delete the scoop?
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This map comes to you from Mark Graham and the team at the Oxford Internet Institute via the Guardian. They show geolocated tweets from various African cities to display the differences within and between cities on the continent
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Interesting to see how Kigali tweets. Delete the scoop?
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Africa’s emergence is the new consensus. For the second time in just a few months, a major international journal has run a cover illustrating newfound optimism about the continent. After The Economist’s mea culpa (correcting its previous assessment of a “hopeless continent”), Time magazine just re-ran an earlier title: “Africa Rising.” This is no fluke: Africa’s economies are growing and the continent is much wealthier today than it ever was–even though, collectively, it remains the poorest on the planet. Many African nations (twenty-two to be precise) have already reached middle income country (so-called MIC) status and more will do so by 2025. Today, Africa includes a diverse mix of countries, ranging from the poorest in the world to the fastest growing; from war-torn countries to vibrant democracies; from oil-cursed economies to ICT champions, and the list goes on.
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This article is from Wolfgang Fengler, the lead economist in the World Bank’s Nairobi office. Delete the scoop?
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Newly released Africa Progress Report says some foreign companies are avoiding taxes when they exploit resources. Delete the scoop?
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A new working paper from the Centre for Global Development (CGD) attempts to gauge aid flows to Africa from China, one of the more opaque givers. In the absence of comprehensive official figures, the CGD compiled a database using open-source media reports. It says that China committed $75 billion in aid between 2000 and 2011, almost as much as America ($90 billion) and nearly a fifth of the total flows reported by Western governments. Delete the scoop?
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Development agencies should support governments to both define and implement their own priorities, but not dictate what those should be, says Andy Ratcliffe Delete the scoop?
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New research shows that Africans living outside the continent send more money home than is provided by Western aid donors, writes the BBC's Mark Doyle. Delete the scoop?
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The assumptions and ideas that drive development policy are never static, but the rise of non-traditional donors and non-Western economic powers has accelerated the pace of change in recent years. In 2010, I conducted extensive fieldwork in Addis Ababa and Nairobi in order to understand one aspect of this change: the drawing of lessons from abroad by local policymakers. Many of the trends behind the way development is ‘done’ today in Africa stemmed, I found, from the emulation of a handful of East Asian countries. Delete the scoop?
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Although famous humanitarians can help achieve short-term goals, sustainable, real solutions must be locally generated. By Andrew M. Mwenda. Delete the scoop?
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CELEBRATIONS are in order on the poorest continent. Never in the half-century since it won independence from the colonial powers has Africa been in such good shape. Its economy is flourishing. Most countries are at peace. Ever fewer children bear arms and record numbers go to school. Mobile phones are as ubiquitous as they are in India and, in the worst-affected countries, HIV infections have fallen by up to three-quarters. Life expectancy rose by a tenth in the past decade and foreign direct investment has tripled. Consumer spending will almost double in the next ten years; the number of countries with average incomes above $1,000 per person a year will grow from less than half of Africa’s 55 states to three-quarters. Delete the scoop?
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This Working Paper develops a practical and useful methodology to identify key bottlenecks and opportunities to achieving full and productive employment for all. Delete the scoop?
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L’IGP, un levier économique pour l’Afrique La reconnaissance officielle des Indications géographiques est un enjeu important pour l’Afrique. Elle participe à la reconnaissance et la protection d’un patrimoine et représente un véritable levier économique. Cette valorisation des produits, mise en oeuvre par l’OAPI avec l’AFD et le Cirad dans le cadre du Programme de renforcement des capacités commerciales (PRCC), permettra d’améliorer leurs capacités d’exportation, grâce également à une assistance technique institutionnelle et à un volet formation. Delete the scoop?
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Tous les jours, nous proposons des solutions à nos partenaires. Nous réfléchissons ensemble aux meilleures façons de procéder pour favoriser le changement. Et nous avons vite fait de proposer celles que nous connaissons parce qu’elles ont fait leurs preuves ou par facilité. Plongés dans nos dossiers, nous oublions que le monde change et qu’il le fait vite. Pendant qu’on réfléchit, l’Afrique continue d’avancer et de trouver elle-même des solutions….dont nous pourrions sans doute plus souvent nous inspirer en Belgique. Delete the scoop?
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In 2003, Andrew Rugasira had a vision of empowering farmers in his native Uganda by enabling them to produce and sell coffee direct to British supermarkets. So has his idea worked? By Tim Adams Delete the scoop?
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Something transformational has been happening online: African voices have begun populating social media, quickly becoming the undisputed champions of development punditry. No longer are we faced with what the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie called "the danger of a single story". Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media are bringing African voices and new, varied narratives to the forefront. And, what's even more remarkable, is that these online platforms are not being used for simple pontification and acerbic commentary (although there's a fair bit of that as well). These tools are also being used to replace staid development paradigms, by organising and developing African-driven institutions. Delete the scoop?
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