AfricaFocus Bulletins with Material on Economy and Development - 2006
Dec 22, 2006 South Africa: Water for All?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/wat0612.php
Two recent issues of AfricaFocus Bulletin featured material from
the latest UNDP Human Development Report, focusing on
implications of the global water crisis for Africa. The introduction
mentioned in passing that South Africa had affirmed water as a human
right, but that there was active debate about whether government
policies were actually meeting that goal.
Dec 12, 2006 Zimbabwe: Symptoms of Decline
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/zim0612.php
"Zimbabwe was once the publishing capital of southern Africa.
It used to host the best book fair in Africa. But years of neglect,
as with Zimbabwe itself, [have revived the saying]: 'We cannot eat
books.' With few visitors and even fewer sales, neither can the
publishers."
Dec 7, 2006 Africa: Balancing Act Internet News
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/ba0612.php
"In less than two years, the bandwidth of traffic on Internet
services provided by Senegal's telecom Sonatel has doubled. By
today, Internet services provided by Sonatel are the most
extensive in sub-Saharan Africa, second only to those in South
Africa, a country of much bigger resources." - Balancing Act
News Update
Dec 7, 2006 Africa: Bandwidth Reports
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/apc0612.php
"Bandwidth is the life-blood of the world's knowledge economy,
but it is scarcest where it is most needed ... For those
[African institutions] that can afford it, their costs are
usually thousands of times higher than for their counterparts in
the developed world, and even Africa's most well-endowed centres
of excellence have less bandwidth than a home broadband user in
North America or Europe, and it must be shared amongst hundreds
or even thousands of users. A variety of factors are
responsible for this situation, but the biggest cause is the
high cost of international connections to the global
telecommunication backbones." - Mike Jensen
Nov 24, 2006 Africa: Water, Health, and Development
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/hdr0611b.php
"We estimate that the African region loses five per cent of GDP
annually as a result of both women having to walk huge distances to
collect water - which diverts labor, apart from the huge personal
cost that it puts someone in - and the impact of disease on
productivity." - Kevin Watkins, lead author, UN Human Development
Report 2006
Nov 24, 2006 Africa: Global Apartheid Update
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/hdr0611a.php
Speaking at the global launch of the 2006 Human Development Report
in Cape Town, South African President Thabo Mbeki called for the
world to fight "domestic and global apartheid in terms of access to
water." The report documented high levels of inequality both within
and between nations, with sub-Saharan African countries losing some
five percent of GDP annually as a result of the water and sanitation
crisis, far more than the region receives in international aid.
Nov 15, 2006 Africa: Global Fund as Legacy of Innovation
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/gf0611.php
After more than 20 hours of deliberations early this month, the
board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
was unable to agree on a new executive director. Despite the resulting delay,
some observers say the failure actually indicates how seriously the
Fund is taking its mandate to build a consensus between developed
and developing countries.
Nov 12, 2006 Lesotho: Anti-Corruption Actions
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/les0611.php
Search the World Bank's website section on anti-corruption
(http://www.worldbank.org/anticorruption) for "Lesotho" and you
will get the following response: Your search - Lesotho - did not
match any documents. No pages were found containing "Lesotho".
But while the World Bank may not be paying attention, the small
Southern African country has taken the lead in attacking
corruption in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a giant scheme
financed by the World Bank itself.
Nov 5, 2006 Africa: Up in Smoke?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/clim0611.php
"The level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is historically a
result of rich world activity. Therefore to be fair, the rich world
should bear the full costs of adapting to climate change, at least
in the early years." - Working Group on Climate Change and
Development
Nov 5, 2006 Africa: Economics of Climate Change
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/ster0611.php
"All countries will be affected. The most vulnerable - the poorest
countries and populations - will suffer earliest and most, even
though they have contributed least to the causes of climate
change." - Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Oct 22, 2006 Africa: New Silk Road
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/asia0610.php
"Exports from Africa to Asia tripled in the last five years, making
Asia Africa's third largest trading partner (27 percent) after the
European Union (32 percent) and the United States (29 percent),"
reports a new World Bank study.
Oct 15, 2006 Africa: Rice Congress
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/rice0610.php
Rice development will be one of the key testing grounds of whether
Africa's new "Green Revolution" can avoid some of the failures of
earlier Green Revolution efforts, and reduce African rice imports.
Enthusiasts point to the Participatory Varietal Selection methods
used by the Africa Rice Centre to disseminate new rice varieties,
and to growth in small-farmer income as well as yields.
Oct 15, 2006 Africa: Green Revolution?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/gr0610.php
The Gates Foundation has joined with the Rockefeller Foundation in
promoting a new "Green Revolution" in Africa. But will the new
effort learn from the mistakes of earlier "Green Revolution"
initiatives? Sceptics say that the new proposals still disregard
the interests of small farmers and the environment.
Oct 6, 2006 Africa: Forced Evictions
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/evic0610.php
"Forced evictions are one of the most widespread and unrecognised
human rights violations in Africa," - Kolawole Olaniyan, Director
of Amnesty International's Africa Programme. According to research
by Amnesty International and the Geneva-based Centre on Housing
Rights and Evictions (COHRE), more than three million Africans have
been forcibly evicted from their homes since 2000.
Sep 30, 2006 Africa: Innovative Financing
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aid0609b.php
Beginning in July, international air travelers from France have
been paying a 4 euro tax on an economy ticket and 40 euros on a
first-class ticket, with proceeds going to pay for treatment of
children with AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Eighteen other
countries have pledged to implement the tax, including Brazil, the
United Kingdom, Norway, Mali, and South Korea.
Sep 30, 2006 Africa: Making Aid Multilateral
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aid0609a.php
The current international aid system, says a new UN report, is
chaotic, and suffers from high transaction costs, politicization,
lack of transparency, incoherence, and unpredictability. What is
needed, says the report, is a shift to a multilateral model similar
to the Marshall Plan and to the European Community's regional
funds.
Sep 23, 2006 Africa: Girl Power
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/educ0609.php
"Girls who complete secondary school are up to five time less
likely to contract HIV than girls with no education," according to
a new ActionAid review of over 600 research studies. But in Africa,
an estimated 22 million girls have never been to primary school.
Sep 16, 2006 Africa: Migration and Rights
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/mig0609a.php
Chartered planes started flying illegal African immigrants back
from Spain to Senegal last week, resuming a repatriation program
aimed at stemming the flow of immigrants to this southern European
country. But judging by experience, the return is unlikely to stop
thousands of others from risking their lives in small boats to
reach the Canary Islands from the West African coast, or finding
other perilous ways of reaching the European continent.
Sep 16, 2006 Africa: Migration and Development
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/mig0609b.php
"[The] potential benefits [from international migration] are larger
than the potential gains from freer international trade,
particularly for developing countries," notes an extensive recent
United Nations report on migration. But while the liberalization of
the flow of goods and capital continues to increase, restrictions
on the movement of people are leading to thousands of deaths in
border areas such as the U.S. southwest desert and the sea routes
between Africa and Europe.
Sep 10, 2006 Africa: Africa's Lakes
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/lake0609.php
"For now, the future of Lake Chad does indeed look bleak. With a
high population growth rate, pressures on water resources in the
lake basin will invariably continue. While in the past Lake Chad
has been able to rebound from low to high water levels, climate
change and people's water use may now act in concert to block the
natural forces of recovery." - atlas of Africa's Lakes
Sep 10, 2006 Africa: Environmental Threats/Opportunities
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/unep0609.php
Many of Africa's ecosystems are not just serving the region, but
the whole world, for example, through the carbon soaking value of
tropical forests. This alone probably equals or exceeds the current
or exceeds the current level of international aid being provided to
developing countries.
Aug 13, 2006 Nigeria: Swamps of Insurgency
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/nig0608.php
"Over the past quarter century, unrest in the Niger Delta has
slowly graduated into a guerrilla-style conflict that leaves
hundreds dead each year. The battle lines are drawn over the
region's crude oil and gas that make Nigeria the number one oil
producer in Africa and the world's tenth largest crude oil
producer." - International Crisis Group
Aug 6, 2006 Zimbabwe: Shadows and Lies
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/zim0608a.php
"There is no reason why Zimbabweans today should watch our country
go down the drain. Look at the time it took to build it up. That
one can just destroy it overnight is something very painful. It
was not about creating another dictatorship, creating another
oppressive system, where you cannot exercise your rights." -
Margaret Dongo
Aug 6, 2006 Zimbabwe: Displacement and Survival
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/zim0608b.php
One year after "Operation Murambatsvina" ("Clean-Up"), the damaging
effects of the government campaign aimed at the urban poor are
still visible, reports a recent delegation from South African
social movements. With Zimbabweans expressing little hope in a
divided opposition, internal efforts at resistance are
concentrating on survival.
Jul 17, 2006 Africa: Phantom Technical Assistance
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aid0607b.php
"Technical assistance - donor spending on consultants, training and
research - is one of the most heavily criticised forms of aid. ...
[yet it is] still one of the most heavily used forms of aid,
accounting for between a quarter and a half of all ODA [Official
Development Assistance]." A significant proportion of this aid,
charges ActionAid in a new report, is both over-priced and
ineffective.
Jul 17, 2006 Africa: Real Aid?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aid0607a.php
World leaders gathered at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia,
gave only token attention to Africa issues that had been a major
focus at last year's meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. Although they
pledged to keep Africa on the agenda for Germany next year,
evaluations of the summit noted little progress beyond the pledges on
debt relief implemented over the past year.
Jul 1, 2006 Africa: Doha Deception Round
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/tr0606.php
As negotiators again reported "no progress" at international trade
negotiations in Geneva, 100 developing nations released a statement
saying they were still willing to negotiate but that the chasm
between the views of rich and poor countries was huge. Even if a
face-saving agreement is reached over the next months, critics said
that major powers had already demonstrated that they had no
interest in proposals to address developing country concerns.
May 30, 2006 Africa: Debt Relief Update
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/debt0605.php
Debt relief has become a significant vehicle of resource transfer
to countries under the World Bank/IMF HIPC program, concludes a new
internal World Bank evaluation. But in eight countries completing
the program, debt ratios already again exceed the Bank's
sustainability level of 150 percent debt-to-exports ratio.
May 22, 2006 Africa: Unions, Scholars Meet
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/work0605.php
Meeting in Cairo earlier this month, representatives of African
unions and African intellectuals met to share their critiques of
current development policies, targeting both international
financial institutions and African governments. African scholars
had documented the failures of structural adjustment decades ago,
noted political economist Adebayo Olukoshi. But with few exceptions
these policies are still being imposed.
May 9, 2006 Southern Africa: Slowing Fast-Track Trade
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/sacu0605.php
Civil society groups in both South Africa and the Untied Statets
are applauding the halt in progress in trade talks between the
United States and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The
groups say that U.S. insistence on a "one-size fits all approach"
is inappropriate for SACU, which includes five southern African
countries at different stages of development. Moreover, they say,
the U.S. approach contains many provisions that would damage
health, workers' rights, and the prospects of small farmers.
Apr 23, 2006 Africa: Trade Talks Skip Priority Issues
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/trad0604.php
The European Union and the United States blamed each other for the
failure to progress in world trade talks, as a "mini-ministerial"
scheduled to complete the next stage of negotiations before the end
of April was again postponed earlier this month. But African
countries say there are more fundamental flaws. Recent statements
by African trade ministers and by non-governmental analysts point
out that priority African issues supposed to be included in this
"development round" are still being sidelined.
Apr 14, 2006 Africa: Stolen Wealth
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/corr0604.php
"Corruption is bleeding Africa to death and the cost is borne by
the poor. ... Much of the money is banked in Britain or our
overseas territories and dependencies. ... We want our government
to get tough on corruption." - Hugh Bayley, MP, Chair of the Africa
All Party Parliamentary Group
Apr 2, 2006 Africa: Social Transfers
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/soc0604.php
According to a new research report from the UK Department for
International Development says social transfers - that is, regular
and predictable grants to households - can have significant
positive effects on human development for the poor, and
particularly on health and education, even when the grants are not
specifically targeted to those sectors. In other words, one of the
most immediate and effective remedies for poverty is money.
Apr 2, 2006 Africa: User Fees
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/user0604.php
"The government of Zambia today (1 April) introduced free health
care for people living in rural areas, scrapping fees which for
years had made health care inaccessible for millions. The move was
made possible using money from the debt cancellation and aid
increases agreed at the G8 in Gleneagles last July, when Zambia
received $4 billion of debt relief; money it is now investing in
health and education." - Oxfam International
Mar 9, 2006 Africa: Digital Dumps
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/dd0603.php
Recycled computers and other electronic equipment have the
potential to help bridge the digital divide. But, says a recently
published study by the Basel Action Network (BAN), many quickly
find their way to toxic waste dumps, being not economically repairable or
usable.
Feb 26, 2006 Kenya: Githongo Report
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/git0602.php
John Githongo, who resigned a year ago as Kenya's anti-corruption
chief, this month released a report on scandals he was
investigating that has already forced the resignation of Kenya's
finance minister and threatens to bring down other top officials.
The report is based on detailed records he kept during his
investigation, and spells out how officials used security contracts
worth as much as $1 billion to siphon off government funds into
non-existent companies.
Feb 21, 2006 East Africa: Dams and Lake Victoria
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/vic0602.php
Low water levels in Lake Victoria, at their lowest point in 50
years, are threatening the livelihood of people dependent on
fishing, raising the prices of fish, and provoking shortages of
water for electricity generation. And now a new report charges that
the crisis is due not only to drought but also to overuse of the
lake's water for power generation by existing powerplants. At the
same time the Uganda government has signed a new $500 million
contract for building a third power plant, on the Bujagali Falls.
Environmentalists charge that the new plant is likely to have more
negative effects and that the hope of providing more electricity
will prove unsustainable.
Feb 8, 2006 Africa: Fix Resource Leaks
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/abug0602.php
"What matters for ensuring that governments have adequate resources
to finance development are net flows. This means factoring in not
just inflows ... but also what is lost to the rest of the world.
Debt servicing is [only] one [such] outflow. ... Indeed, the
reality of Africa is that the resources that leak out far exceed
those that flow in." - Charles Abugre
Jan 31, 2006 Africa: Predictable Emergencies
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/food0601.php
"Imagine if your local fire department had to petition the mayor
for money every time it needed water to douse a raging fire. That's
the predicament faced by anguished humanitarian aid workers when
they seek to save lives but have no funds to pay for the water - or
medicine, shelter, or food - urgently needed to put out a fire." -
Jan Egeland, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs
Jan 27, 2006 Africa: Economic Prospects, Obstacles
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/econ0601.php
"Africa's real GDP is estimated to have grown by 5.1 per cent in
2005, roughly the same rate that was achieved in 2004. ... the
relatively high rates of growth recorded over the last five years
confirm the continued recovery of African economies. ... Thus far
[however] increased growth seems to have had a limited effect on
poverty reduction. In fact, growth has largely concentrated in
relatively capital-intensive sectors with little spillover effects
on employment creation and on the rest of the economy." - United
Nations
Jan 21, 2006 Africa: Imagining the Digital Future
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/bal0601.php
Russell Southwood's Balancing Act Africa's News Update, coming out
weekly in English and monthly in French, is packed with news about new developments in African
telecommunications, internet, and computer technology
(http://www.balancingact-africa.com). In the latest issue,
Southwood imagines what the scene could look like five years from
now.
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