Source:
African Monitor
So much has been written about aid in the recent past, largely sparked off by Dr Moyo’s book, Dead Aid and Wangari Mathai’s The Challenge for Africa. Solly Benatar (Why Development Aid Hasn’t Eased Poverty, Cape Times, April 30) and Paul Collier’s commentary on Dead Aid in which the argument is that development aid should be withdrawn because it does not work and has compounded Africa’s problems, are notable. Let us face it; under present circumstances aid resources are vital for human survival and the development of many people in Africa. Bad governance and poor administration of aid should not be mistaken for non-potency and therefore lead to blanket condemnation of the potentially beneficial aid. Here is why. May 2009.
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In January 2001 South African President Thabo Mbeki went to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to present a proposal called the Millennium African Recovery Plan (MAP). After consulting with Senegal's President Aboulaye Wade, the plan became known as the New Africa Initiative (NAI). Mbeki then took the NAI to the Group of Eight (G8) Summit meeting in Genoa, Italy in July 2001. After reviewing the plan, the G8 leaders told the Africans to rewrite it to include more emphasis on "good governance" and invited them to the next summit in Kananaskis, Alberta (Canada) in June 2002. After consultations with the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the leaders of Nigeria and Algeria, President Mbeki released the New Partnership for African Development, or NEPAD. In Kananaskis the G8 leaders unveiled an 'Action Plan on Africa', committing themselves to engage with NEPAD.
The key priority of NEPAD was to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in energy, agriculture, communications, and human resources. NEPAD's supporters hoped that with an annual US$64 billion in public and private investment, a gross domestic product growth rate of 7 percent could be secured in participating countries. Under the terms of NEPAD, African countries guaranteed good governance in return for financial aid. To guard against corruption a system of peer review was proposed to monitor African countries' deployment of funds and progress toward good governance. The limitations of G8 support, nevertheless, soon became evident. Not only did the pledges of aid still fall far short of Africa's financing needs, but they would scarcely make up for the steady decline in aid to Africa since the mid-1990s. Any new money, moreover, would be highly conditional and restricted to those countries that meet the G8's political and economic criteria.
The responses of African NGOs, unions and intellectuals to NEPAD largely criticize its neo-liberal paradigm for being very much the language of the industrialized countries, particularly the G8. The "African Forum for Envisioning Africa: Focus on NEPAD" concludes, for example, that NEPAD follows the same neo-liberal principles that have come under heavy criticism by civil society worldwide, are responsible for increasing gaps between the rich and the poor and result in economic disasters. In spite of the recognition of the central role of the African people, civil society has not played any role in the conception, design and formulation of NEPAD. Furthermore, NEPAD adopts social and economic measures that contribute to the marginalization of women and does not question the global economic system that, in the view of civil society, plays a major role in Africa's continued marginalization. With respect to Africa's external debt, NEPAD's proposal for debt relief represents a significant step backwards from what the Jubilee movement in Africa continues to demand: 100% cancellation of low-income country debts without structural adjustment conditions, plus the assessment and cancellation of illegitimate debts that have their origin in apartheid and military dictatorships. Many NGOs conclude that NEPAD is rather a continuation of the highly questionable Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP), now including privatization of public services such as water and electricity supply or health services.
At the African Heads of State Organization of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Sirte, Libya, on 2 March 2001, the African Union (AU) was declared based on the unanimous will of the member states. The AU is now the regional organization for economic and political coordination for the continent’s 54 nations.
The Permanent Missions of Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa to the United Nations, in partnership with the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations and the International Peace Academy (IPA), hosted a meeting on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in New York on 16 July 2002. The purpose of the meeting was to inform and focus the attention of the broader UN community on NEPAD. This report covers not only the discussions at the NEPAD meeting, but reflects additional research into relevant areas (pdf format).
Initially only involving Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa, it appears that "New Africa" is broadening its membership under the rubric of the NEPAD. This article aims to investigate what exactly "New Africa" stands for and what is "new", if anything, about the positions being advanced by leading exponents of this group, as crystallised by the NEPAD.
This note focuses on the support the World Bank has provided in response to NEPAD and the lead organizations identified by NEPAD for specific programs.
During a three-day "African Forum for Envisioning Africa by African Scholars" in Nairobi, a section of civil society representatives and scholars said that Nepad lacked legitimacy as it was agreed upon by African presidents and sold to Western economic powers for funding without consulting citizens, parliaments and the civil society.
Two obstacles remain as a sore preventing Africa from entering the phase of self-reliant development: irrational fragmentation from a casual tearing up of the continent into incoherent real estates of the Africans and dependence on donors to finance African development. The two are dialectically linked. Weak and fragmented states depend on external sources of aid largely unable and not often in a position to mobilise internal resources. Political fragmentation has created unviable economic entities. Conversely lack of success in economic development has created weak political structures, developments and so-called failed states. September 2007.
NEPAD stresses "the need for African countries to pool their resources and enhance regional development and economic integration to improve international competitiveness". But, according to the author, the emphasis on international competitiveness comes at the expenses of strengthening the local economy and the local people. Instead, integration in Africa should as a priority meet the socio-economic and environmental needs of its citizenries and not seek to turn even more into an export platform.
Members of social movements from Africa, meeting in Port Shepstone, South Africa, 4-8 July 2002 on the threshold of the launch of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development in Durban, critically examined NEPAD in the context of the struggles for Africa's development and emancipation.
The author claims that although NEPAD makes a token reference to the need to guarantee a sustainable supply of affordable energy as the cornerstone for poverty alleviation, projects envisaged to operationalise the goal run opposite to the energy needs of the majority of Africa's inhabitants.
Poverty in Africa is substantially higher than in other developing regions. More enigmatic is that poverty in Africa is chronic and rising. The share of the total population living below the $1 a day threshold of 46 per cent is higher today than in the 1980s and 1990s—this despite significant improvements in the growth of African GDP in recent years. January 2006 (pdf version).
This is the first of two articles on "primitive accumulation", understood as the process of acquiring capital through colonialism and forced labour. The authour argues that South Africa's economic prosperity was built on the segregation system known as "apartheid" and is now being reproduced in the rest of the African continent through investment and economic integration policies. June 2005.
The Africa Union, unlike its predecessor the OAU, seems determined to graduate from a “politicians club” to a people centered and driven regional organization. The ECOSOCC process is a historical opportunity for the formulation of a new social contract between African Governments and their people. Involving CSO’s in African Union endeavours is a positive move and is a way of involving ordinary citizens of Africa in decision and policy-making processes of issues that concern their daily lives. April 2005.
This issue of eAfrica examines the intended African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) system and compares it to the peer review system used in the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD). It also presents a roundtable debate on the role of civil society in peer review by a panel of African scholars. Other stories assess the impact of the Cancun trade talks and the vicious cycle of food aid and poverty in West Africa.
Women organizations in Africa argue that perhaps the most glaring evidence of the gender-blindness of NEPAD is the fact that it ignores the devastating impact of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) and policies imposed by international financial institutions (IFIs) on gender relations, and SAPs’ major contribution to the impoverishment of African countries. In this report we include a set of links on the economic reforms proposed and their impact on gender issues.
This Choike report provides links to useful information resources on African development as well as a section dedicated to the World Bank's initiatives in Africa.
African countries currently measure their development against those of the Western and industrialized world. This tendency has prevented us from developing our own criteria for growth. We have totally accepted everything Western and have adopted criteria developed by Western economists for Western societies. Western countries modernize themselves in ways that are directly relevant to their needs. Innovative ideas are translated into rational products or processes in a logical manner of progression to promote growth. We in Africa tend to use shotgun development techniques by adapting overnight Western technology and systems without regards to our priorities and socioeconomic infrastructure. August 2007.
More than 100 civil society organizations from 50 countries across Africa, including the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) and two representatives of the ECOSOCC process in Southern Africa, participated in the Continental Civil Society Conference entitled: Accelerating Africa’s Integration and Development in the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges of Union Government, convened for civil society organizations (CSOs) to develop a harmonized approach to ensuring that the citizens of Africa are included in the formation of a unified African government. July 2007 (pdf version).
As the G8 summit draws nearer, dramatic and distressing images of Africa are appearing everywhere. These show emaciated and drooping bodies of women and children, dilapidated villages and shanty towns, and barefooted jalabiya-wearing nomads roaming forlornly across the dusty fields of Africa. But Africa needs fundamental change to heal its wound, not cosmetic policies. (Charles Abugre is currently the head of policy and advocacy at Christian Aid. He has been a development activist in Ghana and many parts of Africa and Asia). July 2005.
With new political initiatives gaining momentum, there is renewed attention and commitment to Africa's food and nutrition security. The 2020 Africa Conference took place between two seminal events on the continent: the February 2004 African Union Summit on Agriculture and Water and the July 2004 African Union Summit that will focus attention on cutting hunger by half. By bringing together key traditional and new actors and stakeholders from across the continent, the 2020 Africa Conference offered a unique opportunity to focus on prioritizing actions, strengthening actors, and facilitating partnerships and thereby address implementation constraints (pdf version).
The mission of OSCAL is to mobilize international support for the development of Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), with the ultimate goal of ensuring their integration into the global community as equal partners.
ECA is the regional arm of the United Nations, mandated to support the economic and social development of its 53 member States in Africa, foster regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa’s development. Established in 1958 and based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ECA is one of five regional economic commissions under the administrative direction of the UN Headquarters. It reports directly to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) through the Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Economic and Social Development and Planning.
Site mantained by The United Nations University (UNU). Africa-related research projects at the UNU fall under four programme areas: Development; Environment; Science and Technology, and Peace and Governance.
In each African country UNDP has an office and team through which governments and other development partners are connected to knowledge, experience and resources from across the region and around the world. This site includes links to country offices websites and information on issues such as Poverty Reduction, Governance, HIV/AIDS and Environment.
This report of the UN Secretary-General highlights the actions taken by African countries in the implementation of the Partnership as well as support by the international community, including the United Nations system and the response of the private sector and the civil society. Pdf format.
The Africa Renewal (formerly 'Africa Recovery') office of the United Nations Department of Public Information seeks to provide timely and accurate news and analysis on the critical economic and development challenges facing the African continent. Its flagship publication is Africa Recovery magazine, which first appeared in 1987, but it also produces in-depth Briefing Papers, information kits, and other releases.
ICCAF is a Canadian Ecumenical forum. It carries out specific and specialized work that is of common concern to its member churches and their African partners. ICCAF's work includes research, analysis, advocacy, networking, and education. Closed in December 2002, this site keeps valuable information on NEPAD.
In April 2002, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, together with the Mazingira Institute and the African academy of Sciences, held its African Forum for Envisoning Africa: Focus on NEPAD to cricically examine NEPAD and its underlying principles. More than 50 African scholars attended the conference. The papers presented at the forum are for download at the site.
AfricaFiles is a network of volunteers committed to promoting human rights and economic justice in Africa and to relaying African perspectives and alternative analyses for viable human development. This issue contains documents from various sources presenting, promoting, critiquing or opposing the NEPAD proposal. They include official NEPAD text, documents are arranged in three lists: African NGOs & Civil Society, Other NGOs, and Government, UN & Business.
AIDC is a NGO working in the context of globalisation, together with popular organisations and social movements in South and Southern Africa, for economic justice and social transformation. This site keeps many articles and documents on NEPAD.
Resources in this site contain NEPAD's original documents, NEPAD history, analysis & critiques and conferences on NEPAD among other. Some documents are in several languages, including English and French.
TWN Africa is a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) which carries out Research and Advocacy on issues of social and economic policy that advances the needs and interests of peoples of African and other third world countries (especially marginalized social groups), a fair distribution of world's resources, and forms of development which are sustainable and fulfil human needs. Central to the political economy programme of TWN's activities is the concern for African governments and civil society to respond to the challenges posed by the global regime to African development.
In the following report we include background information on the relationship between the G8 and NEPAD as well as recent developments following the latest G8 summit in Evian, France.
A declaration of the WTO meeting in Doha on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) addressed some of the developing country concerns about that 1994 agreement, declaring that "the TRIPS agreement does not and should not prevent members from taking measures to protect public health". However, the Doha meeting rejected proposals to permit the "parallel exporting" of generic drugs to countries with no means to manufacture the medicines themselves, a main concern in the fight against AIDS in Africa.
The author claims that HIV/AIDS epidemic is unarguably the greatest threat to Africa's development at this point in time and discusses why HIV/AIDS should be on the shortlist of any NEPAD strategic priorities.
The rising prices of medicines and the tragedy of millions of AIDS victims in poor countries, who cannot pay for the medicines they need to stabilize the disease, have aroused widespread concern and put on the agenda a debate on the generally high cost of these drugs and medicines.
A speech by the HIV/AIDS Advisor to Kofi Annan, in the run-up to the G8 summit in Canada. The author claims that the development goals of Africa are an "impossible hope" until the AIDS pandemic is turned around.
Corporations and energy hungry countries are pouring money into Africa for agrofuel crop production, fuelling a land rush reminiscent of Europe's initial colonial expansion. Joining the foreign invasion are Africa's governments and business elites. Pushed to the sidelines, some groups are speaking out about the devastation all this will cause to people's livelihoods, but it is difficult to hear them over the clatter about Africa's great opportunity to capitalise on the world's energy and environmental crises. August 2007.
It is anything but new that the African continent's human and other natural resources are the object of more or less systematic looting from the outside world. Henning Melber presents a "state of the continent" report and comments on the "new African order" as designed by the global power structures of the World Economic Forum. February 2007.
Representatives of African civil society and social movements meeting in Nairobi, Kenya for the Pan-African Preparatory meeting to the IV International Forum on Democracy and Cooperation from 15 to 16 May 2008 examined gaps in international democracy and cooperation with an aim to develop innovative concepts and models that will lead to a Southern driven paradigm shift in global development. June 2008 (pdf).
Civil society organisations from all five regions of the African Union and the Diaspora welcomed the opportunity to accelerate continental integration in Africa. Accordingly, they support the proposal for the establishment of a Union Government. Civil Society Communiqué to the Assembly of the Heads of States Meeting during the 9th Ordinary Summit. June 2007 (pdf version).
