03.15.06
Create a Village Phone programme
Guide on creating sustainable access to affordable telecommunications for the rural poor.
It draws on Grameen’s experience in both Bangladesh and Uganda and establishes a template for creating sustainable initiatives that simultaneously bring telecommunications to the rural poor, create viable new businesses for microentrepreneurs, and expand the customer base of telecommunications companies. The authors point out that no two implementations of the Village Phone programme will be exactly alike. Each country will have unique variables, participants, and environments. However, it is expected that there will be common structures, applications, and processes.
01.24.06
WTO Hong Kong Meeting Analysed by Oxfam
“The final ministerial declaration contained some minor gains on agriculture, such as setting a 2013 end date for export subsidies, and providing developing countries with extra flexibility to protect their small farmers. There was some progress on preventing the abuse of food aid as a disguised form of dumping, but on cotton, the steps agreed fell short even of those required by the cotton panel ruling against the USA.
Developing countries successfully fended off some of the attempts to force open their markets to Northern industrial and service sectors. However, even the toned-down text on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and services is inimical to development. The offer of duty-free, quota-free market access to the poorest countries contains sufficient loopholes to rob the agreement of almost all value. An ‘aid for trade’ deal was agreed consisting largely of recycled money, and there was no progress on other ‘development issues’.
When talks recommence in early 2006, rich-country negotiators cannot simply turn up and carry on where they left off in Hong Kong. They need to go away, examine their consciences, and make a New Year’s resolution to turn this into a development round for the world’s poor.”
Oxfam Briefing Paper 85: What happened in Hong Kong?, Oxfam Briefing Paper, December 2005 (pdf-document)
01.13.06
Poverty Compared
Adamash noticed an article on the Economist, contemplating the difference between poverty in the North and in the South. Is poverty relative? A poor US citizen, Mr Banks is better off financially (even when the difference in the cost of living is taken into account) than Dr. Kabamba in DR Congo, but still feels poorer than the Congolese?
In Autumn, I had a debate about the subject with an American friend of mine. She was offended by my comment that “eventhough there’s poverty in the US, it can not be compared to “real” poverty in the South”. The subject has been in my mind eversince and I’m glad that I found Adamash’s post about it.
…Dr Kabamba earns enough to feed his children, but not as well as he would like. The family eats meat about twice a month; Dr Kabamba calls it “a great luxury”. In America, poor children eat more meat than the well-to-do. In fact, they get twice as much protein as their government says is good for them, which is why the Wal-Mart near Mr Banks sells such enormous jeans…
While reading, remember the fact that nothing lies as much as statistics used in a misleading way. I don’t mean that there are fouls in the article, just that there might be.
…“Poverty” describes two quite different phenomena: utter penury, of the sort experienced by the billion or so souls who subsist on $1 a day or less; and the situation of people in rich countries who are less well off than their compatriots…”
Eventhough the doctor is financially struggling, he is treated with respect by the authorities and doesn’t break his family to fool social security system (the absent one). The poor US man lives in a separate moving-home than his ex-wife to get more support from the government and is considered as typical trailer thrash by the government officials. Is this the much talked about cultural difference? Which one do you prefer?
The article: Adamash: Comparing a mountain man’s poverty in US to a doctor’s poverty in Africa (found via 007 in Africa)
Related reading: Sampsa Daily: Poverty in the US (17/11/05)
01.09.06
China-Africa Trade Increases by 39%
Trade between China and African countries has stepped up since the start of China-Africa Forum in 2000. China has concentrated on buying African oil, but has also invested in Africa. A growing number (15.3 bn dollars) of products are imported from China to Africa.
“…China has scrapped tariffs on 190 kinds of imported goods from 28 of the least developed African countries, and Chinese firms have greatly increased investments in Africa – most notably in the oil sector.”
Today there’s a news about Chinese oil company planning to buy a share of Nigerian oil and gas field for 2 bn dollars.
China-Africa trade jumps by 39% -BBC
CNOOC to buy $2bn stake in Nigerian…-MSNBC
01.08.06
The Congo Situation
The Demogratic Republic of Congo, the third largest country in Africa will hold it’s presidential election in April 2006. According to a new survey, the long continued war over rich natural resources, also now as the First World War of Africa, was/is the deadliest one in The World in the last 60 years.
“More people have been killed in the second Congo war than in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur.There are factions from six different countries involved. This along with the loose organisation of the forces make peace keeping and agreements difficult because small militias do as they please, ignoring all truces between the leaders. The origin of the conflict lays in the Rwandan genocyde…”
Read the full post in Sampsa Daily: Situation in Congo
The Taungya System
The traditional forest plantation system, Taungya or Shamba has been critisised in kenya. The critics claim that it leads to destruction of water catchments and loss of biodiversity.In taungya, plantation forest is established on a government owned land by the local farmers. The government provides seedlings and tools as well as instructions and training. In return for their work local people have an opportunity to cultivate the plantation area until the canopy closes, usually this takes from 2 to 4 years.
As the system is only used in plantation areas, I think the argument about loss of biodiversity is out of place. The main objective of plantation management being a high yield of raw material for forest industry. Of course there are several methods to attain this goal, with monoculture plantation or multiple species plantation. The rule of thumb is that the more you have species the more complex and difficult it’ll be to achive a high output of desired wood. With multiple species the biodiversity might be a bit higher for a decade or two before clear cutting.
The destruction of water catchments by plantation forestry depends mostly on species selection and in some degree on carefull planning of logging (where to place roads etc.) not on plantation forestry itself. With site matching tree species possible negative effects can be reversed so that the site’s water holding capacities actually increase (if that’s the aim).
The protection of biodiversity, in my view, should not alter the livelyhood of local people. Sufficient amount of protected areas and nature reserves are the places where this protection should take place. Of course, one can argue that Taungya could be brought up to date by taking the government off the equation with a land reform that would decentralise the land rights. This would minimise the need of local people to destroy the seedlings in order to prolong the cultivation period, as they would get even higher revenues from the wood crop. But this is a decision that should be made by politicians not by foresters. Today, community or private ownership with appropriate extension work is found to be the most efficient way to manage and protect forests at the same time.
People simply take better care of their own property.
Farmers ‘eat away’ Kenyan mountain forests – article in People and the Planet
Banning shamba system will not replenish forests – open letter in The Standard
Shooting government in the head – Article in The East African Standard
01.04.06
Mike Fay’s Megaflyover Images in GoogleEarth
Across Africa, you will see the familiar yellow National Geographic logo. Zoom in to see the title of each feature article or photograph. Click the icon and a pop-up balloon shows a photo and description along with links to the content…The Megaflyover images are stunning. Mike spent more than a year taking 92,000 high resolution photographs of the continent.
more in…GoogleBlog
01.03.06
EU provides 10 African states with aid of US$200m
EU to Boost Development Aid- Deutche Welle
EU provides 10 African states with aid of US$200m- China Daily
What’s your opinion, do you think that this kind of aid will be effective?
Somali Government Set to Relocate
Somalia is the only country without a government. This has been so since 1991, when the war between rival clans started. Somalia got a president in 2004, elected by a transitional parliament (based in Kenya as I recall). The parliament and president Yusuf have since moved to Somalia but haven’t been able to work in the capital Mogadishu. This is due to their safety;
“The prime minister has twice survived assassination attempts when he has visited the capital for talks.”
The interim government and rivals have held talks in yemen are close to making a deal that would allow the government to relocate itself to Mogadishu. BBC -has the full story.
01.02.06
Travel to Reduce Poverty
Many developing nations are getting a growing part of their foreign exchange income as tourism. “When tourism is thriving, we get better schools, better hospitals and better infrastructure. When tourism does well, so do our other industries,” Says Kenya tourism ministry official Rebecca Nabutola.
Akaki Ayumu Jovino, Uganda’s minister of tourism and antiquities replies to critics fearing that tourism will endanger traditional way of life, by saying that “tourism, means jobs, poverty reduction and a better life for all the citizens.”
African countries hope tourism will reduce poverty, drive development- Post Gazette
I visited Ghana, some years ago and was amazed by it’s rich culture and beautiful nature. I believe Ghana has much more to offer than just the beutiful beaches. I was especially fascinated with the town of Tamale in the North of the country and The city of Kumasi in the Centre. You can find more about my trip to Ghana and related links on my homepage.
