Only immediate and drastic political and economic reforms, including President Robert Mugabe leaving power - now and not after two years - could pull Zimbabwe from the brink, analysts said on Monday. Reacting to comments by Mugabe in an interview on Sky news at the weekend that he would step down to rest when his term expires in 2008, the analysts said an earlier departure by the veteran leader would more than lift crisis-sapped Zimbabwe’s fortunes.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) is taking steps to end the standoff between former deputy president Jacob Zuma, who faces charges of corruption, and President Thabo Mbeki. Zuma's supporters - among them the vocal leadership of the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women's League, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) - have alleged that Zuma was the victim of a political conspiracy and that state institutions were being used to block his bid to succeed Mbeki.

Burundi's last remaining rebel group, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), has rejected an offer of peace talks with the new government. The government took office last month under a UN-backed peace process aimed at ending a war between Hutu rebels and an army led by the Tutsi minority. The FNL was the only rebel group to remain outside the peace process. A five-year interim constitution guarantees a balance of power between Burundi's Hutu and Tutsi people.

Raised Voices: views from the South Call out for filmmakers to send testimonies from the global South on climate change

We are currently collecting short testimonies from Southern peoples on issues related to climate change for the upcoming UN climate talks in Canada in December 2005. The project seeks to push open political space for the views of those most affected who do not have a voice at the talks. Raised Voices has already collected testimonies on the G8 in 2005 which created a vital space where those affected by G8 policies could express themselves - unmediated and uncensored. The testimonies will be screened in progressive spaces during the talks in Montreal and be available for people to screen locally. The clips will also be on the website http://www.raisedvoices.net where transcript, image and audio are also available.

So if you have access to a camera and can interview people from the South (including Indigenous peoples in the global North and people from Central and Eastern Europe) then please get in touch with Heidi at [email protected]

*We do not have funding for this project but may be able to contribute to costs if necessary.

Raised Voices is coordinated by the Transnational Institute (http://www.tni.org)

The MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY coalition expressed dismay at the prospect of the 2005 World Summit failing to honour commitments to tackle global poverty. The Summit takes place in New York from 14 to 16 September. The meeting was scheduled five years ago at the Millennium Summit with the purpose of assessing progress on the promises they made to tackle global poverty and to decide on further steps. The current agenda, however, indicates that progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be examined; and now even mention of the goals is being put at risk.

Zimbabwe will be hosting the 2nd edition of the Southern Africa Social Forum 2005 in Harare, from 13-15 October 2005. This year's SASF is expected to bring together thousands of participants from community-based groups, social movements and civil society organizations from SADC under the theme, 'People's Resistance to Neo-Liberalism'.

SANGONeT is a dynamic NGO providing a wide range of information communication technology (ICT) services to people and organisations promoting social and economic development in the Southern African region. In the past two years SANGONeT has expanded the focus and scope of its ICT advocacy activities. These include the introduction of Thetha: The SANGONeT ICT Discussion Forum and SANGONeT's Annual "ICTs for Civil Society" Conference and Exhibition. Both these initiatives will henceforth focus on Southern African ICT advocacy issues.

ILRIG is an NGO providing education, publications and research for the labour and social movements in South and Southern Africa. ILRIG have a new and informative website that contains news about events, publications and articles.

In addition to a weekly email alert, SciDev.Net now offer another free service that allows you to receive the latest SciDev.Net news on your computer desktop. If you want to attract users to your website, keep your site fresh and dynamic, and provide a valuable science and technology information service, a SciDev.Net newsfeed could be the answer. Go to http://www.scidev.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=su bpages&root=aboutthissite&page=17 to find out more.

A new scholarship programme is being run by the International AIDS Society on behalf of the HIV Research Trust. The Scholarship scheme aims to support a broad mix of disciplines while enabling physicians, nurses, scientists, and other health care professionals in resource poor settings to acquire skills relevant to treatment-related research; in order to develop their careers and increase the capacity of their units to carry out research related to treatment and prevention.

ActionAid International is looking for a committed and focused individual for the Regional HIV&AIDS Policy and Advocacy Officer position. ActionAid International's Global Strategy has HIV&AIDS as one of our Thematic priorities.

Access to oil and natural gas, and their prices, are hugely important axes of geo-political strategy and global economic prospects and have been for a century. This book, written by a Financial Times journalist who has long covered the energy sector, provides readers with the essential information they need for understanding the shifting structure of the global oil and gas economy - where the reserves lie, who produces what, trade patterns, consumption trends, prices.

This issue includes:
* Mauritius: An Exemplar of Democracy, Development and Peace for the Southern African Development Community?
* Internet Adoption among Ghana's SME Non-Traditional Exporters
* Of Visions, Development Plans and Resource Mobilisation in Africa: The Case of Ghana Vision 2020

In its policy of forced evictions and mass displacement, the Zimbabwean government has violated the human rights of hundreds of thousands of its citizens, Human Rights Watch said in a report released this week. Over the past two weeks, the Zimbabwean authorities have compounded the suffering by refusing to fully cooperate with United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups working to assist the evicted population. On August 26, President Robert Mugabe’s government rejected the terms of a draft U.N. emergency appeal that would have helped hundreds of thousands of those hardest hit by the evictions.

Your newsletter is very interesting and informative. As I am a press reporter, this will help me a lot. I congratulate the team of Pambazuka for their efforts.
Waheda Mungly, Mauritius

In Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), journalists who face legal harassment because of their reporting will now have the support of legal advocates, thanks to the efforts of Journaliste en danger (JED). The IFEX member has signed a partnership with a local law firm, MBuy-Mbiye, that will provide legal assistance to media outlets and journalists who otherwise lack the resources to defend themselves in court. The initiative is supported by UNESCO.

A Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) report on the Egyptian elections held last week, says the mass media was generally biased toward the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) candidate. The performance of audio and visual mass media was different from state-owned and private mass media. State-owned newspapers, in particular dailies, continued to be flagrantly biased toward the ruling party's candidate, as they were during the first week of the campaign.
* Related Link
Press freedom recommendations for President Mubarak’s fifth term
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=14934

The Daily Monitor's Political Editor, Mr Andrew Mwenda, on Thursday petitioned the Constitutional Court to declare the law of sedition null and void. In a petition filed through the Monitor Publications Limited's lawyers of Nangwala, Rezida and Co. &Advocates, Mwenda claims his criminal prosecution under Section 39 and 40 of the Penal Code Act (PCA) is inconsistence with Article 29 and 43 of the Constitution which prescribes the right to freedom of expression and press.

A much awaited G8 communiqué must be commended for responding to public demands and putting development firmly on the geo-political map, says a Eurodad briefing. But, many of its policies are either too thin on detail (like just what conditions will be attached to potential new aid flows) or lack robust enforcement mechanisms (pledges on aid increases and enhancing aid effectiveness have no real enforcement mechanism to ensure they will happen) leaving one to question just how much will actually be put into practice. Sadly, if past political pledges of action on development are anything to go by, then genuine praise on the commitments contained in the communiqué will have to wait until we see evidence of real action on the ground.

Now in its third year, the Commitment to Development Index (CDI) annually rates 21 of the world’s richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. The CDI rates countries on: Quantity and Quality of foreign aid; Openness to developing-country exports; Policies that influence investment; Migration policies; Environmental policies; and Security policies.

Cocoa is Ghana's most important agricultural export commodity and the major source of income for nearly 700,000 small farmers. During the 1990s Ghana started to liberalise its economy by removing input subsidies and introducing licenses that allowed companies to buy produce directly from farmers. Generally, the increase in cocoa production over the last decade is seen as a result of these market reforms. But did poor farmers lose out in this process? Research from the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford, UK studied changes in the cocoa sector in Ghana since the early 1990s to identify who gained from the reforms. It found that the overall increase in production levels does not reflect the fact that poor farming households are not better off. While large farmers could improve production due to the use of pesticides or fertilisers, higher production costs constrained many poor farmers.

Anti-riot police arrested 45 protestors in the southeast Nigerian town of Onitsha during region-wide demonstrations called by a banned secessionist group, police officials and witnesses said last Thursday. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) said it called protests held in several southeastern cities on Wednesday to protest alleged harassment of its members by the security forces and to intensify its demand for secession.

Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in Mozambique will go hungry unless the international community provides urgent funding for aid programmes, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. "We urgently need US $19 million to keep essential feeding programmes going for 430,000 people in Mozambique, but we need the assistance now," WFP's Regional Director for Southern Africa, Mike Sackett, said in a statement.

Hosni Mubarak has won 88.6 percent of votes cast in Egypt’s first contested presidential polls, the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) announced on Friday. Mubarak has been in power for 24 years. The result of Wednesday’s elections gives him another six-year term as president of Egypt. The elections were, however, marked by a low turnout with only 23 percent of the 32 million registered voters casting their ballots.

Microfinance has gone far beyond a few small loans to struggling female entrepreneurs. These days it adds up to 10,000 lending institutions, at least 50 million customers and nagging questions about high interest rates. Microfinance may be all about small loans to women running tiny enterprises such as selling fruits and vegetables off a cart. But for the world of finance it's also become a big business. After growing by between 20 percent and 40 percent a year for the last decade, microfinance now involves about 10,000 lenders and at least 50 million borrowers. With loans averaging around $530, billions of dollars are reaching struggling entrepreneurs around the world whose incomes are too low to qualify them for traditional bank loans. With some 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day, the client base of people too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans has plenty of room to grow, say industry participants.

Nigeria is withdrawing its 120-strong police contingent serving with the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa. The UN launched an investigation into sexual harassment allegations three weeks ago and the entire unit were withdrawn from their duties. Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said 10 officers were accused of sexually harassing local women. "When one is contaminated, the whole bunch is contaminated," he said. Speaking from Nigeria, he said a senior police officer had already been sent to DR Congo to bring them home.

Zimbabwe's controversial slum clearance campaign has disrupted programmes aimed at treating HIV/Aids in the country, says New York-based Human Rights Watch. The disruption to treatment programmes could also spread resistance to drugs and lead to more infections, it says. The group say the demolitions have also exacerbated food shortages by making it harder for aid agencies to help.

MTN and Thinta Thinta Telecoms (T3) have launched multimedia centres in two schools in the Ugu region in KwaZulu-Natal as part of the MTN Foundation's Schools Connectivity Programme. The programme aims to improve the quality of education and increase access to ICT in rural schools. The companies contributed R400 000 for the installation of 10 PCs, a three-in-one printer, scanner and copier, a GPRS modem, a video machine and satellite decoder and dish at both Inkosi Umdibaniso Comprehensive School and Bheki High School. Two teachers from each school were given IT training before the installation of the centres.

The international community and the Ugandan government should take urgent action for an immediate and peaceful resolution of the war in the north in order to stop a "grave humanitarian crisis", an international humanitarian agency announced on Monday. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported that as many as 1,000 people in northern Uganda are dying each week from violence and war-related problems.

Teachers countrywide are poised to hold nationwide demonstrations to protest against Government's failure to implement salary increases and benefits. "We want to register our maximum anger and disappointment and thus put pressure on the Government to implement the Revised Salary Structure for Teachers without any further delay," the Namibia National Teachers' Union (Nantu) said in a statement at the weekend.

Last week’s IFIP World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) addressed 12 major goals within the framework of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. One of these was to develop ICT-based alternative educational delivery systems to achieve Education for All targets. “We recognise the importance of teachers in the dissemination of ICT knowledge and propose enhancing the ICT competence of teachers in the developing world through establishing innovative learning and knowledge communities of teachers and defining a professional development model to enhance ICT competence of teachers in order for them to utilise ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways. The project has two objectives. The first is to establish innovative learning and knowledge communities of teachers. The second is to establish a professional development model to enhance ICT competence of teachers in the SADC region in order for them to utilise ICT in pedagogically meaningful ways in schools and other educational institutions,” says this article.

Scientists have announced an outbreak of a devastating wheat disease that could wipe out the entire crop in Kenya. The stem rust disease has affected farms in Njoro and was spreading fast, raising fears of a food shortage. A panel of experts working under the Global Rust Initiative sounded the alarm after a study to evaluate the threat of the disease first detected in Uganda in 1999. The initiative, which includes the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, said the disease had the potential of spreading worldwide, causing a global catastrophe.

The Third World Network-Africa has conducted research on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of mining on Obuasi and its satellite communities. As part of the process of validating the findings of the research, TWN-Africa organised a two-day workshop for communities who participated in the workshop. The statement that follows is part of an outcome of the workshop. “We, 18 communities affected by mining from Obuasi, Kenyasi, Bibiani, Himan-Prestea, Hia, Anyinam, Tarkwa, Oseikrom/Twinsaaso, New Bidiem, Ankaako, Ntonsu, Ayankyerem, Kwaberefoso, Jimiso, Ewiase, Dokyiwaa, and Fenaso-Fawoman participating in a two-day workshop in Kumasi, Ghana, from August 24th to 25th, 2005 to validate a research conducted on the environmental and socio-economic impact of mining (Anglo-gold-Ashanti Obuasi Mines) in Obuasi and surrounding communities, and also the potential effects of the mining bill, have come to a number of conclusions.” Please follow the link to read the report in its entirety.

Universities in developed nations could help offset the 'brain drain' of skilled workers from poorer countries, says a report published on 1 September. It says universities could transfer resources, technology and knowledge to developing nations through exchanges of staff and students, research collaborations, and 'twinning' with institutions there. The report, which focuses on Africa, notes that developing countries see some benefits from the brain drain because migrant workers send money home and might also transfer knowledge back to their countries of origin.

Cabinet minister William ole Ntimama has said "a lot of looted money" was being used to bribe support for a proposed constitution. He urged President Kibaki to give Kenyans more time to study the constitution. Ntimama, a minister in the Office of the President, said looted money was being used to confuse people ahead of the referendum slated for November 21. He said Kenyans were being "lured" into voting for a document they do not understand yet it could affect them for more than 100 years.

The ARV treatment plan is drawing health staff away from other services, while at the same time it desperately needs more staff to expand, according to the SA Health Review. The biggest obstacle to getting more HIV positive people on antiretroviral treatment is the lack of health staff. Over the next five years, government’s HIV/AIDS care, support and treatment plan will need about 13 800 more staff if it is to be implemented properly. Approximately 3 200 doctors, 2 400 nurses, 765 social workers, 765 dieticians, 112 pharmacists and 2000 data capturers will be needed by 2009 to implement the full roll out of the antiretroviral component of the plan.

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has said despite the government's declared intention to pursue zero tolerance for corruption, not much was seen in terms of reaping the benefits that could accrue from systematic policies that are capable of delivering the dividends of good governance. It noted that based on its studies on corruption and good governance in the country, there was the need for more proactive and concrete action by all stakeholders to stem the growing tide of corruption, or perceived corruption.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has applauded Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza’s pledge to provide free primary education for every child as the country emerges from years of civil war. “This is an incredible opportunity for Burundi to be engaged in meeting the Millennium Development Goals – to meet the objective of universal primary education for all children," UNICEF Representative in Burundi Catherine Mbengue said. The primary school enrolment ratio for Burundian children is estimated at 59 per cent for boys and 48 per cent for girls, according to UNICEF estimates.

Liberia stands to lose millions of dollars of aid and billions of dollars of debt relief if it does not sign up to a plan to wipe out rampant corruption in the war-scarred West African nation, donors warned on Thursday. Authorities have been haggling with the international community for months over the so-called Governance and Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP), designed to ensure funds do not end up in the pockets of politicians but go towards approving the lot of Liberia's three million population who suffered 14 years of civil war.

A local community activist has been selected as one of the 24 women to represent South Africa at a conference aimed at improving standards of women leaders in civil society. Ms Beauty Sekethe of Grange Township in Pietermaritzburg - who has worked tirelessly for her community will participate in the Interaction Programme for a New Generation of African Leaders organised by the British Council. The conference will look at areas of rural development, women empowerment and will sharpen the leadership skills of the delegates through a number of presentations and workshops.

An annual report released by the United Nations Development Programme takes a critical look at the failure of the international community to make progress toward the 2015 Millennium Development Goals. The 2005 Human Development Report, "International Cooperation at a Crossroads: Aid, Trade and Security in an Unequal World," was launched this week prior to a UN summit on development this month in New York. By examining three pillars of international cooperation - aid, trade, and security - the report argues that none of the Millennium Goals will be achieved on time if the international community does not decide to make a serious effort towards overcoming social and income inequalities.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions remain widespread in Sudan despite President Omar al-Bashir's promise to release all political prisoners and lift the nationwide state of emergency, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday. "The government promised [on 30 June] that the north-south peace accord would usher in a new day in Sudan, but we have yet to see it in the field of human rights," Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at the international advocacy organisation, said in a statement.

Angela Khaminwa's article 'On the Margins: Indigenous as relevant' is very interesting indeed. Our organisation, Health Unlimited, has extensive programmes working with indigenous peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the question on the relevance of the term indigenous in Africa is one that is being debated internally in the organisation next week. I intend to use her article as a reference, but would be interested in following up on some of the issues.

The Tanzanian GCAP/MDGs Campaign, "Ondoa Umaskini Tanzania" (Eradicate Poverty in Tanzania) will officially launch its campaign on September 10, 2005 simultaneously in Dar Es Salaam, Kigoma, Loliondo, Mwanza, Same and Singida. A press conference announcing the launch will be held on September 8th with banners and posters displayed at bus stops, along major roads and in front of key public buildings. At the Mnzani Mmoja Ground in Dar Es Salaam more than 2,000 people will come together to form a human chain wearing shirts with the campaign messages and white bands made by poor women living in rural villages in Ngorongoro.

Hurricane Katrina could become a catalyst for global cooperation if only the US would learn from the disaster that it is co-tenant in the world and not a landlord. In the meantime, writes Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Africans have a duty to show solidarity towards the victims of the natural disaster.

I have never really understood how Hurricanes are named and by whom. The scale of the devastation of New Orleans means that anytime one hears the name Katrina, images of mass suffering will readily come to mind.

Second week into the natural disaster we are nowhere near a common understanding of why the world's richest and allegedly most powerful country appeared prostate before the forces of nature. A bigger part of the controversy is based on a number of questions.

One, how natural was it if it had been long forewarned? Two, could it have been prevented? Three, if it could not be prevented should the communities not have been better prepared to deal with the consequences? Four, what was the level of culpability of local, state and federal officials in making the consequences of the disaster even more tragic either by acts of omission or commission, actions and inactions? But above all is the question of political accountability and responsibility for the consequences of the disaster.

George W. Bush, self-appointed saviour of the world, gung ho macho-militarist and prophet of pre-emptive action in far-flung places around the world either did not see the Hurricane under his nose or did not have any missiles to throw at it.

He has rightly been criticised for his reluctance (yet again) to get out of his holiday bed. But this slow reaction has become typical of Dubya. The man has been such an executive truant that he simply could never be found where he is supposed to be. Even when 9/11 (that he hijacked as his life's purpose and regime-defining issue) happened Bush was missing and remained in hiding for several days.

The rest of the world has continued to watch with both horror at the devastation and subdued bemusement and incredulity at the ill-preparedness of the Americans in the face of this tragedy. If it was in some third world country (especially Africa) there would be loud cries (no more louder than those from Washington) about irresponsible leadership.

There are three immediate lessons that I see. The first lesson is a very simple one. Every one of us, in emergencies, need help, rich or poor, big or small. Who would have thought that less than a year after the tragedy of the Tsunami that devastated several countries mainly in South East Asia and parts of East Africa, some of these countries including Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia would be coming forward to offer help to the USA!

The second one is that natural disasters do happen and can happen to any country. It only proves that we inhabit the same world even if some countries may deceive themselves that they are God's Landlords on earth. There is no territorial sovereignty over natural disasters.

The third lesson has to do with being humble and never saying never. As in a popular soap, the rich also cry and the poor also laugh. Last September, a Category 5 hurricane devastated Cuba with 160-mile-per-hour winds. Cuba evacuated 1.5 million of its citizens before the storm. Consequently even though many homes were destroyed not a single Cuban died! The USA does not have all the answers to both its problems and global challenges. It can and must learn from others whose system it may like, whose leaders it detests but who have better knowledge and experience than the US in managing emergencies.

The other aspect of the disaster has to do with what it teaches us about America and the American way of life, its self-image, the projection of global military power and the reality inside the country.

The controversies are still raging as to whether racism or class are the main reasons why Bush and the US establishment have responded so shoddily. Personally I do not think it is a case of either or and I do not believe that one reason alone can explain the situation. It has to be a combination of reasons at the heart of which both class and race are fundamental factors.

America does not care about its poor people. This is not unique to the US ruling class since so many rulers do not care about their poorest, as most Africans will attest. However America as the richest country on earth is expected to look after its own. If it cannot why should anybody in the world accept its claims to wanting to solve other people's problems for them?

The truth is that the American dream has always been a self rationalization ideology for the rich. It has always been a harvest of huge nightmare for the poor and underclass in the system. Structurally and historically a disproportionate majority of these groups are of African-American origin therefore they bear greater part of the suffering. I am sure middle class African-Americans, with their 4-by-4’s, wider social networks beyond New Orleans and credit cards got out of harm's way as quickly as their white counter parts, but the bulk of their poor cousins had nowhere to go and perished in their thousands. Even those who could go elsewhere could not do so in good time because poverty had already condemned them to inadequate and vulnerable housing that Katrina gulped up at its first deadly kiss.

As a predominantly black place the majority of the victims would be black. Therefore race cannot be far from the surface. Indeed so black is the face of suffering globally that many people, including many Africans, initially thought the pictures were from yet another blighted African country. The shock was that these are pictures from America. Africans are known for their generosity, solidarity and kindness in the face of extremes of adversity but somehow we have not responded predictably to the tragedy in New Orleans despite the obvious connection. Are we so numbed by it that we are also shocked into delayed reaction or have become inured by familiar suffering that we cannot be bothered any more?

This is not just about African government’s responding. It is about African leaders in the diaspora too. It is not about Africans in Africa alone. It is about global Africa, at home and abroad. Where are we at this hour of need for our peoples stranded in New Orleans? We have to show that we as Africans have a duty to care and take the obligation seriously. That solidarity comes in different forms. America needs the rest of the world even if it was initially reluctant to ask for it. It has no missile shield defence system against natural disasters.

One good that may come out of this could be a grudging restoration of American faith in global institutions like the UN whose humanitarian agencies (in spite of general criticisms) are better equipped to deal with these type of emergencies. If the US learns from this disaster that it is a co-tenant, not the landlord of the world, then this tragedy could become a catalyst for global cooperation that may make the suffering of the people of New Orleans not to have been in vain.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa. ([email protected] or [email][email protected])

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requires billions of dollars. The fix-all solution often mentioned is simply to increase aid flows. Demba Moussa Dembele critiques the foreign aid industry, explaining why aid is more of an enemy than a friend, how aid dependency has been augmented by IMF and World Bank conditions and what the hidden political and economic costs are for African countries.

The present focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has reignited the debate on the need for more aid to developing countries to help them meet the MDGs by 2015. However, this has inevitably rekindled the parallel debate as to whether more aid is really the answer. Will extra money simply shore up inefficient governments and feed government corruption? One response to this is to say we must bypass government and make money available directly to NGOs and other organizations. At the same time, others claim that what is needed is not more aid, but a fundamental transformation of international power relationships, especially reform of international trade and finance rules to allow African and other developing countries to sell their goods and services at a fair price.

A number of ideas for raising more money to meet the MDGs have been floated recently. While the UN Millennium Project’s report, Investing in Development,[1] calls for an overall huge increase in aid, the Commission for Africa report calls for a doubling of aid to Africa.[2] The French government’s Landau Report suggests a number of innovative sources of financing,[3] while Gordon Brown’s International Finance Facility proposal envisages selling bonds issued by industrialized countries with a view to raising money in financial markets to finance development.

A central misconception about aid

But before going into the debate on whether aid does encourage dependency and inefficiency, we need to address a particular misconception: that aid to developing countries, known as official development assistance (ODA), is an act of simple generosity towards poor countries in dire need of capital to invest in education, health, infrastructure, and so forth, and that it comes with no strings attached. Development assistance is neither value-free nor benevolent. It has served and continues to serve the economic, political and strategic interests of ‘donor’ countries. This was particularly so during the Cold War period. It is even more evident today, especially from the USA.

The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), for instance, the Bush Administration’s main tool for foreign ‘aid’, is laden with ideological, political and economic conditions. Eligible countries should support, or not oppose, US foreign policy; they should adopt ‘free market’ reforms, good governance practices, and so forth. It could also be added that so far, not a single dollar from the MCA has been delivered to African countries.

Furthermore, with the onset of the debt crisis in the late 1970s, Western governments and multilateral institutions under their control started imposing crippling conditions on aid to impoverished countries.

An instrument, not a gift

So aid is an instrument, not a gift. For many Western countries and institutions, it plays a key role in their overall strategy to maintain and even expand their influence in Africa. This is particularly true for former colonial powers such as France and Britain, which have used aid to maintain their influence in former colonies, in economic, financial, military and strategic areas. This type of aid does create dependency and it is intended to, since its primary objective is to shore up regimes that are ‘friendly’ to Western countries, regardless of the nature of those regimes. This explains, among other things, why a dictatorial and inept regime like Mobutu’s in the former Zaire was kept afloat despite the looting of his country’s resources and the rampant corruption that characterized his regime. Billions of dollars looted by Mobutu are still stashed in Western banks while the Congolese people continue to live in abject poverty.

Giving with one hand …

Another problem with aid is that it mostly benefits donor countries. Despite the formal end to the practice of ‘tied aid’, the money disbursed as aid goes mainly to foreign-controlled enterprises and aid flows are used to buy goods and services from donor countries. The prices of those goods are often higher than the market price of similar goods. Export credit agencies and banks in Western countries have played a key role in that area. A recent report by ActionAid pointed out that for every dollar disbursed by France and the US in the form of aid, 89 per cent and 86 per cent return home, respectively.[4]

More strings attached

Moreover, since the start of the debt crisis, aid dependency has been aggravated by conditions imposed by the IMF and World Bank. Since the 1980s, aid from Western countries has been conditional on recipient countries implementing policies dictated by these two institutions. Even aid from former colonial powers to their former colonies is now conditional on signing an agreement with the IMF. But it has become clear that these policies have done more harm than good. A recent report by Christian Aid indicates that over the last 20 years, the imposition of trade liberalization has cost African countries a staggering $272 billion, a sum that could have paid back the continent’s debt.[5] The report adds that the loss was roughly equivalent to the amount of foreign aid received by African countries during the same period.

The Christian Aid report corroborates findings by UNCTAD in 2001[6] which show that policy conditionalities imposed on African countries, especially trade liberalization and deregulation, have also cost the continent in deteriorating terms of trade and increased capital flight, which is higher than in any other region in the world. UNCTAD observed that, had Africa’s terms of trade remained at their 1980 level, the continent’s share in world trade would have been twice its current share; per capita income could have been 50 per cent higher; and annual growth would have increased by an additional 1.4 per cent. Worse still, this deterioration, combined with increased capital flight and debt repayments, led to a net transfer of real resources from Africa to the rich countries! Clearly, with stable terms of trade, African countries would have been much better off and would depend less on foreign aid.

Unfair trade and aid dependency

To give an illustration: in 2002, subsidies for cotton provided by the US caused a 25 per cent decrease in cotton prices, which translated into a loss of $300 million by African exporters, such as Mali, Benin and Burkina Faso, a higher sum than the entire ‘debt relief’ ($230 million) promised by the IMF and the World Bank to all African countries eligible for the HIPC Initiative.[7] Subsidies by OECD countries – which, according to UNDP, cost more than six times what they spend on aid to poor countries – have increased African countries’ food deficit and dependency.[8] By flooding African markets with cheap, subsidized food, industrialized countries destroy domestic food production and increase African countries’ dependency on food imports, which are paid for through new loans or ‘aid’ from the same industrialized countries.

The debt crisis and aid dependency

These things – the cost of complying with conditions imposed by donors and lenders and subsidies on domestic produce by OECD countries – help explain, among other things, the worsening of the debt crisis, which in turn has meant greater dependency on foreign aid. In the 1980s and 1990s, the average debt service was roughly equal or even higher than foreign aid to African countries. Part of that aid was even used to pay back old debts, including multilateral debts. All this reinforced dependency on external sources, especially the World Bank, the IMF and the African Development Bank. And, as a report by UNCTAD in 2004 indicates, Sub-Saharan Africa’s debt soared in the 1980s and 1990s, the peak years of structural adjustment.[9] According to the report, though African countries had reimbursed $550 billion to creditors against $540 billion in loans between 1970 and 2002, Africa is still saddled with a debt estimated at $300 billion. This is a vicious circle which, up to now, has shown no sign of being broken.

Internal factors

What about the question as to whether aid simply encourages corruption and inefficiency? According to a recent article in the Ugandan daily, The Monitor, the country depends on international donors for 50 per cent of its budget. But the Uganda Revenue Authority collects only about 57 per cent of taxes due because of institutional weaknesses in tax administration and because ‘the rich and politically powerful don’t pay taxes’. Meanwhile, Uganda spends $200 million on the military, where $70 million is enough for its security needs, and a Ministry of Finance study shows that public administration expenditure could be cut by 50 per cent. Uganda, therefore, does not need aid, says the article; what it needs is to improve its tax administration, clamp down on tax evaders, and abandon its corrupt and profligate military and public administration expenditure.

It is true that corruption is still rampant in many African countries and African civil society organizations have raised this problem time and again. In several countries anti-corruption NGOs are working tirelessly to raise public awareness and expose corrupt officials and practices. This is part of our struggle for more democratic, accountable and transparent governments. There is no doubt that the elimination of corruption would contribute to reducing dependency on foreign aid through improvement in public savings and more effective tax collection systems that would help raise significant amounts of money for the state.

But, once again, the problem of corruption has two sides: the corruptor and the corrupt. However, Western governments and multilateral agencies tend to focus exclusively on African governments and overlook the role of foreign companies and banks in maintaining corruption.

But here too Western countries have had a crucial influence. First, the imposition of structural adjustment programmes by the IMF and World Bank has considerably weakened African states and impaired their ability to fight corruption more effectively. In the 1990s, for instance, many countries lost some of their best civil servants as a result of ‘voluntary leaves’ recommended by these two institutions, more concerned by the wage bill than the quality of the civil service. In addition, they propose fighting corruption by a further financial squeeze of the state through the establishment of a myriad of ‘independent’ agencies that take away resources that should normally go to the state. But this is a mistake, since corruption may simply move from central government to local governments and so-called ‘independent’ agencies. The best way to fight corruption is through democratic scrutiny and accountability of elected officials.

African economies have inherited structural weaknesses from colonization, which have made them more vulnerable to external shocks, such as commodity price fluctuations and higher interest rates. In addition, these economies depend to a large extent on trade and financial flows with former colonial powers. This also tends to foster aid dependency: when exports fall, African countries rely on hard currencies for imports of equipment, foodstuffs and essential goods.

The costs of aid dependency

The dependency on foreign aid has political as well as economic costs. It is obvious that a country that depends on foreign assistance for up to 40 per cent of its budget cannot control its own policies. Instead, as the IMF and World Bank’s structural adjustment programmes show, donors dictate economic and financial policies, based on their own world view and interests. The structural adjustment programmes, imposed by the IMF and World Bank, are a reflection of that reality. As already indicated, this has worsened the economic crisis and deepened external dependency, while the conditions attached to such multilateral aid are the principal cause of the abject poverty affecting more than half of the African population.

In short, much of the so-called aid given by Western countries and the loans made by multilateral institutions are not based on developing countries’ real needs, nor on any performance criteria, but primarily on the interests of ‘donors’. It’s time, now, to consider some possible alternatives.

What is the alternative?

Obviously, there is no easy solution to the problem of aid dependency. There are no quick fixes nor a general policy applicable to all countries. However, we think that the following proposals should be explored by African and Western countries as a basis for a lasting solution to the problem.

- Cancel unconditionally the debt of all African countries. This is a precondition for any possibility of recovery. Once the burden of debt is lifted, aid will no longer be simply a means of perpetuating an instrument of domination.

- Repatriate stolen wealth. Even the Commission for Africa Report acknowledges that tens of billions of dollars in stolen wealth are kept in Western countries. Some estimates put that stolen wealth at 70 per cent of private wealth, excluding land. The repatriation of that would significantly limit African countries’ need for foreign aid.

- End IMF and World Bank policies. Trade liberalization, deregulation, fiscal austerity and privatization have been some of the leading factors behind the worsening of African countries’ financial crisis and their growing dependence on foreign aid. They have also increased capital flight, which reached unprecedented proportions during the 1980s and 1990s.

- Abolish unfair trade policies and promote fair trade. Africa needs fair trade (rather than ‘free’ trade, which has exacerbated African countries’ need for hard currencies and thus their dependence on foreign aid).

In a fair trade framework, one acknowledges the asymmetry between African and industrialized countries’ economies. Fair trade would therefore keep in place special preferences for African exports, especially agricultural exports. Subsidies in Western countries which make African imports prohibitively expensive would be abolished. It would stop the dumping of subsidized products in African markets to the detriment of local production. Finally, it would support proposals for international agreements, as often suggested by UNCTAD, aimed at stabilizing commodity prices so as to limit, if not eliminate, the decline in African terms of trade.

This set of policies is the opposite of ‘free’ trade, which pretends to establish a ‘level playing field’ between African and industrialized countries!

- Change internal policies. The above policies must be complemented by fundamental internal changes. They include eliminating wasteful spending and fighting corruption more effectively. They also include more transparent decision-making and more accountable governments and institutions. At the continental level, the African Union must pursue its efforts to hold member states to some common standards so that economic and financial policies can be improved for the benefit of their citizens.

Summing up

Does aid create dependency? The short answer is that, on the terms on which it has generally been given, it does, but it need not. Aid dependence is the result of both internal factors and deliberate external policies. Aid has been made to serve both the foreign policies of Western states and their wider economic interests. The terms of that aid, combined with Western protectionism, have been designed to keep Africa as a source of commodities and a consumer of manufactured goods from industrialized countries. This creates further aid dependence as the need for hard currencies is made more acute by the deterioration in the continent’s terms of trade.

On the other hand, aid which is consistent with African countries’ needs and priorities can certainly be a positive factor. The solution to aid dependence does not lie in a further privatization of that aid through corporations, like the MCA, or through Western NGOs. It lies rather in fundamental policy changes, both at the international and internal levels, which will rebalance many of the transactions, both economic and political, between Africa and the richer countries. More fundamentally still, Africa needs to put its own house in order and count first and foremost on its own resources. No amount of foreign aid alone will ever develop the continent.[10]

* Demba Moussa Dembele is Director, African Forum on Alternatives, Dakar (Senegal). He can be contacted at [email][email protected] or [email][email protected]

* Please send comments to [email protected]

* This article first appeared in the September issue of the Alliance Magazine and is gratefully reproduced here with permission. Alliance is the leading magazine on philanthropy and social investment across the world. Published quarterly by Allavida, it tracks the latest trends and developments providing expert analysis from northern and southern perspectives. Visit http://www.allavida.org/alliance/alliancehome.html

References:

1 See Aid Real Aid.pdf

5 Christian Aid (2005) The economics of failure: the real costs of ‘free’ trade. See www.christianaid.org

6 UNCTAD (2001) Economic Development in Africa. Performance, prospects and policy issues. New York & Geneva: United Nations.

7 UNCTAD (2003) Trade and Development Report 2003 New York & Geneva: United Nations.

8 UNDP (2003) Making Global Trade Work for the Poor London: Earthscan.

9 UNCTAD (2004) Economic Development in Africa. Debt Sustainability: Oasis or mirage? New York & Geneva: United Nations.

10 For further information on African positions that are critical of the whole set of relationships between Africa and Western countries, see Firoze Manji and Patrick Burnett (eds) (2005) African Voices on Development and Social Justice. Editorials from Pambazuka News 2004 Dar es Salaam: Mkuki Na Nyota Publishers. See also AFRODAD Reality Check on Development Aid Annual Reports. See

Esther Mwaura-Muiru introduces two women’s self help groups in Kenya and asks why the contribution of thousands of grassroots organisations are not recognized in helping to achieve the Millennium Devolvement Goals.

It is absolutely clear that the trend the debate on the Millennium Devolvement Goals (MDGs) is taking will have a significant influence on policies and resource allocation in every corner of the world for the next several years. Many national governments are already using the MDGs as the basis for developing policies while development agencies are focusing their resources on institutions and efforts that demonstrate contributions to the targets of the MDGs. While this trend is not necessary bad, there are a number of questions that still remain unclear to many grassroots communities.

These questions include:

Is the MDG framework an exhaustive tool to address inequality between the rich and poor as well as gender disparities? Will the framework assist the world in eradicating extreme poverty? (The majority of poor are women living in urban slums and interior rural areas where accessibility is limited.) One other pertinent question that ultimately must be addressed is whose development and with whom are we talking about? Are the MDGs just one more buzz-word among development agencies that will soon fizzle out ?

Five years since the debate on MDGs kicked off, the language is still very much within development institutions and government offices at the national level. Therefore, it is too much to expect collective efforts that also bring particularly grassroots communities on board in the debate unless deliberate effort is made to unpack and share this language. The irony is that while many agencies and governments are gearing themselves to the development of programmes and tools that will help them account for their contribution to achieving the MDGs, many of the grassroots communities are busy contributing to the set targets oblivious of the ongoing debates.

Consider Tuelewane and Mathare, self-help groups both located in the sprawling Nairobi Mathare slums. These two women self-help groups reclaimed abandoned public toilets over seven years ago. The group has an adjacent water point from which they sell water to the public. Today this project provides several households with access to proper sanitation, clean drinking water and substantial incomes to tens of households, all from resources generated by charging for these facilities.

These women are also members of Mathare Mothers Development Centre that undertakes various capacity building initiatives that benefit communities in Mathare slums, provide entrepreneurship skills to orphaned girls of 13-19 years old, give home care to approximately 400 sick, and provide day care shelter to infants. In addition, these women have formed coalitions and contribute daily savings to buy land with the hope that they will one day provide decent housing to their families. The Mathare Mothers Development Centre spearheaded implementation of the local-to-local dialogue that brings together government officials with local communities to discuss challenges of existing governance structures.

Essentially, these women’s groups are addressing their development holistically. It is needless to say that there are thousands of such many “invisible” innovations all over the world. The experience of GROOTS Kenya in partnering with hundreds of self help groups of women in Mathare makes us convinced that its time that the MDG debate considers grassroots communities.

The return for such investment includes the fact that governments and development agencies will have a credible base to allocate resources to upscale appropriate community driven solutions that are already ongoing. National reports on the MDGs may not be taking into account some of these remote contributions that continue to improve the lives of many people in the slums and are owned by the poor people themselves.

* Esther Mwaura-Muiru works for GROOTS Kenya ([email protected])

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The MDGs are characterized by a top-down approach, fail to recognize the intangible aspects of poverty and distract from the macro-economic constraints poor countries experience in accessing finance. Despite this, some of the goals are achievable and there is no excuse for missing them, writes Hellen Tombo. Committed leadership, stronger partnerships, extra money, debt cancellation, infrastructure development and deeper participation by the poor can all play a role.

At the beginning of the new millennium (2000), the United Nations set up eight goals that need to be realized by 2015 that became known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The leaders and heads of state of 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration, which set a series of targets for global action against poverty. Meeting the MDGs would not end economic poverty; but meeting them could make a positive difference to millions of people. This month 189 world leaders re-convene in New York to attend the UN Millennium +5 Summit and review progress in implementation of the MDGs. The question that is constantly ringing in our minds is: Have many countries achieved the goals at all?
Reviewing the positive aspects of the MDGs

The MDGs cover the relative dimensions of poverty, not just income poverty. The goals reflect a broad terrain of basic human wellbeing, representing the many dimensions of poverty as part of an integrated whole. The visible signs of poverty can be calculated in terms of access to basic needs such as food, shelter, sanitation, water, health care and education. The goals underscore the fact that tailored interventions in many sectors are essential if human development is to be achieved.

The MDGs are implicitly linked to the human rights framework although such links are not strong enough. The MDGs link directly to the articles of the universal declaration of human rights, which states that everyone has a right to a standard of living adequate for health and the wellbeing, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, and necessary social services. Everyone has a right to education. Furthermore article 28 of the UNHR calls for an international order supportive of implementation of human rights, which is reflected in MDG 8.

The MDGs are global and national. The process through which they were elaborated means that they have an impact both at national level and the global level. There is no other source of authority other than heads of state agreeing through a global forum.

There are concrete output targets for the MDGs: The goals offer clear, agreed and quantifiable targets to galvanize the rich and poor counties and to hold their leaders to account. This means that they can be objectively verified, but still it leaves the question of process wide open.

Poverty reduction is regarded as a direct result of economic growth. This is indicated clearly in MDG 1 where the relationship between poverty and other key social indicators is clearly defined.

Although the MDGs might not be ambitious enough, they are achievable. As goals set by world leaders they represent the shared ambitions that can be achieved if there is political will to do so. There are no physical, ecological, and technical or other autonomous reasons to make achieving the MDGs impossible.

Reviewing the negative aspects of the MDGs

There is a persistent top down approach leading to lack of ownership and participation of local actors. It is believed to be owned by leaders. The solution by leaders is not to tell their subjects about global targets, which are barely relevant to them. Rather the people should be involved in bringing the targets closer to home, to a level where they become tangible and relevant, and can make a difference to their daily lives.

Furthermore, there is a lack of attention to the intangible dimensions of poverty. It is no secret that basic needs extend beyond material goods to include needs to be valued or treated with dignity, or to be free to participate politically, culturally or economically in society. Other important psychological dimensions of poverty are powerlessness, voicelessness, dependency and humiliation. The MDGS do not deal with the intangibles but rather concentrate on the tangible aspects. This severely affects the credibility of the MDGS.
There is over-emphasis on external finance volumes rather than the reform that would lead to greater participation and ownership. Most African countries normally prepare their budgets based on external assistance. Sometimes donors do not respond, which clearly limits the MDGs. The current volatility and unpredictability of aid flows is a serious problem in meeting the MDGs. This is further complicated by the debt burden.

The MDGs distract attention from the macro economic constraints underpinning the ability of developing counties to access finance. The policy advice offered by the IMF and the World Bank seems to undermine the potential of countries in reaching the MDGs. The goals and conditionality set by the World Bank and IMF are really hindering these countries from achieving the MDGs.

Africa has been struggling to meet the MDGs. It remains a daunting task for countries in Africa to achieve the goals. The goals are not new at all because they duplicate the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). If what is contained in the PRSPs cannot be achieved, then it is like squeezing water out of a stone to achieve the MDGs.

This inter-linkage with the PRSPs creates further complications. With the World Bank pushing a PRSP model and the UN the MDGs, the risks of PRSPs being exclusively or primary designed around the MDG goals appear to be very real. This unleashes the development process in countries where it is more than likely that the action on factors creating and sustaining poverty is completely left out of the countries development plan, which in turn may be directed by the MDG plans. This process twists the locus and ownership of national poverty planning, taking it a long distance away from poor people and their concerns.

Overview and Recommendations

Africa saw some success stories during the 1990s but, on balance, the continent’s record in moving towards the MDGs has been inadequate, especially for the poor. Progress is slow for child mortality, basic education, malnutrition, improved water supply, maternal mortality and gender discrimination in primary enrolment. With the exception of safe water, regional progress was less than one-tenth of the agreed target between1990 and 2000. Since the MDGs are to be achieved over a 25-year span starting in 1990, 40 per cent of the road should have been covered by 2000—meaning that Africa’s progress represents about one-fifth of what should have been accomplished by now. Even worse, little or no progress was achieved in reversing the HIV/AIDS pandemic. HIV prevalence rates continue to rise in numerous countries, whereas only a few succeeded in reducing the spread of the virus. Not only was progress inadequate, much of it by-passed the poor.

Global goals are primarily meant to help improve the situation of the poor and the disadvantaged, not only that of better-off and privileged people. There is no good reason why universal primary education should not yet be a practical reality. Its cost is perfectly affordable; no new technological breakthroughs are needed to get all children in school; there is consensus that it makes good economic sense; and basic education is a fundamental human right that must not be denied to any child. If these conditions are not enough to ensure success, then the question arises as to what it will take to meet the other MDGs.

In opening the Children’s Summit in May 2002, Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, stated, “We the grown-ups must reverse this list of failures”. The MDGs remain unfulfilled, but they also remain feasible and affordable.

If the legacy of our generation is to be more than a series of broken promises, then the following is needed: committed leadership, stronger partnerships, extra money, debt cancellation, infrastructure development and deeper participation by the poor. It is not too late to realize the dream by 2015.

* Hellen Tombo is executive director of the Kenya Youth Education and Community Development Programme. She is a member of GCAP and co-chair of the GCAP youth group.

* Please send comments to [email protected]