Like much of the world, Africa is concerned about the financial crisis and making moves to soften the potential blow to Africa’s economy and well-being. Yesterday, the African Union announced that they are planning a summit to discuss the continent’s response to the global financial crisis. They also “urged member states to tighten their belts to help them withstand the impact of collapsing world markets.” We’ll keep you posted on developments.
Excerpts below, full piece here
“There is no doubt it will have serious repercussions on capital flows and their sustainability, as well as on trade in Africa,” [African Union Commission chief Jean] Ping said of the global financial turmoil.
The financial crisis also may reduce donors’ development aid budgets, Ping said while attending the Sixth Forum on Sustainable Development which opened in Congo Republic’s capital Brazzaville.
African economies generally have been growing at their fastest pace for years thanks in part to booming Asian demand for their commodities exports and rising foreign investment.
But with a global economic slowdown and some developed economies tipping into recession, the International Monetary Fund trimmed its growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 6 percent in 2008 and 2009 from about 6.5 percent in 2007.
-Chris Scott
After a week of meetings in Rome last week, Mark Brinkmoeller could have packed up and headed back home to DC. Instead, ONE’s Senior Director of US NGO Partnerships and Faith Relations spent a 24-hour travel day crossing the heartland to Seattle. We set a full schedule of events for him here, including meetings with faith groups, partner organizations, and even a concert. Still he never complained and the jetlag never showed. That is grace!
This year, International UN Day fell on Friday, October 24, and Mark was our keynote speaker. We wanted to hear how to engage the next administration, the next congress, and each other in order to lift the profile of the Millennium Development Goals. These are increasingly trying economic times and we feel far behind the curve. Mark embarked on a theme of hope. His interaction with the audience pointed the way. Measurements of progress are encouraging, and they open the doors to greater involvement. US funding has had a massive impact across Africa including TB/Malaria funding, antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, bed nets, and putting children in school. Through the grassroots activism of organizations that have made this a priority, millions of lives are saved and federal aid dollars over the course of this administration have morphed from Millions of dollars to Billions of dollars.
Saturday’s meetings included a relation-building coffee with leaders in the Seattle Islamic community. Mark’s knowledge and experience with Islamic organizations were extremely helpful. A new Islamic Faith-In-Action forum here in Seattle this winter will likely include the ONE Islamic Faith/ONE Sadaqa materials, and we shared the ONE multi-faith videos with them to use as well.
That night, the folk group “Real Folk” put on a benefit concert for ONE and RESULTS. Mark’s message of hope again resounded loud-and-clear encouraging us in our efforts to keep up the good fight in the north county. It’s gratifying to know that we are being heard and making a difference.
These events were also opportunities for the communities to take a photo with the traveling Jubilee USA Drop the Debt banner and sign up to ask the next administration to cancel the odious debts of highly-indebted poor countries.
Up here in Seattle, the group “Puget Sound Millennium Goals Project” couldn’t appreciate Mark’s support and encouragement more. Thank you Mark for an amazing week here, for promoting the great work of ONE and ONE Faith in the pacific northwest, and for helping Washington DC and this “other” Washington, um, “stay close!”
-Sammi Fredenburg
Oct 27th, 2008 3:08 PM UTC
By Field
After abolishing and modernizing various patriarchal laws in their country, the Washington Post reports that women have become a driving force in Rwanda’s economy and government. Rwandan women have greatly progressed from once not even being able to inherit land to now holding a third of all cabinet positions and making up 56% of Rwanda’s parliament—a near perfect reflection of Rwanda’s demographics.
Excerpts below, full article here
One lawmaker said the committee has compiled “a stack” of laws to modify or toss out altogether — including one that requires a woman to get her husband’s signature on a bank loan.
“The fact that we are so many has made it possible for men to listen to our views,” said lawmaker Espérance Mwiza. “Now that we’re a majority, we can do even more.”
The unusually high percentage of women in Rwandan government is in part a reflection of popular will in a country of 10 million that is 55 percent female.
“This was a broken society after the genocide,” said Aloisea Inyumba, Kagame’s former gender and social affairs minister, who was also a prominent official in his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front when it was still a rebel group fighting the country’s genocidal government. “We made a decision that if Rwanda is going to survive, we have to have a change of heart as a society. Equality and reconciliation are the only options.”
-Chris Scott
Last week, when Bono spoke at the California Women’s Conference, he passed along some of the startling stats (listed below) about women in Africa.
- Nearly two-thirds of adults with HIV in Africa are women young women (age 15 to 24) in South Africa accounted for around 90% of new HIV infections in 2007.
- In Africa, the likelihood of a woman dying in childbirth is 1 in 20 (compared to 1 in 2,800 in the US).
- Although up to 80% of farmers in the developing world are women, they own less than 15% of land worldwide.
You can find more facts about women in Africa, as well as inspiring facts (like the one below) about the benefits of investing in women in the developing world, in this new fact sheet.
“Investing in women is considered smart economic policy because it can often yield higher economic returns than investing in men. Providing an extra one year of education beyond the average boosts earnings by 10-20%, compared to 5-15% for males. Increasing the share of women with a secondary education by one percentage point boosts annual per capita income by 0.3% on average. A study in Kenya found that agricultural yields could be raised by as much as 20% simply by reallocating existing agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizer, education) more equally between men and women.”
-Virginia Simmons
As you know, Bono spoke at the California Women’s Conference this past Wednesday. One volunteer Amy Quinn was in the audience, and had this to share:
I was one of the lucky 14,000 women to have attended the Women’s Conference in Long Beach last Wednesday. I left the conference with a renewed sense of purpose, which quite frankly, I desperately needed when I arrived at the conference that morning.
In particular, I was moved by Bono’s recollection of his experiences back in the mid 80′s – on his visit to Ethiopia during the horrible famine that occurred there. This is also when my “world vision or Weltanschauung” changed, and I, at the ripe old age of 14 – became a hunger/poverty activist. As Bono said – the flames of that continent sting your eyes – they sear your conscience… He said, “In my travels I have met kids the mirror image own and looked into their faces as they let go of life. And it makes me even angrier that their eyes are always free of accusation. It humbles me beyond belief that they don’t hold it against a world that couldn’t spare the twenty cent immunization that would have them back in the bosom of their family. Even their mothers and fathers…their grief is pure. There’s no blame, just acquiescence…”
As the mother of a six year old little boy – it was easy for me to substitute my son’s eyes for this image.
(more…)
America.gov this week featured two articles outlining and detailing each US presidential candidate’s policies in regards to combating poverty and disease in Africa. Each article features a major campaign surrogate discussing his respective candidate’s plans—Howard Wolpe for Obama, Herman J. Cohen for McCain. Both are rather illuminating and definitely worth the read.
Excerpts below, full Obama piece here, full McCain piece here
A McCain administration would place even more emphasis on promoting private-sector economic development in Africa, Cohen said.
“The Millennium Challenge Corporation is very strong on private-sector [development], and I think you will see the United States Agency for International Development moving to finance even more private-sector activity to help even more Africans themselves become investors,” he predicted. “Now that Africa is becoming more open to the private sector, they need the infrastructure to make it work. “
An Obama presidency will “greatly facilitate the diplomacy required to try to make some progress on these difficult issues,” such as the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan or the political situation in Zimbabwe.
In the long term, Wolpe said, the central challenge facing Africa is the building of cohesive states. An Obama administration would be particularly focused on helping Africans search for common ground and eliminate conflict across the continent, he predicted. “Unless you can tackle that issue, the prospects for long-term sustainable economic development will be constantly compromised,” he said.
-Chris Scott
