China skirting African corruption in direct aid – As China’s strategic interest in East Africa grows, instead of simply giving cash as foreign aid, China prefers to pay Chinese companies to improve infrastructure, bypassing local politicians and construction crews. Just last month, Chinese workers built two towers in Kampala, in what “aid watchdogs applaud as a model to help defeat the inefficiencies and cash-pocketing corruption associated with other systems of foreign aid delivery.” This new model could help to “cut the risk of aid scandals like the one that rocked the $22.6 billion Global Fund.” (AP, Rodney Muhumuza)

World Bank: Break Down African Trade Barriers – In a new World Bank Report, De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Integration, they say that regional trade barriers are preventing African countries from earning billions of dollars. Combining the individual country markets would “bring a lot of opportunities for people to trade across borders, but (also) to exploit the benefits of a much larger market.” The World Bank is expected to increase funding to regional trade integration projects for 2012. (VOA, Joe DeCapua)

Oil Corruption May Threaten Angola, Nigeria, Stifling Growth, Agency Says – According to the anti-corruption group, Global Witness, Africa’s largest oil producers, Nigeria and Angola, “have granted stakes in oil fields to companies that may be acting as fronts for government officials, stifling development in both countries.” While oil exports have generated billions of dollars for both countries, the “misappropriation of public funds by corrupt officials remains one of the main causes of poverty.” Both countries must do more to increase transparency and decrease corruption to fight the “resource curse.” (Bloomberg, Henrique Almeida)

African Farming Needs Business Approach, Nigera’s Adesina Says – At the “Feeding the World” meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, Nigerian Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Ayo Adesina, explained that “we must begin to take agriculture in Africa as a business,” and not merely a social sector. He described the need to leverage investments to fix the infrastructure gap and “get smart about new instruments to finance agriculture.” (Bloomberg, Rudy Ruitenberg)

Funding squeeze, apathy mean another half century of AIDS – UN expert – Paul De Lay, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS said that while the world could soon reduce new HIV infections to zero with enough funding, “global apathy and the financial crisis mean it might take another 50 years to stop the AIDS epidemic.” De Lay called on developing countries to take responsibility for eradicating HIV in their own countries instead of relying completely on foreign assistance, especially at a time when HIV/AIDS efforts are facing an unprecedented drop in funding. (AlertNet, Thin Lei Win)

World Bank Warns on Africa Trade – A new World Bank report shows that African countries are “sacrificing billions of dollars in potential trade each year to inefficient border crossings and discordant regulations that make it difficult to do business on the continent.” The World Bank urges these countries to streamline border protocols, invest in infrastructure, and coordinate legal and financial rules to help boost international trade. (WSJ, Patrick McGroarty)

Nigeria: Child Lead Poisoning Crisis – Thousands of children in northern Nigeria are in need of immediate medical assistance, as they face the “worst lead poisoning epidemic in modern history.” According to official estimate, 400 children have already died, yet no efforts have been made at environmental cleanup. Children are exposed to the lead dust when processing ore in the mines, from mining family members, or when the lead-filled ore is crushed at home. (Huffington Post)

Zimbabwe’s Long Winter – As dictatorships are collapsing in around the world in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, some are wondering if Zimbabwe might be next. Despite the fact that Zimbabwe consistently ranks quite low in international quality of life ratings, and is home to an increasingly repressive government, Zimbabweans are currently “too scattered to coordinate a revolt.” A mere 40% of Zimbabweans live in urban areas, making “the ignition of social discontent into a fiery uprising unlikely.” (NYTimes, Eusebius McKaiser)

Mali’s footballers hope Africa Cup win could bring peace – If Mali’s soccer team wins against the Ivory Coast on Wednesday, they would qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 1972. The players hope that a “win could help unite a country that is threatened by disintegration,” as Mali’s three northern regions have been fighting since mid-January. Francois Zahoui, the team’s head coach, explained that “football, especially in our country, is a uniting factor that creates social cohesion and togetherness.” (Reuters, George Fominyen)

Horn of Africa Famine Six Months Later – In a recent briefing about the famine in the Horn of Africa, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy for the Bureau of African Affairs, Bruce Wharton, explained that we need to “work with regional governments and others to establish longer-term food security assurance,” and fill the “fundamental need for stable, secure, and citizen-focused governance in Somalia.” The U.S. has been the largest humanitarian donor to the region. (VOA)

Malaria death toll falling – A recent study by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) indicates that despite the fact that malaria kills about 50% more people than previously realized, “efforts to combat the disease have however evened out reducing the totally number of global deaths.” The report also shows that malaria deaths peaked in 2004, at 1.8 million people, and have since been declining. (Digital Journal, Robin Okuthe)

Why Mitt Romney Should “Be Concerned About the Very Poor” – Mitt Romney’s comment last week that he is “not concerned about the very poor,” raises questions about the causes and ways of addressing poverty in the U.S. While poverty in America is not the same extreme poverty that many people face in Africa, where “the issue is often sheer survival,” the impact of poverty, especially on children, is still devastating. To hear a presidential candidate like Romney “dismiss the issue . . . is still unbelievable.” (Huffington Post, Steven Cohen)

Female genital cutting sworn off by thousands of African villages – The UN Population Fund and UNICEF announced Monday that eight thousands communities in Africa have abandoned the practice of female genital excision, a coming-of-age ritual in many regions that “ensures chastity and makes a woman marriageable.” UN agencies have been pushing to end this practice, as it has no health benefits, can cause significant pain, pose long-term risks during childbirth, and recurring infections. (Los Angeles Times)

Sebastian Coe says he’ll help bring Olympics to Africa for 1st time – Sebastian Coe, the head of the organizing committee for the London Olympics and former middle-distance running great, announced on Tuesday that it is his “dream” to see the Olympics held in Africa. South Africa is expected to launch a bid for the 2024 Summer Games. (AP)

Improving Governance Through Budget Transparency – The current fiscal crises in the US and Europe has led to “greater scrutiny of the efficacy of public expenditures,” which will likely have the greatest impact on “foreign aid and development assistance, as countries demand greater accountability for each dollar or euro spent.” This scrutiny has led to a recent surge in government-led initiatives that aim to increase fiscal transparency and make “aid to conflict ridden countries dependent on improved governance.” (Huffington Post, Michael Lipsky)

Is Malaria Twice as Deadly Than We Think It Is? – The news last week that malaria kills nearly twice as many people per year as we had previously thought “plunges the current multibillion-dollars anti-malaria campaign, and the push to reach a 2015 deadline for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals, into grave doubt.” Previous statistics have underestimated the scope of the malaria problem, believing that it was a disease that primarily afflicted children. (TIME, Alex Perry)

ICYMI: Aid Groups Ask US to Consider Cross-Border Aid Effort in Sudan – A coalition of human rights groups appealed to the Obama administration last week to spearhead a cross-border aid operation in South Sudan to provide critical food and medicine to people living in the region. The organizations urged the US government to continue engaging with the Sudanese government in an effort to convince them to allow international humanitarian aid workers and aid assistance into the South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions. (VOA, James Butty)

South Africa Pauses on Mines – The South African ruling party, the African National Congress, seems to be “pivoting away from the charged politics of mine nationalization in a bid to reassure investors and rev up a weak economy.” South Africa’s economy is in need of foreign investment and capital to increase GDP, and some argue that “investors won’t be ready to ‘embrace’ South Africa until the passage of some time and examples of new mines successfully coming on stream.” (WSJ, Devon Maylie)

The dangers of carving up Somalia – The current build-up of military presence in Somalia of African Union, Kenyan and Ethiopian forces is an unprecedented occurrence, and “could prove counter-productive, given the lack of resources for stabilizing local politics and strengthening the economy.” Several diplomats have warned that “those intervening should not ignore the successes of the regional administrations.” (The Africa Report, Parselelo Kantai and Patrick Smith)

Malaria death toll possibly twice as high as experts estimated – A new study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation suggests that malaria may have killed as many as 1.2 million people in 2010, 90% of whom are in Africa. This figure is twice as high as the World Health Organization’s estimate of 655,000. The study also challenges the belief that children under the age of 5 and pregnant women are the most susceptible to the disease. (AP)

UN declares Somalia’s famine over, but says millions across East Africa still in crisis – The United Nations declared Friday that Somali’s famine is over, yet “2.3 million people remain in a food crisis situation in Somalia and still need assistance.” Across the Horn of African, more than 9.5 million people still need aid, and continued assistance is needed to prevent the fragile region from reverting back to famine. (AP)

Africa Farms Need Crop Aids Tailored to Local Needs, DuPont Says – At a forum on global food needs on Friday, international agriculture companies agreed that they must work more closely with farmers in poor countries to adapt products that can help increase crop production. DuPont, the world’s second largest seed producer, “outlined goals for alleviating poverty worldwide, including making food more available and nutritious and protecting the environment.” (Bloomberg)

Innovations in Light – According to Tina Rosenberg of the New York Times, the “unsolved problem for lighting Africa isn’t designing a great lamp…it’s designing a great business model.” Rosenberg highlights three innovative ideas that are bringing more light to people throughout Africa, including creating a light bulb out of a plastic water bottle, which refracts and disperses sunlight without costing a dime. (NYT)

Debate amid kidnappings: Is Chinese investment good for Africa? – The kidnapping of Chinese workings in Sudan this week has put a spotlight on “the growing involvement of China as an economic force in Africa.” China has turned to Africa to meet its demands for energy, while providing money and manpower for building projects throughout Africa. Not everyone has welcomed the increased Chinese presence, as worker’s rights and the Chinese government’s willingness to deal with repressive governments are called into question. (Los Angeles Times)

Famine Crisis Warning for West African Sahel Region – Early warning systems indicate that “famine is imminent” in regions of Mali, northern Burkina Faso and parts of Senegal due to erratic rains and poor harvests. In addition, conflict in Ivory Coast has hindered trade and contributed to a 40% inflation rate for food. (Reuters)

The Future of Foreign Aid Money – In a survey of 41 aid agencies, Reuters found that respondents overwhelmingly believed that environmental disasters will be the biggest factors in increasing the need for humanitarian aid, and that disaster preparedness is critical. Aid organizations recognize that “funding for disaster risk reduction…is not very ‘sexy’ for donors,” yet it is the most cost effective way to mitigate more extreme disasters. (Huffington Post, Tom Murphy)

Malaria Researchers Find Weakness in Global Killer - It isn’t always easy to catch a killer. Doing so often demands a determined effort, a detailed profile, and sometimes, a bright light. That’s what researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are trying to do. The killer they’re after is one of the deadliest in history. In 2010 alone, it afflicted an estimated 216 million people, and took some 655,000 lives worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

New App Aims to Fight Poverty – At the recent World Economic Forum, a new mobile phone app project was announced to help alleviate poverty and improve education. Called AppBridge, the app was developed by a group called Young Global Leaders. The early apps will help to provide skills training and “link entrepreneurs with micro-credit lenders or with markets,” and should be available by March. (VOA,Jon DeCapua)

A Fresh Take on the World Food Problem – A new report on the recent policy reforms inspired by the global food crisis “found that genuine reforms are under way but that they have been slow and halting.” While the governments of richer countries have contributed some resources towards the crisis, they have not met their commitments. The report suggests that a failure to address the crisis more aggressively will be much more costly in the long-term. (NYTimes, Justin Gillis)

How Much Does Uncle Sam Spend on Foreign Aid? – When asked whether the US could reduce the Department of Defense military spending by reducing foreign aid, Paul Solman reasons that foreign aid “is defense spending: it’s simply for the direct defense of countries other than the United States.” In addition, he argues, foreign aid represents less than 1% of the US budget, “and reducing foreign aid even to the vanishing point…wouldn’t go very far in reducing military spending.” (PBS NewsHour, Paul Solman)

ICYMI: Carter Center gets $40 million pledge from donors to wipe out Guinea worm disease – The Carter Center hopes to eradicated Guinea worm disease, a “debilitating parasite that once plagued millions of people across the developing world,” by 2015, with the help of recent donations. While about 3.5 million people suffered from the disease when the eradication program began in 1986, in 2011 only 1,060 cases remain. While there is no vaccine or medicine for the parasite, “infection is prevented by filtering water and educating people how to avoid the disease.” (AP)

Why the Global Fund Matters – Paul Farmer argues that the Global Fund is facing a significant funding deficit that hit right as the end of AIDS became plausible. The Fund doesn’t just give ‘handouts;’ it makes long-term investments in health ministries and local health systems, an “approach that has had profound spillover effects on other health and development priorities.” According to Farmer, “if we allow the fund to fail, many people will die, and we will forfeit the chance at [an] AIDS-free generation.” (NYTimes Paul Farmer)

Engineering a Healthy Tomorrow for the Poorest Billion – Bill Gates, leaders of major pharmaceutical companies, and senior government officials from around the world unveiled “a joint declaration and a strategy to rid the world of ten neglected diseases that afflict the poorest of the poor in the world within a decade.” This declaration will aim to detect, diagnose, cure, and manage tropical diseases that have previously been neglected. (Huffington Post, Muhammad H. Zaman)

AIDS Prevention Inspires Ways to Make Circumcisions Easier – After three studies indicating that circumcising adult heterosexual men is one of the most effective preventative measures against AIDS, public health experts have set a goal to “circumcise 20 million African men by 2015, but only about 600,000 have had the operation thus far.” Donors are optimistic about the potential of two new devices, PrePex and the Shang Ring, which could provide faster and less painful alternatives to traditional methods. (NYTimes, Donald McNeil Jr.)

Ghana’s advantage: An agriculture board? – Because of a series of new policies by the Ghana Cocoa Board, cocoa production in the country skyrocketed by 14% in 2011, in contrast with the 2% growth rate in the rest of the agricultural sector. The new policies included “subsidized fertilizers, farm rehabilitation, and timely payment of remuneration and bonuses for farmers.” All of this is an attempt by the Ghanaian government to place Ghana at the number one spot among cocoa-producing countries. (Macleans, Paul Carlucci)

China pledges more aid for Africa even after workers go missing – Despite the kidnapping of 29 Chinese workers by Sudanese rebels last week, China has “pledged to provide nearly $100 million in aid for” Africa. China has increasingly turned to Africa to help fuel its growing economy and as a source of resources. In return, “China has provided financial aid and manpower to build infrastructure.” (Los Angeles Times, David Pierson)

Obama, in Google+ ‘Hangout,’ Defends Drone Use, Foreign Aid – During one of the questions in last night’s Google+ hangout, President Obama was asked about the justification for foreign aid, when so many Americans are struggling at home. He explained that “we only spend about 1 percent of our budget on foreign aid . . . but it pays off in a lot of ways,” including playing a critical role in our “overall security strategy.” (National Journal, George E. Condon Jr.)

New Chief Unveils Plan to Revive Disease-Fighting Fund – “There is nothing broken that can’t be fixed,” Gabriel Jamarillo, the new general manager of the Global Fund, said on Monday. Mr. Jaramillo has announced that he will focus on ‘establishing a disciplined private-sector governance process’ for managing grants, improve risk management from country to country, and try to raise new money.” (WSJ, Betsy McKay)

East Africans warn funding cuts will increase AIDS deaths – Hundreds of HIV-positive Kenyans protested outside the European Union’s Nairobi office on Monday, accusing the EU of causing unnecessary deaths by cutting funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Fund said in November it had run out of money to pay for the next two years for new grants for countries battling these diseases, prompting demonstrators to call for an emergency donor conference so developing countries can apply for grants this year. (Katy Migiro, Reuters)

Somali insurgents say Red Cross is distributing spoiled food, shut down distributions – The al-Shabab militant group announced Monday that they were shutting down the Red Cross’ food aid distribution operations , because “they say the organization is distributing spoiled food in the famine-hit south,” and “betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population.” The Red Cross reported that some of their food had spoiled due to trucks that had been stuck on bad roads in the rainy season.” (AP)

Why is Senegal – an African success story – becoming unstable? - Senegal is often considered a West African success story; a democratic country that has never experienced a military coup. Last week, however, a constitutional court ruled in favor of President Abdoulaye Wade, who will now be able to seek a third presidential term, resulting in protests across the country. Wade’s “bid for reelection threatened Senegal’s political stability,” and “the violence could also put international aid at risk.” (Los Angeles Times)

African Union Urges More Intra-Regional Trade to Aid Growth – African leaders encouraged countries to increase intra-regional trade to “lay the foundations for a stronger and more sustainable economic growth.” Trade between African countries accounts for a mere 11% of the total, in contrast with 47% in Asia and 70% in the EU. Boosting intra-African trade would help to offset the impact of the euro crisis while also increasing the continent’s GDP. (Businessweek, Paul Richardson and William Davison)

Hershey Expands Responsible Cocoa Community Programs in West Africa – The Hershey Company announced on Monday that it would “reinforce cocoa sustainability efforts by accelerating farmer and family development in West Africa.” In the next 5 years, Hershey will help to improve cocoa farming communities, with a $10 million investment in West Africa. The company will work with experts in agriculture, community development, and government in order to ensure long-term benefits for cocoa farmers and their families. (The Examiner)

Malaria’s Defeat, Africa’s Future – As a part of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), 41 African presidents have signed on to end deaths from malaria in their respective countries. Each nation will publish their progress in this fight in the ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action, to better ensure that foreign aid dollars are being used effectively. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the new Chairman of ALMA, argues that if you care about the health of mothers and children, education, and peace, than you must care about malaria as well. (The Huffington Post, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf)

Trade barriers imperil African food security – While Mozambique has the fertile soil to produce plentiful harvests, many people in the small town of Namiranga, on the Mozambique-Tanzania border, are struggling to pay for food. A bag of maize that sells for $60 in Mozambique costs only $46 across the border in Tanzania. It is “barriers to intraregional trade [that] are preventing food from reaching the poor,” as Tanzania’s minister of agriculture, food security and cooperatives banned the export of food stocks in an effort to avert hunger at home. (Trust, Fidelis Zvomuya)

What’s He Got to Hide? – While in Davos for the World Economic Forum, Nicholas Kristof attempted to confront Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, an increasingly tyrannical, repressive, and brutal ruler. While Meles has achieved much in the fight against extreme poverty, he has also “driver more journalists into exile over the last decade than any other leader in the world.” Ethiopia is one of the largest recipients of development aid, much of which is now going to “underwrite repression in Ethiopia,” as people are deliberately deprived of food aid until they back the government. (NYTimes, Nicholas Kristof)

Business, social media to prevent babies with HIV – Business and social media leaders teamed up at the Davos Conference in Switzerland to tackle the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, saying “the medicine and the money are largely in place, and with the right organizational skills they can eliminate HIV-infected births by 2015.” John Megrue, CEO of Apax Partners US, will chair a working group and will help coordinate work being done by several governments and other international donors. (AP)

Official: African Union fails to elect new chairman of AU Commission – An African Union official said Monday that Gabon’s Jean Ping, who was running for a second term as AU chairman, did not reach the required two-thirds majority to win another term. The official spoke on condition he was not identified because the voting results had not yet been made public. The AU Commission’s deputy chair will take over until the next AU summit in about six months, when African leaders will vote again. (AP)

ICYMI: The Truth About Foreign Aid – Last week, Save the Children and Oxfam released a report saying that aid must be approached differently, to avoid the delays the cost thousands of lives in the Horn of Africa. The anti-foreign aid establishment is using this report as proof in their argument of cutting aid. Many people think aid is stolen by corrupt leaders or wasted on ineffective programs, when in fact aid has saved countless lives from death and extreme poverty. Bill Gates hopes that “we can convert some of the generosity that goes into humanitarian relief into stronger support for foreign aid programs.” (NYTimes, Bill Gates)

The Mixtape of the Revolution – Cheikh Oumar Cyrille Touré (aka Thiat) and Hamada Ben Amor (aka El Général) are considered to be “two of the most influential rappers in the history of hip-hop.” Touré and Amor have both written protest songs that led to their arrests and inspired political movements. In the recent wave of revolutions in the Arab world, “rap music has played a critical role in articulating citizen discontent.” In countries like Senegal, rap reflects the modernization of the tradition of the West African griots, “who often used rhyming verse to evaluate political leaders.” (NYTimes, Sujathta Fernandes)

Go ‘Halfsies’ to Cut Portions, Curb Obesity And Fight World Hunger – Every year Americans waste 40% of the food produced in this country, while 50 million Americans and 1 billion people globally suffer from food insecurity. A new non-profit, Halfsies, is aiming to raise awareness of these issues by offering restaurant-goers a choice to receive a smaller portion for the full price. This will simultaneously educate Americans about portion control while fighting world hunger. (Huffington Post, Tara Kelly)

African leaders say continent ready to lead world growth – African leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos declared that they are ready to “play a new role in the global economy as a powerful driver of growth.” While much still needs to be done to improve Africa’s infrastructure and education system, Africa’s economy is already expanding rapidly. According to Guinea’s President Alpha Conde, “the fastest growing continent in the world is determined to keep reforming and innovating.” (AFP, Dave Clark)

Business, social media to prevent babies with HIV – Business and social media leaders united on Friday to “tackle the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, saying the medicine and the money are largely in place, and with the right organizational skills they can eliminated HIV-infected births by 2015.” Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, “will lend the power of social media to increase awareness about the issue, by pulling in 1,000 influential Twitter and Facebook users” for the cause. (AP)

Will West Africa’s drought be a repeat disaster? – After countless Somalis died “needlessly because of the slow response to the Somali famine last year,” a drought in the Sahel region of West Africa could lead to the death of nearly 500,000 if no aid arrives. David Gressly, the regional director of UNICEF in West Africa, explained that “everyone learned a lesson from the Horn of Africa famine . . . and we’re acting much more quickly this time.” (The Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York)

Senegal braces for ruling on Wade’s third term bid – Senegal is waiting to hear the ruling on whether President Abdoulaye Wade can seek a controversial third term. The debate over the legality of Wade’s possible third term has “set one of Africa’s most stable democracies on edge and . . . stoked heard of violence.” (AFP, Malick Rokhy Ba)

Broken schools breed South Africa’s “lost generation” – Almost half of South Africa’s 18 to 24 years olds are not in the education system and are without a job. Despite the African National Congress – the country’s ruling party – having spent billions of dollars on education, South African schools are characterized by unskilled teachers, and corruption that prevents funding from reaching its proper destination.” (Reuters, Jon Herskovitz and Lisa Laventure)