What We’re Reading 7/2/09

Jul 2nd, 2009 11:51 AM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

New York Times Op-Ed: Ban Ki-Moon: Come Together, Right Away
In a New York Times op-ed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon writes of the G8 summit that “rarely have the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations come together at a moment of such consequence.” Building on his previous call for a “truly global stimulus package,” he has sent a letter to G8 leaders urging concrete commitments and specific action to renew the world’s resolve to respond to climate change and extreme poverty in vulnerable countries affected by the economic crisis. In the letter he underscored the importance of delivering on pledges of aid to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Financial Times: IMF Plans Debt Issuance for Bail-Outs
The International Monetary Fund approved plans yesterday to issue its own debt to strengthen its capacity to fund bail-outs. The decision opens the way for China, Brazil and Russia to lend the institution large sums of money on an extended temporary basis, thus retaining their leverage in discussions about future governance of the IMF. Policymakers hope that by lining up ample IMF funds in advance, they can reassure private markets and reduce the likelihood of crises. Meanwhile, the World Bank has said it committed a record $59 billion in loans and guarantees to developing countries in the past year (ending June 30).

Reuters: Recession Must Not Derail AIDS Fight: UN Official
The Executive Director of UNAIDS said yesterday that he was worried that money earmarked at the Gleneagles summit for fighting AIDS in Africa could be diverted, as governments focus on reviving their own economies. Speaking at the African Union summit, he urged that the world’s rich nations not allow the global downturn to distract them from their commitment to help Africa stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. Giving one example of the funding squeeze, he said the Global Fund was $4 billion short of the amount it needed to fund AIDS projects it was already running or had committed to financing.

Huffington Post: the Italian Job: What the 2009 G8 Summit Must Deliver on Health and Aid for Africa
Patrick Watt, advocacy campaigns director of World Vision, writes in the Huffington Post that the London summit of the G20 heads of state in April and the challenges to which it was trying to respond have raised fundamental questions about the future role and relevance of the G8. Highlighting the Gleneagles commitments, he says that it is on Africa and the focal issue of health where Italy in particular, and the G8 collectively, face their greatest credibility test.

Reuters: U.S. Seen Backing Climate Target at G8
The United States will agree to a goal to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius at next week’s Group of Eight summit, a senior European official involved in preparing the meeting said on Wednesday. President Barack Obama has promised to take far tougher action to slow global warming than his predecessor George W. Bush. The 2 degrees Celsius limit is seen by the EU and some vulnerable developing countries as the threshold beyond which climate change will reach danger levels. Washington had not previously embraced it, but the official claimed it would be in the G8 text.

FT: WTO Sees Global Increase in Protectionism
Governments around the world have continued to erect trade barriers in spite of high-profile pledges at the G20 summit and other forums to resist protectionism, according to a World Trade Organization report to be published today. Over the past three months, the WTO recorded 83 trade-restricting measures undertaken by 24 countries and the European Union - more than double the number of liberalizing measures enacted during the same period. The report also lowered its forecast for world trade this year. It says that agricultural products are among the goods most affected by the heightening protectionism.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

What We’re Reading 7/1/09

Jul 1st, 2009 4:43 PM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Huffington Post: Nandini Oomman: Can HIV/AIDS Donors be the Lead ‘Gender Bender’ of Global Development?
Nandini Oomman writes that despite the billions of global HIV/AIDS dollars invested to help countries around the world to fight the epidemic, women and girls still suffer disproportionately. She says that now is a good time to change this because the current administration has made women and girls a high priority, and so organizations have all the political backing they need to make changes. Therefore, according to Oomman, the combination of this political commitment and the budget squeeze from the economic crisis creates an opportunity for PEPFAR, the Global Fund and the World Bank to support development programs for women and girls.

NY Times: Zimbabwe Says China is Giving it Loans
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said that one of his appointed officials has negotiated a deal with China, securing credit worth $950 million. China has historically been an ally of Robert Mugabe. Mugabe’s party has publicly mocked Tsvangirai for failing to bring back much aid from his tour of the United States and Europe. Although many Western governments have been wary of giving Zimbabwe money, China has maintained a close relationship with the country as it extends financial ties to other African countries.

Voice of America: US Looks to Expand Development Aid to Strategic Partner Ethiopia
The Obama administration is seeking to expand development assistance to Ethiopia, despite concerns aobut the country’s slide toward authoritarianism. The administration is forming aid policies towards African countries it considers strategic partners. For example, last week the US announced it had sent a $10-million shipment of weapons to help shore up the besieged government of Somalia. The United States last year gave more than $1 billion in aid to Ethiopia, most of it in emergency food assistance, and practically all the rest in programs to fight HIV/AIDS and Malaria. The Obama administration is looking to broaden the program to include development aid.

Africa Today: What America Wants from Ghana
An article in Africa Today discusses the significance of President Obama’s upcoming visit to Ghana. It says that the trip is incredibly important for Ghanains and Africans in general and has garnered extensive media coverage in Africa, because “Not since the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president of a free South Africa has the election of a national leader generated so much global interest and excitement.” The piece also question’s America’s interest in Africa and Obama’s reasons for visiting, surmising that top on the list is the United States’ military and energy security agenda.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

What We’re Reading 6/30/09

Jun 30th, 2009 11:50 AM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Reuters: Oxfam Calls on G8 to Increase Aid to Poor Farmers
Oxfam said today that leaders from the world’s industrialized economies should commit to increasing investment in agriculture in poor countries when they meet in Italy next week. It has released a report which finds that agricultural assistance by Group of Eight donor countries has fallen sharply, to around $5 billion a year in 2007 from $20 billion in the 1980s. The report says that investment by donors, national governments and the private sector in poor countries should target women and help improve knowledge about environmentally-sustainable farming methods in the wake of climate changes.

Financial Times: African Plan to Keep Vulture Funds at Bay
The African Development Bank has launched a legal support organization designed to level the playing field for cash-strapped African states negotiating complex commercial transactions or facing litigation by vulture funds. Vulture funds have provoked growing international criticism by launching lawsuits to force repayment of poor country debt they bought at heavily discounted prices on world markets. The World Bank estimated in 2007 that 38 creditors had won $1bn from lawsuits against countries in its debt relief program, many of which are African nations. The Africa Legal Support facility will provide funding and advice so that African governments are not at a disadvantage for lack of top level legal representation when facing the predatory debt claims.

Reuters: Crops Face Toxic Time Bomb in Warmer World
A new study says that staple crops on which millions of people depend are becoming more toxic and producing much smaller yields because of the world’s higher carbon dioxide levels and greater drought. A team of Australian scientists tested crops under a series of climate change scenarios to obtain the results. They say the findings underscore the need to develop climate change-resistant cultivars to feed rapidly growing human populations. The main crop tested – cassava – is a staple relied upon by 750 million people across the world, including many in Africa.

New York Times (A1): Constant Fear and Mob Rule in South African Slum
The New York Times today examines violent crime in South Africa, focusing on a slum called Diepsloot. The front page story says that though crime in South Africa is commonly portrayed as an onslaught against the wealthy, it is actually the poor who are most vulnerable. Experts highlight the particularly brutal nature of crime in South Africa: the country has an unusually high number of rapes, hijackings and armed robberies. The murder rate is about eight times higher than in the United States. Most areas are unprotected by the police, and even the new President, Jacob Zuma, says that citizens cannot be “blamed if they take the law into their own hands.”

Reuters: Why the BRICs Like Africa
Reuters’ ‘MacroScope Blog’ writes that the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India and China – have become big players in Africa. A new report investigates each country’s particular interests in the continent.

Xinhua: 13th AU Summit Expects to Focus on Agricultural Investment, Food Security
The 13th African Union summit, which opens Wednesday in Libya, is expected to focus on agricultural investment and food security, as well as African peace and security in general. The recent sharp increases in the prices of food, especially cereals and oilseeds, has created hardships for consumers in the region, and participants in the summit will discuss how to increase Africa’s agricultural investment.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

What We’re Reading 6/29/09

Jun 29th, 2009 11:16 AM EST
By Chandler.Smith

Xinhua.net: A/H1N1 flu knocks at doors of African countries in sub-Sahara
The A/H1N1 flu which once spared the African continent as it was ravaging the most parts of the world is now knocking at doors of African countries in the sub-Sahara region with at least three countries reporting confirmed cases of the virus in the past weeks.

Global Post: China competes with US in Africa
This article examines the competitive nature between China and the U.S. when it comes to development and investment in Africa.

The Independent: Berlusconi turns to G6 and Gaddafi for Comfort
Italy’s Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, today takes to the world stage by announcing the program for this year’s G8 summit. Mr. Berlusconi will say that the economic crisis and the need for greater financial regulation, food supplies for developing countries and climate change are the key issued facing the informal but exclusive gathering of the world’s seven richest nations, plus Russia, to be held in earthquake-torn L’Aquila from 8 to 10 July.

Washington Post: Spiritual Counsel to the G8
At the annual G8 religious summit, spiritual leaders from many faiths gathered to convey advice to the world’s leaders with the resulting declaration. The 2009 call reflects a broad and familiar agenda: water, health, education, food security, environment, disarmament, peace, the challenge of Africa, foreign aid, and the looming shadow of the world economic crisis. But the religious leaders want to go beyond conventional policy advice. Their aim is to inspire, to offer a prophetic voice that will call the world leaders to heed their moral as well as practical responsibilities.

The Guardian: One Small Step Forward
Last week, the international community, coming together at the UN to discuss the global financial crisis and its impact on the developing world, reached a consensus on an agreement. This spelled out the issues to be addressed and laid out the way forward. Many had said it would be difficult for 192 countries to reach consensus, and that was why discussions should be limited to a self-selected group of 20. In fact, the UN agreement was stronger and more forceful than the G20 communique.

Wall Street Journal: A Buffett Turns to Farming in Africa
Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman report on how Warren Buffett’s son, Howard, has quietly become a player in the fight against global hunger. He travels through West Africa, looking for ways to help African farms equip themselves with the kinds of tools used in the Western hemisphere.

-Chandler Smith

What We’re Reading 6/26/09

Jun 26th, 2009 11:40 AM EST
By Steve.Wilson

L.A. Times—U.S. giving weapons aid to Somalia government
The Obama administration has begun sending arms aid to the beleaguered government of Somalia, officials said Thursday, in an escalation of its commitment to one of the world’s most troubled states. State Department officials said the support was intended to help sustain a transitional government that is steadily losing ground to Islamic militants in fighting that has been catastrophic for civilians. The administration also is stepping up humanitarian aid to the country, said officials, who declined to disclose how much would be spent.

The Economist—A new (under) class of travellers
The Economist writes about the effect of climate change in places like Kenya, where the drought cycle in the northern part of the country has gone from once every eight years to every three years, and may contract further. This has resulted in migration and re-location of local populations, which scientists think is one example of an emerging global phenomenon: people across the world on the move as a result of environmental degradation. At least initially, the situation in Kenya and other parts of east Africa is likely to be as follows: an already poor population whose perpetual search for adequate pasture and shelter grows harder and harder. In such conditions, local disputes—even relatively petty ones between clans and extended families—can easily worsen, and become embroiled in broader religious or political fights, the paper writes.

BBC News—Firms target nutrition for the poor
BBC News looks at the growing amount of companies that are developing food products to address malnutrition among the world’s poor, which affects around two billion people worldwide. Firms, several now based in Africa, are trying to fortify everyday foods that can be sold to consumers. The idea is to target people suffering from a less acute, but more widespread form of malnutrition. Many people eat enough calories to live, by consuming staples such as rice or bread. But far fewer can afford foods containing crucial nutrients provided by meat, pulses or vegetables, a situation that has been exacerbated by last year’s food crisis.

New Times (Rwanda)—Religious Groups Call for Funding
Religious groups engaged in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Rwanda and in other sub-Saharan African countries have called for more funding from government and donors in their effort to curb the pandemics.”Faith based organisations have a very significant role in fighting any pandemic, when malaria comes, it does not choose any specific denomination, it can kill each one of us,” said Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, head of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. A Global Fund report released last year recommended that faith-based organisations play a bigger role in fighting the diseases.

Reuters—Capitalism, IMF and World Bank under fire at U.N.
Criticism of the IMF and other so-called “Bretton Woods institutions” established during World War II has become a running theme at a three-day meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on the global economic crisis. Ecuador’s left-wing President Rafael Correa blamed capitalism on Thursday for the crisis, suggesting at a U.N. conference that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank be abolished. Most delegates have spoken of the need to reform the IMF and World Bank, but representatives of Western developed economies rejected the idea of abolishing the institutions. “The Bretton Woods institutions have rarely been popular but they have never been so necessary,” a British official said.

-Steve Wilson

What We’re Reading 6/25/09

Jun 25th, 2009 12:32 PM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Politico: U.S. needs more foreign diplomats
Eight former secretaries of state make the case for deploying more foreign diplomacy personnel, lamenting that “unfortunately, when it comes to the federal budget, diplomacy, development and democratic governance too often get short shrift.”

AFP: Rich Should Compensate Africa for Global Warming: Ethiopian PM
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said that rich countries should compensate Africa for the effects of their carbon emissions. He said Africa has been suffering from global warming caused by the developed world’s pollution. He plans to raise the issue at next month’s G8 summit, and suggested that African countries make a united push for it at the crucial climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.

AP:UN: Impact of Economic Crisis Could Last Years
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned at the U.N. financial summit Wednesday that the impact of the global economic crisis could last for years with millions more families pushed into poverty, and he urged rich nations to mobilize the money to help hard-hit developing countries. He added that despite stabilization currently discussed in the west, for a large number of countries there are no ‘green shoots’ of recovery, only ‘fallow fields.’ He said the global economic meltdown cannot be an excuse for leaders of the major economies to abandon pledges to help the poor.

Reuters: Broke Zimbabwe Asks World for ‘Stimulus Package’
Zimbabwe appealed to the world on Wednesday for a “financial stimulus package” for its devastated economy, saying lack of foreign support imperiled a recovery plan drawn up by the unity government. The country says it needs $10billion to rebuild infrastructure and ease 90% unemployment. Vice President Joice Mujuru said lack of access to financial resources had hit the country’s agriculture and social services, threatening attainment of U.N. anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals. But Morgan Tsvangirai’s recent tour has yielded mostly promises of aid only when Zimbabwe creates a democracy and improves human rights. Addressing a UN conference on the global financial crisis, Mujuru argued that no conditions should be attached to the stimulus package he is asking for.

Christian Science Monitor: The Kremlin Takes an African Safari
The Christian Science Monitor writes that Russia is returning to Africa in force with aims of catching up to China and Western powers in the “scramble for the continent’s resources, markets, and political allegiances.” President Dmitry Medvedev and 400 Russian businessmen and economic officials arrived in Nigeria Wednesday to sign a variety of oil, gas, and nuclear energy deals. Next week Medvedev will sign an accord on “peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” which could lead to the construction of Russian atomic power plants in Nigeria. This is the longest African tour by any Kremlin leader.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

What We’re Reading 6/24/09

Jun 24th, 2009 11:13 AM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Reuters Alert Net: Should PEPFAR be Doing More for IDUs?
PEPFAR could do more to prevent HIV transmission among injection drug users (IDUs) in Africa, said a recent article in prominent British medical journal the Lancet. The article said that although heterosexual transmission is still the main means of HIV infection, in sub-Saharan Africa there could be up to three million people who inject drugs and that prevalence is often higher among intravenous drug users than in the general population. It criticizes PEPFAR’s prevention track record, which includes stipulations that one-third of funding be spent on programs promoting abstinence outside of marriage, and limited funds for programs targeting high-risk populations such as sex workers and intravenous drug users.

Financial Times Editorial: Nigerian Reform Gets New Champion
The FT editorial board writes that restoring confidence in Nigerian reform progress is a priority, if the foreign capital needed to sustain the country’s development is to flow again. The article says that since Nigeria’s current president, Umaru Yar’Adua, took office, excitement in investor circles about the country has given way to unease. The unease comes from the government’s failure to follow up on its promised reforms, particularly in terms of tackling corruption, addressing flaws in the electoral system, and re-energizing the oil industry. The FT says that there are, however, hopeful signs. The editorial predicts that Nigeria’s new central bank governor, Lamido Sanusi, will be a champion of reform in the country.

AP: Congress Largely Ignoring Obama Budget Cuts
Democrats in Congress crafting spending bills are largely rejecting the roster of program eliminations and budget cuts wanted by President Barack Obama. Lawmakers in both parties have combined to preserve more than $750 million worth of cuts suggested by Obama. On Tuesday, the House Appropriations panel easily approved a $48.8 billion foreign aid bill that provides $318.8 million for Mexico and Central America and $520 million for Colombia to fight narcotics and criminal gangs. The measure also provides $5.7 billion to fight AIDS across the globe.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

What We’re Reading 6/23/09

Jun 23rd, 2009 11:52 AM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Financial Times: Vaccine system hampers African efforts
Efforts to make newer and more costly vaccines widely available to the poorest in Africa are being hampered by a long-standing system. The board of the Pan American Health Organisation will this week discuss its “revolving fund” for vaccine purchases as concerns mount that it deters manufacturers from offering deeper discounts on products to the world’s least developed countries. The revolving fund includes a clause demanding that the vaccines are made available at the lowest possible price charged anywhere in the world, making it impossible for producers to propose still lower prices to poorer countries. The principle has come into increasing conflict with efforts by manufacturers to meet international demands for access to the poor through “tiered” pricing tied to local incomes.

Reuters: Annan Optimistic About Climate Change Pact
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday he was optimistic that the world could agree on a climate change accord with the support of the administration of Barack Obama. He also said that economic stimulus efforts in Washington, Brussels and around the world in response to the global economic downturn have pumped investment into low-carbon energy and alternative technologies that could create jobs and boost sustainable projects. Annan’s two-day meeting at the Global Humanitarian Forum has drawn together heads of U.N. agencies with government officials and experts for talks on practical ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions that scientists expect to stoke global warming and cause rising sea levels and loss of food production.

The East African: MFIs Face Collapse as Financial Crisis Bites
The East African newspaper reports that microfinance institutions in Africa have very little chance of surviving the current financial crisis, as loan repayment default soars. A new study says that MFI income sources, like revenue from small businesses or from money sent from families working abroad, have become more erratic. At the same time, people are withdrawing their savings because prices for food and other essentials are rising.

Reuters: UK Pledges New Aid to Zimbabwe, Urges More Reform
Britain pledged 5 million pounds to Zimbabwe on Monday but made clear more reforms were needed before it would start large-scale development aid to the shattered country. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meeting with Morgan Tsvangirai, announced 4 million pounds of food aid and 1 million pounds for school textbooks, bringing total British “transitional support” for the Zimbabwean government this year to 60 million pounds. Brown held out the prospect of more aid if the government pressed ahead with economic and political reforms. Tsvangirai is on the final leg of his tour of Europe and the United States. The trip has yielded few contributions towards the $10 billion Zimbabwe says it needs to rebuild the economy.

UN News: Vast Stretch of African Savannah Ripe for Commercial Farming
Unlocking the potential of a massive stretch of savannah spanning 25 African nations could boost commercial farming on the continent, according to a new United Nations study. About 400 million hectares in the Guinea Savannah zone – stretching from Senegal to South Africa – are ripe for commodity production, but at present, only 10 per cent of that area is actually being farmed, according to the study published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank.

Financial Times: Ethiopian premier ready to stand down
Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister and one of Africa’s more prominent leaders on the world stage, says he is preparing to step down and hopes to take with him a generation of government officials in office since the 1991 overthrow of Mengistu Haile Mariam. His departure would be unprecedented in Ethiopia and very rare among African liberation leaders. During 18 years in power Mr Meles has leveraged Ethiopia’s strategic position in the Horn of Africa, forging strong ties with successive administrations in the US, Britain and other European countries, while fending off criticism of his human rights record. He consistently resisted their efforts to use aid to influence economic policy.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

What We’re Reading 6/22/09

Jun 22nd, 2009 11:29 AM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Financial Times: World Bank warns on emerging markets
Leading developed nations are misguided in focusing efforts on restoring demand in their own economies, the World Bank will say today. In its annual Global Development Finance report, the World Bank expects private capital flows to developing countries to fall almost three-quarters this year. The Bank says that emerging markets are fundamental for a return to global growth. The drop in credit flows will undermine investment in emerging and developing economies, with a consequent hit on rich country exports of capital-intensive goods - one of the sectors hardest hit in the global recession. In poorer developing counties, which contributed least to the crisis, the concern is that recent years of rising incomes will end with the risk of a backlash and a return to the inward-looking domestic policies so damaging to prosperity.

Reuters: Africa Worst at Meeting U.N. Anti-Poverty Goals
Ethiopia and Cape Verde are the only African countries on target to meet U.N. anti-poverty goals, a U.N. development chief told Reuters. U.N. Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty were agreed at a United Nations summit in 2000 and set African and other poor countries targets to raise living standards by 2015. The U.N. Development Fund said that Africa has made the least progress in reaching these goals because many African countries did not get the support they needed – in both funding and policy – from the international community. The U.N. official emphasized that only $3 billion of the $25 billion that G8 nations pledged for Africa by 2010 had so far reached countries it was earmarked for.

Wall Street Journal: A Recipe for Reviving Doha
The European Commissioner for Trade and the Australian Minister for Trade write in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that it is possible to re-ignite the Doha round of trade talks. Although many believe there are ‘irreconcilable differences’ between countries on the substance of the negotiations, the ministers argue that completing a Doha deal would immediately give a serious confidence boost to the world economy. They also believe that the agreement should reflect all of the WTO’s 153 members, rather than seeming a creation of the world’s greatest powers. If the new talks fail, though, “the multilateral system would take a serious hit beyond trade policy, bringing into question our ability to solve other global problems like climate change.”

Boston Globe: The US Must Keep Its Promise on AIDS Programs
The Boston Globe published a letter by the Director of Physicians for Human Rights which said that the US must keep its promise on AIDS Programs in Africa. She says that AIDS clinics in Africa are turning away patients in need of treatment because of stagnating funding levels. And with drug stocks dwindling, they run the risk of returning to the days when one member of a family received treatment as their spouses and children left clinics empty-handed and were left to die. She says that as “As our nation weighs how to best invest in the health of the world’s most vulnerable people, we must remember that the United States has the resources and the responsibility to keep its promise to scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs.”

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

What We’re Reading 6/19/09

Jun 19th, 2009 12:29 PM EST
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Global Crisis Pushes 100 Million into Hunger: U.N.
The global economic crisis will help push 100 million people into poverty this year through lost jobs and lower earnings, leaving one sixth of the world’s population living in hunger, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said today. In developing countries the urban poor will be the hardest hit, due to job losses, but food pressure will also mount in rural areas as millions of migrants return to the countryside, the agency said. The economic global crisis will reduce aid spending from wealthy countries by around a quarter, just when it is most needed, the FAO also warned. The report said that “substantial and sustained remedial actions” will be needed to reach the U.N. Millennium goal of halving the number of hungry people to under 420 million by 2015.

Christian Science Monitor: Message to Zimbabwean Prime Minister: Aid is Linked to Improved Human Rights
The Christian Science Monitor writes that if the objective of Morgan Tsvangirai’s tour of the US and Europe was to show that Zimbabwe is ready to engage with the world, it has been a “remarkable success.” However, Tsvangirai has not been able to secure large amounts of aid for his transition government, though the US and several European countries have pledged millions of dollars to the country itself through aid agencies. The Prime Minister’s biggest message on return to Zimbabwe will be to tell his party’s coalition partners that the government must improve its human rights record if its wants more aid money.

Financial Times Op-Ed: Think Small to Tackle the World’s Problems
In the Financial Times, Foreign Policy Editor Moises Naim writes that “Since the early 1990s, the need for effective multicountry collaboration has soared, but at the same time multilateral talks have inevitably failed, deadlines have been missed and execution has stalled.” His solution for problems such as trade and climate change is “minilateralism” – bringing together the smallest possible number of countries needed, the “magic number,” to have the largest possible impact on solving a particular problem. He says that to tackle African poverty the “magic number” would be 12, including all the major donor countries and the Sub-Saharan countries most in need.

Washington Post: Obama’s War : Starting Over on Development – U.S. Pursues a New Way To Rebuild in Afghanistan
The Washington Post investigates the effectiveness of USAID programs in developing countries, particularly Afghanistan, and the Obama administration’s overhaul of development policy. The USAID reconstruction project in Afghanistan opted to steer U.S. aid toward agriculture fairs and marketing ventures instead of initiatives aimed at increasing crop production. It also spent almost $3 billion of US government money since 2004 on alternative employment programs. Richard Holbrooke, the administration’s leader on Afghanistan policy, called the strategy “the single most wasteful, most ineffective program that I had ever seen.” The Obama administration is currently taking back control over many development projects from USAID. The Post writes that there will be “a fundamental realignment of power in Washington when it comes to shaping development policy.”

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson