Weitzenegger's Africa Report

Africa

Sustainable Development Report on Africa (SDRA)
http://www.uneca.org/ecaresources/Publications/books/sdra/index.htm
The Economic Commission for Africa has released the second edition of its flagship publication, the Sustainable Development Report on Africa (SDRA). This edition of SDRA is devoted to a five-year review of the implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development Outcomes in Africa (WSSD+5). Several African countries have made progress in economic governance, public financial management and accountability and the integrity of the monetary and financial systems. As a result, the situation in Africa today is better than it was a decade or so ago. However, a great deal remains to be done. In the area of corporate governance, countries have made efforts to promote private sector-led growth and development.

Africa’s economic growth in 2007 again well above the long-term trend
http://tinyurl.com/5wyzzu
Africa’s average real GDP grew by 5.7 per cent in 2007. The 2008 African Economic Outlook report, jointly published by the African Development Bank, the OECD Development Centre and the UNECA expects the rate of GDP growth to strengthen to about 6 per cent in 2008 and in 2009. The 2008 African Economic Outlook focuses on Technical Skills Development. It also presents a comprehensive analysis of the economic, social and political developments on the continent. Now in its seventh year, the AEO is the only report on Africa which applies a common analytical framework to every country, every year. Produced by the OECD Development Centre, the African Development Bank and, for the first time this year, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the AEO is the essential reference on Africa. It benefits from the support of the European Commission.

Creating an enabling environment for for private sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/07-89144Ebook1.pdf
This report discusses how the business environment in Sub-Saharan African can be improved in order to foster enterprise development. Past efforts to boost private sector development have shown disappointing results. This holds especially for the orthodox structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s and 90s. But also the wide array of support schemes by governments and donors aimed to strengthen specific industries, groups of enterprises, or supporting institutions have rarely had a significant impact. Although a few remarkable project successes exist, these mostly remain isolated events with no country-wide outreach and no measurable effect on aggregate economic growth.

Data Download: 2007 CGAP Regional Funder Survey - Sub-Saharan Africa
http://cgap.org/portal/site/Portfolio/Apr2008Data/
In 2005, CGAP began surveying funders working in Africa to increase access to finance. In 2007, despite an expected slight decline in global official development assistance, CGAP's survey found that sub-Saharan Africa still draws attention from funders and aid to increase access to finance continues to rise.

Doing Business: Women in Africa
http://www.doingbusiness.org/gender/womenentrepreneurs.aspx
This report from the World Bank profiles seven women entrepreneurs, describing reasons for their success, as well as some of the legal, regulatory, and practical obstacles they faced in expanding their business efforts. It also highlights reforms that can level the playing field for women and create better business environments that benefit both women and men. The report, the first in a series of regional studies, casts a spotlight on seven women entre- preneurs in Cameroon, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2008/AFR/eng/sreo0408.pdf
The region's prospects continue to be promising, but global developments pose increased risks to the outlook. Growth in sub-Saharan Africa should again average about 6½ percent in 2008 with oil exporters leading the way; meanwhile, growth in oil importers is expected to taper off, though only modestly. With food and energy prices still rising, inflation is projected to average about 8½ percent this year for countries in the region, setting aside Zimbabwe. Risks in 2008 are tilted to the downside, but the region is better placed today to withstand a worsening of the global environment.

Value Chain Activities for Conflict-affected Populations in Guinea
http://www.microlinks.org/ev01.php?ID=22554201&ID2=DO
This report is part of a USAID-funded research project using guided case studies to explore whether and under what conditions the application of a value chain approach can help accelerate growth in conflict-affected environments. This study uses the value chain framework to look at an integrated community development initiative called ''Social and Economic Recovery through Community Development Initiatives'' (SER-CD).

Africa Progress Panel
http://www.africaprogresspanel.org
The aim of the Africa Progress Panel is to focus world leaders' attention on making the most of the growing number of opportunities for progress in Africa. It will also comment on the challenges African governments, the G8 and other international partners face in meeting the commitments made towards Africa's development.

Find a Job in Africa
http://www.findajobinafrica.com
Africa's employment zone connecting employers, recruitment agencies and jobseekers. The website was founded in 1999 by Africans on the conviction that African's problems must be owned by Africans with the solution driven by African's. One of the challenges was poor/lack of job opportunities to Africans as a result many the vast array of job opportunities were not readily available to African's based inside and outside Africa.

African Voices in Europe demand more effective aid for Africa's poorest
http://practicalaction.org/?id=africanvoices
Practical Action has launched a new website - African Voices in Europe - to expose the failures of European aid and set out a new agenda for Improving aid for Africa's poorest communities. African Voices in Europe exposes the failures of EC aid to reach farmers and livestock keepers across Africa, and explores how EC aid could be more effectively targeted to achieve its objective of poverty reduction.

EU-ACP: 10th EDF country strategy papers adopted:
Priority on infrastructure, governance and regional integration

A good number of country strategy papers for the implementation of the 10th European Development Fund in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries have now been adopted and signed. They are available on EC website at: http://ec.europa.eu/development/how/iqsg/documentslibraryen.cfm

BMZ Spezial: Zentrale Herausforderungen für wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Afrika südlich der Sahara
http://www.bmz.de/de/service/infothek/fach/spezial/spezial151pdf.pdf
Im Rahmen dieser Stellungnahme werden grundlegende Ursachen der schlechten Entwicklung Afrikas näher beleuchtet. Unter dem Schlagwort ''Geography vs. Institutions'' hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren eine Debatte entwickelt, die versucht, die hinter den traditionellen Wachstumsdeterminanten stehenden fundamentalen Ursachen wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung zu bestimmen Auf die Ergebnisse dieser Debatte wird im zweiten Abschnitt in einem afrika-spezifischen Kontext eingegangen. Im folgenden werden die aktuellen Herausforderungen, mit denen sich der afrikanische Kontinent auseinandersetzen muss, sowie neue Chancen und Möglichkeiten für die zukünftige Entwicklung dargestellt.

Kenya: It's the economy, stupid (not just ''tribalism'')
http://www.dev-zone.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=13921
The wave of violence that engulfed Kenya after the presidential election has been widely described as tribal or ethnic in nature. But analysts in the east African country point to basic economics as the true cause of the unrest.

Youth and Economic Development in Africa - An Issues Paper
http://www.uneca.org/adf/docs/Issuepapereco.pdf
In the context of youth and economic development, leadership is a multi-layered phenomenon characterized by two main features: 1. The economic challenges facing African youth warrant responsible leadership by governments and international partners; 2. As leaders, youth can themselves play an important role in the promotion of economic development. This paper seeks to address these aspects of leadership by exploring seven main issues of economic development that are central to the well-being of youth in Africa. The paper looks in particular at how governments have responded, how international partners have supported efforts, and how youth themselves are taking the lead in addressing these issues.

African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University (APARC)
http://www.bu.edu/aparc
APARC has three core programs: the African Presidents in Residence Program, the Public Papers/Private Conversations Project, and the Annual African Leaders' State of Africa Report. The goal of the program is to give former democratically elected African leaders a way to offer their perspectives to the ongoing discussion of Africa's place in the global community. This website contains links to policy papers delivered by former democratically elected presidents of African countries; links to annual leadership workshops; and outreach.

DATA - debt AIDS trade africa
http://www.data.org
DATA is an advocacy organization dedicated to eradicating extreme poverty and AIDS in Africa. DATA argues that supporting Africa is essential to our economic and national security interests. However, at the core of DATA's beliefs is a view that these issues are not about charity, but about equality and justice.

Africa Development Indicators 2007
http://www.dev-zone.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=13581
Africa Development Indicators 2007 provides the most detailed collection of data on Africa. It contains over 1,000 indicators covering 53 African countries. Findings suggest that the economic outlook for Africa is improving (World Bank, 2007)

Developmental states are best able to carry out Africa's development agenda
http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/aldcafrica2007en.pdf
Making greater use of domestic resources can help African countries achieve sustained and higher economic growth and over the long term will reduce overdependence on donor funding and on the rules that apply to it, a new UNCTAD report says. The report argues that increased use of domestic financial resources and more productive investments would provide African leaders the ''policy space'' to define development programmes that reflect their countries´ genuine priorities, giving true meaning to the rhetoric of ''ownership'' of economic policies. ''Developmental states,'' in which governments actively manage economic policy to encourage greater economic diversification, are in a better position to implement this agenda, says the UNCTAD. See Report: Economic Development in Africa 2007: Reclaiming Policy Space: Domestic Resource Mobilization and Developmental States

China and the end of poverty in Africa. Towards mutual benefit?
http://www.diakonia.se/sa/node.asp?node=2009
In 2006, China hosted the Third Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) attended by 48 African heads of state and high level representatives. This unprecedented high level meeting witnessed the birth of ''a new type of strategic partnership” between China and Africa. Chinese policies including its role as a donor and creditor will certainly have an important impact on the future of developing countries in Africa and the global challenge to combat poverty. Questions are being raised by a range of different stakeholders on what China’s increased engagement means for poverty reduction, democracy, the management of natural resources and human rights in Africa. An Eurodad report analyses Chinese development assistance policies. It assesses China’s role as a donor to Africa, an area that is little explored compared to trade and investment. The report explores Chinese views on the country’s role in development policies. It also features Chinese government responses to concerns by external stakeholders about the increased Chinese cooperation with Africa. The report maps out the main institutions involved in Chinese development assistance, and addresses the issue of volume and criteria for calculating Chinese aid levels. More specifically the report looks at three issues that are the subject of lively discussions in relation to development assistance and China’s engagement in Africa: 1) Aid effectiveness 2) The Chinese no political strings attached policy 3) Debt sustainability. (Source: Eurodad Debt-Watch)

Francis Appiah Receives German Africa Prize 2007
http://www.weitzenegger.de/new/appiah.html
The Executive Secretary of the National African Peer Review Governing Council (NAPRM-GC) Dr. Francis Appiah has received the 2007 German Africa Prize for his efforts at contributing to governance reforms in Ghana and the African continent in general. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is a mutually agreed instrument voluntarily acceded to by the Member States of the African Union (AU) as an African self-monitoring mechanism. Ghana has been a trailblazer and a shining example in the APRM process. In his acceptance speech, Dr Appiah said the greatest advances in the wellbeing of countries the world over have come from public measures and that he and the NAPRM-GC were sure of the of the success of the APRM process in Ghana, when the Government demonstrated political will towards the process by incorporating the recommendations of the country review exercise into the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRSII) for implementation. According to Dr. Appiah, economic governance changes African futures. ''There are now two Africas for everyone to choose: The old Africa, with dictatorship, censorship, ignorance, and the new Africa, meaning good governance, good life, conducive business environment, and transparency.'' He said while promoting Ghana to business people in Hamburg. German companies should remember the ''Humboldt spirit'' in order to embrace the coming business opportunities in Ghana, he concluded.

Donor Approaches to Local Economic Development in Africa
http://www.mesopartner.com/publications/mp-wp12LEDinAfrica.pdf
Doug Hindson compares in this paper five approaches to Local Economic Development (LED) that are currently being applied in Africa. These are the World Bank (WB), Local Economy (ECOLOC), International Labour Office (ILO), GTZ and UN-Habitat approaches. (...) By contrasting different features of these approaches and assessing them against the challenges that LED faces on the continent, I hope to open a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing LED in these different ways. The paper is intended mainly for LED practitioners and decision-makers in government and business seeking support for LED promotion.

Friends of Modern Africa - Network for a New Africa
http://www.friends-of-modern-africa.org
This is a platform for an – up to now – unknown Africa: the Modern Africa of the 21st century. You can now contribute to santise the public image of Africa. The newly created internet-platform ''Friends of Modern Africa'' aims to create a new, a positive image of the African continent. ''It is our ambition to appropriate position the Modern Africa in the media and in the people’s mind. If we shall succeed with this task people, companies and politicians worldwide will increasingly turn towards Africa. They will endorse Africa to push forward, support the continent’s creativity and start networking.'', the Webmasters Steffen Heizmann and Jürgen Langen said in Berlin.

South African New Economics Network (SANE)
http://www.sane.org.za
SANE is a loose affiliation of individuals and organisations who recognise the central role of economics in modern society, and are concerned about the social and ecological consequences of economics as it is conventionally taught and practised. The Website hat a discussion forum, News Bulletins and New Economics newsletter.

Competitiveness in the CFA Franc Zone
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=21276.0
This IMF paper reviews the evolution of competitiveness in the CFA franc zone using a proposed comprehensive competitiveness framework. In particular, we examine competitiveness in the WAEMU and CEMAC regions by analyzing the ''environment'' and ''policy'' components of competitiveness and their quantifiable determinants, including indicators to measure productivity and labor market conditions, prices and costs, macroeconomic performance, business environment, governance, and technology and infrastructure.

African Economic Outlook 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/22/0,2340,en264915162846385610461111,00.html
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), African Development Bank

Africa's Private Sector: Ready to Seize Business Opportunities?
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/37/27/38570522.pdf
Policy Insight No. 43 by Yoshiko Matsumoto-Izadifar

Brand Africa
http://www.tradeforum.org
Investment and growth levels are rising across Africa and governments are more stable. ''Brand Africa'' needs to reflect these changes. The latest stories on the Trade Forum site, from IMF, UNCTAD and ITC contributors, give an overview of African trade trends today. In pictures, in words and in figures, they tell a story of cautious optimism.

Making Finance Work for Africa
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21224272~menuPK:258666~pagePK:146736~piPK:226340~theSitePK:258644,00.html
World Bank 2007 Making Finance Work for Africa takes a panoramic view of Africa’s financial systems, both at the large scale (''finance for growth'') and the small scale (''finance for all''). Things are changing for the better in African finance. Credit growth is underway after a long pause, solid new intermediaries are entering the marketplace, and the reach of microfinance is growing steadily. Finance can be a leading sector in transforming African economies - by opening up business opportunities to a wider clientele and by channeling larger resources more effectively.

AfDevInfo African Development Information Services
http://www.afdevinfo.com
AfDevInfo is a new service tracking the mechanics of political and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A new research resource for libraries, media, business and government. A new approach to information delivery.

Index on Africa is a gateway to information on Africa on the Internet, with over 3.800 links sorted by country, subject and news.
http://www.afrika.no/index/
The Index has been created by The Norwegian Council for Africa (NCA), as a part of NCA's efforts to raise awareness about Africa and African affairs.