Africa in control of its fortune

By Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International

Several African countries are amongst today’s fastest growing economies in the world, boosted in many instances by new discoveries of oil, natural gas and strategic mineral reserves. Extreme poverty on the continent is in decline, and progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals has accelerated. A number of very poor African countries, including Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia have made recent and substantial improvements in their levels of income equality.

 

Yet Africa’s impressive growth is not shared by millions of its people. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to a third of the world's poorest people, and six of the top 10 most unequal countries in the world. Where income inequality is high, the benefits of economic growth are inaccessible to poor people. Poverty and exclusion are bad for social stability, preventing productive investment and undermining growth itself.

 

The continent’s potential is also being undermined by illicit capital hemorrhaging out of African countries – often in the form of tax evasion and trade mispricing by multinational oil, gas and mining companies, and in collusion with corrupt elected officials. In 2010, Africa’s oil, gas and mineral exports amounted to $333 billion in 2010. But estimates of illicit financial outflows from Africa are estimated as up to $200 billion annually, dwarfing the development aid it receives.

 

Together, income inequalities and illicit capital flows are cheating Africa of its wealth and potential for the investments in education, agriculture and healthcare needed to support productive citizens.

This month in Cape Town, African business and government leaders met at the World Economic Forum on Africa. My message to them was: For Africa to meet its real potential, you must stand behind the millions being left behind by economic growth. Otherwise, social and economic progress on the continent will be undermined.

 

The European Union last month agreed a deal on a law that will make oil, gas, mining and logging firms companies declare payments to governments in the countries where they operate. This bolsters similar, recent legislation in the United States under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and is excellent news. Transparency is a great disinfectant. It will put pressure on governments to account for how they spend money they receive from fees and royalties.

 

Some African states are making some of the right moves to manage resource wealth responsibly. In Ghana, the Petroleum Revenue Management Act has compelled quarterly disclosures of payments and production figures while in Liberia the voluntary Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has been turned into a binding statutory requirement.

 

But Africa can’t do it alone. The private sector is the engine of Africa’s economy, and if working responsibly, holds the key to fair and sustainable economic development. Companies’ policies and practices must respect the rights of the people in the countries where they operate. Communities affected by extractive projects must be informed and consulted, and given the opportunity to approve or reject proposed operations.

 

For their part, Africa’s development partners can deliver aid which will promote good governance, and support civil society to keep their leaders accountable.

 

We are witnessing a scramble for Africa’s natural resource reminiscent of the period of the industrial revolution in Europe. It is urgent and imperative that policies are in place in each country to protect the rights and interests of African people, most especially those living in poverty. To sustain high growth rates, priority must be placed on forging inclusive policies that ensure that growth is both equitable and sustainable. Much more of the proceeds of the African resource boom need to go directly into education, health and nutrition and improving the productive capacities of the poorest citizens. If not, efforts to boost economic growth in a sustainable way will be undercut.

 

It is time for a new, fair deal for poor people in Africa, one that gets Africa’s resources working for all its people.

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Resilience in simple terms/ La résilience en termes simples

 

How international aid can support resilience

 

By Andrew Thow, Humanitarian Policy Officer, OCHA

 

Since the first signs that the food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel was getting worse in late 2011, ‘resilience’ has become the most talked about topic in humanitarian policy circles. We must get better at preventing recurrent crises in the Sahel and other regions. On this, everyone agrees. But when we talk about doing business differently, what exactly does that mean?

Niger, 2012: Man in Molia village tends vegetables.CR: D. Ohana, OCHA

Resilience is just a word, and when we are talking about families and communities it sounds simple enough. People are resilient when they can cope with hardships. Farmers with drought-resistant crops won’t lose their livelihoods when the rains fail. Well-nourished children can get a better education and so provide for their own families in the future.

But the word ‘resilience’ is also being used to sum up a series of changes in the way
the international aid system supports people and countries affected by recurrent crises. In particular, it has come to mean more closely integrating short-term humanitarian relief and longer-term development assistance, so that together they are more effective. Many governments in the region have taken the lead in preparing national plans to do just that. The UN has a common approach on building resilience in the Sahel, which brings together its different programmes.

Resilience in simple terms/ La résilience en termes simples

 La résilience au Tchad

Par Ahmat Payouni, coordinateur de l´ONG Secadev à l’est du Tchad

 

La résilience dans un contexte d’urgence signifie qu’on cherche par tous les moyens à renforcer les capacités des populations victimes d’une catastrophe naturelle ou humaine à résister, à subvenir à leurs besoins. A l’est du Tchad, nous vivons dans un environnement naturellement fragile.

Ces dernières années, cet environnement est davantage fragilisé par les évènements survenus au Darfour, notamment l’arrivée massive des réfugiés soudanais mais aussi par la désertification.

Vu que les populations de cette région sont très dépendantes de l’agriculture, de l’Elevage et du commerce, chaque fois que l’année est déficitaire, les hommes et les animaux souffrent de malnutrition. Dans un contexte d’urgence comme celui là, la résilience signifie renforcer les capacités de ces populations pour qu’elles puissent développer des stratégies qui leur permettent de résister à ces chocs.

Pour le Secadev, cette résilience se traduit par la mise en place des stratégies qui encouragent les populations à pratiquer le maraîchage, à utiliser les semences plus adaptées aux conditions climatiques, la diversification des cultures, à bien gérer les sources d’eau et les productions agricoles.

 Is hunger in Africa a permanent problem? 

By Gonzalo Fanjul, independent researcher in the fields of international poverty and development

 We always seem to be hearing about a food crisis somewhere in Africa – especially in what’s called the Sahel region (encompassing parts of Chad, Eritrea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sudan and South Sudan). Is hunger basically a permanent problem in this part of the world?

The yearly food crises suffered in the Sahel region of Africa since 2005 have taught us two important lessons. First, drought and food shortages now last longer and happen more often than in the past, leaving rural communities vulnerable to a volatile and more expensive market. Second, because we are talking about a chronic crisis, it is clear that the resulting problems of malnutrition cannot be treated with short-term interventions. We need a strategy that incorporates direct measures against childhood malnutrition, food security programs that increase local food production and social safety nets to protect families against the sudden shocks brought about by these droughts and increasing food prices.