South Africa
In the development community, we tend to message in the abstract: Africa. Poverty. Transparency. Mortality. Growth. These words make for snappy elevator pitches and clever tweets, but they can also numb us to the reality and difficulty of what we do, and we can too easily lose sight of the unique people and programs for whom development efforts are intended.
Sister Suzan with Erin Hohlfelder
I feel so lucky to travel around sub-Saharan Africa with ONE, because I get to come face-to-face with the people who are recipients, distributors and designers of development programs. I flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, last Tuesday with a few of my colleagues, and my time here so far has yet again allowed me to meet up with some really impressive people who have devoted parts (or all) of their lives to making their country a more healthy, stable and just place.
Take Sister Suzan, the head of the antenatal clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath “Bara” Hospital on the outskirts of the Soweto slum. She’s worked at Bara for 35 years — through apartheid, through the emergence of the HIV pandemic, through the previous government’s refusal to allow antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, and (most notably of late) through major progress.
When AIDS first hit Soweto, mothers who were pregnant couldn’t get drugs to prevent the spread of HIV to their babies or to protect themselves. In the early 2000s, a single dose of treatment (nevirapine) was available for the babies, but mothers struggled to access treatment early enough to stay healthy, and as many as 50 percent of babies were still born HIV-positive. Now, all mothers who come to Bara can receive treatment and counseling services from Sister Suzan and her staff, and rates of mother-to-child transmission of HIV have been reduced to less than 5 percent across Soweto.
Grassroot Soccer staff members
Or, take the staff of Grassroot Soccer (GRS), a motley and energetic crew of both South Africans and Americans on year-long internships. GRS taps into the energy of thousands of children ages 10 to 19 who aspire to be star athletes and teaches them the life skills they’ll need to prevent the spread of HIV and to feel empowered along the way. When we weren’t kicking around soccer balls on the field, we heard impressive testimonies from the staff members — many of who became emotional when describing their commitment to the work they did on a daily basis, often having seen the devastating impact of HIV in their communities and families firsthand.
There are not enough blog posts to profile all of the Sister Suzans here. In less than a week, we’ve met up with health experts, brave AIDS activists, innovative thinkers — and they all have a lot of great advice for ONE on how we can be smarter advocates. Each of these people has one other thing in common — they are working on development projects that have benefited from US foreign assistance.
In fact, the message we’ve heard over and over is that US funding for programs like PEPFAR and the Global Fund helped to lay the groundwork for massive scale up of health efforts and a more sustainable path for the South African government to adopt a majority of the responsibility for health services themselves (another ONE colleague in Jo’burg, Josh Lozman, will have more on that in a later blog post).
So, it was with great anxiety that we received news this week that the House Appropriators had submitted massive cuts to the international affairs budget.
Like the catchy words used by the development community, budget cuts are often abstractions that disguise the true negative impact they make. It’s hard to conceptualize what less money means when it’s just a series of numbers (can you really tell the difference between $200 million and $190 million on paper?).
But this week has reminded me that when we think budget cuts, we should think about what it means for Sister Suzan’s ability to ensure that all mothers can prevent their babies from being born with HIV. We should think about what it means for the jobs of South Africans and Americans alike, working at GRS to ensure that the next generation of kids can have lower rates of HIV and higher rates of education and skills. We should think about what it means for the civil society groups and doctors who are doing selfless work every day to make sure people don’t have to suffer from diseases that aren’t even a nuisance in the western world. Because Americans have been generous and bold with our foreign aid investments, and our partners in the developing world can’t afford for us to hide behind the abstractions in this critical moment.
In recent years there has been real progress in efforts to improve livelihoods and fight poverty and disease. Although affected by the global recession, African economies bounced back quickly and are amongst the fastest growing in the world.
But despite this progress, too many still live in extreme poverty. And even those who don’t fall within the technical definition of poverty often suffer as a result of poor governance and a lack of opportunity.
Yet balanced against these challenges are real signs of hope.
Rapid advances in technology – together with our greater understanding of how to harness it – are accelerating the ability of citizens to demand improvements in the services their government provides, just as they are enabling governments to improve the supply of services to their citizens.
New technologies are also enabling other progress: entrepreneurs can expand their markets to reach the most marginalised people, and the most remote producers can sell their goods at fairer prices because their mobile phones allow them to find out the real market rate. And with these developments come the hope of a more equitable form of growth in years to come.
It is within this context that ONE will be hosting a dynamic discussion on the role of transparency and technology in promoting and driving economic development in Johannesburg on 15 February. The ONE Africa Symposium 2011 will feature several speakers in short inspirational 10-minute presentations about ideas that will help shape ONE’s work.
We will hear from students, policy makers, technology experts, academics and creatives, from all over Africa. Together we’ll highlight innovations that can drive increased transparency and accountability in governments and corporations. Throughout the symposium, we hope to amplify ideas that can inform policy makers and inspire entrepreneurs and activists. These ideas could ultimately transform Africa.
I’ll hope you join us and follow the conversation on Twitter via the #ONEsymposium hashtag.
On tour in South Africa, Daughtry visited the US-supported Anovo Clinic and the Nike Training Center in Soweto with ONE’s Africa Director Sipho Moyo. Anova Clinic focuses on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and the Nike Training Center is a place where children in Soweto train for soccer and learn more about HIV prevention and treatment — Nike is a partner of (RED). Stay tuned for more updates from Daughtry’s time in South Africa. Here are two photos from their trip:
On tour in South Africa, Daughtry visits (RED) partner Nike’s Training Center in Soweto, with ONE African Director Dr. Sipho Moyo and Lynette Mollett, Brand Events Manager for Nike Football South Africa.
In South Africa on tour, Daughtry and ONE African Director Dr. Sipho Moyo visit the U.S.-supported Anova Clinic in Zoyo, Soweto, which focuses on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
In honor of USAID’s Education Week, here’s some uplifting news on African education:
According to today’s report in The New York Times, a growing movement of parents, educators and philanthropists has banded together to strengthen the education system for poor and working-class students in South Africa. As a result, new private schools like Leap are “springing up” to serve this niche market.
The Leap schools — which, according to the Times, function a bit like charter schools — have adjusted the curriculum to fit the students’ needs. The school offers extra support for national matriculation exams, instill a fierce work ethic and provide a “life orientation” class to help students air out their personal problems.
These “charter” schools are just one part of South Africa’s up-and-coming education movement — but it’s good to see that concerned citizens are taking the matter into their own hands. Take a look at the story and read more about education on our issues page.
Billionaires Balk at Buffett and Gates Initiative – A brouhaha has been brewing in China amid rampant speculation that Chinese billionaires are dodging invitations to a banquet hosted by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett later this month… because they are nervous about being hit up for donations. (ABC News)
Uneasy Calm Returns to Mozambique After Last Week’s Violence – The head of news and current affairs at Mozambique television told VOA an uneasy calm has returned to the capital, Maputo, and surrounding areas hit last week by violent protests over rising prices that left at least 13 dead and hundreds injured. (VOA)
Four million poor children dying ‘of neglect’ – Save the Children says there have been four million preventable child deaths over the past 10 years because states have failed to help the poorest. (BBC)
Nigeria army in Maiduguri after ‘Boko Haram attacks’ - The army is conducting joint patrols with the police in Nigeria’s northern city of Maiduguri after a wave of killings blamed on the Islamist sect, Boko Haram. The police have also banned riding motorcycles at night as several of the shootings were carried out by people on motorbikes. Twelve people, including seven policemen, have died in the past month. (BBC)
South Africa Unions’ Strike Suspended – South Africa’s trade unions Monday suspended an almost three-week-old strike by hundreds of thousands of government workers that had closed schools and hamstrung ambitious new efforts to expand urgently needed medical services in the region’s richest but most inequitable economy. (NY Times)
New study finds links between breastfeeding and HIV transmission – HIV-positive women who are breastfeeding should not be given vitamin A supplements because it increases the risk of transmitting the AIDS virus to their infants, according to a new study. (Thomas Maugh II, L.A. Times)
Rwanda contests report on army – Rwanda has threatened to withdraw its troops from U.N. peacekeeping operations if it publishes a report accusing the Rwandan Army of committing genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s, Rwanda’s foreign minister said. (AP)
Regional TB experts meet in Rwanda – A regional Tuberculosis (TB) control workshop kicked off in Kigali this week to step up the effectiveness and commitment to curb the second deadliest disease in Africa. (Bosco Asiimwe, AllAfrica.com)
Niger flooding displaces nearly 200,000 – Heavy rains in Niger have displaced nearly 200,000 in recent weeks, the U.N. says, calling on donors and aid agencies to send shelter material and other supplies after a slow response, particularly in rural areas. (CNN)
Church leaders to discuss well-being of Africa – A delegation of African Bishops and development experts are meeting with European political leaders this week to discuss efforts to improve African communities ahead of the Millennium Development Goals U.N. Summit in September. (AllAfrica.com)
New wage offer made in SA labor strike – South Africa’s government has made a new wage offer to striking state workers to end a labor dispute that has raised investor concerns over Africa’s largest economy. (Jon Herskovitz, Reuters)
Labor unrest empties South African hospitals – The nationwide strike of public employees in South Africa has paralyzed hospitals and schools across the nation, undercutting major drives to combat AIDS and TB and to repair a deeply troubled education system. (Celia Dugger, New York Times)
U.N. Congo report offers new view on genocide – A forthcoming UN report states that the Rwandan military and their rebel allies massacred ethnic Hutus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda. (Howard French, New York Times)
Big Pharma not to blame in Africa, says director – The International Policy Network’s Alec Van Gelder argues that global health experts should demand more investment in health infrastructure and drug availability rather than blaming the patent rights of “Big Pharma” for Africa’s worsening health crisis. (Wall Street Journal)
UN Summit focuses on mothers and babies – The world can win the fight against AIDS, but it’s failing to save the lives of mothers and babies. That’s the message from a UN health summit in Melbourne this week focused on tackling the world’s greatest health problems. (Cathy Alexander, The Sydney Morning Herald)
Turning to censorship betrays South Africans– The Guardian slams the proposed laws restricting the media in South Africa, highlighting the media’s vital watchdog role, and arguing that the legislations smacks of diversionary tactics given the country’s other social and economic issues. (The Guardian)
