Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blairdelivered a speech today at the Times CEO Summit Africa in London, claiming that with the right support and policies, Africa can end its dependence on aid within a generation. With Africa’s new-found confidence and optimism, the continent is now at the position to overcome its challenges and focus on the future.
To help illustrate Africa’s changing attitudes toward aid from foreign governments, he used a powerful statistic from ONE’s new report, “Small Change, Big Difference,” an analysis of UK foreign aid, during his remarks:
“And aid has helped with governance too: according to a report released today by the global campaigners ONE, by 2015 UK aid alone will help 44.9 million more people to vote in freer and fairer elections.”
Mr. Blair, who founded the Africa Governance Initiative, works with African countries at critical turning points –- like Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Liberia –- to advance good governance and alleviate poverty. Read more about his organization here.
Tens of thousands of supporters of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), rallied to celebrate the ANC’s 100th birthday this weekend. The ANC was established in 1912 in the central South African city of Bloemfontein, where the celebrations were held.
ANC members during the early days
The ANC is credited with being the first inclusive African liberation movement, uniting South Africans from diverse ethnic and economic groups. The ANC led the opposition to apartheid, the state-enforced racial segregation that persisted in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.
The government’s ban on organized opposition meant the ANC was soon classified as a terrorist organization, and many top ANC leaders spent decades in South Africa’s prisons. Most notably, Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison before leading negotiations that led South Africa to a multi-racial democracy.
I came away from Busan feeling a bit queasy. Not because of the week-long jet lag and lack of sleep, or because Busan has been desperately disappointing for aid effectiveness. It has not, although it remains to be seen whether it will be remembered as the last whimper of the aid effectiveness agenda or the first hurrah of a global partnership for effective development cooperation.
The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness isn’t even finished yet, but we can already log big wins for transparent and accountable aid. In Secretary Clinton’s keynote address at the forum in South Korea, she officially announced that the United States would be signing the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), something that ONE has been pushing hard on in advance of Busan. As ONE’s Executive Director, Sheila Nix said:
“Secretary Clinton’s announcement that the United States will join the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) reinforces America’s leadership in making foreign assistance more transparent and accountable. Being open and clear about how the U.S. is spending foreign aid—where and on what—will help make aid more efficient and accountable to US taxpayers and will maximize resources to help those living on less than $1.25 lift themselves out of poverty.”
Last week in Tanzania, nearly 100 civil society groups and 12 international organizations, including the International Budget Partnership, Greenpeace, ONE and many smaller organizations from across the globe, launched a global effort to make public budgets transparent, participatory and accountable. Budgets are the most critical tool that governments have to address problems like poverty, provide critical services like education and health care, and invest in their country’s future. When the political speeches end, it is how governments actually manage funds to meet their promises and priorities that matters.
The Global Movement for Budget Transparency, Accountability, and Participation envisions public finance systems that make all budget information easily accessible, provide meaningful opportunities for citizens and civil society to participate in budget decisions and oversight throughout the process, and include strong institutions to hold governments accountable for how they raise and spend the public’s money.
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) released its inaugural special report analyzing the effects of the “Arab Spring” on democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. Unprecedented popular protests in North Africa demanding greater political freedom, dignity and economic opportunity have captivated the world’s attention since they burst onto the global stage in January 2011. The subsequent resignations of long-time autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia, the toppling of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, and a shift toward constitutional monarchy in Morocco have dramatically reshaped state-citizen relations in this long static region.
Complex regulations and high start-up costs can be a major barrier to business growth and development in Africa. However, the World Bank’s 9th Doing Business report, “Doing Business in a More Transparent World” released last week found that “over the last year a record number of governments in sub-Saharan Africa changed their economy’s regulatory environment to make it easier for domestic firms to start up and operate.”
Edwina Assan, who runs EdTek Batiks, sells colorful wax batik fabrics in Accra, Ghana.
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
