Among its recommendation, the report addresses the need to transform Africa's agriculture improved livelihoods and economic empowerment through better politcies and and heavy investment in improved seedlings, irrigated farming, use of fertilisers and increased access to finance.
jeudi 30 mai 2013
The MDG Report 2013:Assessing the Progress in Africa Towards the Millenium Development Goals
The MDG Report 2013: Assessing progress in Africa Towards the Millennium Development Goals concludes that while Africa is the world's second fastest growing region, its rate of poverty reduction is insufficient to reach the target of halving extreme poverty by 2015. The report, which focuses on the issues and challenges regarding food security, asserts that such as malnutrition and hunger among children are obstacles to achieving the target.
Among its recommendation, the report addresses the need to transform Africa's agriculture improved livelihoods and economic empowerment through better politcies and and heavy investment in improved seedlings, irrigated farming, use of fertilisers and increased access to finance.
Among its recommendation, the report addresses the need to transform Africa's agriculture improved livelihoods and economic empowerment through better politcies and and heavy investment in improved seedlings, irrigated farming, use of fertilisers and increased access to finance.
mercredi 29 mai 2013
The 2013 Data Report: Financing the Fight for Africa's transformation (en français)
À moins de 1000 jours de la date-butoir des Objectifs du
Millénaire pour le Développement et dans un contexte économique mondial difficile,
bien des États pauvres et à moyen-revenu ont fait des progrès importants dans l’atteinte
de ces objectifs. Ce rapport de l’ONG, ONE, montre les disparités importantes dans
les pays d’une même région, particulièrement en Afrique subsaharienne, qui
entrave la moyenne de ces blocs régionaux.
Pour atteindre ces objectifs à temps, ce rapport de ONE
examine les progrès des États individuels dans la poursuite des 8 Objectifs
Millénaires pour le Développement, avec une emphase sur l’Afrique
subsaharienne, et compare ces progrès aux dépenses encourues par les gouvernements
africains et les bailleurs de fonds internationaux dans trois domaines, aptes à
réduire la pauvreté : la santé, l’éducation et l’agriculture.
Ce rapport souligne l’importance de bâtir un momentum afin d’atteindre
les cibles dans les deux ans et demi à venir. Une collaboration entre les
gouvernements africains, les gouvernements donneurs et les parties prenantes internationales
sera impérative pour financer et s’assurer de la transparence et de la
responsabilisation politique dans l’utilisation de ces ressources pour le
développement.
Le rapport intégral est disponible ici
Le rapport intégral est disponible ici
Coordonnateur Wikiprogress Africa
The 2013 Data Report: Financing the Fight for Africa's transformation
At less than 1000 days from the deadline of the
Millennium Development Goals and with a challenging global economic
environment, many poor and middle-income countries have made and are making
steady progress towards the achievements of these targets. This report by the
NGO ONE, shows that disparity between countries hinders the average performance
of regions, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In order to achieve the target
on time, the ONE’s 2013 DATA Report examines the recent progress of individual
countries against eight MDGs targets, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, and
compares this progress against African government and donor spending in three key
poverty-reducing sectors: health, education and agriculture.
The report stresses the need to build a
momentum to achieve the targets in the next two and a half years. Collaboration
between African governments, donor governments and international stakeholders
will be needed to sustain the financing and to ensure the transparent and
accountable use of all resources for development.
mardi 28 mai 2013
Africa: Making the most of its natural resources
This
post by Jan Rielaender, an economist at the OECD Development Centre, marks the launch of the African Economic Outlook 2013.
Africa has
made tremendous progress over the last 13 years, going from “hopeless” to “aspiring”, in the words of The
Economist. Certainly, Africa’s pace of growth has been impressive,
averaging 5.1% of GDP per year – much faster than most OECD countries. Some
have dismissed this simply as reflecting only the recent boom in natural
resource prices. They point to the fact that prices of most commodities –
agricultural, mineral and energy – doubled or even tripled over the same
period, and warn that Africa’s growth will come to an end once resource prices
taper off, as it is happening now.
This
viewpoint misses the real story on two counts. First, natural resources and
their improved terms of trade contributed only a third of Africa’s growth.
That’s quite a lot, but not enough to make Africa’s growth exclusively a
resources story. Instead, much of Africa’s success is actually a productivity
story. Applying new methods of measurement, the African Economic
Outlook 2013 finds that Africa’s labour productivity increased by
close to 3% during the 2000s, with almost half this attributable to workers
moving to new activities with higher productivity. By contrast, Latin America’s
productivity growth was less than 1%.
Second,
rather than being the exclusive drivers of growth, Africa’s natural resources
are contributing less than they could do. Agricultural commodities are a
striking example: 24% of the world’s agricultural land is in Africa, but only
9% of agricultural production. With regards to mining, spending on exploration
in Africa has remained below $5 per square kilometre; in Canada, Australia and
Latin America the average is $65 per square kilometre.
So the
story of Africa’s growth and natural resources is a mixed bag: On the upside,
Africa’s growth rests on a much more diversified base than is often assumed. On
the downside, Africa failed to make the most of its natural resource wealth
during the recent boom. Had it done better, overall growth and the type
of structural transformation that can provide more and better jobs would have
been higher.
“Hang on,”
you might say now. “Isn’t it conventional wisdom that for development to take
off a country must leave commodities behind and focus on building factories?
Shouldn’t it then be a good thing to leave most resources in the ground?” Not
quite. If managed well, natural resources can play a crucial role in
transforming economies. This can happen through three channels:
diversification, capabilities and revenues.
Diversification,
which essentially means the range and variety of products a country exports, is
an important driver of growth in developing countries. Given
the right conditions, natural resources can be an important source of
diversification. Chile, for example, used proceeds from copper to invest in new
agricultural commodities, such as salmon, that it previously did not export.
Malaysia invested its oil revenues in forestry and palm oil, building very
successful industries. Indonesia used oil revenues to supply fertilizer to
farmers and develop new crops, building the basis for the country’s green
revolution.
Capabilities
are the cornerstone of structural transformation. In simple terms, these
represent the things a country “can do” – its technological know-how and
skills, for example, or the quality of its public services in areas like
infrastructure, education and health, and much, much more. Countries with
strong and diversified natural resource production have more opportunities to
develop their capabilities. Take South Africa, which went from supplying simple
tools to its miners to become an internationally competitive supplier to the
world’s mining industry. Chile successfully developed local know-how on
adapting mining technology to local conditions, while Nigeria has started to
build up a supplier industry for its resource sectors.
Capabilities
make the link between the production of basic commodities and diversification
at large. On average, the more unprocessed commodities a country exports
competitively, the more manufactured products it exports competitively. For
example, South Africa exported 46 raw commodities competitively in 2005 and 197
manufactured final products in 2010. Angola only exported one commodity (oil)
competitively in 2005 and 24 manufactured final products in 2010.
Finally,
the third channel – revenues – offers arguably the greatest benefit from
extractive industries in the short to medium term. Invested wisely, the
proceeds from mining and petroleum production can be used to fund many of the
crucial inputs for structural transformation such as education and health, as
well as infrastructure and strong public services.
So, instead
of putting natural resources aside, African countries should look to them for
their strengths and the opportunities they offer to create a diversified
economy.
This blog was originally posted on the OECD Insights blog, here.
Jan Rielaender
OECD Development Centre
African Economic Outlook 2013: Structural Transformation and Natural Resources
The African
Economic Outlook 2013 was launched on May 27th during the Marrakech conference.
Co-published by the African Development Bank (AfDB), OECD’s Develppment Centre,
the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations
Development Program, this report outlines the promising trend of economic
growth in African countries but addresses the failure in the reduction of
poverty, unemployment, income inequality, and among some countries the
deterioration of health and education levels.
Through the
exploitation of natural resources and structural transformation, the benefits
of economic growth could be shared among the population. Improving the
well-being of citizens, which should be of the end of economic growth, could be
achieved through 4 priorities:
- Increasing the access to markets (through regional integration) in order to achieve the structural transformation
- Sound land management, effective tax systems and incentives to cause an acceleration and diversification of the sources of growth.Improving the transport, fertilizers and more resistant seeds in order to increase the productivity. Africa holds 24% of the world’s agricultural land, but accounts for only 9% of its production.
- Ensuring that a fair share of the proceeds from natural resources are invested in people’s capacities to take up new jobs in value-added sectors.
- Finally, the report suggests that African countries can foster change and economic diversification actively, for example through corridors of development around power, transport and communication lines. Stable and transparent use of budgets is key to achieving that goal.
To read the whole report, click here
lundi 27 mai 2013
Perspectives économiques en Afrique 2013:Transformation structurelle et ressources naturelles
Les Perspectives économiques en Afrique (2013) ont été
publiées le 27 mai 2013. Le thème de cette année portait sur la transformation structurelle et les ressources naturelles. Cette co-publication de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD), le
Centre de développement de l’OCDE, la Commission économique pour l’Afrique (CEA)
et le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement (PNUD), souligne que
les perspectives économiques sont prometteuses, mais ne suffisent pas à réduire
la pauvreté, le chômage, les inégalités de revenus ni, dans certains pays, à
enrayer la détérioration des niveaux de santé et de l’éducation.
D’après le rapport, c’est en exploitant mieux et davantage
la richesse de leurs sols que les bénéfices de la croissance économique
pourront être distribués à l’ensemble de la population. Atteindre cet objectif,
qui est d’améliorer le bien-être des populations africaines, passe ainsi par 4
priorités.
- Favoriser l’accès au marché afin de mettre en œuvre un processus de transformation structurelle s’appuyant sur les ressources naturelles. L’intégration régionale constitue ainsi un moyen de parvenir à cette fin.
- Optimiser l’exploitation des ressources naturelles (y compris l’agriculture) par une meilleure gestion de la propriété foncière, des systèmes d’imposition équilibrés et des incitatifs à la diversification des sources de la croissance. Améliorer la qualité de l’engrais ou des semences constitue une avenue : l’Afrique détient 24 pour cent des terres agricoles mondiales, mais elle ne représente que 9 pour cent de la production.
- Les retombées de l’exploitation des ressources naturelles et des industries extractives doivent bénéficier à l’ensemble de la population et cela passe par la formation de la main d’œuvre, afin qu’elle trouve à s’employer dans de nouvelles activités à plus forte valeur ajoutée.
- Le renforcement de l’infrastructure (énergie, transport et communication) constitue un moyen de promouvoir la diversification des sources de croissance. Et cela ppasse par une dépense budgétaire prévisible et transparente selon ce rapport.
Pour consulter l'édition de poche, cliquez ici
“Fixing Mali: Accountability a Prerequisite”
This post
by Jamie Pleydell-Bouverie addresses the challenge of governance in crisis-torn
Mali. This blog does not reflect the views of the Wikiprogress Africa Network partners.
As Mali
gears up for elections in July amidst the phased French withdrawal that is
currently underway, the next three months seem to be the overriding focus of
policymakers, commentators and stakeholders. This is understandable. Mali is at
a crucial juncture as it tries to consolidate French military success, provide
security, re-establish constitutional order and deal with a plethora of
humanitarian issues. But any sustainable fix to Mali’s multifarious crisis will
have to address its root causes.
Of these,
one of the most important – yet sometimes overlooked – is Mali’s longstanding
history of impunity. In the North, painful memories of unpunished crimes from
previous conflicts have shaped the collective consciousness of people who feel
ostracized and neglected by the central government. Mali is a prime example of
the power that memories of unpunished crimes have to resurface and rekindle
conflict. Stories of massacres that were never investigated in the 1963
rebellion and crimes that were never redressed in the 1990s rebellion have been
passed down to a new generation of fighters (see ICG’s 2012 report Avoiding Escalation). Cyclical conflict will likely
continue in Mali if the cycle of impunity is not broken. It is crucial,
therefore, that there is a meaningful effort to investigate instances of abuse
that have occurred and hold perpetrators accountable.
Since the
onset of Mali’s crisis in October 2011, serious abuses have been committed by
Islamist groups (AQIM, MUJAO and Ansar Dine), the MNLA, and Malian forces.
Abuses by Islamist groups include beatings, floggings and arbitrary detentions
against those engaged in behaviour deemed to be “haram” or forbidden. Limb
amputations and executions have been meted out as punishment, unique cultural
and religious heritage has been systematically destroyed, and the
Islamists’ use of child soldiers has been
prolific. The
summary execution of an estimated 70 Malian soldiers in the town of Aguelhoc –
the “single most serious crime of this conflict” according to Human Rights Watch – was reportedly carried out
by Islamists, possibly members of AQIM. Extensive abuses by the MNLA and Arab
militias have also been documented, including pillaging, sexual abuse and the
use of child soldiers.
Countless
abuses by the Malian army have been recorded as well. Following Captain
Sanogo’s coup on March 22 2012, effective command and control of the
security services seriously deteriorated. Numerous instances of torture and
forced disappearances were documented, particularly against “red beret”
soldiers who were allegedly implicated in the counter-coup attempt on April 30.
The execution of 16 Islamic preachers on their way to a religious conference in
Bamako on September 8 is amongst the more shocking abuses carried out by
the military. More recently, retaliatory violence by government troops in the
north has surged.
Bringing
Mali’s well-established culture of impunity to a close will be essential for
the attainment of sustainable peace. It is particularly important that
accountability applies to members of the security forces, including senior
figures such as Captain Sanogo, who has been implicated by some NGOs in torture and enforced disappearances. There are some encouraging signs.
Six soldiers were recently recalled to Bamako from Timbuktu following the
disappearance of several civilians. These soldiers are due to stand before a
Military Tribunal, which will be a first in Mali’s history. But if Mali is to break its cycle
of impunity, this cannot remain an exception to the rule. Accountability
must become the rule.
Any
temptation to consider offering an amnesty for serious crimes in the name of
reconciliation must be avoided. Reconciliation and justice are not antithetical
concepts: Justice is a path to reconciliation. Indeed, the effective work of
Mali’s National Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission – led by Mali’s former
Minister of Defence, Mohamed Salia Sokona – will depend on the administration
of even-handed justice. This, in turn, will require strengthening Mali’s key
institutions – such as the judiciary, the police and army – which have long
failed to be effective guarantors of the rule of law. Mali is in desperate need
of institutions that can provide security and redress, which makes the task of
dismantling Mali’s architecture of impunity more a project of construction than
destruction.
The need
for thinking and acting in multiple time horizons is essential. When countries
are in crisis, policymaking is too often overtaken by events, meaning that
longer term goals get ignored or put on hold. This must not happen in Mali. If
those factors that gave rise to Mali’s crisis – including its deep-seated
culture of impunity – are not addressed, then Mali will still be a sad example
of cyclical conflict in years to come.
Jamie Pleydell-Bouverie,
MA Candidate at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
This blog first appeared on the Sahel Blog site, here.
Jamie Pleydell-Bouverie,
MA Candidate at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
This blog first appeared on the Sahel Blog site, here.
mardi 21 mai 2013
South Sudan at a crossroads: humanitarian response in a changing context
Humanitarian
needs are still strong in South Sudan, despite the signing of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement between Sudan and South Sudan in 2005.Since 2011, over 187,000
refugees have arrived in Unity and Upper Nile States from Sudan and continuing
inter-communal violence in Jonglei has affected more than 170,000 Southern
Sudanese. The 2013 Consolidated Appeal for South Sudan estimates that an
estimated 4.6 million people will need food and livelihoods support this year.
To address
these issues, the Overseas Development Institute will seek to examine the
humanitarian challenges that remain in South Sudan, from the drivers of
conflict in Jonglei to constraints on humanitarian access. Speakers based in
London and Juba, will reflect on these challenges based partly on their own
experiences, through a live videocast.
This event
will happen on May, 22nd 2013 11:00 - 13:00 (GMT+01 (BST))
Speakers:
IN JUBA
Dr Luka Biong Deng – Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, JFK School of Government and former representative of the President of the Republic of South Sudan on the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee
Toby Lanzer – UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Development and Humanitarian Coordinator, South Sudan
Dr. Jok Madut Jok – Executive Director of the Sudd Institute and Undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Government of South Sudan
IN LONDON
Sandrine Tiller – Programmes Advisor: Humanitarian Issues, Médecins Sans Frontières UK
Sarah Pickwick – Policy Officer, Tearfund
Chair:
Sara Pantuliano – Head, Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI
IN JUBA
Dr Luka Biong Deng – Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, JFK School of Government and former representative of the President of the Republic of South Sudan on the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee
Toby Lanzer – UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Development and Humanitarian Coordinator, South Sudan
Dr. Jok Madut Jok – Executive Director of the Sudd Institute and Undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Government of South Sudan
IN LONDON
Sandrine Tiller – Programmes Advisor: Humanitarian Issues, Médecins Sans Frontières UK
Sarah Pickwick – Policy Officer, Tearfund
Chair:
Sara Pantuliano – Head, Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI
For more
information about this event, please visit this website
Beyond the Millennium Development Goals: Towards an OECD contribution to the post-2015 agenda
This overview paper – the first in a series of contributions – outlines a preliminary proposal for a contribution to the post-2015 era which reflects the OECD mission of supporting governments in designing “better policies for better lives”. It represents the Organisation’s commitment – reflected in the recently-launched OECD Strategy on Development – to engage with member countries and emerging and developing countries; to share expertise and knowledge through mutual learning, respecting countries’ ownership of their own development; and to strive towards more coherent approaches to development.
The proposal, consisting of 11 elements intends to help provide a global, holistic, measurable
and meaningful development framework. It involves a two-level approach:
1. a global level with a small number of high profile goals and targets
2. a national level consisting of goals, targets and indicators defined and tailored to the diverse starting points, specific contexts, priorities and capacities of each country
This brief report is a preliminary proposal and isnot intended to be an exhaustive list of OECD contributions, but a draft list of ideas for where the OECD could best start to get involved. More detailed papers will be produced in co-operation with different OECD directorates, reflecting in detail the 11 elements outlined here.
samedi 18 mai 2013
La semaine en gouvernance
Bonjour à tous et bienvenue à cette revue consacrée aux
publications et initiatives portant sur la gouvernance. Au cours de cette
semaine s’est déroulée la conférence sur le Mali à Bruxelles, la journée mondiale des télécommunications et
de la société de l'information ainsi que le rapport sur l’état de la société
civile dans le monde de CIVICUS.
- Le rapport sur l’État de la Société Civile a été publié au début de ce mois par l’Alliance CIVICUS. Il appelle à créer un environnement propice aux sociétés civiles et inclut près de contributions d’experts et de leaders de mouvements civils d’à travers le monde. Ces experts ont montré les bonnes pratiques et les défis à relever à long terme pour les citoyens, et la société civile mondiale.
- La conférence des donateurs pour le développement du Mali a eu lieu ce mardi à Bruxelles. La conférence (co-organisée par l'Union Européenne et les gouvernements français et malien) vise à dégager des priorités d'action pour le Mali et la communauté internationale ainsi qu'à fédérer et coordonner l'appui au développement et à la stabilité politique pour 2013-2014.
- En marge de cette conférence, Oxfam a publié un rapport appelant à un nouveau contrat de développement au Mali. La transparence et la responsabilisation politique devant être à la base de ce nouveau contrat entre le gouvernement malien et ses habitants d’une part et d’autre part, entre le gouvernement malien et les bailleurs internationaux.
- Ce 14 Mai, l’Overseas Development Institute a accueilli un forum avec pour thème, « Tackling poverty : can citizens make a difference? ». À travers une analyse des procédés innovants par lesquels la société civile combat la corruption et promeut la transparence et par une étude des recherches et l’expérience de groupes issus de contextes variés, le panel tentera de déterminer si la participation civique a eu un impact et, si oui, pourquoi.
- La journée des télécommunications et de la société de l’information a été célébrée ce 17 mai. Ce jour met en relief les opportunités que l’utilisation de l’Internet et des autres technologies de l’information et de la communication peut apporter aux sociétés et aux économies. Suivez-en les développements en suivant ce hashtag, #WTISD.
- Dans l’optique de cette journée, le think-tank Brookings a organisé un forum sur le rôle des technologies mobiles dans l’éradication de la pauvreté et dans la promotion de l’entreprenariat. Ce forum étudiait les moyens par lesquels, les appareils mobiles pouvaient aider au développement des petites et moyennes entreprises et de sortir les gens de la pauvreté.
- Wikigender met le focus sur les Femmes et les Élections. Wikiprogress met l’accent sur la manière dont les femmes font entendre leur voix, en tant qu’élues ou en votant. Des cas relevants de contexte différents seront ainsi mis en relief.
- Ce 21 Mai, sera célébré la Journée Mondiale de la diversité culturelle pour le dialogue et le développement. Instituée en 2002, ce jour constitue une opportunité d’approfondir notre compréhension des principes de la diversité culturelle et d’apprendre à mieux vivre ensemble.
Passez une agréable fin de semaine et restez connectés pour
plus de nouvelles sur la gouvernance!!!
vendredi 17 mai 2013
Governance Week in Review
This
Week in Review by Ousmane Aly
DIALLO is part of the Wikiprogress Governance Series
Hi everyone and welcome to another review of governance-themed publications and
initiatives. This week saw the Mali donor conference at Brussels, World
Telecommunication and Information Society Day and the 2013 State of the Civil Society Report on
Wikiprogress.
- State of Civil Society Report was released earlier this month by the CIVICUS Alliance. This report which calls for an enabling environment for civil society, includes nearly 50 contributions from experts and civil society leaders from around the world. These experts highlighted good practices and challenges on the horizon for citizens and civil society globally.
- The Mali donor conference happened in Brussels this Tuesday. This event, co-organized by the Malian government, France and the European Union was the occasion for Mali to publicize its roadmap toward stability and security, as well as to build a momentum of support in the international community. More than 4 billion euros were pledged to achieve these goals.
- Ahead of this conference, Oxfam published a paper calling for a new development contract in Mali. Transparency and accountability should be at the roots of this new contract according to this report which also calls for more inclusion of the citizen into the decision-making progress.
- On May 14th, the Overseas Development Institute hosted a panel on « Tackling poverty : can citizens make a difference? ». By analysing innovative civil society initiatives to combat corruption and promote greater transparency and accountability and by drawing on research and experience from a variety of settings across the developing world, the panel will explore whether and how citizen participation has made a difference, and, critically, why.
- World Telecommunication and Information Society (WTISD) Day is being celebrated today (May 17th). This day serves to raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. Stay tuned by following #WTISD.
- Ahead of this day, the Brookings institution organized a forum on the role of Mobile Technology in Ending Poverty and Enabling Entrepreneurship.It aimed to investigate the means with which mobile devices could help foster entrepreneurship and small business development and other ways to uplift people out of poverty.
- Wikigender focuses on Women and Elections. Wikigender is spotlighting the place women have to play in election to carry their voices, as representatives and as voters. This ‘Special Focus’ looks at the role of women in elections, drawing on articles from various situations around the world.
- On May 21st, will be celebrated World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. Established in 2002, the day day provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to learn to live together better.
Have a good week-end and stay tuned for more governance and
Africa-related publications.
Follow us on Twitter (@wp_africa)
and on Facebook (here)
jeudi 16 mai 2013
Public sector innovation and e-government
The ongoing transition in Egypt has highlighted the
strategic importance of new and empowering uses of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) by government, citizens and business. To
consolidate its democratic transition, Egypt needs to continue to move forward
with public sector reforms. A better use of ICTs in the public sector can help
achieve this goal.
The “OECD E-Government Review of Egypt” assesses Egyptian e-government policies and implementation, and makes recommendations for future actions. The review was conducted from May 2011 to October 2012.
The report highlights Egypt’s progress and proposes that to enhance the use of ICTs in the public sector, Egypt should:
• focus on the added value of using ICTs, for example by ensuring uptake of online services, increasing awareness of their availability, and enhancing the deployment of mobile platforms;
• improve co-ordination of e-government policies across the government by clarifying responsibilities, formalizing co-ordination mechanisms and monitoring progress and impact;
• ensure and consolidate implementation capacities by boosting skills at all levels of government and by finding a common approach to managing ICT projects;
• use ICTs to support open government initiatives, particularly in the areas of transparency and access to information, the fight against corruption, accountability, and citizens’ participation and trust.
To read the assessment and proposals for action, click here
mercredi 15 mai 2013
Mali: A New Development Contract: What kind of aid is needed to end the crisis?
Mali is rich in mineral resources such as gold yet one
Malian in five lives in extreme poverty. The 2012 conflict has not arranged the
situation concerning well-being and human rights;communities became more
vulnerable, particularly in the North. With the threat of a food crisis looming
ahead in the near future and a weakened central authority, this Oxfam briefing
calls for a new development contract that will foster transparency and
accountability between the Malian government and its citizens. Including the
citizens in the decision-making process ought to be done, according to the
report.
Furthermore, donors could play an important role in this
process by committing themselves to this country's stability and its citizen's
well-being. This commitment could have a positive impact on good governance and
transparency and by assessing their aid programs in the last twenty years,
donors could determine how to help Mali build lasting peace and corruption-free
country instead of fuelling conflict.
The Donor Conference in Brussels on 15 May 2013 is thus
viewed as an opportunity to set in motion a new development contract for Mali.
To download the report, see here
Wikiprogress Africa Coordinator
Conférence des Donateurs pour le Développement du Mali
La conférence des donateurs pour le Développement du Mali aura lieu à Bruxelles, le 15 mai 2013. Suite à la quasi-faillite de l'État malien et aux menaces des groupes islamistes armés, le Mali est au premier plan de l'actualité politique mondiale. La conférence (co-organisée par l'Union Européenne et les gouvernements français et malien) des donneurs vise à dégager des priorités d'action pour le Mali et la communauté internationale ainsi qu'à fédérer et coordonner l'appui au développement et à la stabilité politique pour 2013-2014. La présentation par les autorités maliennes des axes de développement prioritaires permettra d'aligner les programmes de soutien au développement du Mali élaborés et mis en œuvre par les acteurs nationaux et internationaux gouvernementaux et non-gouvernementaux engagés au Mali.
Pour consulter la note de concept élaborée par le Conseil du Patronat du Mali, cliquez ici
Pour consulter la feuille de route pour le Mali, cliquez ici
Pour consulter le plan pour la relance durable du Mali, cliquez ici
Coordonnateur Wikiprogress Africa
Mobile Technology’s Role in Combating Global Poverty and Enabling Entrepreneurship
Data from the World Bank show that one quarter of the world’s
population live at or below the poverty line (1.25$ per day). Lack of capital
to start small businesses and to save in order to invest is one of the barrier
preventing the uplifiting of people out out poverty. In the same time, we note
an increase in the use of mobile technology, which becomes a mean to make
monetary transfers, borrow microfinance loans or establish small enterprises.
As part of its Mobile Economy
Project, the Brookings Center’s Center for
Technology Innovation will host a forum to investigate the means with which
mobile devices could help foster entrepreneurship and small business
development and other ways to uplift people out of poverty.
This event will be live webcast. Follow the conversation
at #TechCTI
Wikiprogress Africa Coordinator
vendredi 10 mai 2013
Governance Week in Review
This
Week in Review by Ousmane Aly
DIALLO is part of Wikiprogress Governance Focus
Hi everyone
and welcome to this Governance-themed Week in Review. Highlights include the 2013 World Economic Forum on Africa, a
blog review by Oxfam UK’s Duncan Green of Matt Andrews’s book on institutional
reform in Development, the London Conference on the reconstruction of Somalia
and two reports on how to increase Africa’s competitiveness and improve the
well-being of its citizens.
- The New Prosperity: Strategies for Improving Well-Being in Subsaharan Africa by the Boston Consulting Group (in partnership with Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative) assesses the well-being of Sub-Saharan Africa's countries. Of the top thirty countries globally that have made the greatest improvements in well-being over the last five years, eight are from sub-Saharan Africa. The continent’s best performers married stable economic environments with good governance.
- The Final Communiqué of the London Somalia Conference addressed the necessity for the international community to accompany Somalia on its path towards institution-building, peace and stability. More than 300 million have pledged to involve themselves in reconstruction of the country.
- The World Economic Forum on Africa took place from May 8th to May 10th in Cape Town, South Africa. With the aim of “delivering Africa’s promise”, the forum tried to devise ways of sustaining and sharing Africa’s steady economic growth as well as how to create jobs for the youth. During this event, the Africa Competitiveness Report 2013 was released. The report promoted innovative private-public partnerships anchored to potential growth poles to maintain the self-sustaining industrialization of the continent and the creation of jobs, among other recommendations.
- Also, during the last day of this forum, the Africa Progress Panel released its annual report on progress in Africa. The report calls for more transparency and accountability in the continent’s mineral resources sector. Since the mineral industry is a major driver of economic growth and its revenues have not improved the health, nutrition and education of the local communities who live on top of the rich, mineral filled soil, the report called for an improvement in governance and transparency in the management of these commodities, as well as more accountability to the (local) populations. Between 2010 and 2012, bad management cost the Democratic Republic of Congo, nearly 1.3bn (twice the annual health and education budgets) in revenues, in this sector.
- Among this week’s blog highlights, Duncan Green of Oxfam UK reviewed, The Limits of International Reform in Development, by Matt Andrews. The book provides a résumé of the reasons why governance and institutional reforms put forward by aid agencies have failed in the past. It also proposes ways to do better in the domains of governance and state-building.
- Last week, World Press Freedom Day was celebrated. This year’s theme was “Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media”. There’s a growing need to safeguard the security of journalists that works with new mediums such as the web. These statistics show that more needs to be done in this domain.
We hope to
see you next week for more governance-related
articles.
Rapport sur les Progrès en Afrique 2013: Équités et Industries Extractives en Afrique
L’Africa Progress
Panel a publié son rapport annuel durant le dernier jour du Forum
économique Mondial sur l’Afrique. Parmi les recommandations énoncées dans ce
document, les membres du Panel pointent la nécessité pour les gouvernements d’améliore
leur gouvernance et
de renforcer leur capacité dans l’administration des ressources extractives. La
transparence et la responsabilisation devant être à la base des politiques publiques
dans ce secteur.
Le rapport montre que bien souvent, les communautés locales
qui vivent près de ces zones riches en ressources sont ignorées dans les
retombées de l’exploitation de ces matières premières. La croissance économique
dans bien des États se base sur l’exploitation de ces ressources mais elle ne
change en rien les performances économiques de ces États dans les domaines de
la santé,
de l’éducation ou
de la nutrition. Les membres du panel indiquent ainsi qu’il
est impératif de contenir cette inégalité par des dépenses plus équitables,
transparentes et par une inclusion des communautés locales dans ce domaine.
Africa Progress Report 2013: Equity in Extractives
The 2013 Africa Progress Panel Report was launched during
the World Economic Forum on Africa. Among he recommendations, the panel calls
African government to improve their governance and
strengthen their capacity in the management of extractive
industries.Furthermore, transparency and accountability must be the base of the
natural resources policies. Often, the local communities that lives next to, or
sit at the top, of the mineral resources are often bypassed in the spending of
the commodities's revenues. The report addresses the need to contain this
inequality by more equitable spending, more transparency through inclusion of
the local communities.
jeudi 9 mai 2013
Africa Competitiveness Report 2013
The Africa Competitiveness Report 2013 was published during the 2013
World Economic Forum on Africa. It is the fruit of a joint collaboration of the
World Bank Group, the African Development Bank and the World Economic Forum and
aims to present a policy vision that will help Africa improve the well-being of
its citizen by raising its competitiveness, diversifying its economic base and
creating jobs for its young and fast-urbanizing population.
By profiling the competitiveness of 38 out of Africa's 54 countries, the
report provides a comprehensive summary of the drivers of productivity and
competitiveness and addresses the impact that innovative public-private partnerships,
anchored to potential growth poles may have in the self-sustaining
industrialization of the continent, in the creation of jobs and greater
opportunities, as well as on regional integration.
Rapport sur la compétitivité en Afrique 2013
Le rapport biennal sur la compétitivité en Afrique a été
publié Durant le Forum Mondial sur l’Afrique. C’est le fruit de la collaboration
entre la Banque Mondiale, la Banque Africaine de Développement et le Forum Économique Mondial. Ce rapport se
donne pour ambition de présenter une série de politiques visionnaires qui
aideront l’Afrique à améliorer le bien-être de ses habitants en la rendant plus
compétitive, par une diversification de ses bases économiques, et par la
création d’emplois pour la jeunesse et sa population en pleine urbanisation.
En étudiant la compétitivité de 38 des 54 États africains,
le rapport offre un sommaire exhaustif sur les moteurs de la productivité et de
la compétitivité en Afrique et montre l’impact positif des partenariats
public-privés innovateurs (ancrés sur les pôles de croissance) peut avoir sur l’industrialisation
durable du continent, dans la création d’emplois et d’opportunités, ainsi que
dans l’intégration régionale.
mardi 7 mai 2013
Forum Économique Mondial sur l'Afrique
Le Forum
Économique Mondial sur l'Afrique aura lieu du 8 au 10 mai 2013 au Cap
en Afrique du Sud. Les prévisions pour 2012-2013 situent la croissance
économique de l'Afrique sub-saharienne pour 2012-2013 à 5%. Selon la taxonomie
de la Banque Mondiale, la moitié des États du continent africain sont devenus
des États à revenu moyen.En dépit de tous ces progrés, la volatilité des prix
des matières premières, l'inégalité croissante et le chômage des jeunes
attestent de la vulnérabilité de cette croissance.
Le thème de cet événement sera
"Delivering on Africa's Promise"; experts, décideurs politiques,
acteurs de la société civile se réuniront pour ébaucher les moyens d'une
croissance durable et partagée et pour favoriser l'intégration dans le système
mondial de l'Afrique en apportant des solutions à ces trois défis:
- L'accélération de la diversification économique
- L'accélération des infrastructures stratégiques.
- Et mettre à nu les talents de l'Afrique.
Pour plus d'informations,visitez le site web de
ladite conférence ici.
Coordonnateur Wikiprogress Africa
vendredi 3 mai 2013
The New Prosperity: Strategies for Improving Well-being in Sub-Saharan Africa
Cet article
d'Ousmane Aly Diallo, Coordonnateur de Wikiprogress Africa, fait partie du
focus de Wikiprogress sur la Gouvernance . Wikiprogress Africa se donne pour ambition d'être une plateforme
pour le partage de connaissances dans la mesure du progrès et du bien-être
en Afrique.
Cette
publication du Boston Consulting Group
(en partenariat avec le Tony Blair Africa
Governance Initiative) constitue une analyse du bien-être des sociétés d’Afrique
subsaharienne, ceci dans un contexte marqué par une croissance économique forte
et des défis significatifs comme le conflit et la pauvreté. Ce rapport, qui se
base sur la méthodologie du Sustainable
Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) qui considère le bien-être plutôt
que le PIB/capita, montre que des
progrès notables ont été faits par les pays de cette région, bien que le
bien-être de leurs citoyens soient en dessous des pays les plus riches. En
effet, 8 des 30 pays qui ont effectué le plus de progrès, au cours des 5 dernières années, dans le domaine du
bien-être de leurs habitants viennent de cette région. Et la bonne gouvernance
y est pour beaucoup; l'étude montre que conjuguée à un environnement économique stable, elle a été essentielle dans les progrès notés.
Des
stratégies innovantes ont été adoptées dans plusieurs pays d’Afrique au sud du
Sahara. Ainsi le Ghana a pu devenir un hub d’investissement important en
Afrique de l’Ouest grâce à sa réforme des lois commerciales. Il en est de même
en Éthiopie où l’implémentation de programmes de santé primaire a permis une
amélioration de l’accès aux services de santé par les Éthiopiens, ainsi que
dans la fourniture de ces services. Les devises tirées de l’exploitation du pétrole
ont ainsi permis à l’Angola d’améliorer significativement le secteur des
infrastructures, investissement qui en fait un pôle d’attraction pour les
investisseurs internationaux. L'étude du Boston Consulting Group montre que les progrès de ces États sont dûs à leur stabilité économique et à l'amélioration de leurs systèmes de santé.
À
partir de ces 3 études de cas, les auteurs concluent qu’augmenter le bien-être
des sociétés par un État dépend de 4 facteurs critiques : une volonté
politique réelle, une priorisation des programmes, des politiques publiques
reflétant les réalités locales et surtout une application de ces politiques
efficiente.
Lisez
ce rapport dans son intégralité (en anglais) en cliquant ici.
Ousmane Aly DIALLO
Ousmane Aly DIALLO
Coordonnateur Wikiprogress Africa
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