Weekly Roundup

Hello everyone and welcome to another Africa-focused review of progress initiatives and reports. Among the highlights this week we have:

• Africa 2.0: Harnessing natural resource wealth for economic transformation will be the theme of the 13^th International Economic Forum on Africa that will take place in the OECD Conference Centre on Monday 7 October, 2013.Organized by the Development Centre brings together OECD and African policy-makers with academia, civil society and private sector leaders to discuss Africa’s main challenges and opportunities. This year, the Forum will focus on strategies to promote greater economic diversification and inclusive development in the continent.
• Education is Essential for Development, an article by Pauline Rose of EFA Global Monitoring Report discusses the importance in equality in the access to education and its impact on different components of well-being and development through the insights of new data.  “If education inequality in sub-Saharan Africa had been halved to the level of Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, the annual per capita growth rate over 2005-2010 would have been 47% higher”.
• In this article, Africa and climate change: What's at stake?, Richard Munang and Joy Hyvarinen discusses the impact of climate change in Africa and the upcoming negotiations on this topic in 2014-2015 in Poland (Warsaw), Peru and France (Paris).  African countries have always called for more political commitment in this area, face several obstacles and needs to capitalize on this reality to meet this challenge by forcing world countries to compromise for a better future. A lack of progress will have dire impacts in Africa and on its inhabitants.
• Seaulidarité in Dakar. Facing a water shortage for the last two weeks, citizens in Dakar have been using the web as a way to find and share water. A ruptured pipe having caused a severe shortage in some areas, this article discusses how an app on Facebook helps identify those who are deprived of water and those who want to share theirs. Social connections are reinforced through technology in a context of crisis.
• Políticas Públicas para El Buen Vivir y el Bienestar, the theme for Wikiprogress América Latina’s first online discussion. It started this Thursday September 26^th and will end on October 7^th. The discussion will be a unique opportunity to reflect and exchange best practices, research and experiences on well-being and “buen vivir” in Latin America.Here is the link:   http://bit.ly/19vQBTK and the hashtag for Twitter: #Bienestar and #PoliticasPublicas
• Global poverty has fallen at an unprecedented rate yetgrowth alone will not be enough to eradicate it altogether. To reach the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 as quickly as possible, Judith Randel of Development Initiatives  tells us which domains to target, to have the greatest impact on reducing poverty in this video  below.

We hope you enjoyed this review. Stay tuned the same time next week for another roundup of the week that was.

Yours in progress,

Ousmane Aly DIALLO

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

Ousmane Aly DIALLO

Wikiprogress Africa Coordinator