The visual below is a comparative concept of the billions that have been spent in our time.

The original post ( and larger/clearer version of the picture) can be found here.

What I did come across in my meanderings across the interwebs was this [recent-ish] issue of the TIME’s magazine, which highlights “10 ideas that are changing our world right now”. The compiled list of ranged from issues in religion to infrastructure to the economy, one of which I found to be of particular interest to me.

Africa: Open for Business

The article highlights that Africa has long been perceived as a continent of where progress is irrelevant regardless of the efforts being done — foreign aid, economic stimulus, etc. Africa is essentially viewed as hopeless, and a $40 billion/yr foreign industry has been built around that perception to the point where people are starting to question whether aid is even doing any good at all. Thus, when the world’s economy went into Defcon 5 last year, the $40 billion industry started being called into question with debates and books being written that foreign aid is bad, fuels corruption, undermines governments, unsustainable and is  counter productive. (ie. Dead Aid — Dambisa Moyo, former Goldman Sachs and World Bank economist)

Drilling down to the actual relevancy of aid and development, the article points out the obvious fact that has been staring us in the face all this time. That throughout the noise of the aid industry, reality is that aid is no longer Africa’s main source of foreign income. Yes, that’s right. Africa is now a business destination.

So, I did some economic digging and cam across some very interesting information.

1) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)  inflows into Africa have improved tremendously in the last 6 years. From $14.6 billion in 2002 to $53 billion in 2007 (UNCTAD World Investment Report, 2008). This translates into a 263% growth rate over a 6 year period!

Note: FDI refers to investment in domestic structures, equipment and organization by foreign private sectors or governments. Does not include foreign portfolio investment in a domestic economy. FDI contributes to the economic performance of a host country by: first,representing additional resources which can be used to build additional physical capital and create more employment. Secondly, increases a country’s output and productivity by encouraging efficient use of existing resources by increasing the size of the capital stock. Overall, FDI also improves local skills and technology know-hows which translate into growth and development.

The IMF puts Africa’s average annual growth for 2004 to ’08 at more than 6% — better than any developed economy — and predicts the continent will buck the global recessionary trend to grow nearly 3.3% this year — Time Magazine

2) The reason for an increase in FDI is an improvement in both economic and political conditions on the continent.

Economic Conditions: The UNCTAD Report stated that not only has Africa’s economy grown over 5%/yr since 2001, but cross border M&A’s in the extraction and related service industries of Africa has tripled. Combined with the fact that the high prices and demand for resources like oil has attracted investments from both developed and developing countries. An interesting fact to note is that because Africa’s economy is relatively displaced from the global economy, it is actually to their advantage during the current economic crisis, that they have been relatively unaffected.

Perhaps the most attractive element of the improving African economic condition is the very fact that China has developed a healthy interest in the continent.

While the old superpowers still agonize over Africa’s poverty, the new one is captivated by its riches. Trade between Africa and China has grown an average of 30% in the past decade, topping $106 billion last year. — Time Magazine

The Chinese has changed the psychological approach on Africa. They enter the continent to trade, not to provide aid. In her book, Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo pointed out that those who still needs convincing about Africa should ask themselves if they are convinced about China, “because if you back China, you’re backing Africa.”

Political Conditions: The turn of the new millennium has brought about a wave of peace, with a rapid decline in civil wars and conflicts. Democracy is up, trade is improving, inflation is declining and growth is happening. Yes Africa still has its Zimbabwes, Darfurs and Congos, but the truth of the matter is, the continent is trending towards a more peaceful and democratic region as a powerful consensus is emerging across Africa for good governance and as nearly all African countries have been involved in some type of political and institutional change.

This is reflected by the fact that better governance means better standards of living, infrastructure, education and although most Africans are not middle class, most are also not living in extreme poverty.

The percentage of Africans living on $1.25 a day or less dropped from 59% to 51% from 1996 to 2005 and has decreased further since — World Bank

Essentially, when it comes down to it, Africa really is open for business. Perhaps the issue lies in whether the world is ready to receive it? Remember, the figures really do speak for themselves. Trade, not aid.

For those who are curious, the full list is:

1. Jobs are the new Assets

2. Recycling the Suburbs

3. The New Calvinism

4. Reinstating the Interstate

5. Amortality

6. Africa, Business Destination

7. Rent-A-County

8. BioBanks

9. Survival Stores

10. Ecological Intelligence

The TIMES’s article can be found here

“Evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that aid to Africa has made the poor poorer, and the growth slower. ” Dambisa Moyo

“Unless there is recognition that women are most vulnerable… and you do something about social and cultural equality for women, you’re never going to defeat this pandemic.” Stephen Lewis

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I absolutely love the concept of bringing together ideas, as I think it is one of the most vital platforms in which we can learn and grow from one another. Consider The Munk Debates, a remarkable debate series that I followed/am following that brings together prominent leaders to debate about major issues concerning the world and Canada.  It is one of the few platforms that brings together the opinions of prominent people and places them head to head against each other and see how they fare. The model of this debate also works around the fact that the debate is subject to public scrutiny and opinion.

In terms of organisation, they have been wise in their selection of debaters. ie. Stephen Lewis — pretty much a Canadian icon, or controversial writers like Dambisa Moyo that would really draw the audience to participate and consider the topic of choice. The chosen topics are also well timed, the first one set just before the US presidential elections in November 2008, urging the public to consider global security in light of the elections.

So, if you haven’t been following the debates (There is one every 6 months), here are three reasons why (aside from the usual exposure to new ideas):

1) It’s FREE

The organisers have done an amazing job making the debates accessible online. The debates are streamed live, can be re-watched, audio, mp3, read the debate transcript, etc. Did I mention that its all free? Enough said. Watch!

2) SAVES you time

There are few places online that you are able to find Stephen Lewis, Paul Collier, Dambisa Moyo, Mia Farrow, John Bolton’s, etc. opinions all in one place. All of them are extremely influential and respected individuals in their respective fields and it’s a one stop/click/video for amazing insights into different topics. It also enables you to see their positions on certain topics, which would help you greatly in terms of referring/researching on a topic/individual should you want to investigate in more depth their publications and opinions.

3) COMMENT on your position

For a certain period after the debates, an online poling station (open to a random selct group of Canadian panelist) and mediated forum (open to the general public) is set up. You get to see and comment on an ‘opinions forum’, and sometimes you find some of the most amazing ideas and positions that the public has taken on it. A data analysis is also run based on the online poling station and you can see the breakdown of opinion on the debate topic as well as the key points that are brought up during the debate.

In other words, you watch the debates, comment, and view stats. Love it.

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Past debate topics:

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Some future debate topic lineups:

Religion is a force of good in the world

More Free market and less government regulation is the answer to our economic woes

Final thoughts: Ranked: 9/10. Improvement: Better advertising. I only found this after navigating heavily through the Globe and Mail.

Note: All pictures are taken from http://www.munkdebates.com

Malaysia has been facing constant scrutiny for its lack of regard of the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers and has had its ranking hovering between Tier 2 and 3 for the last 10 years. In 2001, it was blacklisted, but improved its ranking to Tier 2 for the following years. However, in 2007, it was downgraded once again to Tier 2, and in 2008, after the enactment of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007, Malaysia regained its status as a Tier 2 country.

• The International Labor Organization (ILO)—the United Nations agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues—estimates that there are at least 12.3 million adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and commercial sexual servitude at any given time.

• Of these victims, the ILO estimates that at least 1.39 million are victims of commercial sexual servitude, both transnational and within countries. According to the ILO, 56 percent of all forced labor victims are women and girls.

Image from Google images: http://vietnameseworkersabroad.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/human-wrists1.jpg

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Sources/Further Reading:

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47332http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/National/2590572/Article/index_html
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/123357.pdf

See Cartoons by Cartoon by Daryl Cagle — Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com — Email this Cartoon

Sometimes, you have to wonder, is our world and humanity getting any better? Any more civilised? Here’s some stats from The Economist to shed some light.

1) In China 25 years ago, over 600m people—two-thirds of the population—were living in extreme poverty (on $1 a day or less). Now, the number on $1 a day is below 180m.

2) In the world as a whole, a stunning 135m people escaped dire poverty between 1999 and 2004. This is more than the population of Japan or Russia—and more people, more quickly than at any other time in history.

3) In South Asia, the number of those without clean water has been nearly halved since 1990.

4) In 2007 Unicef, the United Nations child-welfare body, said that for the first time in modern history fewer than 10m children were dying each year before the age of five.

5) The long march to literacy is nearing an end: three-quarters of people aged 15–25 were literate in 1975; now the rate is nearly nine-tenths.

6) A World Bank study of 19 poor countries concluded that every 1% increase in national income per head translates into a 1.3 point fall in extreme poverty.

7) In 2007, the global economy entered its fifth year of over 4% annual growth—the longest period of such strong expansion since the early 1970s. ( yes yes, this is rather hard to swallow given current situations).

The International Monetary Fund reckons that in 2008 China and India will be the largest contributors to worldwide growth for the first time.

9) Since the mid-1990s, the incomes of the poorest fifth have risen everywhere except, marginally, in Latin America, where they have been affected by the after-shocks of debt crises. In Asia, the real incomes of the poorest fifth rose 4% a year; in Africa, by 2% a year, faster than the rise for other income groups.

10) In 1990 those on $1 a day accounted for more than a quarter of the population of developing countries. By 2015, on current rates, the proportion of very poor people should have shrunk to 10%.

11) The number of conflicts (both international and civil) fell from over 50 at the start of the 1990s to just over 30 in 2005.

12) There has been a dramatic rise in the number of conflicts resolved. During this decade civil wars have come to an end or have been restrained in Aceh, Angola, Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Nepal, Timor-Leste and Sierra Leone.

13) Despite claims to the contrary by the Bush administration, the number of international terrorist incidents has risen since September 11th 2001, after a decade of decline. The number of deaths from terrorist acts has climbed almost everywhere. However, this picture of worldwide growth is misleading. While it is true that Asia, Latin America and Europe have all experienced more terrorist attacks than before, they are still rare.

14) Since 2001, the Middle East has suffered more violence and fatalities than the rest of the world put together.

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So what does this all mean? Stepping back and looking at things on a LARGER scale, we can really see that we’re shaping a better world, even if it means piecing it together

s      l      o     w      l      y.

photo credit: greencandy8888

Patience is a Virtue.