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Africa Renewal - Volume 27, Issue 1, 2013
Volume 27, Issue 1, 2013
The Africa Renewal magazine examines the many issues that confront the people of Africa, its leaders and its international partners: sustainable development goals, economic reform, debt, education, health, women's empowerment, conflict and civil strife, democratization, investment, trade, regional integration and many other topics. It tracks policy debates. It provides expert analysis and on-the-spot reporting to show how those policies affect people on the ground. And, it highlights the views of policy-makers, non-governmental leaders and others actively involved in efforts to transform Africa and improve its prospects in the world today. The magazine also reports on and examines the many different aspects of the United Nations’ involvement in Africa, especially within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
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Africa watch
Author: Kingsley IghoborWhile the world remains focused on ending Mali’s conflict following rebel incursions into the northern part of the country early last year, there are about 400,000 Malian children facing severe disruptions in their education, warns the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF. The fund and other aid agencies need $18 million to reverse the situation. So far, donor response has been poor, says IRIN, a UN humanitarian news service. As of March, UNICEF has been able to raise only $3 million, creating panic among aid agencies.
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Counterfeit drugs raise Africa’s temperature
Author: Jocelyne SambiraFor someone with advanced technical know-how and a devious mind, a piece of chalk or some flour or starch can be shaped into a tablet or pill. With the naked eye, it’s almost impossible to tell it’s a copycat. Labelling and packaging are often imitated to perfection. The global counterfeit drug trade, a billion-dollar industry, is thriving in Africa. The markets are flooded with fake and poor-quality drugs, making a trip to the pharmacy seem like a game of Russian roulette. If you pick the wrong box, it could literally mean your death.
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Somali diaspora’s remittances cast a life line
Author: United NationsDuring two decades of conflict, famines and floods, money sent back home by Somali expatriates — known as remittances — has been instrumental in keeping Somalia afloat. The UN Development Programme estimates that $1.6 billion in remittances is sent back annually by Somali emigrants living in North America and Europe. Abdirashid Duale, a Somali who is chief executive of Dahabshiil, one of the largest money-transfer businesses in Africa, says that such transfers have been “a lifeline” for Somalis.
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Africa’s youth: ticking time bomb or an opportunity?
Author: Kingsley IghoborSenegalese opposition politicians denounced the country’s high unemployment rate to mobilize youth against former President Abdoulaye Wade in the country’s 2012 presidential election. Joblessness was one of the main issues that drove the country’s many young people into the streets and to the voting stations to press for a change of government. At least six people died in the protests, and President Wade was defeated by the current leader, Macky Sall.
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Youth unemployment: lessons from Ethiopia
Author: Andualem SisayIn Hawassa City in southern Ethiopia, 250 kilometres from the capital Addis Ababa, 24-year-old Mitike Paulos, her younger sister and three friends are busy producing leather bags and belts for sale. Mitike and her sister learned the craft from their brother, who teaches at the government-run Leather Industry Development Institute in Addis Ababa. They started business in 2011 with a 35,000-birr ($2,000) loan from a smallloan lender. Today their business employs 10 people and as they plan to expand production, they also hope to hire more workers. “The more we work, the more we grow,” says Mitike.
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Africa's greatest assets are its young people - Interview: Ahmad Alhendawi, UN youth envoy
Author: Ahmad AlhendawiAhmad Alhendawi was appointed in January as the UN Secretary-General’s envoy on youth who will be the voice of young people all over the world. In his Five-Year Agenda, the Secretary-General recognized “working with and for women and young people” as one of his priorities. At 29, Mr. Alhendawi already has a rich background as a youth advocate and activist. Before joining the UN he served as a youth policy advisor for the World Bank–funded programme on institutional development in the Arab League, with headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. He had also been a team leader for a youth project in Iraq and worked with the UN Population Fund and many other organizations and governments on youth issues. In this interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor on Mr. Alhendawi’s second day in office, the youth envoy talks about his new role, his hopes for young people in Africa and the rest of the world, and his hobbies.
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African youth hungry for connectivity
Author: Jonathan E. KalanIn a tiny sweltering tin-roofed shack tucked inside one of Mogadishu’s bullet-riddled neighbourhoods, two brothers, Ali Hassan and Mustafa Yare, sit hunched over one of eight humming desktop computers. Together they show Nasteexo Cadey, a young veiled student at Mogadishu University, how to set up her Facebook account, browse YouTube videos and check her e-mail.
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Africa’s mobile youth drive change
Author: Jocelyne SambiraThe sight of teenagers selling mushrooms using mobile phones is becoming a familiar one in rural Namibia. Namibia Polytechnic faculty member Maurice Nkusi, designer of a cell phone–based curriculum, told the TechDailyNews that most of these children have never even used a computer. But the rapidity with which they master new technology reflects the era in which they are living.
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A seat at the table: African youth demand a say
Author: Kingsley IghoborAsk members of the African political elite, civil society activists or anyone else about the role of youth in national development and you will hear a lot of profound, if trite, catchphrases, such as “The youth are the future; they are the leaders of tomorrow.” African leaders even declared 2009–18 the African Youth Decade. Before that, in 2006, they adopted the African Youth Charter, with one of the goals being to lure younger people into participating in political debates and decision-making processes.
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What does the ‘Doha Climate Gateway’ mean for Africa?
Authors: Richard Munang and Zhen HanA UN climate change conference in Doha, Qatar, concluded in December 2012 with a new agreement called the “Doha Climate Gateway.” Its major achievements included the extension until 2020 of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a work plan for negotiating a new global climate pact by 2015, to be implemented starting in 2020.
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Nigeria’s film industry: a potential goldmine?
Author: Rebecca MoudioAs an entrepreneur, 32-year-old chemistry graduate Jason Njoku achieved success in a most unlikely way: he is Africa’s largest distributor of Nigerian movies, and has raked in over $8 million since 2010, when he founded the company Iroko Partners. In December 2012 he captivated an audience at a conference in Texas, United States, as he narrated the story of his success after failures in some other business ventures. Mr. Njoku currently has 71 employees in Lagos, London and New York, and often boasts that “these people are working for us in a country with 50% unemployment.” He was recently listed by Forbes, an American business magazine, as one of the top 10 young African millionaires to watch.
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Africa wired
Author: Aissata HaidaraExcitement greeted news that Vérone Mankou, the 26-year old entrepreneur from the Republic of Congo, has designed Africa’s first smartphone and a tablet, the hand-held computer that comes with a touch screen.
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