Tag: Africa
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Double standards in ‘Free Trade’
Wealthier countries in Europe make extensive use of import taxes to make imported goods more expensive and protect domestic business. At the same time they cajole African countries to sign free trade agreements which prevent them from imposing import taxes on European products which puts local farmers in Africa out of business. This means that…
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Philanthropy and Development – can it ever be enough?
I stumbled across the example of the coreographer Sherrie Silver using her fame, money and skills to raise awareness of African cultures through dnace and to campaign for better funding for opportunities for young farmers in rural Africa. Below is an example of the kind of Development advocacy work she has been involved in: Sherrie…
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How Drones are changing Africa
Inventors and entrepreneurs across Africa are using Drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to tackle some of the ‘development problems’ which the continent faces. Combating poaching, tracking illegal shipping activities, monitoring oil spills and adding value to Safaris. In Nigeria, archaeologists are using drones to map traces of the ancient Yoruba civilization In Sudan, they…
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Is China’s Involvement in Africa a new form of Colonialism (i.e. neocolonialism)?
China’s development over the last three decades has depended heavily on its investment in Africa: it relies on a number of natural resources extracted from Africa, and is also one of the major leasers of land in Africa (which it uses to export crops back to China). In order to facilitate the extraction of natural…
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The End of Poverty? A Documentary taking a ‘Dependency Theory’ View of Underdevelopment and Development
This 2008 Documentary seeks to answer the question of why there is still so much poverty in the world when there is sufficient wealth to eradicate it. In order to answer this question, the video goes back to 1492, which marks the start of European colonialism and the beginning of the global capitalist system, making…
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Gender Equality in Rwanda
Rwanda makes an interesting case study of a developing nation which appears to have atypically high levels of gender equality. It ranks no 7 in the Gender Empowerment Index, just behind the Nordic countries, and actually has a higher proportion of girls enrolled in education than boys (97% compared to 95%). Given that East and North…
