El Alivio de la deuda en Africa ¿hacia la reducción de la pobreza?

En este artículo se estudian las oportunidades de reducción de la pobreza en África subsahariana surgidas a raíz de la reciente propuesta de condonación de deuda del G-7, del Banco Mundial y del Fondo Monetario Internacional, la llamada Iniciativa PPAE. En primer lugar se realiza un repaso histórico al proceso de endeudamiento africano a partir de las independencias en los años 60, señalando sus causas y analizando la estructura de la deuda. En segundo lugar, se analizan los términos de la Iniciativa, estudiando su planteamiento, implementación y estado de aplicación a fecha de junio de 2001. Finalmente se aportan elementos de crítica a la Iniciativa desde un enfoque de desarrollo humano, apuntando las limitaciones de ésta de cara a la reducción de la pobreza en África subsahariana

Learning to live together: an exploration and analysis of managing cultural diversity in ten early childhood development centres in South Africa

This study explores how South African Early Childhood Development (ECD) Practitioners and families meet the needs of the increasing number of children from diverse cultural backgrounds in their care. Research participants were identified through ten ECD centres located in two urban communities in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa. The values and attitudes held by Practitioners and families vis-à-vis cultural diversity was investigated, along with the knowledge and strategies they employ to manage cultural diversity in ECD programmes. The intercultural education model provides the necessary tools to address the challenges identified.

Conflict, Peace and Security in Africa: an Assessment and New Questions After 50 Years of African Independence

Since the independence processes in the African continent, armed conflicts, peace and security have raised concern and attention both at the domestic level and at the international scale. In recent years, all aspects have undergone significant changes which have given rise to intense debate. The end of some historical conflicts has taken place in a context of slight decrease in the number of armed conflicts and the consolidation of post-conflict reconstruction processes. Moreover, African regional organizations have staged an increasingly more active internal shift in matters related to peace and security, encouraged by the idea of promoting “African solutions to African problems”. This new scenario, has been accompanied by new uncertainties at the security level and major challenges at the operational level, especially for the African Union. This article aims to ascertain the state of affairs on all these issues and raise some key questions to consider.

The global uranium rush and its Africa frontier. Lessons from Namibia

Uranium mines are the - often forgotten - source of nuclear power. The promotion of nuclear energy as a clean alternative and the projected increase of electricity demand in countries such as China and India, have led to a global “uranium rush”, unseen since the peak of the Cold War. This article studies the formation of the expanding nuclear frontier looking at the interaction between the global uranium metabolism, industrial dynamics and local ecologies of resistance using Namibia as a case-study. Namibia, the world´s fourth largest producer of uranium, stands at the frontier of this rush with sixty-six recently granted prospecting licenses that could turn into mines, compared to only three currently operating mines. We focus on three generic attributes that help to explain the emergence and intensity of resistance by local communities to uranium mining: the ecology and geography of the resource; the degree and type of political and economic marginalization of the community; and crucially, the connection and integration of local concerns with broader social movements and political demands. We show with the use of empirical material how these factors play out differently in five Namibian communities that have been, or stand to be, affected by uranium mining, and explain how local ecologies of resistance shape the global uranium rush.

Mecanismes de Neocolonialisme: l'actual influència francesa i britànica al Camerun i a Ghana

Al llarg dels últims 50 anys, el concepte de neocolonialisme ha adquirit una importància central en el debats entre polítics i activistes sobre les dependències que encara afecten les antigues colònies, tot i que no hi ha consens sobre el seu significat exacte ni s’han desenvolupat eines per mesurar-lo. Aquest working paper té l’objectiu d’operativitzar el concepte de neocolonialisme per permetre’ns mesurar, amb una certa precisió, si aquest fenomen és present en un país determinat. Per ferho, es planteja un marc conceptual que inclou indicadors sobre la influència econòmica, política, financera i militar de les antigues potències colonials sobre les excolònies, i que s’aplica a dos casos d’estudi: el Camerun i Ghana. L’article descobreix que França conserva amb el Camerun una relació neocolonial en tots els sentits, mentre que el Regne Unit només manté sobre Ghana una influència econòmica i un lleuger control financer. En termes més generals, aquest paper identifica una tendència cap a la multilateralització i la privatització de les relacions, i estima que el marc conceptual és raonablement funcional.

Beyond the first steps: Sustaining Health OER Initiatives in Ghana

The introduction of open educational resources (OER) in two Ghanaian universities through a grant-funded project was embraced with a lot of enthusiasm. The project started on a high note and the Colleges of Health Sciences in the two universities produced a significant number of e-learning materials as health OER in the first year. Growing challenges such as faculty time commitments, technological and infrastructural constraints, shortage of technical expertise, lack of awareness beyond the early adopters and non-existent system for OER dissemination and use set in. These exposed the fact that institutional policy and integration was essential to ensure effective implementation and sustainability of OER efforts. Informed by the early OER experiences at the two institutions, this paper proposes that institutions in low resource settings perhaps need to pay close attention to awareness creation, initiative structuring, funding, capacity building, systemization for scalability and motivation if OER sustainability is to be achieved.

China’s Strategy in North Africa: New economic challenges for the Mediterranean region

El WP té com a objectiu examinar per què els països del nord d'Àfrica estan augmentant les seves importacions de Xina i per què la Xina està augmentant les seves inversions estrangeres directes a la zona. la avantatges per als països del nord d'Àfrica es troben en els actuals acords de lliure comerç, el absència de barreres aranzelàries i la seva ubicació geogràfica summament beneficiosa com Hub de la Mediterrània. El paper de la Unió per la Mediterrània és clau per identificar aspectes de la política regional, tenint en compte la participació xinesa a la zona. com conseqüència, concloem que els actors polítics han de trobar un equilibri entre sostenible desenvolupament i els interessos econòmics de la regió.

The Distant neighbors — EU, Middle East, North Africa and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership

The Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Conference (1995) was intended to be a launching pad" for creating a new, innovative relationship between the EU-Fifteen and a selected set of non-member Middle Eastern and North African countries. The Barcelona Process was to become the European Union´s first attempt, of several, to create postmodern inclusive policy spheres as a way to deal with the post-enlargement problems of ´ins´ and outs´ in its immediate periphery. Nevertheless, in spite of geographical proximity, common problems and stated interest in creating amorphous EU borders in different sectors, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is today all but abandoned. This paper will examine some of the factors behind the current degeneration of the EU´s post-bipolar foreign policy strategy in the Mediterranean, by exploring the dialectic between the Union´s desire to expand its geopolitical, economic and cultural boundaries and the need to secure its territorial area (from migration, proliferation, social instability etc.). In the final part of the paper some suggestions for how to revive the relationship across the Mare Nostrum will be forwarded.

La Gestió policial als esdeveniments públics en espais urbans a l'Àfrica: situació actual i perspectives = Policing public events in urban spaces in Africa : an analysis of the current situation and a perspective on follow-up action

L’informe que es presenta en aquest llibre és el resultat d’un nou acord de col·laboració entre el Programa de les Nacions Unides per als Assentaments Humans (ONU-Habitat) i l’Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya, impulsat amb l’objectiu de millorar la seguretat en esdeveniments públics en els espais urbans a l’Àfrica. La fase pilot es va dur a terme el 2010, durant els dos seminaris de formació realitzats a Mollet del Vallès (Barcelona) com a part de la Plataforma Policia per al Desenvolupament Urbà (PPUD). En aquest informe es descriuen els orígens i l’estat de la iniciativa i resumeix els resultats. També s’inclouen algunes recomanacions per a millorar la seguretat d’esdeveniments públics. Font d'informació: http://www.onuhabitat.org.

Theorizing institutional changes: understanding decentralization and federalization in Brazil, Spain and South Africa

In light of the existing theories about institutional change, this paper seeks to advance a common framework to understand the unfolding of decentralization and federalization in three countries: Brazil, Spain, and South Africa. Although in different continents, these three countries witnessed processes after their respective transitions to democracy that transferred administrative and fiscal authority to their regions (decentralization) and vertically distributed political and institutional capacity (federalization). This paper attempts to explain how institutional changes prompted a shift of power and authority towards regional governments by looking at internal sources of change within the intergovernmental arena in the three countries. This analysis is organized around two propositions: that once countries transit to democracy under all-encompassing constitutions there are high incentives for institutional change, and that under a bargained intergovernmental interaction among political actors subnational political elites are able to advance their interests incrementally. In short, through a common framework this paper will explain the evolving dynamics of intergovernmental dynamics in three countries.

International commodity prices, growth and the outbreak of Civil War in Sub-Saharan Africa

To learn more about the effect of economic conditions oncivil war, we examine whether Sub-Saharan civil wars aremore likely to start following downturns in the internationalprice of countries main export commodities. The data showa robust effect of commodity price downturns on the outbreakof civil wars. We also find that Sub-Saharan countries aremore likely to see civil wars following economic downturnsin their main OECD export destinations.

The economic tragedy of the XXth Century: Growth in Africa

The dismal growth performance of Africa is the worst economic tragedy ofthe XXth century. We document the evolution of per capita GDP for thecontinent as a whole and for subset of countries south of the Saharadesert. We document the worsening of various income inequality indexesand we estimate poverty rates and headcounts. We then analyze some ofthe central robust determinants of economic growth reported bySala-i-Martin, Doppelhofer and Miller (2003) and project the annual growthrates Africa would have enjoyed if these key determinants had taken OECDrather than African values. Expensive investment goods, low levels ofeducation, poor health, adverse geography, closed economies, too muchpublic expenditure and too many military conflicts are seen as keyexplanations of the economic tragedy.

Did colonization matter for growth? An empirical exploration into the historical causes of Africa's underdevelopment

We investigate the impact of 20th--century European colonizationon growth in Africa. We find that in the 1960--88 period growth has beenfaster for dependencies than for colonies; for British and Frenchcolonies than for Portuguese, Belgian and Italian ones; and for countrieswith less economic penetration during the colonial period. On average,African growth accelerates after decolonization. Proxies for colonialheritage add explanatory power to growth regressions and make indicatorsfor human capital, political and ethnic instability lose significance.Colonial variables capture the same effects of a sub--Saharan dummy andreduce its significance when jointly included in a cross sectionalregression with 98 countries.

Improving energy access in rural sub-Saharan Africa

XVII Convocatòria d’ajuts a accions de cooperació - 2009GRECDH – UPC. Improving Energy Access In Rural sub- Saharan Africa. O-006/09. Informe