By Adelia Saunders
Chinese bamboo technology brings pre-fab housing to Ethiopia and Nepal
[22 April 2008] In recent years, the growing demand for bamboo has transformed small-holder farmers in several Chinese provinces into powerful businessmen. Now, as part of a joint project by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), Chinese scientists and technicians will share their knowledge with emerging bamboo manufacturers in Ethiopia and Nepal.
“It’s a South-South cooperation exercise,” said Guy Sneyers, CFC’s Chief Operations Officer, in an interview with the South-South Compass. “It’s people from the South who 20, 30 years ago were probably in the same situation as poor people in Ethiopia or Nepal. They will add value to a resource which naturally grows in those countries.”
With cities rapidly expanding and the demand for environmentally sustainable housing increasing, bamboo is becoming a valuable commodity. Bamboo regenerates quickly and needs little pesticide or fertilizer, lowering its environmental impact to a fraction of that of wood or concrete.
The CFC/INBAR project, set to launch later this year, aims to create bamboo housing industries in Ethiopia and Nepal, based on a model for pre-fabricated modular bamboo houses developed by a Chinese company.
Considerable bamboo resources already exist in the two pilot countries, where, with the help of Chinese technology, bamboo poles will be processed into support beams, particle board panels and bricks. “You wouldn’t believe it’s bamboo,” Sneyers said, adding that the components can be assembled into durable modular homes in a matter of hours.
“The technology has great potential in Asia, Africa and Latin America where housing demand is immense,” INBAR Senior Program Officer Shyam Paudel told the South-South Compass. “This approach would not only provide homes at affordable prices to the people, but also would provide employment and income opportunities to the local communities who will be directly involved in bamboo growing, management, harvesting and pre-processing.”
Creative economies grow in countries of the South
[20 April 2008] The global market for creative goods and services is growing, and developing countries stand to benefit socially and financially from the emerging creative sector, according to the Creative Economy Report 2008, released April 20 at the twelfth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII), held in Accra, Ghana.
The report, a joint initiative by UNCTAD and UNDP’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (SU/SSC), is the first to examine the impact of creative economies from a United Nations perspective.
“Creative economy is vaunted for its considerable potential for social inclusion – creativity and talent are equitably distributed across ethnic, geographic and socio-economic lines,” said SU/SSC Director Yiping Zhou.
There is no single definition of a creative economy, which may include industries from handicraft and cultural festivals to architecture and video games. Worldwide trade in goods related to the creative industries reached $424.4 billion in 2005, accounting for 3.4 percent of total world trade.
The study found creative industries to be a dynamic force for economic development in countries of the South. Exports of creative goods from developing countries skyrocketed from $51 billion in 1996, to $274 billion in 2005.
While these figures largely reflect China’s leading role in the production of value-added creative products, the benefits of creative economies are not China’s alone. India is the world’s top film producer. TV Globo in Brazil employs 18,000 workers, while the country’s annual Carnival festival fills hotels and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in income each year.
The report stresses that the impact of creative industries is often reflected on national and social levels. Several African countries have identified specific cultural sectors, such as Nigeria’s “Nollywood” film industry, and traditional craft-making in Senegal, as integral to poverty reduction strategies.
Yet considerable challenges remain. “Everything in this report points to the need for innovative solutions to correct the systematic market distortions that prevent the South from capitalising on their own creative development potential,” Zhou said.
Migration of talent between countries of the South fuels development
[15 April 2008] In a globalizing world, the movement of people may be as important to economic development as the movement of capital, according to a recent study by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), launched this month at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The study, titled ‘The International Mobility of Talent,’ examines the positive side of global movement among high value workers.
“Brain drain” is a reality for many developing countries, particularly in the health care sector, but “there is also a degree of brain circulation,” said Andrés Solimano, Regional Advisor for the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and editor of the report. The movement of skilled professionals between countries of the South in particular motivates cooperation and development.
“Probably between 20 and 25 percent of the total circulation of talent is South-South,” Solimano told the South-South Compass. “We see more South-South migration in productive activities or the academic sector, [including the] movement of entrepreneurs, of professionals, of qualified workers, etc.”
The migration of talent between developing countries often benefits the economies of both. Businessmen who invest abroad also build factories at home, and those in the academic sector help to forge stronger international links between academic institutions.
Understanding the South-South component of international migration is key to harnessing its benefits, which often have considerable regional impact, Solimano said. “One of the empirical findings of South-South migration is that about 80 percent of that migration takes place with countries that have common borders, that usually speak the same language and in which the cultural, historical and institutional background is more or less similar.”
Above all, the study stresses the need for further examination of the values of migration. “Our views of ‘brain drain’ have to be reassessed,” Solimano said.
Amid conflict, Somali telecom industry thrives, thanks to investment by diaspora
* Investment by Somalis living in countries of the global North has helped make Somalia’s telecommunications sector one of the most vibrant in Africa, even in the midst of conflict, Ali Ahmed Jama, Somalia’s Foreign Minister, told the *South-South Compass. “There are many, many success stories,” Jama said. “Somalis from the diaspora came back to Somalia, invested their own money and have a thriving business today in Somalia.”
Three major mobile phone companies and many smaller ones compete for customers, and Internet cafes are increasingly common. With over 400,000 mobile phone subscribers, telecom companies are effectively laying the foundations for communications networks that could lead Somalia to a brighter economic future. Even now, the sector powers much of Somalia’s informal economy, where business is often conducted over mobile phone.
North-South cooperation has contributed to the success of the telecom industry. Well-to-do Somalis living in Europe and America provide funds and experience, while companies such as Latvia’s SAF Tehnika have agreed to sell equipment to Somali companies that do not have access to banks.
“Despite all the security challenges in Somalia, many economic activities are taking place,” Jama said. “There are many areas in which the Somalis showed their resilience, showed their ingenuity, showed their resourcefulness. Once we establish peace and security I assure you, you will have one of the most successful countries in Africa.”
India-Africa Forum prepares for shared future
[11 April 2008] Indian and African heads of state gathered in New Delhi April 8 and 9, to chart a future of economic, political and scientific cooperation. The first India-Africa Forum Summit “constitutes a defining moment in the India-Africa relationship,” said Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, India’s External Affairs Minister, speaking to delegates after the drafting of the Delhi Declaration, which, Mukherjee said, “will serve as a blueprint for creating sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships between India and the countries of Africa.”
The Forum addressed a range of Indian development initiatives in Africa, including investment in agriculture, scholarship programs and scientific research. India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, announced plans to double loans to Africa, allocating $5.4 billion in credit over the next five years.
“It is also India’s intention to enhance the Aid to Africa budget of the Ministry of External Affairs for implementing projects in critical areas focusing on human resource development and capacity building,” Neena Malhotra, Press Consul of the New York Consulate General of India, told the South-South Compass. “Over the next 5 to 6 years, we propose to undertake projects against grants in excess of 500 million dollars.”
In addition, the Prime Minister announced a new duty-free tariff-free trade policy for over 90 percent of goods coming from Africa’s 34 least developed countries. “India recognizes the crucial importance of market access in ensuring the development dimension of international trade,” Malhotra said.
Citing a joint history of colonization, Ethiopian Prime Minister Ato Meles Zenawi challenged African and Indian leaders alike to resist the status quo. “Re-emerging India is better placed than most to join us in partnership to transform Africa and thereby transform the world,” he said.
Trade between India and Africa has increased dramatically, from $5.5 billion in fiscal year 2001-2002, to more than $30 billion in 2007-2008.
“Working together, the two billion people of India and Africa can set an example of fruitful cooperation in the developing world,” Singh said.
In post-conflict areas, radio stations contribute to an empowered electorate
[5 April 2008] In former conflict zones, radio plays a crucial role in peaceful political transition, said Jean-Marie Etter, President of the Hirondelle Foundation, a Swiss organization that currently funds seven independent news sources in conflict and post-conflict zones.
Backing Radio Okapi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Miraya FM in Sudan and Cotton Tree News Sierra Leone, among others, the Hirondelle Foundation works with UN agencies, peacekeeping missions and other partners to provide local journalists with the funding and equipment needed to broadcast rigorously reported national news.
“It is extremely important to make a priority of independent media,” Etter said in an interview with the South-South Compass. “It is not expensive, there is no comparison between what sending an armed force costs and making a media costs.”
North-South cooperation is key. “Economic independence is the condition for editorial independence,” Etter said, underscoring the need for countries of the North to invest more heavily in the media of the South. “Media has not yet been considered as a priority,” he said. “But it should be.”
Comprehensive radio coverage is especially important during elections. “Sometimes, like in Congo, [people] have never voted. So it’s important to explain how it works, what it is, what does it mean, where does it go, and so on.”
Empowered voters demand responsive politicians, and broadcasting political debates can be a first step toward significant social change. When “you turn to the radio and you see that you can ask [questions of your leaders] and that they are accountable, your perception of life changes,” Etter said. “And this you only can do through media, there is no other way to do it.”
South-South partnerships key to developing African pharmaceutical industry
[1 April 2008] Many experts agree that, in its current form, the pharmaceutical industry has little to gain from curing some of the world’s most devastating diseases. Malaria, sleeping sickness, tuberculosis and the like primarily affect the poor, and while they cost developing countries hundreds of million of dollars in productivity losses, the poverty of those infected translates into little profit for drug companies.
“The current system has failed quite dramatically in Africa,” said Ahmed Ogwell, head of International Relations for Kenya’s Ministry of Health, in an interview with the South-South Compass. “That is why the disease burden is in fact probably increasing in some areas.” Part of the solution, Ogwell said, is for Africa to build a pharmaceutical industry of its own, with help from other countries of the South.
“There’s a lot of discussion right now between different African countries and companies, both in Asia and Brazil-in Asia I mean India and to some extent Pakistan. And the intention is to try and see how to transfer technology, to be able to use it in Africa,” Ogwell said. “I am very hopeful that it’s going to expand.”
The transfer of technology from developing countries with growing pharmaceutical industries to Africa could increase drug access while helping to develop Africa’s knowledge-based economies.
Medical advancement is cheaper in countries of the South, Dilip Shah, Secretary General of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, told the South-South Compass. “Incentives could be used as a tool for enlarging the pool of innovators, for tapping R[esearch] and D[evelopment] potential in the developing regions and reducing the cost of innovation,” he said, stressing the importance that grants, rather than expected profits, encourage medical research.
The key, Ogwell said, is to involve national governments in promoting an African pharmaceutical industry. “When governments become a little more active, the money will be more, and hopefully the results will be faster,” he said.
EVENTS IN DEVELOPMENT
For May
International Workshop on HIV/AIDS 2008
Varadero, Cuba (4-9 May 2008)
Organized by the Cuban Society for Immunology and Latin American Association of Immunology, it will explore latest experiences in HIV/AIDS.
Email: tapanes@ipk.sld.cu or Rolando.tapanes@gmail.com
Website: www.sci.sld.cu
First Global Business Conference and Competition for Off-Grid Lighting in Africa*
Accra, Ghana (5-8 May 2008)
The World Bank Group and its partners are proud to announce Lighting Africa 2008, the first global business conference and development marketplace competition for off-grid lighting in Africa. The conference is designed for investors, financiers, private firms, end users, and development agencies to showcase and expand business opportunities targeting low income populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Website: www.lightingafrica.org
Fashion Africa 2008
Nairobi, Kenya (8-11 May 2008)
The exhibition is the place to discover the latest ideas and attract a whole new audience. FASHION AFRICA will be the international meeting point for fashion designers / companies to showcase their new Fashion and style products, innovations, equipment and concepts from the Fashion Industry.
Website: www.arabianexposition.com
International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training
Accra, Ghana (28-30 May 2008)
The 3rd International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training is the premier gathering place for all experts and stakeholders engaged or interested in ICT-based projects in Africa.
Website: elearning-africa.com
Source: South-South Solutions http://tcdc1.undp.org/enews/index.html
Development agencies, United Nations departments and non-governmental organizations are welcome to send details of upcoming conferences for inclusion in our EVENTS IN DEVELOPMENT column.
EDITOR: Nosh Nalavala
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Adelia Saunders
UN CORRESPONDENTS: Sheana Laughlin, Joe Deaux, Christina Madden, Shipra Prakash