global aid & development

In order to add momentum to African economies, Gerd Müller, Germany’s minister for economic cooperation and development, and Sigmar Gabriel, the country’s minister for economic affairs, have launched a joint initiative. The approach fits their understanding of how to manage globalisation equitably. [...] about 1000 of 400,000 internationally active German private-sector companies have invested in Africa so far. 

During the 2016 election campaign, Trump declared that many of America’s foreign-policy problems began with the “dangerous idea that we could make Western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interest in becoming a Western democracy.” As on a number of other issues, the president-elect’s dramatic statement broke from not only establishment views within his own party, but the dominant perspective of America’s political and foreign-policy elites.

Eritrean nationals residing in Washington DC and its environs, the USA as well as in Dubai, UAE, conducted seminars on national issues. At the seminar the nationals conducted in Washington DC expressed readiness to strengthen participation and contribution for the success of the national development programs. [...] The participants raised 20,800 Dollars for buying and sending home 160 E-Books, report indicated.

New solar technology is poised to provide cheap power to many of the 600 million people in Africa who lack access to reliable electricity. Innovation in “off-grid” solar power is becoming accessible to even the most remote communities for less than a half dollar a day. [...] The company received $50 million in financing from the U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation, as part of President Obama’s Power Africa initiative.

The New York–based training company aims to find and groom the best software developers in Africa — thousands of them. Since setting up campuses in 2014 in Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, Andela has been flooded with more than 40,000 applications. It selected 250 for paid, four-year fellowships working with tech leaders including Udacity, Microsoft and Facebook.

Following 9/11, there has been a growing recognition in the Pentagon that the "soft power" of overseas aid helps in the fight against extremism. If America is seen to be indifferent to, say, the Ebola crisis or a huge earthquake, it can act as a recruiting sergeant for radical groups. There are some signs that Mr Trump might be persuaded by this argument; that aid and security go hand-in-hand.

It’s not every day that a young Israeli entrepreneur accompanies the prime minister on his visit to the United Nations. Sivan Borowich-Ya’ari recently presented her organization ‘Innovation: Africa’ to the UN’s general assembly, alongside Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and African leaders. Providing African villages with Israeli solar, water and agricultural technologies.

Several of the U.S. government’s development priorities in Vietnam can be traced back to events that damaged relations between the two countries during the Vietnam War. But USAID is now also looking ahead to what’s next, such as an innovative finance mechanism for forest protection, and supporting the country in adopting a more inclusive, modern health system post-PEPFAR procurement.

Pages