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AFRICA’S ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ADPED’S MISSION

AFRICA’S ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ADPED’S MISSION. Presented At The ADPED’s Meeting of March 8, 2003. GIVING DATA A HUMAN FACE. Africa’s Economic Condition Micah Cheserem, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, May 1996. Only continent with endemic food-deficit problem.

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AFRICA’S ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ADPED’S MISSION

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  1. AFRICA’S ECONOMIC CONDITIONS:IMPLICATIONS FOR ADPED’S MISSION Presented At The ADPED’s Meeting of March 8, 2003

  2. GIVING DATA A HUMAN FACE

  3. Africa’s Economic ConditionMicah Cheserem, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, May 1996 Only continent with endemic food-deficit problem. Africa has twenty of the world’s thirty poorest nations Inadequate social services in education, health, legal Highest mortality rates (Life expectancy=50 years) Heavily indebted-US $210bn=83% of GNP or 255% of receipts from goods and services.

  4. Africa’ s Economic Condition-SolutionMicah Cheserem, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, May 1996 • Move our economies away from command to market based regimes.. • Privatize as much as possible to allow efficient allocation of economic resources. • Encourage regional trading blocks like the East Africa Co-operation, (EAC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

  5. THE POVERTY MYTHS • Myth 1- Africa is poor, therefore all Africans live in poverty • Myth 2- Poverty is only a third world problem • The poor live unhappy, miserable lives • People and communities are poor because they lack resources • The poor lack the organizational skills to initiate and manage their own development • The poor are unable to help themselves • Hence foreign aid and assistance- the key to reducing poverty

  6. ADPED’S PERSPECTIVE ON AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES • Poor and corrupt leadership • Quantitative & qualitative poverty in Africa • Qualitative poverty in Africa Diaspora • Diaspora Africans- lowest strata of social, economic, health and political distribution • Africa’s massive human capital flight • Over-centralization of power & resource control

  7. ADPED’S PERSPECTIVES • Non-sustainable economic & political units • Ethnic & linguistic barriers to integration • Powerlessness of the poor • Poor local institutional capacities= • Inadequate home-grown policy instruments= • Inappropriate foreign-mandated macro-economic policies (ex. SAP, privatization)

  8. Accentuate the Positive • Incremental institutionalization of democracy • Macro-economic data underestimate non-market economic activities • Role of social capital, and non-monetary transactions • Growing strengths of CSO, CBOs • Regional integration (ECA, ECOWAS) • Ex. Common monetary union in ECOWAS (2004) • NEPAD & New Africa Union • Move towards market-based reforms

  9. ADPED’S CORE VALUES • Humans are progress-seeking • Poverty in Africa has global implications • Continent’s problems are complex • Foreign aid- stop-gap measures during crisis • Most communities are endowed for self-reliant development • Development must capitalize these endowment • Simplistic, linear solution non-sustainable • Holistic/systems approach to development • Empowerment through decentralized grassroots development

  10. ADPED’S SOLUTION • Empower the poor to take control • Local level & Indigenous Institution-building • Partnerships and strategic alliances • Mobilize Africa’s human capital and goodwill in the Diaspora • Assisted self-reliant, community-led development • Implement model/enclave/demo projects

  11. Associates’ Responsibilities • A commitment/passion for helping • Sacrifice time, resources, and or talents • Focus on others rather than self-gain • Propagate ADPED’s ideals • Develop linkages with local and external individuals and institutions • Develop a global worldview

  12. PARTING WORDS OF INSPIRATION • “The human being is an open possibility, incomplete and incompletable” Karl Jasper, 1923 • “All humanity is bound is together by indispensable ties” • “We are what we attend to; the sum total of what we attend to over time is our life” M. Csikszentmihalyi. Ex. An alcoholic attends to alcohol, a workaholic attends to work, a philanthropist attends to others’ needs • “Hundred years from now, it wont matter what car we drove, what houses we lived in, or how much we left in our bank accounts, but the world might be a different place by the little gesture of love and kindness extended to a fellow human being” • “He/She who lights someone else’s path walks not in darkness”

  13. PROPOSED ADPED’S LOGO

  14. PROPOSED ADPED’S LOGO

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