What Ails The Young? Insights into Africa’s Youth from the African Peer Review Mechanism
Africa is a young continent, with a median age of some 19.3 years and 75% of its population aged 35 or younger. As the continent has long recognised – and as the so-called Arab Spring has confirmed – this large youth population presents many complex and important strategic challenges that must be met.
The New Development Bank: Moving the BRICS from an Acronym to an Institution
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) is set to issue its first loans in the second quarter of 2016. The bank, the latest addition to the global development finance landscape, was initiated due to a number of factors in emerging economies.
The State of Governance in Africa: What Indices Tell Us
Governance is notoriously difficult to measure – yet numerous global indices attempt to do so.
The Potential for Regional Value Chains in the Automotive Sector: Can SADC Learn from the ASEAN Experience?
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Industrialisation Cooperation (AICO) scheme created an opportunity for both foreign investors in the ASEAN region and member states to benefit from the regional free flow of goods in support of regional industrial development.
Successful Youth Policy: Lessons from the African Peer Review Mechanism
Youth policy provides a strategic framework for countries to structure their youth development efforts. Drawing on the work of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the policy brief examines the state and prospects of youth policy in Africa.
African election trends 2016: A good year for democracy?
With eight countries already going to the polls and seven more planning to do so before December, 2016 has been a busy year for elections in Africa. At the halfway point of the year, what can be concluded about democratic processes across the continent? And what can be expected from the coming months?
Evaluating African countries: hard-won lessons from within the continent
African countries seem to be forever undergoing assessments and evaluations. Many stem from the governments of international development partners who have poured money into a plethora of projects, programmes and plans, and want to know what has worked and why. Others are commissioned by international organisations such as the World Bank or the International Monetary […]
World Humanitarian Summit: Effective discussions or talk shop?
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Turkey is the state with the most refugees worldwide, hosting three million refugees from Syria alone.
The 2016 US presidential elections and the implications for US-South Africa trade
The 2016 US presidential elections are just around the corner, and the world has been watching closely as this year’s particularly colourful and controversial campaigns have unfolded.
Ivory sales by Zimbabwe and Namibia could ‘create demand spike’
In early May, the governments of Zimbabwe and Namibia took the unusual step of petitioning the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) to remove their elephants from CITES protection, which currently prohibits them from selling elephant ivory.