SPECIAL FEATURE: Community Solutions for Africa’s AIDS Orphans
On a maize-covered hill in Swaziland’s central belt, 75-year-old Josphephia Sihlongonyane surveyed the coming harvest with her neighbour, Dorkas Dlamini. The ears were fat and drying on the stalk in the April sun. It would be a fine yield, the two women agreed.
What Ails Africa’s Banks
Lack of credit and underdeveloped financial services prevent growth in Africa, businesses say. Filling the gap between street-level informal traders and the big corporations run by multinationals or the state, Africa’s small and medium-sized firms could be the driver of jobs and economic growth.
New Technology Expands Banking Access
African banks are caught in a vicious cycle: lack of infrastructure and weak technology mean poor service and high costs.
Trading Up?
Despite having been present at the creation of the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT), South Africa is a new actor on the global stage, and the architects of its trade strategy have to deal with increasingly challenging contradictions between the structure of the local economy and the rules of the global game.
Corporate Governance: South Africa, A Pioneer in Africa
The Global Best Practice series examines a number of case studies in various sectors, with the aim of assessing their potential applicability in the Africa developmental context.
Tragedy Intensifies in Zimbabwe
Bill Corcoran offers a first-hand look at a brutal campaign that’s destroying livelihoods.
SPECIAL FEATURE: Unleashing Investment By Encouraging African Savings
Africa has the world’s lowest savings rate, with little capital for banks to lend to grow productive enterprise. South Africa is changing the rules by bringing the poor into the banking system.
SA’s Influence a Mixed Blessing
The World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town will discuss the role that the private sector, and specifically SA, can play in supporting the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).
SPECIAL FEATURE: Give Less Aid a Chance
A massive increase in aid will harm rather than help Africa, an aid industry veteran says. Donors and recipients should manage on smaller aid budgets until they know how to get it right.
Zimbabwe Elections 2005 – Prospects Towards 2008
The South African Institute of International Affairs convened a half-day conference on Zimbabwe, “Zimbabwe Election 2005 – Interpretations, Implications, Prospects Towards 2008”, with the objective of providing a constructive platform for the exchange of viewpoints and to develop ideas about the prospects for the country in the years preceding the presidential election scheduled for 2008.