My Summer Project in Uganda

This summer I will be organising two conference/seminars in Uganda as elaborated below.

GIRLS´   EDUCATION  SEMINAR ( 26^th August in Kamuli District )

( At a secondary school in a remote area of Eastern Uganda, we shall have a one day seminar aimed at speaking young females students about the value of education and later visit parents in their homes to extend the same message )

Some of the issues will include but not limited to

1. Sustainable Development through girls education ( importance of education

of girls ), increase in women labour force

-lowering infant and mortality rates/ lowering martenal mortality rates

-protecting against HIV/AIDS

1. Constraints / factors affecting girls education

-cultural and social practices like early marriages, restriction of female mobility and son preference/inheritance

-failure of schools to motivate / encourage girls

-hostile environment that is unfriendly to girls eg bullying in schools, sexual harassment from males etc

-Pregnancy

1. . way forward

-promote positive image of girls towards education by educators and schools

-addressing parents/ societies about need for education

-girls adolescent programmes ( encouraging girls to resume education even  after pregnancy.

HIV/AIDS AWRENESS SEMINAR ( 28^th August in Kampala District )

Having lost 4 of my relatives to AIDS,  I am inspired to have an open awareness dialogue among youths and students in Uganda on the topic of HIV and AIDS since the epidemic has spreads at a higher rates in this age group. The programmes will set off with an awareness  peaceful  demonstration from the city center to a town hall where we shall then have different speakers and folk musicians talk about the above issue to students which will include but not limited to: Basics of HIV, impact of the disease on the social and economic status of Uganda, Prevention methods, fight against stigma and basic tips on how to take care of HIV/AIDS patients.

I wish you all a very nice summer holiday

All my love

XXX

Africa misses Michael Jackson

It is hard to believe that  the King of Pop is dead………,  but in Africa, he is not gone, he still lives in our hearts.

Through his music, he made considerable contributions to Africa . In 1985  at the climax of hunger and famine , he mobilised his fellow musician to record ” We are the world “  a dedication to raise not only funds but also awereness in the fight against the problem that was/is  happening in Africa . Funds we raised ( about 60 million dollars ) and lives saved .

How about ” Earth song ” ? its undeniable this song raised awareness on the environment degradation that was at high rate at the moment in Africa, more so, he shot part of the video from Tanzania in East Africa in which he highlighted the issue of illegal poaching and hunting of wild animals. This did not only boost Tanzania´s tourism industry but also created awareness for the need to protect animals and stop  environment degradation activities among various Africa countries.

OOOh, i cant forget ” Black or white ” , a sensational song addressing the issue of respect and stopping  racism. How about ” heal the world” ? awareness on children´s rights. The list is never ending

Surely Michael, you helped making the  world and Africa a better place, we dearly miss you.

My condoloscences to the Jackson  family

Rest in Peace MJ.

Investing in East Africa

East Africa comprises of 5 states namely Uganda,Kenya, Tanzania ,Rwanda and Burundi. There quite various economic indicators that show the region as an investment opportunity .

Why East Africa ?

With a total population of approximately 125 million people of GDP ( PPP )per capita $1200 shows a positive market . The increased trend of the middle class further more ensures an average consumption confidence. The emerging of the East African Economy has greatly brought a solid common market. KPMG www.eastafrica.kpmg.com an international accredited company reports that though Financial crisis has affected global economnies, surprisingly East african nations have mantained reasonable regional economic stability as seen below

( Uganda Kenya and Tanzania average economic indicators )

GDP at Market price $ 61,383 Million

Inflation rate 9.9 %

Budget deficit as % of GDP ( current price ) 8 .0 %

Trade deficit as % of GDP ( current price ) 16.7 %

The Access to the Sovereign Bonds rating by Fitch Rating show Uganda and Kenya on B and B+ respectively which is quite a right economic prosperity path as it shows growth of the financial sector. Uganda registered a GDP growth rate of 7.1 % 2008/9 despite the financial recession.

On the other hand, there are continued improvement in the infrastructures ( roads and health sectors ) , favourable tax rates and rebates which all have a positive investment multiplier effect.

What to invest in ?

With a favorable climate, there is great potentials in the agricultural sectors ( Fishing and fish farming, horticulture, food production , animal husbandry etc ).

The region is endowered with natural mineral resources and antiquities. Kenya and Tanzania have a predominent wild life resource and at the moment Uganda has undeveloped oil to the tune of 2 billion barrels and wells in pipeline.

These all indicate a ground for investment opportunities. ICT is a lucrative investment opportunities in the region, these in general includes mobile and landline communication , radios ,media ( Radio, Tv ) and internet .Film and Music production has a great market not only in the region but also the whole African continent. Ventures in real estate ,Vocational technology ( skills education ) and Medicare production are worth investing in.

China and Africa

After attending a seminar by Dr Wei Ge , i was amazed to know about the Chinese Economy, one of the few countries with still a positive GDP growth in this historical financial crisis year.
Do you know China aided Africa to a tune of 50 billion dollars in 2006?
A recent survey revealed that many Africans view China´s involvement in Africa as an opportunity for Africa´s growth . Dr Dambisa Moyo in her popular book ” Dead Aid ” suggested a much trade relation with China as one of the ways of Africa´s economic growth. Chinese government has made multiple aid in infrastructure development in almost all African states coupled with cancelling all the outstanding debts.
on contrally, Mr Adam Gaye is skeptical about the real motive of China whether philanthropy or otherwise hidden .He also believes its going to be the turning point from the influence of traditional instituitions like IMF and World Bank ” China has also been criticised for holding a neutral position on dictatorship and human rights abuse in Africa ( Zimbabwe and Sudan ).
Time will tell whether the new relationship is beneficial to China or Africa or perhaps both.

Setting Priorities in solving Global problems.

With multiple global problems and limited resources ,its always a question of how policy makers should prioritise the solution . I found Professor Bjorn Lomborg ( Coppenhagen Business School ) arguments so interestin that i decided to share it with you . Foremost, he recognises global warming as a world problem but totally disagrees on how its recieving international priority as a major world crisis at the expense of real striking global problems
like HIV/AIDS,malaria,hunger ,birth and infant mortality rates etc.
here are some of his top arguments of why global warming should be given less attention

1. UN science consesus expects temperature rise of 3-7 degrees F leading to a rise of about 1.5 feet sea level at the end of the century which is quite manageable

2.Although Global warming will cause about 400,000 heat related deaths globally, it will on a positive side cause 1.8 million fewer cold related deaths

3.Most economic models show global warming damage will be 3% of world GDP which is not a threat since UN expects at the end of the century an average person will be 1400 % richer.

4.Implimentation of Kyoto protocol at 180 billion dollars annually will solve 2million from hunger at the end of the century yet on the other hand UN estimates at 10 billion dollars annually, we can save 229 million people from hunger. There fore is it better spending money to save 1 person in 100 years or use the money to save 5000 people now ?

source and recommended recource
” How to spend 50 billion dollars to make a world a better place ” by Bjorn Lomborg.
“Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming” by Bjorn Lomborg
TED video Bjorn Lomborg
copenhagen

In support of The Paris Declaration.

The Development Aid issue has encoutered public scrutiny with increasing critical views from anti-aid activists based on ” Washington Consensus ” etc , this showed a need from the donor and recipeint aid stake holders to make adjustments and policies for Aids Effecctiveness.

In 2005, OECD ( Organisation for Economics Co-operation and Development ) summoned an International Community summit hosted by the French Government at the ” Paris High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness”, at the meeting more than 100 signatories endorsed the ” Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness “

“”"The Paris Declaration, endorsed on 2 March 2005, is an international agreement to which over one hundred Ministers, Heads of Agencies and other Senior Officials adhered and committed their countries and organisations to continue to increase efforts in harmonisation, alignment and managing aid for results with a set of monitorable actions and indicators “”"”

Development Aid arguments

Development Aid is still a sensitive issue that is being analysed presently as a phenomenom in two different antagonistic aspects

1. The pro-Aid activits advocate for continued help of poor countries

2. The Anti-Aid activists say its a traditional outdated policy to help developing countries through aid

Below are the continued views from the later

A.Corruption and Foreign Aid

( Mark Thorntorn )

“”For a few billion dollars you might expect to be able to bribe some small third world country into cleaning up its act, to defend the property rights of its citizens, to provide a stable currency, and to establish a non-interventionist economic and foreign policy.

With little Switzerlands and industrial revolutions developing around the globe, the U.S. could provide the examples that would establish a classical liberal world order within one generation with less than 1% of the federal budget.

Alas, Americans are united in their opposition to foreign aid—and with good reason! Foreign aid, military aid, debt relief, economic development assistance, and even disaster assistance money—all with “strings attached” to ensure proper behavior—are associated with “fraud, waste, and abuse.”

U.S. aid designed to bring about peace in the Middle East is an ideological seedbed of hatred, war, and terrorism. The big players in foreign aid, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, are more likely to bring about economic meltdown and social calamity than economic stability.

Ludwig von Mises pointed out  that foreign aid doesn’t create friends in foreign lands, it creates ideological enemies who wish to do us harm:

The United States, they think, is aiding them because its people have a bad conscience. They themselves pocket this bribe but their sympathies go to the socialist system. The American subsidies make it possible for their governments to conceal partially the disastrous effects of the various socialist measures they have adopted.

Mises is here referring to our “friends” in Europe, but the same could be applied to the Middle East, Africa, the Western Hemisphere, and Asia, with the only possible exception being countries like Vietnam and Australia who receive limited or no foreign aid from the United States or the international organizations that we control.

The fraud and failure of foreign aid is now so obvious that it has ended up in the pages of the American Economic Review!

Economists Alberto Alesina and Beatrice Weder ask the simple question, “Do Corrupt Governments Receive Less Foreign Aid?” in the September 2002 issue. Using a host of international economic statistics and several surveys of government corruption, they find that there is no evidence that nations and multinational institutions direct their foreign aid to less corrupt governments and away from more corrupt governments. They state their conclusion quite emphatically:

There is no evidence that less corrupt governments receive more foreign aid. Our vast exploration of the data never uncovered any even weak evidence of a negative effect of corruption on received foreign aid. The same result applies to debt relief programs, an additional form of aid.

Is Foreign Development Aid the cause of Africa´s underdevelopment ???????

Its absurd Africa is so large with many natural mineral resources but lagging behinds in terms of development whether social,political or economical. Why is it so ? That question is quite disturbing as many economic analysts  have different arguments. First and foremost, a great distinction between Relief (humanitarian aid ) and development aid.Though relief aid is being supported by all ,economic aid has drawn mixed arguments among people with some criticising and others supporting it

Miss Dambisa Moyo, a former World Bank employee in her book ” Dead Aid ” strongly believes the foreign aid given by developed world to Africa is the cause of economic underdevelopment in the continent. She suggest Africa has recieved trillions of dollars in development aid but still underdeveloped.She criticises a  government to government aid and suggests african countries should rather engage in capital markets like bonds with the international banks etc.

“Aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the need for more aid.” Dambisa Moyo

Her arguments have recieved mixed feelings from many people with support from President Kagame ( Rwanda ), Abdoulaye Wade ( senegal ).Gabon and Ghana are so far some of the african nations that overwhelmingly changed development aid policies by embarking more now on capital markets. On ther other hand , Mr Bono ( David Hewison ) have strongly criticised her arguments saying the G20 need to rather increase their development support to Africa,he suggests more philanthropy to Africa.

Dambisa Moyo´s views on Aid

Women and sustainable development of Africa.

Women in Africa play a greater role in social and economic development in either ways ( positively or negatively ). This is so because they contribute a greater percentage of the toatl population.Its also worth emphasising that an average child spends most of his/her infant and adolescent period with the mother therefore the child´s future strongly lies in the guidance of the mother. I therefore call upon all individaul,stake holders and humanitarians to work towards the promotion of girls education in the continent. Africa with more educated females will result  into lowering of infant and child mortality rates ( UNICEF estimated in 2006 about 5 million children in Africa die every year before age of five ).

“”"Mothers who are educated will also have increased confidence in the ability to take care of her children, therefore providing a healthier relationship and environment for them.”