The government of Democratic Republic of Congo is planning to privatise some of its most valuable mining assets, as well as take a larger share of any future discoveries made in the mineral-rich country.Victor Kasongo, Congo’s deputy minister of mines, said on Friday that “a major future initiative” for the government was the transformation of state-owned mining companies into commercial entities.

Sierra Leone is reviewing its mining policy while two foreign firms fight over the rights to a potentially lucrative iron ore project, the government of the West African state said on Tuesday. The Marampa iron ore deposit at the centre of a legal battle between London Mining (LOND.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and African Minerals (AMIq.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is estimated to be worth at least half a billion dollars, according to one London Mining executive.

The September issue of Alliance, just published, has a special feature on ‘philanthrocapitalism’ and international funding; guest editors are Michael Edwards and Olivier Kayser. The new issue also has an interview with Luis Ubiñas, President of the Ford Foundation, and introduces two new regular columns. One will bring ‘investors’ perspectives’ while the other will offer stories ‘on the grapevine’. We are also happy to announce publication of the first issue of our new Spanish edition of Alliance.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/395/50481cocoafruit_l.jpgThe World Bank has ordered Ivory Coast to tackle "serious corruption" in its lucrative cocoa industry, saying it will not lend money to the country unless it sees better governance of the sector. Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank vice president for the Africa region, said it would be "absolutely unacceptable" to support reducing poverty while the poor were being denied adequate reward for their work.

Below is a sign-on letter initiated by Bretton Woods Project (UK) encouraging Finance Ministers and members of the IMF Board to shut down the Poverty Reduction & Growth Facility (PRGF), with the funds in it handed over to a more suitable institution providing finance to the countries that have been receiving PRGF loans. Sign-ons to [email][email protected] Organisational (preferred) and individual sign-ons will be accepted until 26 September. Please indicate if you are signing as an organisation or individual. Questions can be directed at [email][email protected]

Google is helping develop a system to bring high-speed internet connections to three billion people developing countries in Africa and elsewhere. The 03b Networks system aims to use satellites to provide broadband services at the same speeds as those on offer in rich countries.

This week, ministers from over 100 countries, heads of donor agencies and representatives of civil society organisations are gathering in Accra, Ghana, for a meeting to discuss ways in which rich nations can help “developing countries and marginalised people in their fight against poverty by making aid more transparent, accountable and results-oriented”.

“Aid Effectiveness”, the main theme of this high-level meeting, has, however, come under severe criticism from the most unlikely quarters – the recipients of aid themselves. A leading voice is Benjamin Mkapa, former president of Tanzania, who in a foreword in the just released book, Ending Aid Dependence, by Yash Tandon, urges developing countries to formulate strategies to exit from the aid dependence bandwagon.

Mkapa argues that aid subjects recipient countries to “a discipline of collective control by donors right down to the village level” and that some of the most successful emerging economies, such as China, India, Brazil and Malaysia, developed not through aid, but through strong nationally-oriented investment and trade policies. (Mkapa’s own country, ironically, is one of the most aid-dependant countries in the world.)

The idea that aid is a bad idea has been around at least since the 1980s, when academics and activists began questioning the effectiveness of World Bank-IMF prescriptions, such as Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), which increased poverty levels in almost every country where they were implemented.

In his book, Tandon, the executive director of the South Centre in Geneva, argues that there needs to be a “radical restructuring of the institutional aid architecture” but falls short of calling for a total ban on aid. Aid that imposes ideological positions on countries, for instance, should be shunned completely, according to Tandon, but aid that supports struggles for social justice in the international community is acceptable as long as it is people-centred.

by Yash Tandon is published by Publisher: Fahamu and the South Centre 160pp.

Rapid urbanisation is a fact of life even in the least developed countries where the lion’s share of the population presently lives in rural areas and will continue to do so for decades to come. This paper examines the causes, consequences and policy implications of the ongoing urbanisation in the African less developed countries (LDCs). The authors find that the employment opportunities in either rural or the urban sector are not growing adequately.

In order to measure progress on achievement of the Paris Declaration, the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness called on developing countries to partner with donor communities to ensure good statistics are produced to facilitate development results.

A new United Nations report on the outlook for the global economy over the next few months indicates that the robust growth seen in developing countries could be checked by the slowdown in the industrialised world. "This is really a downturn after four blessed years of relatively strong growth," said Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary general of UNCTAD (UN Conference on Trade and Development), which put out its annual report Thursday.

Are supply-driven or demand-led approaches to employment generation more successful in reaching poor women? This chapter in the Commonwealth Secretariat’s publication Mainstreaming Gender in Social Protection for the Informal Economy examines social protection schemes in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Since 1982, IDRC has assisted Canadian graduate students to undertake their thesis research in the field of international development. IDRC Doctoral Research Awards are intended to promote the growth of Canadian capacity in research on sustainable and equitable development from an international perspective. Normally, such research is conducted in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East or Asia.

Zimbabwe has lifted a ban on aid agencies that was imposed ahead of the June 27 presidential run-off over accusations that some were siding with the opposition. “The government has with immediate effect lifted the suspension of operations of private voluntary organisations and NGOs,” said a social welfare ministry statement.

Ecobank, the African regional banking group, has announced plans for the continent's biggest rights issue outside South Africa as rising wealth in the world's poorest continent spurs demand for banking services. The bank is seeking to raise $2.5bn on three west African exchanges - Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast - to expand its branch network across the continent in the first African rights issue in more than one country.

‘Equality and mutual benefit’ are reflected today in Chinese leaders’ frequent emphasis on aid as a partnership, not a one way transfer of charity, -quoted in Deborah Brautigam’s, China’s African Aid: Transatlantic Challenges\

India intends to be a partner in Africa’s resurgence- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh address to the Nigerian National Assembly in 2007

The rise of China and India has indeed created a new set of impulses in the international system. Not only are these two emerging giants making notable waves in the way that international finance, trade and investments are being shaped but also in the way that the rules, which govern the global governance regime are being influenced. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the realm of the international architecture on aid effectiveness. While the debate rages on around whether China and India are new or reemerging donors in the world today, their behaviour as development partners is certainly changing the global aid picture and most importantly in Africa.

Over the past several years, the politics of aid has been an overarching issue in Africa’s development debate. Since 2000 the Group of Eight industrialised rich states (G8) have been promising to double aid to Africa. Unfortunately these promises have largely been unfulfilled with the G8 countries opining that aid money has been misused by African recipients, or that African governments are not conforming to the conditionality of good governance and democratic reform. From the African side the prescriptive nature of the aid policy of traditional donors, their inertia and shifting of the goal posts around what constitutes this doubling of aid has been equally frustrating.

While the G8 and the DAC members are stumbling to find practical ways to ensure that aid is being effectively used to promote sustainable development across the continent, subtle changes are beginning to show with the increasing and deepening footprint of China and India across the continent. Their use of soft power coupled with generous financial packages, and notwithstanding the rhetoric of South-South cooperation has found traction amongst African leaders. But what really makes China and India attractive as development partners for many African governments is the parochial view that Beijing and New Delhi understand Africa’s development needs and are not preoccupied with setting high governance benchmarks that could undermine the delivery of aid, prolong the implementation of projects and emasculate development.

African countries and donors share the belief that aid has the potential to contribute to economic growth, reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the way both donors and recipient countries are performing for delivery and use of aid undermine this potential. Some of the conditionalities imposed to aid recipient countries to access aid reduce the extent to which it can contribute to poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs by forcing governments to implement policies that lead to unemployment, bad quality of public services and reduced capacity by citizens to access basic services. Privatisations, cuts in government expenditures in public services such as education and health and adjustment of prices of essential goods like water, electricity and transport to reflect market prices result in unemployment, shortage and lack of motivation of civil servants as well as incapacity of poor people to access these essential services are some examples of such conditions.

On the other hand, recipient countries still face challenges in ensuring good governance, adequate institutional capacity and coordination of activities at different levels. Corruption practices without an appropriate mechanism of imputing responsibilities, lack of coordination across sectors and weak institutions and systems combined with the absence or weak donors’ coordination and harmonisation practices undermine the full potential of aid.

Governments, international bodies and civil society renewed their commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS at the 17th International AIDS Conference, but they will have to work hard in order for this commitment to be reflected in concrete policies, especially on prevention.

The uptake of second-line antiretroviral treatment in developing countries is `stagnant` according to a survey by the World Health Organization presented at last week’s XVII International AIDS Conference, despite substantial cuts in drug prices over the past 18 months.

A new study finds that international project financiers, including the leading international banks and the International Finance Corporation, do not have a robust framework for minimizing the social risks posed by their projects. The study—"The International Finance Corporation's Performance Standards and the Equator Principles: Respecting Human Rights and Remedying Violations?"—notes that recently-adopted standards are not likely to reduce potential human rights-related conflicts that may arise in projects.

Have donors lived up to their pledges under the Paris Declaration? Is aid becoming more effective and accountable for impoverished people? This report for the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) focuses on progress against two principles of the Paris Declaration, ownership and accountability, in Cambodia, Honduras, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, and Sierra Leone.