My Beauty Best Teacher

Yasser Abdih, Ralph Chami,Jihad Dagher, and Peter Montiel in an IMF working paper(PDF):

Conclude that despite their nature as household-to-household private income transfers,remittance inflows may have adverse effects on domestic institutional quality – specifically,on the quality of domestic governance – that are similar to those of large resource flows. In our analytical model, this effect arises because when households receive remittances, the government finds it less costly to free ride on the households and their emigrant relatives and divert resources for its own purposes. In other words, because access to remittance income makes government corruption less costly for domestic households to bear, the government engages in more corruption. Remittances, by acting as a buffer between the government and its citizens, give rise to a moral hazard problem; these flows allow households to purchase the public good rather than rely solely on the government to provide that good, which reduces the household’s incentive to hold the government accountable.

Along the lines of Ushaidi, Sokwanele maps the Zimbabwean crisis:

On March 29th 2008 Zimbabweans went to the polls and changed history. For the first time since Independence in 1980, the Zanu PF party lost its majority in parliament and Robert Mugabe lost the Presidential vote. The regime immediately embarked on a campaign of violence and reprisal attacks against the civilian population.This map aims to convey some sense of the scale of the violence and it also tries to locate responsibility in relation to key perpetrator groups

Ethiopundit writes:

The US is very upset about Robert Mugabe's behavior and is about to expand sanctions against Mugabe Inc. for being an "illegitimate" government that just won a "sham election". The Queen has even taken away his knighthood while the world's moralizing voices in the press and power that don't feel the silly tug of 'third world solidarity' are speaking up as well. While Mbeki remains as loyal to Mugabe as Mugabe is to Mengistu, Mandela has spoke up as well. Even Kenya has urged the AU to suspend him.
But ... in a sense it is so dreadfully unfair to Mugabe isn't it? What did Mugabe ever do since he became Africa's designated bad guy about eight years ago that Meles has not been doing for seventeen years now? Let us go through the list shall we...[continue reading]

John Githongo and William Gumede write in the FT:

There are leadership failures across Africa. The meltdown in Zimbabwe has focused the world’s attention on just one. Robert Mugabe’s efforts to prolong his rule have provoked an unusually strong African reaction. This may be because Africans are beginning to recognise that there are no “national” crises. The deepening social and economic interdependence of their countries mean that Zimbabwe’s problems are regional and truly African. Across the continent people are demanding more from very limited democracies...[continue reading]

Smart Youth Investments goals include:
-To enhance financial management skills among the Kenyan youth.
-To teach the Kenyan youth the practicality of stock trading concepts. This will include the risks and gains involved while trading at the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
-To popularize stock trading at the Nairobi Stock Exchange with the Kenyan youth.
-To encourage the culture of thrift or saving. In the Kenyan economy, there exists several licensed institutions where savers can invest their money and earn a return. These act as an incentive to have individuals spend less and save more.

I recently found on the internet a story on an 8th grade test that was given in 1892. You can find this test on the internet if you look around for it. I looked at it, and in my opinion, today most adults wouldn't be able to pass this test, much less 8th graders. The questions demand a knowledge of history, grammer, logic, and common-sense that is lacking today, although to be fair, I'm sure our students today have better outfits and more knowledge of MTV. When I look at a test like this and think about the results it would generate today, I question our curent educational system- how is it that we expect less now from our college students than the people of 1892 expected from an 8th grader? Are Americans as a society generally dumber today than we used to be? Probably not in every way, but I feel in many key ways, our society is less intelligent than it used to be, and I pin this on the liberal bias of the educational establishment. I don't pin it on teachers, tenure, pay, or anything like that- I pin it on the increasing and increasingly sophisticated liberal indoctrination that occurs in our school, and is the process that is making our students less intelligent. If we spent more time openly attacking that liberal bias in our schools, we might do some good.

Occasionally, I email all my local newspapers editorials. They rarely put them in the paper, but I still try my best to get my voice out to different media. After reading about this, I sent in this editorial for them to print in the newspaper:

In a landmark 5-4 decision yesterday, the US Supreme Court found that the 2nd amendment did in fact protect a person's right to bear arms. District of Columbia v Heller is considered by many to be a victory for the forces of freedom and liberty, but gun control advocates have already begun to spin it.

As I took the dog for a walk last night, I was listening to a lefty radio show, and the spin had already begun on the ruling. The head editor of Slate magazine was on, the host was on, and people were calling in. I listened for a good hour. Here is how the new narrative will go, in their words (not mine, I think most of this stuff is flat-out wrong):

A liberal speaks "In 1939, Miller definitely ruled that the federal government could pass any gun laws they wanted. Now, we have a new group of Bush judges in who don't respect the tradition of this country and want to change the system we've had in place for decades and decades. These unprincipled and unrestricted judges, together with ultra-conservative Kennedy, unilaterally changed our government's long held gun policies. Not only that, they overturned legislative laws- this country is supposed to be ruled by the legislatures, not judges." The liberal continues "But, the ruling only applies in certain particular cases- in reality, the Bush judges ruling is very limited, because it was so radically different from all other rulings. Thus, nothing really changes, except we now see the considerable threat that conservative justices pose to our liberties and freedoms. More gun control laws can pass, based on the Miller ruling of 1939, not based on this crazy decision. Besides, this decision was most likely a corrupt one, because there is a very powerful NRA lobby out there, and any time the NRA gets involved, whatever is produced is tainted by special interests."

I think I just about summed up what you will be hearing on liberal radio shows for the next week- now you don't have to tune in yourself!

"...55 students from throughout sub-Saharan Africa were admitted into the inaugural graduate program at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Abjua, and begin classes in July 2008. 8 (roughly half) of the Ghanaians selected were honored at a reception at the University of Ghana, Legon, hosted by Visiting Professor K. Osseo-Asare, and his wife, Dr. Fran Osseo-Asare of BETUMI, who also prepared the refreshments..."-YouTube

Image by transaid images via FlickrIn the Harvard International Review, Eric Thurman argues for a continued focus on microfinance while others see a need for more emphasis on the SME space:

It is time to maximize the abundant resources of Africa, especially the human assets. Microfinance is an excellent tool to achieve this goal. A close look at the realities of Africa reveals factors which must be taken into consideration as part of any effort in development. Economic patterns here are different from other parts of the world. First, few people have wage-paying jobs. Self-employment dominates the labor force. Also, people are more dispersed than in most other parts of the world. In a situation where the population is geographically scattered and self-employment is the norm, microfinance is a proven, practical way to boost personal income. Large public works projects or signs of industrial development are rare. Foreign direct investment and job creation in any form should be encouraged wherever possible, but no one is suggesting that these will produce large scale employment for Africans anytime soon.

Liberal teachers as people generally are decent enough, and this blog is not meant in any way to be an attack on liberal teachers as people. And I'm not going to claim that they are lazy, unintelligent, or unskilled. My problem with liberal teachers is their agenda.

Liberal teachers have a vision of education that may shock you. They love big government, and so the response to every problem of society is a government run program- whether it is a math problem, an art problem, a bullying problem, a self-confidence problem, a social studies problem, or a science question- the answer is always 'government.' And not a government by the people, for the people- liberal teachers push government by the People for the People- a government that is chosen by few people to run over our lives and make decision for us. Although many people think liberal teachers do not teach right and wrong, they do- liberal teachers push a vision of the world where the bad guys are always in business, where seeking to make a profit is a bad thing, and where those people who believe in God and conservative values are bad people, opposing the Progress of Society. Good is evil, evil is good, and all the while they chant there is no good and evil. And above all, these liberal teachers teach that students are not the ones responsible for their own behavior- whatever they do, there is always something else or someone else to blame it on, and there is no such thing as personal responsibility.

Whole generations of students are being brainwashed by this liberal thinking. And I do mean they are being brain-washed. Teachers are systematically trying to force the students in their classes to think in a certain way. They are forced to only hear one viewpoint on issues, they are forced to only provide answers that the teacher considers right, and they are forced on penalty of shame to admit to and agree to the liberal agenda. True, many students rebel against this system, usually be shutting down mentally or saying they hate school, but most students are worn down bit by bit, and eventually agree that 2+2 does equal 5, and the liberal agenda in this nation is advanced that much further.

There is considerable evidence to me that this is so- textbooks, state curriculum, lesson plans, standardized tests, student comments, and my own observations. On big issues and little issues, the liberal agenda is pushed down students minds, and the cumulative effect of decades of this is beginning to show in our current political environment. I just hope that I can personally do a little bit to fight it.

This blog is primarily going to be an outlet for my thoughts on education, teaching, local politics, and national politics. My background in government, business, and education has given me a unique perspective from which to comment on these subjects, and I hope that my comments will further the political discourse in this country and maybe even educate some of my readers about the world around them. Many of the subjects that I write about will be current, and I may even comment on many major stories in the news. But a considerable amount of what I write about will be the unique observations of a teacher in the trenches, fighting daily to teach my students how to think, how to live free, and how to live well. Enjoy.

In light of recent events in Kenya,South Africa and the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe the work of TheHub presented by Witness becomes even more pertinent. It "...is the world's first participatory media site for human rights. Through the Hub, individuals, organizations, networks and groups around the world are able to bring their human rights stories and campaigns to global attention and to mobilize action to protect and promote human rights..." These and other citizen empowering tools such as Ushaidi acting in concert, broaden the possibilities of a "World of Witnesses" as described recently in the Economist.

From the website:

The DeepRoots scholarship recipients, two-thirds of whom are girls, excel academically at their local schools, but unfortunately lack the financial resources to continue their education. A Deep Roots Scholarship makes it possible for them to go to school.

Anthony Hawkins writes in the Spectator:

South Africa’s political risk and investment ratings have taken a severe knock since Zuma won a stunning victory at the ruling African National Congress’s December 2007 conference in Polokwane. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that in the succeeding five months, the president-to-be should have been at such pains to dispel his anti-capitalist, populist image, not just by insisting on the reasonableness of his future administration’s economic policies, but by seeking to put Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, in his place...[continue reading]

Anthony J. Ody at Brookings writes:

Empirically, World Bank researchers find a positive correlation between the size of a country's SME sector and the rate of economic growth. This does not necessarily prove causation runs from SMEs to growth. More plausibly, policies that are good for SMEs are generally good for growth, too. Among these policies, the promotion of vibrant, competitive financial systems has proven to be especially important.

Image via WikipediaAmartya Sen wrote in the Little Mag:

It is not difficult to see that the economic predicament of the poor across the world cannot be reversed by withholding from them the great advantages of contemporary technology, the well-established efficiency of international trade and exchange, and the social as well as economic merits of living in open rather than closed societies. People from very deprived countries clamor for the fruits of modern technology (such as the use of newly invented medicines, for example for treating AIDS); they seek greater access to the markets in the richer countries for a wide variety of commodities, from sugar to textiles; and they want more voice and attention from the rest of the world. If there is skepticism of the results of globalization, it is not because suffering humanity wants to withdraw into its shell.

In fact, the pre-eminent practical issues include the possibility of making good use of the remarkable benefits of economic connections, technological progress and political opportunity in a way that pays adequate attention to the interests of the deprived and the underdog.[1] That is, I would argue, the constructive question that emerges from the anti-globalization movements. It is, ultimately, not a question of rubbishing global economic relations, but of making the benefits of globalization more fairly distributed.

Bret Stephens writing in the WSJ thinks its time to invoke the 'Responsibility to Protect' doctrine in Zimbabwe:

A solution for Zimbabwe's crisis isn't hard to come by: Someone – ideally the British(better still the AU...they did it in Comoros) – must remove Mr. Mugabe by force, install Mr. Tsvangirai as president, arm his supporters, prevent any rampages, and leave. "Saving Darfur" is a somewhat different story, but it also involves applying Western military force to whatever degree is necessary to get Khartoum to come to terms with an independent or autonomous Darfur. Burma? Same deal.

International relations theorists, including prominent Obama adviser Susan Rice, justify these sorts of interventions under the rubric of a "Responsibility to Protect" – a concept that comes oddly close to Kipling's White Man's Burden. So close, in fact, that its inherent paternalism has hitherto inhibited many liberals from endorsing the kinds of interventions toward which they are now tip-toeing, thousands of deaths too late.

C0-Chaired by Wangari Maathai the Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF)was "...set up to take early action to protect the forests in the Congo Basin region. The Fund invites proposals for transformative and innovative initiatives from the governments and civil society and private sector of the Congo Basin to slow the rate of deforestation, through developing the capacity of the people and institutions in the countries of the Congo basin to manage their forest. This includes helping local communities find livelihoods that are consistent with forest conservation and developing new approaches which will bring genuine change and ensure future sustainable forest management..."
via TED Blog

"...The Cross Cultural Collaborative invites artists and scholars from all over the world to work with Ghanaians on collaborative projects that range from mosaic walls to documentary films. Most visitors to Ghana have only a superficial connection with the people. We find that by bringing people to live and work at CCC, Inc. we break down stereotypical thinking. Our participants form lasting friendships and come to appreciate not only other cultures, but their own as well..."

Nigeria Curosity questions the scrutiny of the Africa Finance Corporation:

The AFC aims to be the go-to institution for the funding of economic development on the African continent. But, despite the incredible future potential of this institution for the continent, it appears that the AFC is currently experiencing a serious attack in Nigeria. And this attack, if not halted, could prove to be the undoing of some seriously good work being done for the future of every African...[continue reading]

Simeon Djankov, Yingyi Qian, Gérard Roland and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya:

...find that family characteristics have the strongest influence on becoming an entrepreneur. In contrast, success as an entrepreneur is primarily determined by the individual’s smartness and higher education in the family. Entrepreneurs are not more self-confident than non-entrepreneurs; and overconfidence is bad for business success.-BID Network

Stephen Marks writes in Pambazuka about Russia and China's competing interests within the continent:

In Africa, the Russian state seems far more ‘upfront’ about pursuing its grand geopolitical projects than the more cautious and patient Chinese. Russia’s private sector too is prepared on occasion to operate with an unashamed directness where others might be more diplomatic." While all eyes are on China's growing influence in Africa, Stephen Marks argues that Russia's Russia's bear is quietly intensifying its hug...[continue reading]

HalfTribe profiles the work of Fela Sowande:

A Nigerian composer who collected African melodies and developed them into original compositions. One of his many works, the African Suite, written in 1944, combines well-known West African music with European methods. For the opening movement, Joyful Day, Sowande uses a melody written by Ghanaian composer Ephrain Amu. In Nostalgia, Sowande composes a traditional slow movement to express his nostalgia for the homeland, and the finale, Akinla, began as a popular Highlife tune.

NaijaBlog questions the 'prosperity and deliverance' creed of evangelicals.
An 88 year old contributes to reforestation.
The Hideyo Noguchi Africa prize has a recipient.
Senegalese women call for an end to clandestine immigration.
PSD Blog reports on "making finance work".
Forbes writes about the brain drain in a conversation with the founder of the African Leadership Academy.

The Economist writes:

SADC's leaders and other influential Africans should make it clear that the recent Kenyan model is not acceptable: in that case, an incumbent president lost at the polls but has stayed in office by fiddling the count and then letting the real winner hold a raft of inferior ministries. It may be too much to hope that SADC will impose sanctions on Mr Mugabe and his gang if they refuse to budge. But at the very least, even in an eventual negotiated settlement, they should make it clear that it is time for Mr Mugabe to go. He has become a disaster for his own country and an embarrassment to Africa.

Image via WikipediaFrom the website of the ISE founded by Ashraf Ghani and Clare lockhart:

The Institute for State Effectiveness (ISE) uses a citizen-centered perspective to rethink the fundamentals of the relationship between citizens, the state and the market in the context of globalization. Stability and prosperity in our interdependent world demand a new global compact to ensure that the billions of people currently excluded become stakeholders in the emerging political and economic order.

From their website:

The Bulungula Incubator is a non-profit organisation which aims to incubate brilliant rural development projects. Our vision is:
To be an innovative agent in the creation of vibrant, sustainable, rural communities.
We aim to achieve this through partnering with the Nqileni community, other NGO’s and innovative thinkers to find synergies between the traditional rural African lifestyle and culture, and external technologies and innovations.

John Noble Wilford at Hastac reports :

From Timbuktu to here, to reverse the expression, the written words of the legendary African oasis are being delivered by electronic caravan. A lode of books and manuscripts, some only recently rescued from decay, is being digitized for the Internet and distributed to scholars worldwide...[continue reading]

Arah Childress writes in the WSJ:

Democracy is making gradual gains in sub-Saharan Africa. The trend is driven by a cadre of activists, armed with little more than determination and cheap cellphones, who are outmaneuvering Africa's ruling strongmen...The democratic gains across sub-Saharan Africa come amid the fastest economic growth the region has seen in three decades. Foreign investment is flooding in on the back of soaring prices for the oil, metals and minerals that are plentiful across the continent. The boom, coupled with the region's democratic progress, offers some hope that after a period of post-colonial turmoil, sub-Saharan Africa may be slowly emerging into a more peaceful and prosperous era.[continue reading]

In 2000 Skills Development delivered a report(pdf) on the delivery of "Supplementary Technical Education to Tinsmiths" in Quelimane,Mozambique. Artisans are a demographic that are typically ignored when policies on education are being debated.The need for appropriate practical education cannot be overemphasized enough:

A group of 4 tinsmiths have been trained, and they have - as previously agreed - started to transfer their skills to their 20 colleagues. This will lead to a growth in the capacity of the total group as stated in the project proposal.The formerly very limited production, mostly consisting of buckets and containers, is now including an increased variety of goods, everyday objects, and crafts. Additionally the tinsmiths are able to produce products for ventilation systems, which is a completely new article in their sales collection...The roof construction and rehabilitation methods that the tinsmiths now master are hereto unknown techniques in Mozambique. The tinsmiths - who before the project were threatened by extinction due to the competition from plastic products – are now capable of broadening their range of production to encompass roof rehabilitation. Additionally, the artisans will in future be able to draw on their new contacts to the entrepreneurs and factories in the area.

The WSJ reports on how the appetite for returns is leading investors to markets in Africa and beyond :

Frontier markets offer opportunities to participate in some of the world's fastest-growing economies. Parts of Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East have been clocking growth of about 6% or more in recent years.
That trend is largely projected to continue through at least 2009, far outpacing developed-economy growth of about 1.3%.
Yet, frontier economies are some of the most volatile financial markets around. Kenya's stock market, rocked by political strife, lost more than 11% in just 10 days earlier this year...[continue reading]

Inhabitat reports on the Greenhouse project:

Located in the northwest corner of Joubert Park, Johannesburg, The GreenHouse Project is an environmental NGO demonstrating sustainable living and development. In the Global Oneness Project video interview, Dorah explains how the five-pronged project approaches sustainability, by utilizing the skills of rural South African people and describes how this urban environment has everything it needs to sustain its community, without demanding more from further afield.

Thilo Thielke writes in Der Spiegel about the consequences of development aid:

If you follow the reasoning of the United Nation's World Food Program, then Kenya is a unique region when it comes to hunger catastrophes. In this east African country, a popular vacation destination with 32 million inhabitants, UN workers hand out more food on an annual basis than they do in southern Sudan, which civil wars have ravaged for decades. But is Kenya really dying of hunger?...[continue reading]

We revisit the saga of 'Vulture Funds' with a look at Tony Allen-Mills Times Online piece:

Earlier this year, in a little-noticed, out-of-court settlement, the Brazzaville government paid off its“vulture” creditors, thereby ending almost a decade of legal wrangling that stretched from Bermuda and the Virgin Islands via Paris, New York and Hong Kong to London’s High Court.
It was a startling surrender for a country that has spent much of the past 10 years dodging its creditors, ignoring court orders and pleading to join the debt-relief programme run by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Why give in to the vultures just as world opinion had clearly turned against the hedge funds?

Armed with court-approved powers to subpoena witnesses and with search warrants, the Elliott team[Elliott Associates, a $10 billion (£5 billion) hedge fund] began a journey into the murky depths of the international oil trade. It would subsequently emerge in court that the Brazzaville government had established a network of sham companies (known in French as faux nez, or “false noses”) and bogus executives (“straw men”) in the hope of concealing their oil transactions.

From the Nigeria2025 website:

Given the recognition that national transformation in today's world requires at its base a shared national vision and a robust strategy among the leaders in the public and private sectors and the civil society, the African Leadership Institute in collaboration with LEAP Africa, launched the Nigeria 2025 Scenarios in November 2006. The project was designed to develop a series of scenarios on how Nigeria could evolve in the future, thereby painting images of plausible trajectories for the evolution of the country until the year 2025.

Paul Kedrosky writes:

While frontier markets in Africa are not yet the new Brazil, let alone the new South Korea, there are ample reasons to be optimistic about the economic resurgence in many African countries.

Consider:

• The number of armed conflicts in Africa has dropped from 20 in 1999 to 5 today. Granted, that's non-zero, and the human losses in the remaining fighting is horrific and unacceptable, but there is significant and largely unheralded change.

• Real GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) averaged 4.1% from 1997-2002, and has since risen to 6.6%

• Real incomes are rising, with GDP per capita hitting 4.6% in SSA in 2007.

• Africa has lower inflation, higher FX reserves, and more FDI than did Asian emerging markets in 1980 -- and that worked out okay.

• We're seeing bond duration extension, with government bond yield curves now stretching out to 10- and 15-years in some countries, which is a boon to project financing.

Richard Joseph writes(pdf) about the birth pains of democracy on the continent:

In many countries, “the struggle continues” in a variety of forms, as civil society becomes more robust, the independent media grow more diverse and inventive, human rights and social-justice activists learn new skills, communication technologies
get cheaper and more widespread, and the masses of citizens take an ever more jaundiced view of attempts at political deception and manipulation. Richard L. Sklar once praised African nations as “workshops” of democracy that are contributing to the “aggregate of democratic knowledge and practice.”32 Political and civic activists, helped by international agencies, continue to forge fresh instruments to weaken the barriers to the rise of stable, constitutional, and development-friendly democracies.
Africans may not have found definitive answers to the many challenges discussed in this essay, and in some countries their voices may have been temporarily silenced by the brutal exercise of state power. Nevertheless, there is no sign that the search for answers has slackened. While victory flags cannot yet be raised, neither should those of surrender be unfurled.-Journal of Democracy

Image by bcbuddy2072 via FlickrFrom the Economist a lesson for Sub-Saharan Africa:

These days Vietnam also has plenty of other things to be proud of. In the 1980s Ho Chi Minh's successors as party leaders damaged the war-ravaged economy even more by attempting to introduce real communism, collectivising land ownership and repressing private business. This caused the country to slide to the brink of famine. The collapse soon afterwards of its cold-war sponsor, the Soviet Union, added to the country's deep isolation and cut off the flow of roubles that had kept its economy going. Neighbouring countries were inundated with desperate Vietnamese “boat people”.

Since then the country has been transformed by almost two decades of rapid but equitable growth, in which Vietnam has flung open its doors to the outside world and liberalised its economy. Over the past decade annual growth has averaged 7.5%. Young, prosperous and confident Vietnamese throng downtown Ho Chi Minh City's smart Dong Khoi street with its designer shops. The quality of life is high for a country that until recently was so poor, and its larger cities have retained some of their colonial charm, though choking traffic and constant construction work are beginning to take their toll.

An agricultural miracle has turned a country of 85m once barely able to feed itself into one of the world's main providers of farm produce. Vietnam has also become a big exporter of clothes, shoes and furniture, soon to be joined by microchips when Intel opens its $1 billion factory outside Ho Chi Minh City. Imports of machinery are soaring. Exports plus imports equal 160% of GDP, making the economy one of the world's most open.

From the PLOS computational Biology website, "...To be a scientist in a low-income country (LIC)...requires a set of qualities that are necessary to confront the drawbacks that work against the development of science. The failure of many young researchers to mature as professional scientists upon their return to their country from advanced training elsewhere, motivated us to propose these ten rules..."[continue reading]
via Science Blogs

The tagline of the Harubuntu competition ‘there is value in this place’ signifies its intent to "publicise the ideas of dynamic Africans who are creating important projects which both foster hope and create wealth" The areas of focus are:
-Entrepreneurship
-Local Government
-Civil society

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships quotes Calestous Juma who stated that:

What Africa needs is to invest in scientific and entrepreneurial capacity to harness the knowledge and put it to commercial use,"

-Demand led - Knowledge pulled, not pushed
-Engaging and developing top quality human
capital
-Teamwork – using collaborative modalities
-Programmes that provide business solutions

Condoleezza Rice writes:

Few nations begin the democratic journey with a democratic culture. The vast majority create one over time -- through the hard, daily struggle to make good laws, build democratic institutions, tolerate differences, resolve them peacefully, and share power justly. Unfortunately, it is difficult to grow the habits of democracy in the controlled environment of authoritarianism, to have them ready and in place when tyranny is lifted. The process of democratization is likely to be messy and unsatisfactory, but it is absolutely necessary. Democracy, it is said, cannot be imposed, particularly by a foreign power. This is true but beside the point. It is more likely that tyranny has to be imposed-Real Clear Politics

George Ayittey writes:

Economic development does not mean the wholesale and blind acquisition of the symbols and signs of modernity. Nor does it mean everything about indigenous Africa must be rejected in favor of alien systems. In fact, the true challenge for development practioners is how to use the existing so-called "primitive, backward and archaic" institutions to generate economic prosperity. These institutions can never be alienated from Africa's peasants. They are part of their culture. One cannot expect these peasants to suddenly renounce their age-old traditions and ways of doing things. Nor is such abjuration absolutely necessary, as demonstrated by the stupendous success of the Japanese. The Japanese did not have to become "Americanized" or "Sovietized" in order to develop.-Cheetah Index

Dele Olojede's Timbuktu Media seeks a few Good Men & Women:

We are looking for a few good men and women to join us in a national project. We seek to create a space where honest conversation can take place about the direction of our country(Nigeria). We are building a new kind of media company; one that values ethics, integrity and service.
We seek the kind of people who are ambitious enough and confident enough to help contribute to this transformative project.

In Feb. 2007 Chinedu Nebo the Vice Chancellor of UNN:

Called for the establishment of an entrepreneurial university(s) in Africa, which will "midwife, nurture and provide a guide on how to generate new knowledge and ideas that will bring about wealth creation. In a paper titled, "an entrepreneurial university, key to transformation from poverty to wealth," held at a workshop in Nsukka at the weekend, Nebo said his envisaged entrepreneurial university is expected to transform all ideas into concrete products for national development and comprehensive wealth.

From the NextEinstein.org website:

Audry, a Ghanaian pure mathematics student at AIMS, tells of her desire to become the first female lecturer in the field at her home university...

Founded by Noella Coursaris "...The Georges Malaika Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of African communities by providing educational opportunities to young girls, aged 5 to 18. Its vision is to mobilize the resources necessary to overcome the insurmountable obstacles a young girl faces to obtain an education in the Democratic Republic of Congo. GMF will provide assistance that paves the way for opportunity, generates greater choice and empowers girls to make informed decisions. GMF endeavors to permanently alter the cycle of illiteracy and poverty within the D.R. Congo..."
See LadyBrille for interview with Noella

D.N Posner and D.J Young contend in a paper at the Journal of Democracy that:

That African politics needs to be viewed through a lens that recognises the formal constraints on executives and rejects the assumption that African leaders simply get what they want...Citing a series of recent cases in which African rulers are forced to accept something other than their preferred outcomes, the authors say that across sub-Saharan Africa, formal institutional rules are coming to matter much more than they used to and displace violence as the primary source of constraints on executive behaviour.

Thomas Friedman writing in the NYTimes, contrasts the oil based economy of Iran and the knowledge based society of Israel. African natural resource obsessed countries should take note,In Israel:

The economy is exploding from the bottom up. Israel’s currency, the shekel, has appreciated nearly 30 percent against the dollar since the start of 2007.
The reason? Israel is a country that is hard-wired to compete in a flat world. It has a population drawn from 100 different countries, speaking 100 different languages, with a business culture that strongly encourages individual imagination and adaptation and where being a nonconformist is the norm. While you were sleeping, Israel has gone from oranges to software, or as they say around here, from Jaffa to Java.

Iran has invented nothing of importance since the Islamic Revolution, which is a shame. Historically, Iranians have been a dynamic and inventive people — one only need look at the richness of Persian civilization to see that. But the Islamic regime there today does not trust its people and will not empower them as individuals. ...Iran’s economic and military clout today is largely dependent on extracting oil from the ground. Israel’s economic and military power today is entirely dependent on extracting intelligence from its people. Israel’s economic power is endlessly renewable. Iran’s is a dwindling resource based on fossil fuels made from dead dinosaurs.

Rejoice Ngwenya writes in African Liberty:

By the time you finish reading this piece, one hundred illegal immigrants will have crossed the border into South Africa and Botswana, two of their colleagues will have been murdered in xenophobic Alexandra, ten men will have been infected with HIV, one Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] activist will have been beaten up, maimed or killed in Uzumba Marambapfungwe, one child will have died of malnutrition in Matebeleland, ten people will have lost their jobs in Harare and ultimately, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe [RBZ] will have pumped one billion worth of valueless bearer cheques into the system.

Josh Ruxin writes in the NYTimes:

Programs that allow the world’s poor to be self sufficient are smart on many levels. They allow more stability — indeed, those parts of the world with good agriculture programs have been less susceptible to the food rioting we’ve seen recently in the world’s poorer urban areas. Such programs are also more cost effective for American taxpayers since they cost less than emergency food aid. Most importantly, when they allow small farmers in Rwanda or Tanzania to grow hardy crops bred to be drought- and pest-resistant, these programs help the poor feed themselves.

They can also help local subsistence farmers make money and climb up from poverty into prosperity. Small farmers who work to meet local and regional demand end up putting more acreage into profitable cultivation, and the income they receive even allows them to invest in crops like pomegranates — a high-demand niche product for which wholesalers and food production companies will pay a premium.

J Mawuli Ababio of the AVCA discusses the widening range of financing tools available to businesses in an AfricaNews interview:

‘There has always been a recognition of the lack of long term funding in Africa. There is no question about that. A lot of the African private businesses have traditionally been run by short term loans from banks. Today Venture Capital and Private Equity is assuming increasing prominence as a financing tool in emerging market economies, (including those in Africa), to finance private and public sector requirements on the continent.