Optimism about Africa needs to be taken in fairly small doses; most Africans still live on less than two dollars a day. But some countries on the continent are doing extremely well, thanks to a boom in commodities:

Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan. Even allowing for the knock-on effect of the northern hemisphere’s slowdown, the IMF expects Africa to grow by 6% this year and nearly 6% in 2012, about the same as Asia.

Africa now has a fast-growing middle class: according to the World Bank, around 60m Africans have an income of $3,000 a year, and 100m will in 2015. The rate of foreign investment has soared around tenfold in the past decade.

Migration from rural areas to the mega-cities in search of food, job and security is a natural process. But every city has its limitation; it has its own saturation point and if exceeded, a city might falter while providing basic facilities to its residents. As modern mega-cities are now choking with the pressure of ever growing population, scientists fear that in near future these cities might have to face an acute food and water crisis.

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The economic boom and the subsequent double-digit GDP growth achieved by some of the world’s emerging economies, such as Brazil, India and China, have led many to believe that poverty, inequality and other associated issues could be eliminated even without government intervention or active participation. But a new report by ActionAid, a UK based charity organization, is somewhat startling and to some extent unexpected. In the report, released to coincide with UN World Food Day, ActionAid has listed a number of developed, less developed and developing countries based the efficiency of their programs initiated to give legal, constitutional and social protection to those who need them the most. (more…)

Copenhagen Design Week explores design that matters – ideas, concepts, products and services that will come to play an important role in your professional and personal life. Taking place between August 27th – September 6th, Copenhagen Design Week explores social and environmental design and innovation. Each element of the program explores the positive power of design, inspiring businesses and individuals.

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Today, Wednesday, 8 July 2009, world leaders of G8 will gather in Italy for the 35th summit hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The development of Africa and Climate Change is a key part of the G8 summit agenda. President Obama is expected to reveal a major initiative to boost agricultural development and prevent hunger in Africa, worth perhaps $3bn (£1.8bn) to $5bn, at the summit.

In a report, the charity ActionAid says that a billion people are still hungry in the world today, and that despite the drop in food prices it is still a key issue for many developing countries. The report also says that the percentage of foreign aid spent on agriculture has “been in freefall” in the last 25 years and the remainder is “poorly targeted and coordinated”.
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