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Business fighting poverty
For nearly 100 years, Africa has been a key driver of Anglo American's business success. Almost 40% of our assets remain in South Africa. Three of our seven main business groups (platinum, iron ore and thermal coal) and two of our key associates (diamonds and manganese) operate out of South-ern Africa. These are all globally competitive businesses and we are investing in them: $20bn in capital expenditure in South Africa over the last 10 years, and a future growth pipeline of almost $15bn.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Guest Post: A Letter to Rio+20 – Sustainable Development Isn’t Possible Without Land Rights
Approximately 3 billion people in the developing world live without secure legal rights to their lands, forests, and pastures. Community land rights should be a key priority in our pursuit of environmentally sustainable development. But these rights are not mentioned in the Zero Draft resolution for the upcoming Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro. This is a mistake.
- Categories
- Environment
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Yes, Microfinance Does Work. Here’s How…
By now, anyone with an interest in microfinance or poverty alleviation has read the criticism. There are tragic crises in Andhra Pradesh, the regrettable stepping-down of Muhammad Yunus from Grameen, and provocative headlines in the media claiming to refute microcredit's effectiveness. However, I feel strongly that if readers listen only to the white noise, they'll do themselves and the microfinance industry a disservice and, more to the point, they'll be misled.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Obama turns to private sector to feed world’s poor
WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama on Friday reached out to the private sector in hopes of lifting 50 million people in the developing world from poverty, as wealthy nations grapple with a budget crunch.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Hope springs a trap
THE idea that an infusion of hope can make a big difference to the lives of wretchedly poor people sounds like something dreamed up by a well-meaning activist or a tub-thumping politician. Yet this was the central thrust of a lecture at Harvard University on May 3rd by Esther Duflo, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology known for her data-driven analysis of poverty. Ms Duflo argued that the effects of some anti-poverty programmes go beyond the direct impact of the resources they provide. These programmes also make it possible for the very poor to hope for more than mere survival.
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- South Asia
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Owning a mobile phone does not move you to the middle class
James Ogule, who lives in Namugongo, a Kampala surburb, thinks the vendors selling matooke (plantains) by the road to his house should not be considered middle class.The vendors spend more than $2 (sh5,200) a day and Ogule who works with a government regulatory body thinks equating a middle class to sh5,200 a day is a pity.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa Growth Isn’t Meeting Needs of Young, Poor: Report
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Foreign investment and increasing exports are propelling high economic growth rates in Africa, but haven't established enough jobs to substantially reduce poverty or meet the high expectations of the continent's large number of youths and poor, according to an annual economic progress report released Friday at the World Economic Forum's meeting here.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Uganda’s Middle Class Grows As Poverty Dips
Kampala — The number of absolutely poor Ugandans has dropped to 7.5 million (24.5%) from 8.5 million (31.1%) as of 2010, a Ministry of Finance status report released in Kampala shows.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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