Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Africa's new colonialists?

What is China's role in Africa and especially the Congo?  No one knows China's true intent. 

Is China out to prove to the world that it can eradicate extreme poverty?  The West has failed in this area.  Per Jeffrey Sachs' book, The End of Poverty, you can conclude that China knows development. 

Since 1978, China has been the world's most successful economy, growing at an average per capita rate of almost 8 percent per year.

In 1981, 64 percent of the population lived on an income below a dollar a day.  By 2001, the number was reduced to 17 percent.

Is China out to rape Congo like other developed countries have in the past?  Et tu, Brute?  Africa and especially Congo has every natural resource and mineral needed to continue fueling its economy.  China has been known to have human rights abuse problems.

Is China out to establish new business relationships in this new global economy?  They may be willing to pay a fair and negotiated price to its African partners.  Then, it would be up to the African to take care of business.

The only thing we know for sure and for now is, China has arrived in Africa. 

Link: Africa's new colonialists? : Mail & Guardian Online.

"India and China have become Africa’s new colonialists,” declared respected international financier, George Soros, during a Reuters interview earlier this year. More recently, the Economist ran with a cover story titled “The new colonialists”, which detailed China’s huge appetite for acquiring global resources.

The real question is whether there is any fire behind this talk of “colonialist” smoke.

One only needs to take a look at recent trade and investment numbers between China and Africa to tell that something significant has happened within a really short space of time. China’s bilateral trade with Africa has gone from a negligible $12-million in 1956 to $73,6-billion in 2007, making China Africa’s third-largest trading partner in the process. Forecasts predict that this figure will surpass $100-billion by 2010.

Further signs have been profound. Last year was a watershed year for Chinese investment into Africa. Firstly, a $9-billion financial and infrastructural package was signed with the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo. This would be China’s single biggest country-to-country investment to date.

Speed and Sustainability is Needed

Both speed and sustainability is needed.  You must have both.  Are the Millennium Villages sustainable by the local people and their government?

When thousands of people are dying or getting sick, quick intervention is needed.  Those interventions like mosquito nets are quick and effective.  However, these nets will wear-out and will need to be replace.

Can the local people replace them?  IF the answer is no, then Millennium Village Project is a failure.  The people should value the nets and should have the means to replace them.  The project to move on to other development or interventions in the village.  I am sure that is more development work that needs to be done or retooled to work better.

I think replicability is biggest issue for me.  How do we bring the ladder of prosperity to other villages?  At some point, these Millennium Villages should adopt a neighboring village or two.  Some interventions in the agriculture area should be reproducible and shared.

So a successful Millennium Village should have Speed, next Sustainability, and next Replicability.

Link: Global Venture: A MODEL FOR THE MILLENNIUM: One village paves a path out of poverty.

Despite the modest success of Mayange’s interventions, progress throughout the rest of Africa has remained limited. Critics have called into question the methods of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, the UN economist who heads the Earth Institute, for what they see as an idealistic approach to some of the toughest challenges facing the global community. Even where there have been pockets of success, critics fear that the pace with which these strategies are being implemented is too fast for its own good.

Poverty Reduction along with Health and Education is ESSENTIAL

There is a tendency to minimize or forget about the poverty reduction.  Actually, poverty reduction and in the case of Congo, eradication of extreme poverty should be the first or the priority need.

It is simple, if people can not afford health and education, then you have provide it FREE.  And, it could be a handout forever.  Therefore, I think poverty reduction is necessary for sustainable development.

Poverty reduction requires more time and more trials and errors.  Also, it is more of the arts of side of development.  Health and education interventions can be delivered in neat little packages.  Ready for the photos! 

Poverty reduction first requires asking lots of questions to ascertain the local environment.  No two African countries or even no two areas of Congo are alike.  So, you have to figure out what works and what is sustainable.  This phases requires trials and error corrections. 

I think we are too impatient for immediate results.  So, we get sucked into the education and health blackholes.  Outside funding is needed each and every year or else the gains start to disappear.

Congolese mothers and fathers want the best for their families, too.  They know that education and health is essential.  Also, the parents do not have to be reminded that earning a living is required.  They want to see their children healthy, wealthy, and wise.  Actually, their own lives depend on it especially in the later years for survival.

Children are being educated.  Young men and women are attending the universities in Congo.  However, the prospects of a good paying job is almost nonexistent.  When I visited with university students, they wanted to return to their village BUT they needed a job.

The same is true for health.  We are making some progress and saving children for death and misery.  But are we delaying the more painful reality of not having a ladder of prosperity to climb? 

Coming from a missionary perspective, I see that poverty reduction and sustainability was a failure.  The education and health systems are weak but they function.  However, there are virtually no income producing or poverty reduction projects or programs in place today.

You can not medicate or educate away poverty!

Link: allAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: Five Year UN Agency Action Plan Launched (Page 1 of 1).

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kinshasa on 3 April 2008, the DRC government and the UN agencies of UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA signed a new five year programme action plan for the country, for the years 2008 to 2012.

In attendance for the signing ceremony was the DRC Foreign Affairs Vice Minister Mr. Alain Lubamba, resident UN agency system coordinator Mr. Ross Mountain, as well as the following UN agency country directors: Mr. Adama Guindo (UNDP), Ms. Margaret Agama (UNFPA) and Mr. Tony Bloomberg (UNICEF).

Mr. Lubamba hailed all DRC's international partners for their contribution in helping to rebuild the country, and said that "the priority area for the DRC is poverty reduction," as well as "improving access to healthcare and education."

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) two main programme objectives in the DRC are good governance and the fight against poverty. Its aims at contributing to the emergence of a state in which citizens human rights will be respected, and a state which will give its citizens an opportunity to attain a reasonable standard of living.

The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) will focus its attention in the DRC on child and youth development, gender issues and HIV/AIDs. Areas in which UNICEF will be involved include health and nutrition, access to drinking water and the improvement of family and community practices that impact on their survival.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has three main areas of work in the DRC: health and reproduction, population and development, and gender issues. As part of the new programme, UNFPA will give an overall support to 22 health zones in the country's

Todd McLauchlin: The True End of Poverty and Its Required Commitment of The United States

The Democratic Republic of Congo made "the list".  Congo is the FIFTH most impoverished country in the world.

In addition to the "warring political factions due to post-colonial power vacuums created after World War II," one would need to add GREED and insensitivity by donors.

First, the "post-colonial powers" with the support of the United States established a dictator, Mobuto.  They allowed Mobuto to transfer billions of dollars in aid into Swiss Bank accounts.

Second, the greed (and poverty) prompted the "warring political factions" to systematically rape the Congo of its natural resources.  Of course, those natural resources were sold to western world for our benefit.

I think Jeffrey Sachs is well aware of the need for stability and good governance in impoverished countries.  He, via the UN's Millennium Village Project, has steered clear of Congo.  He has established in 10 African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda).

As a result, Congo is still ranked fifth most impoverished country.

Link: Todd McLauchlin: The True End of Poverty and Its Required Commitment of The United States.

After Belgium abandoned Rwanda to minority Tutsi rule it eventually led to a Hutu uprising and massive genocide of the Tutsis (thanks to the support of the French). The spillover into the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi created civil violence and massive political corruption in those countries as well.

Of the top ten most impoverished countries we see that about half is due to Muslim extremism, and the other half is due to corrupt and warring political factions due to post-colonial power vacuums created after World War II.

None of these countries suffer primarily for a lack of aid and international attention; rather, they are victims of violent religious intolerance or tribal warring. In both cases political stability and strengthening government solutions should be prioritized over the increase of massive aid packages.

I believe in the eradication of curable diseases and giving food aid to these countries. It demonstrates, however, the need for the United States to exert both soft and hard power in these regions in order to create stable environments so that these problems can be addressed.

Busting at the Seams - Kinshasa, the capital city

Kinshasa, the capital city of Congo is a busting at the seams.  During my last visit in July 2007, I noticed that the government was making a concerted effort to improve the city. 

Roads were being repaired on the way to the airport.  You have to love construction because it suppose to be better afterward.

Vacant buildings were being reclaimed and some being razed.  I hope that the displaced residents could find better housing but probably not.  And I hope that the building was going to replaced with new building but again probably not.

Basic water and electricity service needed some attention.  Service was probably at the lowest point since my first visit in 1998.

Link: Congo Prayer Blog.

Congo is slowly emerging out of an eight year civil war and there is still some fighting in the east. The civil war closed much of the country to travel, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Many of them are in Kinshasa, making it’s’ population over 7 million people.

Host a Screening of "The Greatest Silence", Tuesday April 8

Let's host own screening of "The Greatest Silence" in Indianapolis on Tuesday, April 8.  Our screening will be inconjunction with HBO showing.  Also, they will have a call-in discussion on Wednesday, April 9.  Enough is providing support and more information.

Link: Feministing.

Next Tuesday, HBO is featuring a documentary exposing the scope of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo titled, The Greatest Silence, reports UN Dispatch.

The Enough Campaign and HBO are working together to coordinate house screenings across the country. You can even hold your own screening or take part in a conference call the following day with filmmaker Lisa Jackson, ENOUGH Co-Chair John Prendergast, and Director of Public Policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, Kiersten Stewart, to discuss the film and find out about ways that you can help end violence against women in the DRC.

A Microscope that "email" medical images

A microscope that emails medical images would benefit many hospitals and clinics in remote areas in Sub-Saharan Africa like the Congo.

The Bulape Hospital is a remote reference hospital in central Congo.  It supports the Bulape Health Zone which has 30 outlying clinics in really remote villages.

In the fall of 2007, the Ebola virus was contained with the help of Center Disease Control (CDC).  The outbreak started in a remote and rural area in central Congo.  However, the CDC had to fly in a lab to do onsite testing.  Prior to CDC and Doctors with Borders (MSF) intervention, Ebola had spread to other remote areas to include Bulape.

The various viruses could spread world-wide within short period of time.  We should transmit the pictures and contain the virus in the place of origin.

Link: A microscope that emails medical images | Emerging Technology Trends | ZDNet.com.

A team of Chinese and U.S. researchers has successfully applied for a patent for a virtual telemicroscope. It is the only one of its kind capable of emailing electronic slides. It has been specifically designed to allow ‘off-site pathologists to diagnose cancer or other diseases in patients living in remote locations around the world,’ like China, where many hospitals don’t have on-site pathologists. Real systems based on this patent have already been deployed. And the results of the first clinical trials are pretty encouraging. Telepathologists reached the same level of diagnostic accuracy as pathologists using standard light microscopy. Using this software, telepathologists were able to remotely deliver their diagnosis in about 15 minutes.

Certification Process for "Blood Coltan" in 2009

Congo hopes to set up a scheme to certify coltan (columbite-tantalite) produced within its borders in 2009.

I am speechless!  AMEN!  There is hope!  I think this would go a long way toward stabilizing the Congo.  WOW!  The Germans are going in Congo on April 2 to start mapping the coltan reserves.

It is essential that the mining contracts review be transparent. 

Link: World News Journal: DRC setting up scheme to certify colombo-tantalite..

Democratic Republic of Congo hopes to set up a scheme to certify columbite-tantalite produced within its borders in 2009, the country's Deputy Mines Minister Victor Kasongo said on Tuesday.

The illegal traffic of the rare metal, used in mobile phone chips and commonly referred to as coltan, helped fuel a 1998-2003 war and resulting humanitarian crisis in the central African country that killed an estimated 5.4 million people.

Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet

A new book by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, appears to step forward from his book, The End of Poverty. 

Link: Bloomberg.com: Muse Arts.

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- With the U.S. military burning through some $500 billion a year, it's startling to think we could end extreme world poverty for half that amount.

That's what Jeffrey D. Sachs estimates in ``Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet,'' a book smartly balanced between apocalyptic warnings and cautious utopianism.

Sachs made his name by prescribing economic shock treatment for countries such as Bolivia, Poland and Russia. He later turned his considerable brain power to the question of how to end the poverty, hunger and disease that grip the world's poorest 1 billion people. He now directs the UN Millennium Project and the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York.

Political and Economic Climate along with Poverty hinders Development

Despite an election, DR Congo continues it downward spiral.  Poverty is the major problem hindering development. Congo ranks near the below of the two key indexes.

Congo's Status Index - Status of political and economic transformation: 120 of 125 countries.

Congo's Management Index - Political Leadership towards democracy and a market economy: 106 of 125 countries.

Link: Bertelsmann Foundation | Press releases.

The latest data of this worldwide index shows that despite the continued favorable global economic climate and years of stable growth rates, the social situation of most people in developing countries has seen little improvement. In Africa and Latin America in particular, little progress has been made and mass poverty remains the central problem in development.

The Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) is the global ranking of the quality of democracy, the market economy and political leadership in 125 developing and transformation countries. It measures the successes and relapses on the road to democracy under the rule of law and with a socially responsible market economy. Detailed country reports provide the basis for evaluating the level of development as well as the capability of political actors to implement reforms in a consistent and targeted manner. The BTI is the first international comparative index which measures the quality of governance with self-collected data and provides a comprehensive analysis of political and economic transformation.