Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are of vital importance for all human societies, and particularly to the African countries that are confronted with multifaceted challenges which range from the most basic needs such as water, health and education, to major problems that threaten Africa in its very foundation.
A vast region, with a number of politically unstable states, eastern Africa nevertheless has displayed potential in grappling with some of those challenges and creating an integrated market to help leverage development. South-South and Triangular Cooperation are notable features on the landscape of the region. Driven by the opportunities that the continent presents, new Southern emerging powers (from China to Saudi Arabia) are accelerating their engagement in east Africa.
Ecotourism is an important and rapidly growing “niche market” within the global tourism industry, which offers an opportunity to develop products that can contribute to national environmental conservation, socio-economic and cultural objectives by providing livelihoods for local communities and giving value to the maintenance of local traditions and culture.
Eastern Africa, like the rest of Africa, is the scene of many disputes related to land and natural resources. This partly emanates from the increasing demand on these resources because of population growth, but also as a result of the continued depletion of these resources in both quantity and quality due to degradation, overuse and over-harvesting, governance deficits, and external factors such as climate change and commercial pressure.
Interest in regional integration, including monetary integration, in Africa has been intense over the decades since independence and various regional groupings have been formed. Those initiatives were stimulated by the general small size of individual economies leading to a desire of promoting economies of scales in production and distribution. Currently, two monetary integrations in Africa are in place: the CFA franc zones (UEMOA and CEMAC) and the Common Monetary Area (CMA) in South Africa.
IN THE AFTERMATH to the 2008-09 global economic crisis, African countries have benefited from the quick rebound in commodity prices, and their growth has been shored up by investments and trade with the emerging economies. A significant reduction in the debt burden for many countries, together with greater inflows of private capital and better macroeconomic management in the 2000s, means that the prospects for many African countries are better than they have been since the 1970s (McKinsey, 2010, Mold, 2011, Raddlet, 2010).
Land lies at the heart of the economic and social development of Africa; it is also central to its environmental sustainability, as well as to maintaining peace and security. It is in recognition of the centrality of land in African development that the African Union Commission (AUC), together with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) decided to join hands in 2006 in establishing the Land Policy initiative (LPI).
The main objective of the study is to bring to the attention of relevant entities the various angles that the APRM could be harnessed to foster a concrete transformation in the management of mineral resources in Africa. This transformation is intended to create the social compact that is needed to strengthen accountability in order to ensure that mining generates better development outcomes.
The Sustainable Tourism Master Plan (STMP) is guided by the aim, objectives and principles of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The main aim of the IGAD is to expand the areas of regional cooperation, increase the members’ dependency on one another and promote policies of peace and stability in the region in order to attain food security, sustainable environment management and sustainable development.