I Belong ~ UNHCR End Statelessness Campaign

Bronwen Manby at African Arguments asks How will the UNHCR’s statelessness campaign affect Africa?

"On 4th November the UN launched a global campaign to end statelessness within ten years. I confidently predict that the result of this campaign will be to ‘increase’ statelessness by many millions of people. This is not because I think that the campaign is misconceived -- far from it -- but because the statistics on the numbers of stateless persons are currently so inadequate that one of the main impacts of greater attention to the issue will be that currently uncounted populations will come into focus. This is a good thing."

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Growth with Depth ~ African Transformation...

K.Y. Amoako, President of the Africa Centre for Economic Transformation, introduces their new report Growth with Depth at African Arguments...

"We hear a lot these days about “Africa Rising” [...] But beneath the surface it’s not that simple. The rate of African growth may have increased, but the structure of most Sub-Saharan economies has not changed much over the past 40 years. [...]

Thus the headline statistics disguise both residual problems and inherent vulnerabilities. [...] How can we prevent this pattern repeating itself? This is the question our inaugural Africa Transformation Report aims to answer. Its core argument is that to ensure growth is sustainable and improves the lives of the many, governments need to address structural weaknesses, and deliberately and vigorously promote economic transformation, or growth with DEPTH. This acronym stands for Diversification of production and exports, Export competitiveness, Productivity increases, and Technological advances -- all leading to Human well-being."

Read the full report and see preview...