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Africa Task Force Meeting, Pretoria 2009

July 9, 2009

Agenda  30kb pdf
Meeting Report  100kb pdf

This fourth meeting of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue's Africa Task Force addressed the impact and implications of the global financial and economic crisis on Africa.  The immediate impact of the recession has been manifest in the continent's commodity prices, exports, and remittances. Participants expressed concern about the longer-term implications for the crisis on international aid budgets directed toward Africa. Bank bailouts in developing countries will restrict the fiscal space for aid funding for some time into the future

Africa is currently undergoing a major transformation from land abundance and labor scarcity to the opposite. Land tenure systems and agricultural technology need to adapt to this profound change that African agriculture is undergoing. Agricultural productivity remains well below the levels achieved in other regions, reflecting poor infrastructure as well as inadequacies of agricultural research and extension services. Participants also discussed the increasing evidence of climate change's effects on development within Africa. Each new assessment provides a more grim outlook with accelerating change and a narrowing of the window for actions before tipping points are reached. African agriculture is likely to be greatly affected by changes in temperatures and associated rainfall patterns.

Growth prospects have dimmed very considerably in the near-term for the continent. In the longer term the crisis has highlighted the need to pay attention to the issues of economic transformation and sustained, rapid growth that has been the focus of this task force.

  • Akinwumi Adesina
    Task Force Member
    Vice President
    Policy & Partnerships
    Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
  • KY Amoako
    Task Force Member
    Executive Director
    African Center for Economic Transformation
  • Basani Baloyi
    Task Force Member
    Research Fellow
    University of the Witwatersrand
  • Hans Binswanger
    Task Force Member
    Sector Director for Rurual Development and Environment, Africa Region
    The World Bank
  • Kwesi Botchwey
    Task Force Chair
    Professor of Practice in Development Economics, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
    Tufts University
  • Julia Cage
    Task Force Member
    Doctoral Candidate
    Economics Department
    Harvard University and The Paris School of Economics
  • Rob Davies
    Task Force Member
    Minister of Trade and Industry
    Government of South Africa
  • Koichi Fujita
    Task Force Member
    Professor
    Center for East Asian Studies
  • Alessandra Giannini
    Task Force Member
    Climate Scientist
    Earth Institute
  • Aime Gogue
    Task Force Member
    Professor
    Universite de Lome Togo
  • Michiko Hatakenaka
    Task Force Member
    Researcher
    Institute for International Cooperation (IFIC)
    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
  • Kjell Havnevik
    Task Force Member
    Senior Researcher
    Nordic Africa Institute
  • David Hulme
    Task Force Member
    Executive Director
    Brooks World Poverty Institute
  • Pierre Jacquet
    Task Force Member
    Chief Economist
    Agence Française de Développement
  • Louis Kasekende
    Task Force Member
    Chief Economist
    African Development Bank
  • Mushtaq Khan
    Task Force Member
    Senior Professor in Economics
    The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
  • Akifumi Kuchiki
    Task Force Member
    Director-General
    Institute of Developing Economies (IDE)
    Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO)
  • Jean-Claude Maswana
    Task Force Member
    Research Fellow
    Research Institute
    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
  • Thandika Mkandawire
    Task Force Member
    Director
    UN Research Institute for Social Development
  • Seeraj Mohamed
    Task Force Member
    Director
    Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development Research Programme
    School of Economic and Business Sciences
  • Deepak Nayyar
    Task Force Member
    Vice Chancellor
    University of Delhi
  • Akbar Noman
    Task Force Chair
    Senior Policy Fellow
    Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)
  • Ebrahim Patel
    Task Force Member
    Minister of Economic Development
    Government of South Africa
  • Roy Prosterman
    Task Force Member
    Emeritus Professor of Law
    University of Washington
  • Simon Roberts
    Task Force Member
    Chief Economist and Manager
    Policy and Research
    Competition Commission South Africa
  • Katsuro Saito
    Task Force Member
    Deputy Director General, Rural Development Department
    Rural Development Department
    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
  • Howard Stein
    Task Force Member
    Professor, School of Public Health
    University of Michigan
  • Joseph Stiglitz
    Task Force Chair
    President
    Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)
  • Shinichi Takeuchi
    Task Force Member
    Senior Research Fellow
    Research Institute
    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
  • Keiichi Tsunekawa
    Task Force Member
    Director
    Research Institute
    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
  • Marilou Uy
    Task Force Member
    Senior Fellow
    Global Economic Governance Initiative
    Boston University
  • John Weeks
    Task Force Member
    Professor Emeritus of Development Economics
    The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
  • Francis Wilson
    Task Force Member
    Professor in Economics
    University of Capetown
  • Nimrod Zalk
    Task Force Member
    Deputy Director-General
    Department of Trade and Industry, Republic of South Africa
All Files (27) zip
Global Financial Crisis and Recession: Impact on Africa and Development Prospects

592kb pdf
Jean-Claude Maswana

Agriculture: A South African Perspective

495kb pdf
Francis Wilson

Conflict and Land Tenure in Rwanda

79kb pdf
Shinichi Takeuchi

Food Production in South Africa: Corporate Conduct and Economic Policy

211kb pdf
Simon Roberts

Global Recession and Africa

219kb pdf
Edmund Valpy Knox Fitzgerald

Green Revolution in India and Its Significance in Economic Development: Implications for sub-Saharan Africa

561kb pdf
Koichi Fujita

How Can "Bilateral Donors" be Carbon Smart?

960kb pdf
Pierre Jacquet

Impact of the Financial Crisis on South Africa

429kb pdf
Seeraj Mohamed

Initiative of the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD)

795kb pdf
Katsuro Saito

Lessons from Asian Experiences of Industrial Agglomeration and Trade

692kb pdf
Akifumi Kuchiki

Macroeconomic Impact of the Crisis in Africa

530kb pdf
Louis Kasekende

Outsourcing of African Lands for Energy and Food: Challenges for Smallholders

1.42mb pdf
Kjell Havnevik

Social Protection in sub-Saharan Africa: Will the Green Shoots Blossom?

79kb pdf
David Hulme,
Armando Barrientos,
Miguel Nino Zarazua

The Changing Context and Prospects for Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa

2.35mb pdf
Hans Binswanger

Civil Society Organizations and Aid Efficiency in West Africa

158kb pdf
Aime Gogue

Food Production in South Africa: Corporate Conduct and Economic Policy

405kb pdf
Simon Roberts

Green Revolution in India and Its Significance in Economic Development: Implications for Sub-Saharan Africa

375kb pdf
Koichi Fujita

Outsourcing of African lands for energy and food - challenges for smallholders

186kb pdf
Kjell Havnevik

Pro-poor land-tenure reform in sub-Saharan Africa: a brief comparative note on the possible relevance of experience in Asia (and elsewhere)

29kb pdf
Roy Prosterman

The impact of the global economic crisis on the South African economy

248kb pdf
Seeraj Mohamed

Will the green shoots blossom? A new wave of social protection in Sub-Saharan Africa

128kb pdf
David Hulme,
Armando Barrientos,
Miguel Nino Zarazua

Embedded Institutions and Rural Transformation in Tanzania: Privatizing Rural Property and Markets

74kb pdf
Howard Stein,
Kelly Askew

Making Finance Work for Africa - The Role of Governments in a Global World in Crisis

335kb pdf
Marilou Uy,
Thorsten Beck,
Michael Fuchs

Conflict and Land Tenure in Rwanda

127kb pdf
Shinichi Takeuchi

Lessons from Asian Experiences of Industrial Agglomeration and Trade

1.07mb pdf
Akifumi Kuchiki

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the Economy of Sierra Leone

76kb pdf
John Weeks

African Growth Facts and Issues

143kb pdf
Pierre Jacquet,
Francois Xavier,
Laurent Muresianu