Africa Task Force Meeting, Pretoria 2009
July 9, 2009
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
Partners
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Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester
Manchester, United Kingdom -
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Tokyo, Japan
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.
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Akinwumi Adesina
Task Force Member
Vice President
Policy & Partnerships
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
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KY Amoako
Task Force Member
Executive Director
African Center for Economic Transformation
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Basani Baloyi
Task Force Member
Research Fellow
University of the Witwatersrand
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Hans Binswanger
Task Force Member
Sector Director for Rurual Development and Environment, Africa Region
The World Bank
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Kwesi Botchwey
Task Force Chair
Professor of Practice in Development Economics, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tufts University
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Julia Cage
Task Force Member
Doctoral Candidate
Economics Department
Harvard University and The Paris School of Economics
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Rob Davies
Task Force Member
Minister of Trade and Industry
Government of South Africa
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Koichi Fujita
Task Force Member
Professor
Center for East Asian Studies
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Alessandra Giannini
Task Force Member
Climate Scientist
Earth Institute
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Aime Gogue
Task Force Member
Professor
Universite de Lome Togo
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Michiko Hatakenaka
Task Force Member
Researcher
Institute for International Cooperation (IFIC)
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
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Kjell Havnevik
Task Force Member
Senior Researcher
Nordic Africa Institute
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David Hulme
Task Force Member
Executive Director
Brooks World Poverty Institute
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Pierre Jacquet
Task Force Member
Chief Economist
Agence Française de Développement
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Louis Kasekende
Task Force Member
Chief Economist
African Development Bank
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Mushtaq Khan
Task Force Member
Senior Professor in Economics
The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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Akifumi Kuchiki
Task Force Member
Director-General
Institute of Developing Economies (IDE)
Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO)
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Jean-Claude Maswana
Task Force Member
Research Fellow
Research Institute
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
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Thandika Mkandawire
Task Force Member
Director
UN Research Institute for Social Development
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Seeraj Mohamed
Task Force Member
Director
Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development Research Programme
School of Economic and Business Sciences
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Deepak Nayyar
Task Force Member
Vice Chancellor
University of Delhi
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Akbar Noman
Task Force Chair
Senior Policy Fellow
Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)
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Ebrahim Patel
Task Force Member
Minister of Economic Development
Government of South Africa
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Roy Prosterman
Task Force Member
Emeritus Professor of Law
University of Washington
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Simon Roberts
Task Force Member
Chief Economist and Manager
Policy and Research
Competition Commission South Africa
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Katsuro Saito
Task Force Member
Deputy Director General, Rural Development Department
Rural Development Department
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
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Howard Stein
Task Force Member
Professor, School of Public Health
University of Michigan
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Joseph Stiglitz
Task Force Chair
President
Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)
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Shinichi Takeuchi
Task Force Member
Senior Research Fellow
Research Institute
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
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Keiichi Tsunekawa
Task Force Member
Director
Research Institute
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
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Marilou Uy
Task Force Member
Senior Fellow
Global Economic Governance Initiative
Boston University
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John Weeks
Task Force Member
Professor Emeritus of Development Economics
The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
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Francis Wilson
Task Force Member
Professor in Economics
University of Capetown
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Nimrod Zalk
Task Force Member
Deputy Director-General
Department of Trade and Industry, Republic of South Africa