N. 12 N.E. – JULY AUGUST 2009

Report

Dossier Education Making waves A colossal task Discovering Europe Art of excess Naples puts on an act The

CThe magazine of Africa - Caribbeanurier - Pacific & European Union cooperation and relations

Editorial Board Co-chairs Sir John Kaputin, Secretary General Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States www.acp.int

Mr Stefano Manservisi, Director General of DG Development European Commission ec.europa.eu/development/

Core staff Editor-in-chief Hegel Goutier

Journalists Marie-Martine Buckens (Deputy Editor-in-chief) Debra Percival

Editorial Assistant and Production Joshua Massarenti

Contributed in this issue Bernard Babb, Elisabetta Degli Esposti Merli, Sandra Federici, Cherelle Jackson, Souleymane Saddi Maâzou, Anne-Marie Mouradian, Andrea Marchesini Reggiani and Okechukwu Romano Umelo

Project Manager Gerda Van Biervliet

Artistic Coordination, Graphic Conception Objective: people’s world is the title of a pho- Gregorie Desmons tographic exhibition produced by the UN and sponsored by the Italian foreign ministry’s Public Relations Directorate General for Development Coopera- Andrea Marchesini Reggiani tion. Twenty-four internationally famous pho- tographers have donated the 60 photos, that Distribution tell the stories of men and women from Biafra Viva Xpress Logistics - www.vxlnet.be to Bolivia, from Slovakia to the and from Palestine to Niger, and the poverty Cover and opulence of a global world of inequality. Samoan woman in traditional dress, 2009. © Debra Percival Didier Ruef, Angola, 2000. © Didier Ruef. From Back cover the exhibit catalogue Objective: people’s world: Naples Art of excess 24 photographers in action. Courtesy of World Christmas figures. Picture of Salvatore Laporta (Reporters.be/AP) Health Organization 2003 “All dedicated to past Saints or Saints to be… San Genaro patron of the city, Pulcinella … Maradona”.

Contact The Courier 45, Rue de Trèves www.acp-eucourier.info 1040 Brussels Visit our website! Belgium (EU) You will find the articles, [email protected] Privileged partners www.acp-eucourier.info the magazine in pdf Tel : +32 2 2345061 and other news Fax : +32 2 2801406

Published every two months in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese

For information on subscription, Go to our website www.acp-eucourier.info or contact [email protected] ultural centre promoting artists Cfrom countries in Europe, Afri- Publisher responsible ca, the Caribbean and the Pacific Hegel Goutier and cultural exchanges between Consortium communities through performance Gopa-Cartermill - Grand Angle - Lai-momo arts, music, cinema, to the holding of conferences. It is a meeting place for Belgians, immigrants of diverse The views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the official view origins and European officials. of the EC nor of the ACP countries.

The consortium and the editorial staff decline all responsibility for the articles Espace Senghor written by external contributors. Centre culturel d’Etterbeek Brussels, Belgium [email protected] www.senghor.be N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009

The magazine of Africa - Caribbean - Pacific & European Union cooperation and relations Table of contents THE COURIER, N.12 NEW EDITION (N.E)

PROFILE Leading women, artisan women 2 Mr DevDays 3 ZOOM Sportsman, businessman and beach culture promoter. EDITORIAL 5 A day in the life of Brian ‘Action Man’ Talma 32

TO THE POINT OUR PLANET 34 The nine lives of Luisa Morgantini 6 A green belt across the Sahel

ROUND UP 8 REPORT Samoa. Seeking to burst through DOSSIER The colossal project of education Tradition, belief and challenges 37 The ‘widening gap’ between rich and poor countries 13 Samoa confronts global economic crisis 39 A multilingual education, guarantor of quality 14 Opposition calls for “checks and balances” 41 Higher education. Searching for new dynamics 15 Grasping the agricultural nettle 42 European expertise at the service of the ACP States The flow to budget aid 44 universities 16 Fa’afafine: Wanting to be a woman 46 The omnipresence of women on Caribbean campuses 16 A boost to the senses 47 The African Virtual University (AVU) 17 The matai influence 48

Educational crisis in West Africa 18 DISCOVERING EUROPE Education is badly overlooked by post-conflict aid 18 Art of excess. Naples puts on an act Between tradition and modernity 19 The emphasis on migration should not disregard Koranic and ‘white’ schools 19 development contributions 50 The trend in online learning 20 Italian NGOs on the darkness and light of ’s development policy 52 Niger’s new trend: cyber-students 21 Burden of clandestine immigration weighs on Naples INTERACTION and Campania 53 Launch of the revision of the Cotonou Agreement 22 Don Gaetano Romano, Director of Caritas 53 Banks join forces for Africa 23 Determined to fight the … and a drab image 54 Civil society alert over land-grabbing in Africa 24 Naples – European vanguard city: arms stretched Adanso – Belgium and Burkina Faso: Highly original out to Africa 55 micro-projects 24 In Italy, AFRO breaks its silence on Africa 56 Culture for development: a Euro-African challenge 25 Adoption of skeletons and other phantasmagoria 57 Bridge across the Zambezi 26 CREATIVITY Civil society on the move ACP art at the Venice biennale 2009 59 You Should Know: MENYA Media has wind Music Crossroads 61 in its sails 27 Remember Nono, his name will soon be on The King Baudouin International Development everyone’s lips… 62 Prize – an increasingly prestigious award 28 God is not a peasant 62 TRADE EPAs: helping ACP countries trade their way to FOR YOUNG READERS prosperity 29 Anna and Bazil and the Sacred Mask 63 Fresh impetus for Pacific-EU EPA talks? 31 YOUR SAY/CALENDAR 64 P rofile Marie-Martine Buckens Leading women, artisan women

Aïchatou Boulama Kané is a fighter. Through her extensive experience in the government – as Director of Crafts at the Ministry of Economic Promotion and Secretary of State of Planning – and in managing in particular EC-financed projects, this economist from Niger has amassed experience to promote the status of women. And not only that of women in Niger but in the whole African continent. Her tool: crafts and culture. Her platform: the Salon International de l’Artisanat pour la Femme (SAFEM – www.safem.info), which will hold its sixth edition from 30 October to 8 November 2009 in Niamey, the capital city of Niger.

Aïchatou Boulama Kané. © Marie-Martine Buckens

e expect “We carried out data collect- This battle has proved worth- Assembly and 8 in the govern- some 25 ing missions on these artisan while. Whereas there was only ment – and the of “ African women, very often structured one woman out of the 83 depu- the Constitutional Court is countries in associations. These women ties of Niger in 2000, today, a woman: Fatimata Salifou and Wanticipate 700 exhibitors are very interesting, and feel 13 women sit on the National Baseï. – 75% of whom are women their status is increased by – and more than 70,000 visi- their trade”. The greatest dif- tors”, explains Mrs Kané as ficulty in getting them to come she takes us to the Centre des to Niamey was convincing Métiers du Cuir et d’art du their family circles: “the hus- Niger, which is at a stone’s band on his own is not always throw from the SAFEM head the issue, but he is often under offices. Thirty or so artisans the influence of the social from around Niger work there environment around him”. under the leadership of French designer Katherine Pradeau Mrs Kané aims at transform- who has an in-depth knowl- ing these women into leaders. edge of crafts in the country. “It is not always easy, because “We want to give these women these women are very much the opportunity to adapt their marginalised because the sec- know-how to today’s market. tor in which they work – crafts They will work here for a – is marginalised. By becom- month before returning in late ing leaders, they will mobilise October to put the finishing consumers, since they are touches to their collections, both producers and consum- which will be presented on a ers, and thus in a position to catwalk and a sale during the bring in change”. The direc- exhibition”. tor of the exhibition, a woman Artisans in the Centre des Métiers du Dcui et d’Art du Niger. © Marie-Martine Buckens leader herself, knows exactly According to the SAFEM what this means, as she fought With more than 200 trades, craft in Niger is a diversified sector par ex- coordinator, this initiative is both on site and with politi- cellence. More than 700,000 people (out of a population of 14 million) “the start of something that cal authorities so that women work in some 360,000 micro enterprises, 68% of which are owned by is bound to grow”. Her long – whose role is vital in Niger’s women. In Niger, like in many other African countries, crafts substan- experience on site has enabled agricultural and pastoral econ- tially contribute to the GDP (23% in Niger). her to contact these women. omy – could have their say.

2 Profile

Mr DevDays interview by Hegel Goutier

Poster of DevDays in Strasbourg. © EC

European Development Days What innovations are in This will not change. Having (EDD) has become a key event on store for the EDD? attracted such high profile per- the international development sonalities such as Archbishop policy stage. Its newly-appoint- We will continue with the tried Desmond Tuto, Kofi Annan ed head of organisation, or and tested recipe of inviting and Morgan Tsvangirai in the ‘Mr EDD’, is Maciej Popowski, leaders from all over the world past, this year will be no differ- Director in the European to the event to ensure our voice ent giving all participants the Commission’s Directorate is widely heard and the mes- opportunity to network, share General for Development with sage of development is spread ideas and propose common responsibility for policy coher- in the right fora. Mr Barroso, solutions to common problems. ence for development, aid effec- President of the European tiveness, relations with member Commission’and Mr Reinfeldt, In light of the current eco- Mr. Popowski at the Strasbourg edition of European Development Days states and other donors as well the Swedish Prime Minister, nomic crisis which is threat- (15-17 November 2008). © EC as for public communication will open the event. One of the ening com- on development. He spoke to main discussions will focus mitments, do you foresee New actors are entering the us about his task in preparing on climate change; coming proposals coming from the development arena such as the fourth edition to be held in just 6 weeks before the UN EDD to reform development , and Venezuela. the Swedish capital Stockholm, Climate Change Conference institutions? How can this new phenom- 22-24 October. in Copenhagen this is a pivotal enon tackled by the EDD? time. We are expecting lively By then, the Pittsburgh summit The EDD has become a debates on the impact of the of G20 leaders in September By inviting key policy makers renowned event. Is it a chal- on the develop- will have taken place as well as from these countries in order lenge to take up the baton? ing world. It also happens in the the and IMF meet- to ensure that all our develop- context of a new institutional ings in Istanbul where reform ment policy is complementary Indeed the EDD is already setting with a newly elected will have been discussed. The and not competitive, EDD renowned which is quite an in place; European Commission has can make a difference. With a achievement given that this will a new European Commission already addressed the current common approach more can only be the 4th such event. With about to take office and new fig- economic crisis; on 8 April a be done. Only last year the over 4,000 participants, includ- ures at the helm in USAID and number of concrete actions European Commission started ing Heads of State and leading UNDP. Finally, we will present were identified which were later a trialogue with China and world figures, plus 1,500 organi- the first European Development endorsed by the Development Africa on development. We sations taking part annually, this Report and the second Policy Ministers’ meeting in May. truly believe that by working is now a key date in the calendar Coherence for Development This comes on top of the together, for example by build- of the international development report together with the lat- adoption of the Food Facility ing huge infrastructure projects community. The support of the est Eurobarometer survey on allocation of €1bn aimed at such as dams or roads, we can EU Member States has been Member State attitudes to devel- increasing food production by make a difference. If we work crucial to this success; since opment aid in a time of crisis. distributing seeds and fertiliz- independently, there is always 2007 the successive presidencies ers to small farmers and the a risk of having many small of the EU have co-hosted the What is the final objective upcoming EU vulnerability projects being implemented in event. And as you know this year of the EDD: A vehicle to FLEX instrument for which parallel. We believe in econo- we are working with the Swedish inform the public about the €500M has been allocated mies of scale which can be presidency to hold the event European Commission’s aimed at guaranteeing social achieved by working together. in Stockholm from 22 to 24 development policy, or a services including health and This is the approach we follow October. A challenge? Yes. But development project in itself? housing in poor ACP countries within the European Union, one which we have risen to since most severely hit by the crisis; with our 27 Member States 2006 and with an experienced The main aim has always been this work will complement as proposed in our Code of and enthusiastic team behind me to get key thinkers and policy the World Bank, IMF and Conduct on division of labour I am looking forward to a suc- makers from all over the globe Regional Development Banks’ in 2007. cessful gathering in Stockholm. to address the issues of the day. initiatives.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 3 Didier Ruef, Angola, 2000. © Didier Ruef Editorial

Man is the measure of all things

ithout wanting to alter the usual Society in the small Pacific state of Samoa, fea- contents of the magazine for readers tured in this issue’s Country Report, is noted for its too much, two additional rubrics respect for the Fa’afafine who due to their effemi- will from now on regularly feature nism would face considerable prejudice elsewhere. Wto highlight personalities who are closely involved The special report deals with the ‘Colossal project in development. To cite the Greek philosopher of education’ which par excellence is devoted to Protagoras: “Man is the measure of all things”. mankind’s commitment to advancing humanity. Education should, in principle, be an individual The magazine opens with ‘Profile’, one of the right but this is far from becoming a reality any time new rubrics. It describes two actors who have soon. UNESCO is signalling that the gulf between brought their commitment, energy and individual the rich and poor countries in the field is widening. human qualities to the development process. In Numerous things are jeopardising targets and above this issue, the spotlight is on the figurehead of the all, a lack of finance. There is not a single country in European Development Days event whose acronym West Africa, for example, that has reached the aim in English, DevDays, has now entered everyday of committing ‘7 per cent its GDP to education’. language. Alongside ‘Mr DevDays’, we highlight a Nigerian economist and craftsperson who is cam- In this issue, in the ‘Discovering Europe’ rubric, we paigning to improve the status of African women. feature Naples with its art of excess and the capital In the other new rubric, we intend to hone in on the of the lovely region of Campania. It has a reputation vigour of the civil society sector. for being a sulphurous city, yet it is people-friendly simply by its warmth; anyone living there seemingly The new face of the European Parliament in the quickly embraced as Neapolitan. Of course, as any- wake of elections is this issue’s main news item. where in the world, discrimination does exist. But Its President is the first from an Eastern European there are many defending the rights of an individual country. He is a former human rights’ campaigner simply because he or she is a human being. One and member of the Trades Union, Solidarnosc, such person is the city’s Episcopal vicar who recalls banned during the period of the Communist regime. that when solicited to come to the aid of an immi- His reputation as a humanist is such that opposing grant, his guiding principle is the first divine com- political groups, like the Greens, chose to elect him mandment; to respect and welcome a fellow human as President of the Parliament on the basis on his being. Coming back to Protagoras… courage and individual spirit. Hegel Goutier Editor-in-chief

Didier Ruef, Angola, 2000. © Didier Ruef

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 5 T o the point

The nine lives of Luisa Morgantini After having spent ten years at the European Parliament defending the rights of the oppressed and battling for a more equitable cooperation with the ACP, fiery Luisa Morgantini, who will celebrate her 70th birthday in a little more than a year, should take some well-deserved rest now that she retires. But knowing her, rest is the last thing on her mind.

Marie-Martine Buckens and Joshua Massarenti

he Italian deputy’s combat goes ‘Women in black – for Justice against War’, mercial logic. Before sitting in Strasbourg or back well before 1999 when she was and is election observer at the Organisation Brussels, I was very involved in civil rights elected to the European Parliament for Security and Co-operation in Europe battles. Thus, it was only logical that my as an ‘independent’ MP on the list (OSCE). It would seem that she entered the combat at the heart of the European institu- T of the Rifondazione Communista. Luisa parliament by chance: “to tell you the truth, tions should focus on the necessity to build Morgantini learned to fight for justice in I did not think that I would find myself in equitable relations between rich and poor the cradle. She tells The Courier: “I was born the European Parliament, as this was not my countries, and more specifically between on 5 November 1940 in Villadossola, into a ambition. I saw myself continuing my fight European Union countries and its privileged family of partisans. Three years later, after in civil society. , Secretary partners, all 79 countries of Africa, the the armistice, my hometown was declared General of the Communist Party, asked me Caribbean and the Pacific.” ‘first partisan Republic’”, a reference that to enrol on the list as an independent MP, to fills her with pride. fight the growing threat of militarism in the Twice elected to the European Parliament very heart of the institutions.” (EP), in 1999 and 2004, during her second Luisa Morgantini has not stopped since. mandate, Luisa Morgantini presided over After studying industrial sociology and The Altiero Spinelli legacy matters of the Development Committee of economy at Oxford’s Ruskin College, she > the EP (2004-2006). She was Vice President was a trade union leader for the metalwork- This being said, she continues, “I have always of the EP, 2007-2009. Her great combats? ers unitarian trade union. This captivating been a convinced European in the lineage There were many. “Amongst other things, job does not keep her away from numerous of Altiero Spinelli’s European thought, in I worked to bring the European Parliament peace associations. Amongst others, she is defending values that, in my mind, are often closer to its national counterparts, so that cofounder of the international movement left in the background because of a com- national MPs could better understand the

6 To the point

Luisa Morgantini with Zarifou Ayeva, Former Minister of Togo for Foreign Affairs. © EP

I have just returned from Malawi, and I realise the extent to which the policies depend on those who manage them

in Africa (last May, she led the EU observa- the ‘returns’ directive for immigrants, a lost tion mission during the Malawi elections) battle… “It is time that Europe understands convinced that African leaders increasingly that the diaspora has a very important role Luisa Morgantini at the European Parliament. © EP take their destiny in their own hands.” In to play in development, particularly by her stride, she applauds “with both hands building bridges between the continents.” the EU-AU partnership launched in 2007 in Lisbon. I would also like to salute the work What great challenges await us? “The mid- carried out by the European Commissioner term revision of the Cotonou Agreement European stakes. I also fought to increase for Development and Humanitarian Aid, that binds Europe and the ACP, and the the budget allocated to education in devel- Louis Michel, particularly his latest policy to continuation of the partnership with the oping countries and to suppress ‘linked’ encourage budgetary aid”. Luisa Morgantini African Union. We shall have to remain aid, the assistance that ties the Official is conscious that this new type of assistance vigilant on issues of democracy, the APE Development Assistance to the industrial – the progressive abandonment of project and civil society.” and security policies of industrialised coun- aid in favour of support to a government’s tries. Very recently, I fought – and I was national budgets – is not devoid of risk: “we Nominated amongst “1000 women for the not alone in this, since all the MEPs fought will need to ensure that this assistance will Nobel Peace Prize” in 2005, laureate for – to soften the European Commission’s not be diverted. The European Parliament development for the MEP Awards 2006, rigid attitude on concluding Economic has always demanded this. Despite the Luisa Morgantini is not about to give up. Partnership Agreements (EPA) with the reticence of some players, I have already The fast-moving civil society, both Italian different groups of countries in the ACP. I witnessed some positive results, even if there and international, awaits her. feel that the European Commission should is still much to do”, and she adds, “I have have listened to us more on this issue.” just returned from Malawi, and I realise the extent to which the policies depend on those > Africa, first and foremost who manage them”. Africa has been at the heart of many of her The spirited deputy will fight on many other Keywords combats. She gave her support to the Pan- fronts too. The low cost access to (quality) Luisa Morgantini; European Parliament; African Parliament and the African Union medicines to fight neglected illnesses such MEP; Italy; ACP; Africa; Altiero Spinelli; EU; Malawi. (AU). “I came back from my latest travels as malaria or tuberculosis, the eradication of

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 7 R ound up

A Kenyan fisherman pulls a rope to lift a net onto the deck of a fishing boat in the waters of Diani on the Kenyan south coast. © Reporters/AP

The ACP to cooperate to secure sustainable fishing The Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) ministers in charge of fishing gathered for the first time in Brussels on 4 and 5 June. They decided to create an internal coordination and coop- eration mechanism for sustainable fishing.

his meeting follows the adoption of the overcapacity of global fleets, illegal and a resolution by the 87th session of non-regulated fishing, the collapse of reve- the ACP Council of Ministers held nue from global resources, and the recorded in Addis-Ababa in 2008 on fish- decline of fish stock around the world. The T ing, asking that a first meeting of the ACP ministers also asked the European Union ministers in charge of this issue should be to finance a programme aiming to help the convened in the course of 2009. The chal- ACP to implement European regulations lenges facing ACP fisheries are plentiful: on illegal, non-declared fishing, seeing that drastic export requirements, especially to time and means will be required to imple- European markets, and the lack of infra- ment the necessary infrastructures and Kayar, fishing harbour, Senegal. © Reporters/BSIP structures and technical expertise essential strengthening of their police forces. to make the best use of halieutical resources through added-value activities. On top of The cooperation mechanism – which must Fishing is of key importance for the that, there is the issue of the increasing be formally ratified in November – will need economy of ACP countries. Indeed, competition of non-ACP countries fishing to monitor fishing activities and the com- more than two thirds of the world’s exports and the erosion of preferences on mercial cooperation with the ACP partners, global fish catch production today is traditional markets. with the European Union at the forefront. from developing countries, and the Furthermore, the cooperation mechanism global trade of fishing products, in- In a press release, the ministers expressed will have to promote the creation of a cluding aquaculture, is estimated at their deep concern in the face of the intensifi- joint EU/ACP high-level body for fishing. US$150 billion. cation of the global fishing crisis that follows M.M.B.

8 Round-up Debra Percival Zimbabwe and EU to talk Political dialogue between Zimbabwe and the EU is underway in the country’s capital, Harare, following an 18 June meeting in Brussels between Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe’s unity government, and the EU’s Troika past, present and future presidencies of the EU Council.

Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai speaks during his will pave the way for nor- sector under the control of the inclusive gov- a media conference after a meeting of Zimbabwe and the EU mal relations between the EU ernment, drafting a new Constitution, also Troika at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, 18 June 2009. © Reporters/AP and Zimbabwe and the lifting of bringing about transparency in the financial restrictive measures”, Carl Bildt, system and reform of the Central Bank, this money will be used for the right pur- T ’s Foreign Minister, told journal- he added. The talks will take place under poses. First the government must undertake ists, whose country is in the EU’s rotating Article 8 of the Cotonou agreement to which key reforms itself, and then you can provide presidency chair (1 July-31 December). He Zimbabwe is party. government-to-government support”. said it was “important to fully implement the political agreement [on the unity gov- Fambai Ngirande, Lobby and Advocacy Louis Michel, EU Development Commis­ ernment] and common benchmarks”. These Manager of the National Association of sioner at the time of Tsvangirai’s June visit, include a clamp-down on politically-moti- Zimbabwe’s NGOs, said: “Zimbabwe is broke said the EC had up until now pledged €90M vated violence and an end to the harassment and cannot sustain itself; we therefore need to Zimbabwe this year to respond to human- of human rights activists in Zimbabwe. your support. But give your money directly itarian and emergency needs, including Further progress was needed on establish- to the people and don’t disburse it through clean drinking water channelled through ing the rule of law and placing the security government, as there are no guarantees that non-governmental bodies.

Call for enhanced urban development policies One out of every three people living in cities in developing countries lives in a slum or other unplanned settlement. African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) and European Union (EU) officials called for greater focus on sustainable urbanisation in ACP countries at the first tripartite Slum, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 2008. © Alain Grimard, UN-HABITAT conference on Urbanisation Challenges and Poverty Reduction in ACP Countries, 8-10 June in Nairobi. of active participation among all urban Okechukwu Romano Umelo development partners. Andrew Bradley, the Group’s Assistant Secretary General said: he conference, the first joint initi- initiatives to be reviewed and new ones cre- “We all share the view that the biggest chal- ative by the ACP, European Com- ated, and for ACP governments to place lenge to addressing slums and slum prolif- mission (EC) and UN-HABITAT, urbanisation at the centre of talks with the eration is government policy and strategic gathered 200 participants from 50 EU. It called for the €4M Participatory urban planning”. T countries to discuss technical, financial and Slum Upgrading Programme – launched other issues affecting urbanisation. Slum last year by UN-HABITAT and funded by UN-HABITAT Executive Director, Anna dwellings exacerbate poverty levels and the EC – to extend from currently 30 mem- Tibaijuka, called for an EU urban policy threaten to reverse progress in meeting the ber states to all ACP countries during the and recommended a specialised multi-actor Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 2010 mid-term review of the 10th European coordination body for urbanisation. She agreed participants, unified in their resolve Development Fund. said: “UN-HABITAT invites governments to enhance urban development. to commit, in their national budgets, to the Secretary General of the ACP Group, Sir urban agenda especially for participatory A declaration called for urban development John Kaputin, underlined the importance slum prevention and upgrading”.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 9 Round-up

The new face of the European Parliament

Anne-Marie Mouradian*

Victory for the Christian Democrats and Conservatives (PPE) confirms their position as the major political force (264 seats won out of 736), but they will have to compromise owing to a lack of an absolute majority. The Socialists suffered losses, but nevertheless held onto second place (184 seats), while the Liberals held their ground in third place (84 seats). The Greens achieved a significant breakthrough, increasing their number of seats from 43 to 53, and the extreme right strengthened its position. This sums up the key developments in the European elections of 7 June, an event followed closely by the Pan-African Parliament. New European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek of , speaks after his election at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, eastern France Tuesday, July 14, 2009. © Reporters/AP

he left failed to capitalise on the continue to be considered as secondary and on Development, and the designation of discontentment of European citi- incapable of resolving their problems. European members of the Joint ACP-EU zens over the economic crisis. With Parliamentary Assembly of which Labour’s Conservatives present in 21 of the Apathy from the Europeans? Glenys Kinnock was co-president in the T27 Member States, the centre right was the previous legislature. She is now Minister for main winner in the elections, gaining the However, the Parliament is the only Europe in the British government. upper hand, paradoxically, not just in coun- European institution whose members are tries where they are in government (France, elected by all of its citizens. Also the areas It remains to be seen which role the former Italy, ), but also where they are in of responsibility are being greatly extended, European Commissioner for Development opposition. In and the UK, for exam- and it manages a budget of €116 billion will take up. Elected as an MEP with more ple, it won the protest votes of those who and initiates a great deal of of the legisla- than 300,000 transferable votes, the Belgian blame the government for the crisis. tion which affects the everyday lives of Louis Michel has given up his mandate at Europeans. the Commission several months early, as he The extreme right and opponents of Europe promised to do, to take up his seat at the EP. notably achieved success in the , A pan-African delegation the UK, Austria and . > The European Parliament and the Pan- The Pan-African Parliament did however African Parliament have previously request- The other observation that cannot be over- take an interest in the elections and sent ed greater parliamentary control over the looked is the record level of abstention – 56% a delegation to London, Wiesbaden and strategy and implementation of EU-ACP on average for all the 27 Member States. Brussels. Its representatives attended the cooperation. This abstention rate, which has continued to EP’s election evening in Brussels to “share rise since the first European elections based Europe’s experience in elections, but also This will certainly be one of the challenges on universal suffrage in 1979, is of concern. to make the Europeans aware that Africa facing the new assembly. More than half of the 375 million eligible to is observing them and draws inspiration * French journalist based in Brussels and vote did not do so on 7 June, highlighting from the EU.” It will also keep a close eye specialised in ACP-EU relations. their disinterest in elections which wrongly on the make-up of the EP’s new Committee

10 Round-up

“The future of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is linked to its development” At the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kivu Province is an open wound. The violence of the armed forces present and the retaliations on a population that is already on its knees have resumed with more violence, leading Alan Doss, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in the DRC (MONUC), to launch, on 10 July, an urgent call for the promised reinforcements. As he was passing through Brussels last May, The Courrier ques- tioned him on the risk evoked by some experts of a balkanisation of a country whose wealth triggers the envy of foreign companies and neighbouring countries.

hat can be done to end the This could lead to a bal- violence? kanisation of the DRC. What is your opinion? First, the government must Wmaintain discipline and end the impuni- The roots of the conflict ty that lies at the very core of its own are economic, without Army. Populations must be able to trust doubt, but they are not the authorities and the Army needs the alone. There are also ethnic cooperation of the people to eliminate the issues and the consequenc- Democratic Forces for the Liberation of es of the Rwanda genocide. Rwanda (FDLR) – a group linked to the You cannot boil the whole 1994 Rwanda genocide – that is accountable issue down to just one fac- for most of the atrocities. The MONUC tor. Furthermore, when the continues to put pressure on the govern- State begins to erode, the ment to exclude persons who have com- hunt for economic cause mitted offences from the ranks of its Army, is very often not the cause and the government has promised to take but rather the symptom of necessary action. the illness. We need a mul- ti-dimensional approach. The war in Kivu would be economic rath- First, we must eliminate Alan Doss (left), Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of er than political. Louis Michel, European the armed groups, go for- the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), in the Kiwanja camp of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) during a Commissioner for Development and ward with the reconcili- visit to the area to assess security and humanitarian situation. North Kivu, DRC, Humanitarian Aid until 14 July, has already ation process and resolve January 2009. © UN/Marie Frechon attracted attention to the “economic dimen- the issue of land between sion of this war”. An end-of-war American the various groups. And it is essential that either. It would mean forgetting that the plan devised by Herman Cohen for Kivu is the Congolese should clearly define what rest of the country has its own wealth too. already on the desk of the President of the they want. We must not impose a solution Shipping goods from the eastern part of the United States, Barack Obama. To end a from the outside upon them. They are, it is Congo does not mean the ringing of the toll war, which Mr Cohen essentially attributes true, afraid of balkanisation, and even the bell for the Port of Matadi in the west. Too to Rwanda, a country that has controlled best of intentions are ill interpreted. This much of a focus on the eastern part would the natural resources of Kivu for the past attitude can easily be understood when we be to overlook the south of the country 12 years, he recommends the creation of a look at their history. and the minerals of Katanga that can be ‘common market’ that would encompass the exported to ’s Cape Town from DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania The future of the Congo is linked to its Lubumbashi. M.M.B. and Uganda. This common market would development. Thus, we must find formulas enable the Congolese State to perceive taxes where everybody gets some satisfaction. on the mining and forest resources that would We should not dig in our heels about the be exported to western ports via Rwanda. opening of eastern DRC to eastern ports

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 11 D ossier

TheThe colossalcolossal projectproject ofof educationeducation

A dossier by sending children to school is of little use the redefinition of priorities. In the case Marie-Martine Buckens if they end up socially misfit. Indeed, very of Southern countries, where the educa- few students complete their schooling tion continuum is often a legacy from and if they do, their future is often bleak. the colonisers, this is the opportunity ducation for all is one of the objec- On the other hand, these children often to re-appropriate ‘traditional’, ancestral tives set in the stone of the United neglect their forefathers’ lands, leaving knowledge. The way in which it will be Nations’ tablets of commandments, them without heirs. integrated in the general trend – mainly the Millennium Development based on western teaching methods – is E Goals (MDG). This particular goal is This is just one example amongst so an open issue, with open answers. In proving a huge challenge for ACP coun- many others, but one that is telling of the Senegal for example, the ‘Cases des tout tries who have also undertaken to reduce unbreakable link between the educational Petits’ ( for Small Children), which the illiteracy rate by half before 2015. and political path of a country. This ques- are open to children under eight, com- Could this be no more than an illusion? tion is particularly acute in these times of bine Information and Communication The experts seem to think not. Still, there globalisation when all nations, especially Technologies (ICT) with oral learning by does not yet seem to be a consensus on the those undergoing development, attempt storytellers. form that education should take. What to define the place that they will take in sort of schools, technical colleges and this new economic and cultural order. Information and communication technol- universities should be created or reformed Indeed, Southern countries are not the ogies will play an increasingly important to allow children, adolescents and adults only ones affected by the educational role in this area, as testified the exposés of to fit harmoniously and productively into system crisis either. the participants to the latest International the economy of their country? An exam- Conference on ICT for Development, ple: in Africa, farmer organisations sound Crises are times for opportunity. In the Education and Training held last May in the alarm. In substance, they say that area of education, the opportunity lies in Dakar, Senegal’s capital city.

Campus of University West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. © Reporters

12 ACP Education Dossier

The “widening gap” between rich and poor countries In its latest 2009 ‘Education for All global monitoring report’, UNESCO denounces the com- bined effects of political indifference, inefficient national policies and unfulfilled international promises as some of the many factors that create a “widening gap” between rich and poor countries in education-related issues.

The figures speak for themselves:

• In developing countries, one out of three primary school age children (193 million children) suffers from brain impairment and reduced perspectives in education due to malnutrition.

• 75 million primary school age children – one third of which are in sub-Saharan Africa – are not in education.

• Whereas over a third of children of rich countries complete some form of high- er education, fewer of their sub-Saharan counterparts finish primary school, and only five per cent will go to university or an equivalent school.

• National disparities reflect global inequal- ities. In countries like Ethiopia, Mali or Niger, children in the poorer 20 per cent of the population have three times less School in Lagos, Nigeria. © Reporters/AP chance of attending primary schools than the children among the richer 20 per cent of the population. to be recruited before 2015 to reach the goal forecasts a financing deficit of $30 billion, of Universal Primary Education. around half of which is for sub-Saharan This is not a good start for attaining the Africa. goal of Universal Primary Education before Finally, there are around 776 million illiter- 2015, since more than 29 million children ate adults worldwide, or 16 per cent of the The authors of the Report are predomi- will still be unschooled. Furthermore, this world’s population. Two thirds are women. nantly critical towards donors who reallo- figure is under-estimated as it excludes At that rate, they will be in excess of 700 cate their aid to further education – France countries in the grip of conflicts such as million by 2015. and Germany specifically – whereas coun- Sudan or the Democratic Republic of the tries such as the Netherlands or the United Congo. International aid does not keep Kingdom dedicate more than 60 per cent of > their aid budget to basic education in coun- These figures are only a partial indicator its promises tries with a low income. M.M.B. of the extent of the problem insofar as mil- The report claims that international agree- lions of children leave school before having ments are not respected, and speaks of the finished primary school. The monitoring “collective failure” of the donor community. of educational assets also clearly stresses The authors assess that, every year, there is the poor quality of education: many chil- a shortage of $7 billion to complete basic Keywords dren leave school without basic reading and education before 2015. In 2005, the donors Education; UNESCO; Universal Primary maths skills. Furthermore, in sub-Saharan pledged to increase their aid by $50 billion Education; Africa; Marie-Martine Buckens. Africa alone, 3.8 million teachers will have before 2010. However, today’s commitment

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 13 Dossier ACP Education

A multilingual education, guarantor of quality

Creole in the Caribbean, Swahili, Hausa, Kikongo and many others in Africa, Tok Pisin in and so forth... All these languages were almost completely non-existent in the school curriculum of ACP countries, where lessons are taught in the former colonial languages. It would seem that this fact would partially explain the premature school leaving of the working classes. Today, bilingualism experiments are being carried out with some constancy.

f we are to attain the goal of a fairer In spite of this, bilingualism is deeply rooted education in Africa, I am convinced in some countries. This is especially true “ that we must develop a multilin- in former British Empire countries (and gual education that is based on the in Burundi once ruled by Belgium) where mother I tongue, in partnership with the African languages were already taught in European and International languages that primary schools in colonial days: South are officially used in most African countries Africa, Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria today. This education would build bridges and Tanzania, all of which practice a bilin- between the initial schooling of the official gual ‘sustainable education’. In this model, sector and would offer literacy to those African languages are still used in second- who are too old to enrol for school.” For ary education, which is not the case in years, Amadou Samassekou, President of the limited teaching bilingual education the African Academy of Languages and model. This model uses African languages former Minister for Education in Mali, has at the beginning of the primary cycle to defended the idea of local language literacy. make the learning of the official language – former colonial language – easier. The In actual fact, bilingual education has exist- system is widespread in the former French ed for more than ten years in many ACP and Portuguese colonies where African lan- countries. In the Democratic Republic of guages were once banned from education. the Congo (DRC), it started as early as 1922 Simone Oppliger, , 2000 © Simone Oppliger. when the Belgian colonialists introduced Adamou Samassekou is optimistic: “Africa local languages in the school curriculum. has decided to change this situation by set- This practice was dropped at the time of the ting-up the African Academy of Languages country’s independence before being taken in 2001”. “If we succeed” he continues, “to up again in 1970. In Niger, the experiment combine a certain quantity of universal and goes back to 1973 and enjoys the support of endogenous knowledge, this multilingual the European Union; in Haiti, from 1982. education would allow mankind to settle On the other hand, these experiments do not in its local culture and to integrate into an always run smoothly. The greatest problem international culture”. M.M.B. lies in the lack of school manuals published in local languages coupled with the teachers’ lack of training, which often results from a lack of political will and/or financial means. An expert remarks that “African countries obtain financing from the World Bank only if they reach the percentage of Education For Keywords All (EFA) based on the number of children Education; ACP; Caribbean; DRC; enrolled in a school. The quality of the edu- Education for All (EFA); multilingual; Marie-Martine Buckens. cation is often less important.”

14 ACP Education Dossier

Higher education. Panorama view of University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. Founded in 1829, UCT is the oldest university in Africa. Courtesy of Katherine Traut (University of Cape Town) Searching

Although the number of students enrolling in the for new dynamics higher education institutions of ACP States is increasing o deal with this situation, African The EU-AU partnership more rapidly than anywhere countries, gathering in Dakar last > November, paved the way for a for science else in the world – by some strategic development framework Last October, the European Union and the Tfor higher education for the next ten years. African Union launched a new strategic 66 per cent since 1999 in Africa – only five percent of In Dakar, Christophe Ruffin, the French partnership for science, information and Ambassador in Senegal explained that: “The communications technologies and space. secondary school students average financing need for all 30 countries The partnership embraces 19 lead projects, access higher education. fluctuates between US$515M and US$583M six of which take priority. The priority per year between 2005 and 2015, depending projects include two aimed at improving the This is due to a shortage on the financing methods. This shows that, extent and use of the Internet in Africa (the of means – the States only at the scale of the 30 countries, the extent of ‘African Internet Exchange System’) and earmark around 20 per cent the financing need prompts the European at broadening the range of the high-speed Union to think of other financing alterna- pan-European research and education of their allocated budgets for tives.” For its part, the African Development network, GEANT, to sub-Saharan Africa education – combined with a Bank (ADB) has decided to mobilise 140 (‘Africa Connect’). Two other projects aim million dollars and a further 60 million dol- at helping the African Union to develop blatant lack of networks and lars for the period covering 2009-2011. its own scientific resources. The project partnerships with the private on African Research Grants will help the sector, at a time when high- However, explains the ADB in its report on African Union Commission to implement higher education, in the 1950s and 1960s, an African framework-programme for income countries massively African universities enjoyed a solid reputa- research. In the area of space research, invest in research and tion as centres for excellence and were in the Global Monitoring for Environment information technologies. the same league as the world’s better centres and Security in Africa and ACP countries of excellence. “Still”, continues the report, (GMES Africa) initiative aims to reinforce “under the effect of the economic crisis of Africa’s use of remote sensing. M.M.B. the eighties and the implementation of struc- www.africa-eu-partnership.org; www.afdb.org tural adjustment policies granting priority to basic education, the resources intended for higher education have decreased, resulting in the deterioration of the quality of higher education and higher university education. The withdrawal of donors who no longer Keywords subsidise higher education has also led to Education; Senegal; Dakar; African an increased deterioration of the quality of Union; African Development Bank (ADB); Marie-Martine Buckens. higher education products”.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 15 Dossier ACP Education

European expertise at the service of the ACP States universities Within the framework of Edulink – the EACP-EU Partnerships in Higher Education programme – the SideCap project links together several ACP country universities with two of their British counterparts specialised in distance learning methods and technologies.

hrough the improvement of dis- of the Highlands and Islands Millennium training and the needs identified, pedagogi- tance teaching of ACP universities, Institute* will consolidate the expertise of cal tools and equipment adapted to the ACP the ‘Staff Improvement in distance the network. States’ teaching environment will be elabo- education for Caribbean, African rated. M.M.B. andT Pacific universities’ (SideCap) project Concretely, the staff of ACP universities will * The Open University and the University of the must implement a progressive programme be trained to access, open and reconsider the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute in the to update the competences of the teach- ‘Open Content’, which consists of the peda- , both renowned specialists in online and distance teaching methods and technologies. ing staff and support the latter in creating gogical equipment and processes designed by online courses. Participating ACP universi- the Open University or other ‘Open Content’ ties are all confronted with the necessity suppliers for distance training. The subjects of attracting and assisting poor students dealt with in this framework encompass good Keywords Edulink; EU-ACP; SideCap; University of living in remote areas: the University of practice video-conferences demos made by Mauritius; University of the West Indies; Mauritius, the University of the West Indies the European partners, the production of a University of the South Pacific; the Open University; University of the Highlands and the University of the South Pacific. CD-ROM, the creation of online courses, and Islands Millennium Institute; Marie- The Open University and the University and interactive debate processes. From this Martine Buckens.

The omnipresence of women on Caribbean campuses The number of women students enrolled in higher universities and colleges of the Caribbean archipelago has risen dramatically since the early 1980s. In 2000, two thirds of students were women. This is the official figure of the University of the West Indies (UWI), which encompasses three main campuses – in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago – with a total number of 24,000 students, making it the largest university of the Caribbean.

n a repor t d r a f ted for U N E SCO on t he pre sent situation is also mirrored among academic staff: for the universities of Guyana and Surinam, status of sciences in the Caribbean, Harold whereas there were 33.2 per cent women in the where these issues are ‘critical’, mainly because Ramkissoon, Professor of Mathematics and academic staff of the University of the West of the “great weakness of the economy of these Vice-President of the Caribbean Scientific Indies in 1998, the figure was up to 36.8 per countries”, whereas the University of the West I Union (CSU), and Ishenkumba Kahwa, cent the following year. Indies, where scientists are much better paid, is Professor of Chemistry at the University of relatively well off. M.M.B. the West Indies, said this was nothing short of Furthermore, the higher education network remarkable. The authors note that it “reflects of the Caribbean suffers from a lack of funds, the fact that the male population is becoming which is worsened by the “inability to attract less and less successful, a new phenomenon of and maintain high-quality staff, the mediocrity Keywords imbalance between the sexes that is currently of the working conditions and maintenance of Education; women; Caribbean; University of the West Indies (UWI); Marie-Martine being studied, as well as its implications.” The the equipment”. This picture is especially true Buckens.

16 ACP Education Dossier

The African Virtual University (AVU)

aunched in 1997 with initial fund- tion, and some of whom have very little Moustapha Sokhna, from the Faculty of ing from the World Bank and the experience in distance learning. “Seeing the Sciences and Technologies of Education European Union, then from European targeted level (Baccalaureat in Education), and Training at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop and north-American countries and the training tools, pedagogical resources, university. M.M.B. Lprivate companies including Microsoft, the availability of TICE and the disparities Hewlett-Packard and Netsat, the African at the level of the functions of the different Virtual University (UVA) is now led and countries, it is very difficult to imagine that Keywords managed by Africans. With headquarters in such training should prove successful with- African Virtual University (AVU); World Nairobi, Kenya since 2002, its goal is to offer out very flexible measures and an increased Bank; European Union (EU); Marie- Martine Buckens. a distance education mostly focused on sci- possibility of adapting the resources”, feels entific and technical training of sub-Saharan Africans. It also offers African universities the possibility to complete and strengthen their programmes and competences while offering a high-level education to students who were rejected by those same universities. The many branches of the

The AVU works in partnership: in 2005, its University of the South Pacific network included 56 partner institutions in With three main campuses – in Samoa, ulties and a centre for the development 17 English (9), French (7) and Portuguese (1) and Vanuatu – and 13 regional cam- and technology of education, the latter speaking countries throughout Africa. Thus, puses, the University of the South Pa- aiming to be cross-disciplinary with the the AVU has become a continental education cific has managed to offer high-quality faculties. The university has identified network of higher education institutions com- education that, coupled with sizeable education as one of the five key points mitted to using open and distance education research projects, attracts the region’s for its 2006-2010 development strategy, systems to reinforce their capacity. students and academic staff alike. The thus aiming to improve student results structure of the University of the South and particularly distance learning stu- Although very attractive on paper, in reality Pacific has undergone a complete over- dents, who made up just over half of all project results are mixed. The main dif- haul to improve both its efficiency and students in 2006. ficulty is to offer a distance education that how it operates. It has set up four fac- satisfies every student, all of whom come from extremely different systems of educa-

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 17 Dossier ACP Education

Souleymane Saddi Maâzou* Educational crisis in West Africa Teachers in a village in Niger, 2009. © Marie-Martine Buckens here are not enough qualified teach- published by these international civil society Today, 14 million primary school-aged chil- ers to run primary schools in West organisations, 459,000 trained teachers are dren are not schooled in West Africa, and Africa. Five NGOs (Aide et Action, needed in Nigeria, 39,000 in Burkina Faso not one single government has succeeded Plateforme africaine pour l’éducation and 18,300 in Sierra Leone. in reaching the goal of spending 7% of the T des adultes, African Network Campaign for GNP on education, as their ministers had Education For All, Pamoja Afrique de l’Ouest In this African territory, there are more male promised ten years ago. and Oxfam International) raised the alarm dur- teachers than female. In Benin and Cape * Freelance journalist from Niger. ing Global Action Week on Education for All. Verde, most teachers are women, and par- ity has been reached in Nigeria. Apart from There is a shortage of around 750,000 these states, women teachers are a minority qualified teachers in West Africa’s primary in other West African countries, and this schools. According to these organisations, has a consequence on school attendance. this situation has negatively impacted the Indeed, studies have demonstrated that Keywords quality of teaching in this part of Africa. girls are more likely to stay in school if the Education; West Africa; NGOs; Benin; Cape Verde. According to the 30-page memorandum teacher is a woman.

Education is badly overlooked by post-conflict aid oday, more than 100 million chil- the Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of Education tional partners. These lessons were attended dren still do not attend primary described the situation in the Dabakala by 4,000 students from six universities and school. Amongst them, 50 per cent Province, long under the control of rebels set out to “emphasize the human capital live in countries that are either at and where combats have destroyed dozens and bring life and hope”, she explained. T war or are rebuilding themselves after con- of schools. She hopes that some agreement M.M.B. flicts. “Education is the forgotten aspect of with a large hardware and software provider post-conflict humanitarian aid and refugee can be reached soon with the aim of supply- aid”, indicated Harold Elleston, President ing computers that will enable the imple- of the New Security Foundation at a con- mentation of a complete distance-learning ference on e-learning held in Dakar in programme. Sidiki Traoré from the African May 2009. He feels that distance learn- Virtual University described an experiment ing has provided “truly attractive options conducted in Somalia, a country plagued Keywords to reconstruct education in some of the with terrorism and acts of piracy, where she Education; Harold Elleston; e-learning; most complex areas around the world”, gave distance-learning courses in English Dakar; Fatoumata Kone; Sidiki Traoré; Marie-Martine Buckens. like . Fatoumata Kone from and journalism with the help of interna-

18 ACP Education Dossier

Between tradition and modernity Over time, western education has become the reference for educational systems. However, it very often clashes with traditional education because it lays emphasis on abstraction and individualism. Furthermore, many ACP countries face the influence of Koranic schools.

ociologist Ousmane Sawadogo from With colonisation, adds Burkina Faso explains that tradi- Mr Sawadogo, “they sim- tional education is usually passed ply tried to transplant the through words that come with obser- school monopoly on edu- Svation and imitation, art and play, music cation to Africa. School and dance. Four constants characterise this is not the only place for type of education: the whole of society is in a learning – he continues – constant learning process because the child but it enjoyed a growing is the child of the group. It is all around and monopoly of theoretically integrated to life, active and democratic and ‘modern’ transmission of the barriers between theory and practice are knowledge. In its evolu- nonexistent. It privileges the cohesion of the tion, school (…) elimi- group as opposed to personal development. nated the social-cultural “Furthermore – adds Mr Sawadogo – the parameter of its environ- African ‘traditional’ society is completely ment by advocating the Traditional and modern classrooms in a village in Niger, 2009. © Marie-Martine Buckens focused on maintaining a balance. Since the dominating culture of the key preoccupation is subsistence, innovation coloniser through mechanisms of assimila- is often left out.” tion. Throughout time, the development Keywords instrument that represents school will itself Ousmane Sawadogo; traditional educa- These various characteristics make it the raise issues linked to its cost and failure to tion; western education; colonisation; oral character; Marie-Martine Buckens. opposite of the ‘western’ educational system. adapt, amongst others things”. M.M.B.

Koranic and ‘white’ schools

n Niger, an increasing number of school- in the evenings, where religious classes last age children simultaneously attend state two hours at most. Koranic schools can be schools and Koranic schools. The latter found in many places, including warehouses are spreading at the same rate as ‘White or even outdoors. I Schools’ both in rural and urban areas. In the past, very few children enrolled in the Through the French–Arab education sup- ‘White Schools’ (écoles du blanc) of Niger, port project, the government of Niger is Students at the Al-Haraiman French-Arabic School talk during a class break, in Yaounde, Cameroon, 2009. a country whose population is made up of focusing on the renovation of Koranic © Reporters/AP 98% Muslims. Parents seem to put their schools in the aim that they fulfil their trust more easily in the religious teachers educational function. With this goal, a pro- against poverty and in particular begging, and have chosen to send their offspring for gramme was designed, encompassing the a phenomenon that is deeply-rooted in prayer lessons in Koranic schools. Today, following subjects: teachings of the Koran Koranic schools. S.S.M. although there are no statistics to back this, (50%), Islamic studies (30%), Arab lan- the trend seems to have changed and chil- guage courses (10%), French language les- dren attend both schools. sons (5%), and practical production activi- Keywords ties (5%). As we can see, this programme Souleymane Saddi Maâzou; Education; In the daytime, children go to the ‘white’ is almost-exclusively religious, although it Niger; ‘white schools’; koranic schools; French; Arab. school before going to the Koranic school would appear to be an appropriate response

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 19 Dossier ACP Education

The trend in online learning Online learning should be able to respond to the many educational challenges facing ACP countries: ideal for communities – and there are many – far away from city centres, and sufficiently flexible to offer content that is adapted to their specific needs. This is enough to attract all the partners involved in educational programmes. But these chal- lenges still need to be addressed.

idely known as ‘e-learning’, held last May in the Senegalese capital edulink.int) (see the article on page 16) – online learning is subject to city. Indeed, the ACPs, particularly Africa, that try to create a network between training many initiatives in ACP coun- represent a rapidly growing market for ICT institutes and contents adapted to the real tries, with varying degrees of designers (please also see the article in needs of the teachers and students of the Wsuccess. Indeed, this learning method is still ‘Interaction’). And online educative content ACP. There are many experiments, albeit at the experimental stage, even in industr- is part of the selected products financed by fragmented, – except for universities where ialised countries, and faces many obstacles the bigger donors. ICT is fully integrated – into which all of in less developed areas, particularly with the ‘operators’, including private compa- regard to the lack of financial means: a The pessimists will tell you that ICT is noth- nies such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard or shortage of adapted computers and soft- ing but a new educational gadget on which Google, universities, ministries and NGOs ware, and particularly a lack of infrastruc- many hopes are built in vain, like the advent rush. And giving a global image is almost ture that would allow the 80 per cent of the of television in its heyday. The optimists will impossible. M.M.B. population living in rural areas to connect to tell you about the results obtained here and the Internet. This situation is rapidly chang- there in Africa, in the Caribbean and the ing, as testified by the many participants Pacific region. And the projects – including Keywords at the last ICT gathering (information and those financed within the framework of the E-learning; online learning; ACP; OLPC; Marie-Martine Buckens. communication technologies) for education, ACP-EU Edulink programme (www.acp-

The OLPC projects The ‘One laptop per child’ (OLPC) programme is slowly spreading throughout Africa. Set up by Nicholas Negro- ponte, the former head of the media lab of the US Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it boasts the participation of numerous university leaders, industrials and members of the ‘open source’ Linux community. This programme has attracted many ACP countries, particu- larly Madagascar, Gabon and Rwanda. Indeed, after the donation of 10,000 computers within the framework of this programme, the latter decided to order a further 5,000. The aim of the programme is to give, proceeding in stages, a computer to every primary schoolchild, 220,000 comput- ers. In Madagascar, the goal of the France section of the OLPC is to create a community of French/Malagasy trans- lators that will either translate or adapt the pedagogical content and accompany the teachers in the field.

© Marie-Martine Buckens

20 ACP Education Dossier

Niger’s new trend: cyber-students In Niger’s big cities, many students are confronted with a shortage of qualified teachers and educational manuals. To fill in the gaps they rush to cybercafés, but teachers are worried about this new method of learning.

Student at a cybercafé in Dakar, Senegal, 2006. © Reporters/AP

nformation and communication technol- ing of keyboards. In a corner of the café, Most students attend secondary school with- ogies have invaded the lives of students two schoolgirls revise their physics courses, out completing the programme, and the fact in Niger. Since 2005 and the ‘Jeux de la eyes riveted to the screen. The students are that the teaching profession is now subject Francophonie’ (Francophone Games), a delighted. Surfing helps them achieve better to a policy of formalisation by contract has Icontinuous flood of cybercafés have opened results with their homework and prepare for only worsened the situation. Teachers have in Niger’s large cities. School and college their exams. The method is simplicity itself: not been trained to teach and don’t have the students affected with the cyber virus fre- click on any search engine and find free necessary didactic documentation. Their quent these cafés non-stop. Internet sites. The only money spent is the meagre salaries do little for their motivation 300 CFA (under €0.50) covering the hourly or vocation… “The Ministry for Education These young students spend endless hours connection fee. has focused on the access to education tracking down information to comple- rather than on its quality. The fact that stu- ment their courses and go to cybercafés to The lack of control over dents look for information on the Internet work on homework given by their teach- > is thus inevitable”, stresses biology teacher, ers. “Their number increases every day”, knowledge is disturbing Abdou Hassan. testifies Amadou Moussa, who has hosted Teachers are concerned about the influence a cybercafé in the Terminus neighbour- the Internet is having on the education of In cybercafés, far from any surveillance, stu- hood of Niamey (Niger’s capital city) for their students. This training method is not dents sit alone in front of a screen. The web, the past five years. These cyber-students one that conveys hope. “It has a negative a fascinating and captivating tool, feeds them can neither sleep nor spend a single day impact on the relationship between teacher useful information, but also plunges them without surfing the net. “The Internet is an and student”, warns Chaibou Boucarar, a into a plethora of gaming sites… S.S.M. infinite and inexhaustible source of infor- teacher of literature. mation on literary and scientific subjects. I surf on maths exercises and lesson sites Many parents point the finger at the State every morning”, says Ali Ibrahim, a first of Niger, which they feel is to blame for this Keywords year student in experimental sciences, in a situation. For the past ten years, Niger’s Souleymane Saddi Maâzou; Education; Niamey cybercafé. The only sound around education system has suffered numerous Niger; information; technologies; Chaibou Boubacar. us is the purring of hard disks and the click- strikes, both from teachers and students.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 21 I nteraction

Launch of the revision of the Cotonou Agreement The 34th ACP-EU Council met in Brussels on 28 and 29 May under the co-presidency of Helena Bambasova, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, and William Haomae, President of the ACP Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of the Solomon Islands. The EU and the ACP group launched the second revision of the Cotonou Agreement at this meeting. Having been concluded for a 20-year period extending from March 2000 to February 2020, the first revision of the agreement took place in June 2005. The current negotiations should be completed by February 2010.

uring the ACP Council (25-27 in welcoming the new spirit of trust brought international negotiations on the climate May), held prior to the joint meet- to the EPA negotiations by the new EU at Copenhagen in December 2009 and the ing, President Haomae said: “it is Trade Commissioner, Catherine Ashton, Global Climate Change Alliance. The EU in the interests of all of our mem- who was congratulated for her open-minded also wants to rapidly put together support Dber states that this agreement is revised to approach. programmes for the ACP, within the frame- ensure it remains relevant and is in line with work of the 10th EDF, to combat desertifi- the reality and requirements of the modern cation, soil degradation, deforestation and world.” Indeed, the revision should enable > Financial crisis and water scarcity. ACP-EU cooperation to adapt to new cir- climate issues cumstances. The aim is to improve political The ACP countries and the EU both agreed provisions (political dialogue: articles 8 and The revision of the Cotonou Agreement that the adoption of the two joint declara- 96, migration, etc.) and those concerning should incorporate an increase in aid and tions was a political success. A.M.M. development. funding for the ACP to counter the devastat- ing effects of the financial crisis in their coun- Keywords Revision of the Cotonou Agreement; ACP The negotiation of regional Economic tries in view of growing poverty. In a joint res- Council; EU; Catherine Ashton; financial Partnership Agreements has made the olution, the two parties underlined the need crisis; climate; Anne-Marie Mouradian. Cotonou Agreement’s commercial provi- to protect vulnerable ACP countries with all sions obsolete. The ACP Council reiterated instruments available, including budgetary its concerns about the Europeans’ inten- aid and the launch of the FLEX 2009 and tions to regionalise their partnership with 2010 instrument, to which the European the ACP at the risk of “undermining the Commission plans to contribute an envelope coherence and unity of the group.” of at least €500 million to help the ACP coun- tries to maintain their social expenditure. He said that in the absence of full EPAs The ACP-EU Council also passed a deci- geared towards development, taking into sion to allow poor and heavily indebted ACP account the asymmetrical nature of the countries to refinance their debts at more ACP economies, the EU should provide an favourable terms with the EIB. alternative overall framework for trade, at the least equivalent to what existed prior The Europeans and the ACP also adopted a to January 2008. However, representatives resolution on climate change. They under- William Haomae, President of the ACP Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of the Solomon from Europe and the ACP were unanimous took to cooperate within the framework of Islands. © Robert Iroga

22 Africa Interaction

Banks join forces The seven most important investors and multilateral donors in Africa, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), for Africa have undertaken to supply at least US$15 billion more to “stop the global economic crisis from swiping out decades of progress, growth and investment in Africa”, explains the EIB.

he loans granted should give top priority to promoting commerce, reinforcing the financial sector and increasing the loan activity in T the area of infrastructures, agro-food and SMEs in the region, which is affected by the slowdown of the global economy. Apart from the EIB, the institutions participating to the initiative are, in almost equal meas- ure, the African Development Bank group (ADB), the French Development Agency, the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development through the KfW Bankengruppe, the Islamic Development Bank group and the World Bank. Liberian capital, Monrovia. © Reporters/Redux

For its part, the EIB intends to commit more than €2 billion to sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years in the form of loans, own funds and guarantees. The insti- tution will increase its support to infra- A continent nevertheless spared, structure and energy projects, particularly through the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust at least in information and Fund for those infrastructures created at communication technologies the initiative of the European Commission and managed by the EIB. This trust fund According to the Economic Perspectives namism currently enjoyed in Africa by will also allow for co-financing projects in Africa 2008/2009, published by the the sector of ICT “Important contracts in parallel to the support mechanism for ADB, the OECD Development Centre are still being concluded end 2008-early infrastructures in situations of crisis. The and the United Nations Economic Com- 2009, particularly in Togo, Burkina Faso, EIB will also reinforce its support to Africa’s mission for Africa with the support of the Namibia, Mali, Uganda and Rwanda. We financial sector through its contributions European Union, growth will not exceed are witnessing the same pattern as the to the Microfinance Enhancement Facility 2.9 per cent in 2009, although it was over 2000-2001 crisis of new technologies, investment fund. M.M.B. 5 per cent in the past five years. This when Africa was the most spared conti- drop will be short-lived, and 2010 should nent in terms of investments. And this is record a recovery with a 4.5 per cent the case once again. If we look at the pri- growth. Furthermore, according to Laura vate investments commitments in Africa, Recuero Virto, economist at the Africa 44 per cent do not consider themselves and Desk at the OECD De- as being affected by the crisis. But if you velopment Centre, Africa is as dynamic look at Europe and Central Asia, only as ever in the sector of ICTs. Interviewed 9 per cent can claim that they were not by the ‘Les Afriques’ financial magazine, affected. The rest is either cancelled or Keywords Laura Recuero Virto underlined the dy- postponed.” Financial institutions; crisis; Africa; EIB; ICT; Marie-Martine Buckens.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 23 Interaction Civil Society

Civil society alert over land-grabbing in Africa There was tough talk at the ACP-EU civil society seminar organised by the Brussels-based European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Gaborone, Botswana, 28-30 June, which took place against a backdrop of a squeeze on trade volumes, direct foreign private invest- ment, reduced remittances and revenue in ACP countries.

hilip Kiroro of the East Africa supported in the EU and other developed the 2010 mid-term review of the Cotonou Farmers’ Federation (EAFF) said countries, we have called for the protection agreement (2000-2020) will rectify current the global economic downturn had of our markets to avoid distortion of prices shortcomings in the role perceived for non- led to “land grabbing” by developed through dumping. We seek protection to state actors in Cotonou which has now fallen P country importers of food and bio-fuels. “In enable us to develop our agriculture. But below expectations, she said. D.P. the absence of stable land policies, Africa is we call for liberalisation and total opening too vulnerable to land grabbing. There is of regional markets”, said Kiroro on the need for well-negotiated policy guidelines to Economic Partnership Agreements (free govern land use and investments”, he said. trade agreements) currently being negoti- ated by ACP regions with the EU. Keywords “We seek differentiation in the way trade Botswana; Philip Kiroro; Brenda King; in agricultural products is conducted. In Brenda King, UK member of the ECSC EESC; EPAs; Cotonou Agreement; Debra Percival. view of the fact that agriculture is heavily and representing employers is hoping that

ADANSO – BELGIUM AND BURKINA FASO Highly original micro-projects Jacques Delens, CEO of Besix, which built the decision to cooperate. These short films the magnificent Dubai Tower – has suc- are posted on the www.adanso.com website ceeded in finding direct finance for around for anyone to view. 15 commercial projects in Burkina Faso. One of the ventures to receive credit involves The funding provider does not decide on its a group of women who make shea butter. own the project it will support. Instead, a There are thousands of them. One of the team of three social organisers and commu- projects selected recently is that of Nadège nications professionals from Burkina Faso Abou, who works with dyes to produce identify attractive initiatives and approach exquisite fabrics. The finance borrowed will them. This is where Adanso’s original enable her to attend regional fairs and to give approach comes in, a stroke of inspiration a broader dimension to her work. It is also from one of its founding members, Yves likely to allow her to increase her workforce. Market, Burkina Faso. © Reporters/BSIP Fonck, a photographer, film-maker and She already has four full-time staff. In the organiser of cultural events. The organis- video, in which she is extremely persuasive, ers make short videos about the projects she points out that Burkina means ‘the land danso is one of many organisa- which they send to Adanso in Brussels. of the honourable people’. This is a nod in tions supporting micro-projects The organisation then acts as a promoter to the direction of investors, but a well-justified in Africa. But Adanso’s original- attract potential investors, by showing them one. The rate of repayment by the projects ity lies in the way it works and the films and persuading them to provide supported by Adanso is 98 per cent. H.G. identifiesA projects to be financed. A non credit and to go and see the projects pre- profit organisation – ‘asbl’ under Belgian sented on-site. Adanso also encourages the law – Adanso, which was created just over company owners to take advantage of the Keywords a year ago in Belgium by six professionals opportunity to strengthen their own team- Hegel Goutier; Belgium; Burkina Faso; micro- credit; Adanso; Yves Fonck; Nadège Abou. – including company directors such as Jean- building, and to allow their teams to take

24 Africa-EU Interaction

Culture for development: a Euro-African challenge Sixty-five speakers, 210 participants from 45 countries, five days of animated discussions, success stories, strategies and policy presentations. The first Euro-African Campus on cultural cooperation was held in Maputo, , on 22-26 June, 2009.

Andrea Marchesini Reggiani

he Euro-African Campus was This implies that, on the one hand, culture an initiative of the Interarts can contribute to the development of social, Foundation (Barcelona) and the economic or political objectives, but also, on Observatory of Cultural Policies in the other hand, that cultural development Africa T (OCPA, Maputo) held in partnership must be much more than just an aim of the with the Spanish Agency of International policies of development. The creative proc- Cooperation for Development (AECID), esses have great potential in giving a voice where The Courier has participated as Media to those who are not heard and working out Partner. The Ministry of Education and new ideas that can change the dynamics Culture of the Republic of Mozambique of development. The attention to different also collaborated and the City of Maputo forms of cultural expression runs parallel to hosted the last session in the beautiful the respect for human rights and fundamen- Salão Nobre do Conselho Municipal, in tal freedoms. the presence of David Simango, mayor of Maputo, Juan Molina Lamothe, Spanish Langui wa Goro, language scholar from Kenya. © Sandra Federici Presentations confirmed that there are Ambassador in Mozambique and Aires now tools and means in local, national and Bonifacio Baptista Ali, Minister of Edu­ca­ international declarations, conventions and tion in Mozambique. funds. Different international organisa- tions were present in Maputo: the European Presentations included music projects Commission represented by Giorgio Ficcarelli such as Womex and Music Crossroads European Commission official in charge International, visual arts projects such as of Culture at DG DEV; UNESCO repre- Arterial network, Africa Comics and Art sented by different African and European Moves Africa, and the online database officers; the Council of Europe, represented SudPlanète. Renowned intellectuals were by Robert Palmer, Director of Culture and present, including the Ivorian art critic Cultural and National Heritage; UNCTAD Yacouba Konaté, the École du Patrimoin (United Nations Conference on Trade and Africain director Alain Godonou (Benin), Development) represented by Edna dos Kama Kamanda, Congolese poet. © Sandra Federici the Mozambican director Pedro Pimenta, Santos, chief of Creative economy pro- and the Congolese poet Kama Kamanda. gramme; the Centre d’Études linguistiques et historiques pour la tradition orale of the The main aim of the Campus was to pro- African Union, represented by Kladoumadje vide a meeting, training and exchange point Nadjaldongar. for cultural agents in Africa and Europe, in order to reflect, transfer knowledge, Oriol Freixa (UNESCO) introduced the exchange experiences and discuss possi- MDG Achievement Fund, which is a United ble joint initiatives in the field of cultural Nations resource that finances and sup- cooperation. The Campus confirmed that ports national efforts to accelerate progress there are common ideas on the link between on the Millennium Development Goals culture and development. First of all, what (MDGs), created in December 2006 with emerged was the strongly held opinion that an initial commitment of €528M from the if governments don’t give an appropriate Spanish Government to the United Nations. level of attention to culture, development An additional €90M were committed in won’t be complete and sustainable. September 2008. Lebo Mashile, South African singer, poet and TV presenter. © Sandra Federici

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 25 Interaction Africa-EU

The campus conclusions defined several challenges, among which: - to tackle the weakness of the structures of production and cultural distribution includ- ing access to the international markets; - to offer creative opportunities and to favour the cultural participation of the population at a local level; - to encourage the taking of responsibilities at all levels: in the work of policy planning of the public authorities, in the private sector, and in the mobilisation and inno- vation among civil society; - to improve offers of training and educa- tion in the cultural area, in order to adapt it to the new needs of the sector.

Documentation and the results of the cam- The stylist Alphadi and Giorgio Ficcarelli, European Commission official in charge of Culture at DG DEV during the Euro pus can be found shortly on the website of African Campus in Maputo. © Sandra Federici the Interarts fondation. (www.interarts.net)

> NGO challenge Mashile, made the Campus atmosphere positive and stimulating. Alphadi, the icon The challenge for the NGOs and for the of African fashion, opened his speech by artists that followed the debates is to now remarking that that the hostesses of the con- understand how they can access direct help ference were dressed in suits probably made Keywords Euro-African Campus; Culture; from such enormous sums. by Chinese manufacturers and not a of Development; Interarts Foundation; the marvellous creations of a Mozambican OCPA; AECID; DG-Dev Culture; Some participants, like the South-African stylist that recently won the international UNCTAD; MDG Achievement Fund; Andrea Marchesini Reggiani poet, actor, and television presenter Lebo prize of the international fashion fair FIMA.

Bridge across the Zambezi

ince the early 1990s, a massive invest- ity to lift the poorest amongst the popula- ment has been made in Mozambique tion out of poverty. aiming at rehabilitating and recon- structing the country’s infrastruc- The Zambezi bridge project will create a Sture, with substantial donor support. new two-lane concrete bridge across the Zambezi River in Mozambique, between In this connection, the EC has financed the Chimuara and Caia in the provinces of rehabilitation of important road sections Zambezia and Sofala, with the strong sym- of the East-West transit corridors and of bolic meaning of physically connecting the the North-South backbone link (Beira- North and the South of the country for the Inchope, Nampula-Nacala...) and specifi- first time in its history. The total cost of cally the construction of a vital bridge the project has been put at €71M, financed across the Zambezi River in Caia which by an EC contribution of €30M from was due to be officially inaugurated on 1 Mozambique’s 9th EDF National Indicative August 2009. Programme (NIP), a €20M contribution from Italy, and a Swedish contribution esti- Modernising the infrastructure and in par- mated at approximately €21M. It has been ticular completing the rehabilitation of the constructed by the Consortia Mota-Engil/ Steam train crossing the bridge over the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls (around 1926). © Reporters/Mary Evans PL road network is considered a country prior- Soares da Costa (). A.M.R

26 C ivil Society on the move © Hegel Goutier

Hegel Goutier YOU SHOULD KNOW: MENYA Media has the wind in its sails MENYA (translation: ‘you should know’), set up eight years ago, is a Burundian development NGO active in the media and run by young people. During a recent promotional visit to Brussels, ‘The Courier’ spoke with Sybille Cishahayo, the organisation’s project coordinator and vice president. A manager and singer with five CDs and regular tours of East Africa to her credit, Sybille was just 16 when she joined MENYA. Taking on increasing responsibilities ever since, she is still well under 30!

hy a name that means ‘You To raise finance, we organise events as and then set about approaching young peo- should know’? consultants that enable us to create jobs ple, artists, journalists and others. The for young people with various skills, such NGO PSI (Population Health Information) ‘You should know’ arouses the as camera operator, sound engineer, cutter, assisted in providing training in organisa- W curiosity of the Burundians, causing them to presenter. We make recordings for musi- tion and management methods. They then wonder what it is about. That in turn helps us cians and produce advertising spots for pri- progressively left us to stand on our own to know what we are about. And consequently vate companies such as the telephone com- feet while remaining available for technical explain it to others. There you have it. pany Orange Pal; TV films for NGOs for support if and when we needed it. example, and reports for private individuals Our first project was for an AIDS prevention What does Menya do? such as wedding or other social events. We campaign based on a CD recorded by local try to give the very best of ourselves to those musicians. But to record it, a small sound It is a local NGO that has existed for eight who place their trust in us. And it works. studio was needed. At that time anyone who years. We specialise in communication in wanted to record a CD had to go elsewhere, the area of development. We are involved What about starting capital? to South Africa or Kenya for example. in four sectors that are mutually interac- Belgian Technical Cooperation provided us tive: audiovisual production that had disap- At first there was just a small team of six with micro-financing of €5,000. We released peared from Burundi, boosting community – Burundians and Belgians – who wanted the CD and launched the distribution cam- awareness, cultural promotion and job crea- to contribute to the country’s recovery, spe- paign. The very strong encouragement we tion for young people in the various activi- cifically by getting young people involved. received from Burundian musicians led us ties that I have just mentioned. They created the association ‘Menya Media’ to open up our studio to them.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 27 Civil Society on the move Africa

The money obtained from the recordings give to private companies. And we remunerate To meet with organisations that have projects for the various artists allowed us to improve these media. Also, in promoting artists as we in Africa. I have found people very open and the sound studio, create a video studio, pur- do, the public demand for them increases and receptive in Brussels, such as at Africalia. I chase equipment for radio broadcasts and thus the demand on the part of show organis- am pleased about that. We realised that for soundproof the building. So that is where we ers and other investors. And these then turn many organisations Burundi was not a prior- are today. We believe in self-financing and to the media for their promotion. The PAM ity country. This is a pity. During the crisis we hard work. As soon as you produce quality (Pearl of Africa Music) music festival and the were told “wait until the crisis is over and then work, people place their trust in you. various awards we organise, with partners we will come, don’t worry.” We were of inter- from other East African countries such as est when we were in a state of crisis. H.G. What about cooperating with the media? Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda, are good examples of this. We cooperate by offering them the benefits Keywords of our know-how in relations with the private What is the purpose of your visit to Hegel Goutier; MENYA; Burundi; Sybille Cishahayo; Youth; media; communication. sector. We hire space from them that we then Belgium?

The King Baudouin International Development Prize – an increasingly prestigious award

he King Baudouin International as human rights and micro- Development Prize was awarded credit. Among the former lau- on 22 May at the Royal Palace reates are persons and organi- in Brussels to KBR68H, a net- sations as prestigious as The Twork of Indonesian radio stations with rare Grameen Bank (Bangladesh), originality, inventiveness and style. This Paulo Freire (Brazil) or The award is increasingly seen as one of the most International Foundation for prestigious in developing countries, not just Science (Swedish). because it offers significant prize money (€150,000), but the award criteria mean that KBR68H, which picked up the most worthy winners are selected rather this year’s prize, was set up than merely those surrounded by the most in 1999 when Indonesia was Reception for the prize-giving. From left to right: Jacques van Ypersele de publicity. The prize is also significant for coming out of a long period Strihou, Head of the cabinet of the King, Louis Michel, EU Commissoner, King Albert 1st, Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, 2009 © Hegel Goutier often recognising the actions of the laureates of dictatorship. But its ori- before they were well known and for enhanc- gins date back to a period ing the impact of their actions. The list of underground when its current director, Mr. Africa.” The other previous winners from laureates covers a large range of domains Santoso, clandestinely broadcast from a ACP countries include in 1994, the AIDs from transfer of technology to literacy as well small transmitter. Nowadays, the KBR68H support organisation, TASO, from Uganda network includes almost 700 partner stations and in 1990, the Kagiso Trust from South and reaches nearly 240 million Indonesians. Africa in 1990. H.G. Such partnerships aim to involve local peo- ple in the control of the stations and in the production of information and educational programmes and related activities.

One of the previous winners of the King Keywords Baudouin International Development Prize King Baudouin International Development was Ousmane Sy from Mali for “the strength Prize; Brussels; KBR68H; Indonesia; of his vision and the courage of his con- Ousmane Sy; mali; TASO; Uganda; Hegel Goutier. victions on the subject of governance in KBR68H was represented by Mr.Santoso, 2009 © Hegel Goutier

28 T rade EPAs: helping ACP countries trade their way to prosperity Sweden took over the rotating EU Presidency on 1 July 2009. One of its top priorities is to conclude new trade deals – called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) – between the EU and several ACP regions. João Aguiar Machado, Deputy Director-General for Trade at the European Commission, answers our questions and explains why he believes these deals offer real benefits to ACP countries.

he EU and ACP countries have made real progress in their talks on EPAs since the start of 2008. T Can you summarise for us? We’ve continued to work together in close part- nership with the ACPs, and Commissioner Ashton’s arrival last autumn gave the talks a new tone and a real boost. She’s invested a great deal of time and effort in the discus- sions – and this is now bearing fruit.

The whole Caribbean region has already signed a full agreement with us. Six African countries and Papua New Guinea in the Pacific have signed interim, goods-only agreements. And two groups of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, and Fiji in the Pacific, are due to sign agreements soon.

Many ACP countries are amongst the Port in Fiji © J.C. world’s L ea st De veloped Countries ( LDCs). So they already enjoy 100 per cent duty – they lose this special treatment. But if an countries which take into account explicitly and quota – free access to EU markets. LDC signs an EPA, it’ll enjoy unlimited their development needs. They include pro- What more do EPAs offer? access to EU markets indefinitely. visions on sustainable development, regional integration, development cooperation, and LDCs will gain from EPAs in two main Secondly, LDCs will get more from the aid for trade. ways. Firstly, they’ll enjoy unlimited access, EU than they do now under EBA. Not just indefinitely, to EU markets, no matter how better access to EU markets – for example, With an EPA, ACP countries have to cut much or how fast they grow. This isn’t more generous rules on the origin of prod- duties on imports from the EU. Under the case at the moment. The EU’s current ucts. But also a host of measures to help another set of EU trade rules – GSP+ – regime for trade with LDCs is known as their economies grow – by becoming more they don’t have to. So why will they gain ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA). It offers 100 competitive and less reliant on a narrow more from EPAs? per cent duty– and quota–free access to EU range of exports, and by trading more with markets to LDCs – but only while these their neighbours. Under GSP+, developing countries gain pref- countries officially qualify as LDCs. erential access to EU markets for their goods, Thirdly, the EPA process is unique. It will which they don’t have to reciprocate. But Once they grow, and are no longer LDCs, produce the first trade deals with developing they do have to ratify and then respect several

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 29 Trade

international conventions. There are strict two reasons. First, legal certainty. Only once I believe it should treat the EU in the same eligibility criteria, in areas such as good gov- they are signed will the agreements be legally way. It’s only fair. Even more so, I repeat, ernance. Countries in West Africa, for exam- secure and fireproofed against challenges by since the EU opened 100% of its market to ple, don’t meet all of these at the moment. other countries in the WTO. Second, fair- the ACP region in question when the EPA ness to other developing countries. Some was signed. In addition, the EU grants GSP+ access ACP countries decided at the end of 2007 autonomously. It is not bound by a contrac- not to initial interim agreements. As a result, So we’ve included in our agreements a tual relationship, as it is with an EPA. We they’ve since had access to EU markets under clause which covers this, known as the also review countries’ GSP+ eligibility every GSP or other regimes. These are less gener- MFN clause. Of course, it only applies to three years. So there is no certainty that we ous than EPAs. It is not fair that countries ACP countries’ future agreements with our will necessarily maintain such preferences that have only initialled, but not yet signed, major competitors. It doesn’t apply to their in future. Under the Lomé Conventions and EPAs receive better treatment than countries agreements with other ACP countries. So the Cotonou Agreement, ACP countries’ that chose not to initial EPAs. they can continue to free up trade with exports already enjoyed for more than 30 other ACP countries as much as they wish, years the kind of privileged access to the EU The EU wants ACP countries to offer the without having to do so with the EU. which GSP+ offers. And these countries’ same trade terms they offer to the EU’s share of EU imports actually fell over the major competitors, such as China or EPAs aim to bring ACP regions clos- same period. India. Why is this? er together. How will this happen in Southern Africa? GSP+ also excludes some products of great With EPAs, the EU offers 100 per cent interest to ACP regions – like bananas free access to its market from day one. By Before the EPA negotiations started, all in West Africa. By contrast, EPAs pro- contrast, ACP partners only have to open countries in the SADC region enjoyed the vide more benefits and greater certainty. 80 per cent of their markets to the EU. same trade preferences with the EU. There They offer stable, permanent and unrivalled EU producers are often more competitive. was just one exception – South Africa – access to EU markets for all products from Many ACP countries’ have sensitive sec- with whom we had a separate agreement. ACP regions. tors of their economies, such as agriculture, So another sub-regional grouping, the which they need to protect. So we’re happy Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) The Swedish EU Presidency wants to get for them to shield up to 20 per cent of their had already split into two groups, each with EPAs initialled and signed before year- trade with us. its own trade arrangements with the EU. end. How will this timetable benefit ACP countries? But imagine this scenario: one particular And some countries were part of three dif- ACP region signs an EPA with the EU. In ferent customs unions – either current or The EU’s previous trade regime with ACP the agreement it protects its market in draw- planned. If anything, SADC’s EPA with the countries expired at the end of 2007. So we ing pins from competition from the EU. EU will help to harmonise these regimes, had to move fast to protect ACP exports’ It imposes import tariffs on EU exports. by applying the same terms of trade to all preferential access to our markets. Meanwhile, it can export anything it wishes countries in the region. to the EU – no tariffs, no quotas – from Since January 2008, the EU has changed the day it signs the EPA. Then, a few years its legislation to grant even better access later, it frees up its market in drawing pins than before to countries that have initialled to imports from one of the EU’s major Keywords interim agreements with us. But countries competitors. It decides it no longer needs to Joao Aguiar Machado; EPAs; Trade; need not just to initial their agreements. protect drawing pins and cuts its tariffs on ECOWAS; SADC; SACU; Pacific; Cotonou Agreement; MFN; EDF. They must sign them, too. Why? Well, for all imports from that country. If it does so,

ACP-EU trade and development agreements: signed already (as of August 1 2009)*

Agreement type Signed with… Date

Full – trade in goods & services, investment, other issues Region Caribbean 2008

Interim – trade in goods only Region SADC – some 2009 SADC states: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland

Country Côte d’Ivoire 2008

Cameroon 2009

* Directorate for Trade, European Commission

30 Trade

Fresh impetus for Pacific- EU EPA talks?

Joachim Keil, Samoa’s Associate Minister to the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Labour is lead negotiator on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the Pacific region and the European Union (EU). Twelve of the Pacific Forum’s 14 Member States* who are members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, are yet to initial any sort of EPA with the EU. At the end of 2007, Papua New Guinea and Fiji signed up to an interim ‘goods only’ agreement with the EU.

oachim Keil told us that a “fence-mend- and for reciprocal MFN ing exercise” is underway with sights benefits under ‘PACER-plus’ the set on concluding a ‘full’ EPA between Pacific Agreement on Closer Eco­ all the Pacific’s 14 and the EU’s 27 by nomic Relations (PACER). Talks Jyearend. “Since Fiji and Papua New on PACER-plus between all 16 Guinea are Middle Income Countries, they Pacific states are expected to fol- would have had the most to lose 18 months low on from the Cairns Summit of ago when preferences on ACP goods in Pacific leaders in the first week of Merchant vessel loading, Apia dock, Samoa, 2009. © Debra Percival the EU market under the Cotonou agree- August 2009. ment expired on 31 December 2007” said Minister Keil. Least Developed Countries Explained Keil: “We are coming to PACER- workers for industries such as hospitality, (LDC) such as Samoa are still able to ben- plus at the moment and worried about losing care and construction in the EU. Simpler efit from free access to the EU market under tariff revenues. At recent meetings, they rules of origin for goods are also on the the ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative. have said that because we are negotiating Pacific wish-list and the region wants the with Europe, they are entitled to negoti- EU to be more forthcoming on the amount “At and end of 2007, there was a bad feel- ate with us. But we have only negotiated of aid available for trade, said Keil. D.P. ing nobody wanted to talk to each other for (an EPA) with two countries (Papua New about a year”, said Joachim Keil. Although Guinea and Fiji) and we say it’s a matter of * ACP members of the Pacific Islands Forum: Cook some talks did take place in 2008, “there interpretation. Pacific countries are wor- Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, were issues where the EU would not relent ried that anything agreed with Australia Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and others where the Pacific would not and under PACER will have Tuvalu and Vanuatu. relent”, said Keil. to be reciprocated to the EU countries and anything under EPA, extended to Australia > MFN worries and New Zealand”. As still unresolved issues, that of Most Another outstanding issue is export taxes Favoured Nation (MFN) status is crucial. (some Pacific countries raise a lot of revenue Keil explained that what is at stake here is this way); also services. Joachim Keil says Keywords the fact that whatever is agreed under EPA the Pacific wants, say, two year work visas Joachim Keil; EPAs; PACER-plus; PIF; Samoa ; Debra Percival. could trigger demands from New Zealand to be given to 10,000 Pacific semi-skilled

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 31 Z oom Sportsman, businessman and beach culture promoter Bernard Babb*

A day in the life of Brian ‘Action Man’ Talma For more than 15 years on the professional windsurfing circuit, Brian ‘Action Man’ Talma rode a wave of popularity while cementing his place among the world’s best water sports competi- tors. Up to 2005, when the Barbadian officially retired from the professional circuit, he was rated among the top 12 in the world and today still boasts one of the most recognisable faces in the global water sports and beach culture arena.

Brian Talma paddling at South Point, Barbados, April 2009. © Kenny Hewitt, Bajan X

he truth is, Talma has been more ‘Action Man’ beach-shop at Silver Sands, day arrangements and financial details to than a world-rated windsurfer, on the southern edge of the island. minders and managers. Unlike most oth- sailor and water sports aficionado. ers, he was able to straddle the disciplines With a myriad of TV appearances Billion dollar beach culture of sportsman, business manager and pro- T and his image splashed across the leading > moter. Though not competing these days, magazines of his sport, he has been a poster “I will do about 12 countries this year as Talma is still active and on a typical day, he boy for Barbados and Caribbean island part of the ‘Beach Culture’ tour. The great- rises early in the morning and heads to the destinations and a walking advertisement est satisfaction about this is the interna- beach and his shop at Silver Sands. for his own ‘Beach Culture’ project. His tional community recognising what I mean bronzed body, sun-bleached locks, piercing about beach culture. It is a lifestyle and it “I go to the shop every morning once I’m in blue-green eyes and ready smile have all is a billion-dollar industry. Names such as the island. The shop is a business but also a helped position him as a strong marketing Quiksilver, Billabong, Gotcha and Chiemsee part of the community at Silver Sands where image in the water sports world. Talma lives all have clothing and there are shops which fellows from the area work as part of the for the beach life and has forever changed sell the equipment and the image is spread- operation. We offer windsurfing and kite- the way water-sports and beach culture ing,” says Talma. surfing instruction and some equipment for are viewed in Barbados and the wider rentals, as well as food,” he says. Caribbean. Though he projects the fun-loving, bohe- mian image, this belies the ‘Action Man’s’ “People from all over the world come to These days, at age 44, the ‘Action Man’ shrewd business sense. For many years, he the ‘Action Shop’ and the beach at Silver channels his energies into promoting the has been able to use windsurfing to promote Sands. My ‘Beach Culture tour’ has helped ‘Beach Culture World Tour’, which involves Barbados as a major adventure destination to generate a lot of business in this area. I appearances at selected events in Europe and for active, outgoing people. enjoy interacting and riding the waves with the Americas, promoting branded beach- them and seeing them enjoy the experience wear, organising the annual ‘Waterman Throughout his career, Talma was not the in Barbados”. Festival’ in Barbados, attracting interna- typical professional sportsman who con- tional media to the island and managing the centrated on his game and left day-to- “From my shop, I also keep in contact with

32 Zoom

for and Orlando (USA) in August. am my own boss and I have my own rules. “For me beach culture is a way of life and But it’s not always easy. It is a business after also creates jobs and other opportunities in all and, as strange as it may sound, I have to tourism”, he says. work hard to maintain my lifestyle.”

Promoting Barbados He was one of the first Barbadian sporting > personalities to appear on leading American Talma’s ideas have been embraced by some and European television networks, includ- of the formal players in the tourism sector ing MTV Sports, ESPN, the Discovery and he partners with the Barbados Tourism Channel, Sky TV and VOX TV in Germany. Authority (BTA) in promoting the island “When I became a professional windsurfer I destination as a haven for sun-drenched wanted to break all of the barriers and stig- beaches and amazing water-sports activi- mas. I could say I lived my dream and now ties. The ‘Waterman festival’, which brings I would love to see other people live their water-loving visitors from around the world dreams”, he reflects. to take part in such sports as wind-surfing, * Barbadian journalist. kite-surfing, body-boarding, beach-cricket and other activities, is also supported by the BTA and some airline and hotel partners. Keywords Personalities such as former world freestyle Brian Talma; Barbados; BTA; Waterman windsurf champion Josh ’Aloha Man’ Stone, Festival; windsurfing; Beach Culture World Tour; Silver Sands. Kelly Slater and veteran Kevin Sayer, have been among those appearing at the festival which has gen- erated publicity in all cor- Brian Talma (right) with brother. ners of the globe, including © Kenny Hewitt, Bajan X coverage by ‘Gillette Wide friends and business connections around World of Sports.’ the world, answering calls and returning emails. Sometimes it can get very busy”, While Talma and his com- adds Talma. patriots are proud of his achievements and his inter- For the last three years, he has also hosted a national recognition, it has camp for children, teaching them the basics not been an easy road for of windsurfing and other watersports activi- a man who struggled with ties as part of his effort to leave a lasting dyslexia in the first half of legacy and keep the beach-culture alive. his life. In spite of the chal- When the The Courier met Talma, he was in lenges, he graduated with between starring for an international video a Bachelor of Arts degree production and promoting the Chiemsee in Business Administration brand of beach-clothing. He has been spon- from Eckerd College in sored by the German company for several St.Petersburg, Florida. years and the four-day shoot incorporated windsurfing and other aspects of beach- “I love the sport, the peo- culture at Silver Sands and some other spe- ple I meet and the places I cially chosen venues on the island. go. Beach culture keeps you young and fresh. It pushes Following the production with Chiemsee, you to the limit and makes the Barbadian was booked to attend the you achieve your full poten- Formula 1 Grand Prix in Germany in July, tial,” he says. Talma can where his image was to be used at the event be as philosophical as he is to promote the Chiemsee line. Two other complex: “The lifestyle gives promotional events were also scheduled me freedom and flexibility. I

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 33 O ur planet

A green belt across the Sahel Agroforestry project in Region of Madaoua, Niger, 2009. © Marie-Martine Buckens

Building islands of fertile land that will progressively form a Great Green Wall from Senegal to Djibouti. This is the ambition of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI), a priority action for the EU-Africa Partnership on Climate Change. This large-scale project will be officially launched in the coming months.

Great Green Wall. It conjures head of the European Commission’s delega- in Senegal to agro-forestry – have already up an image of a gigantic bar- tion in Burkina Faso, said: “This initiative been conducted in most of the countries rier of trees defying the advance- is unique. It is being fostered and driven concerned. On the basis of these practices, ment of the desert. Not so; the by Africa, and aims to catalyse sustainable the AU Executive Committee adopted an GGWSSIA initiative is much more complex development and poverty reduction in the action plan project last February. The pre- and holistic, despite the fact that it was desert regions bordering on the north and feasibility study has just been completed, originally devised as a large-scale tree plan- south of the Sahara, where annual rainfall is and its conclusions underline significant tation scheme, as was the case in Senegal. between 100 and 400 millimetres.” advantages. According to the authors of the “The Great Green Wall is essentially a report, the Great Green Wall will provide no project aiming to adopt sustainable land Catalyst less than “a catalyst for extensive scaling of management practices that directly benefits > clear practices for sustainable land manage- the local users of the land”, insists Jozias Initially launched in 2005 by then Nigerian ment, enabling damaged ecosystems to be Blok, who is responsible for the project at President, Olesegun Obasanjo, at an African transformed into productive agro-ecosys- the European Commission’s Directorate- Union (AU) summit, the project, which is tems. It will also increase food production General for Development. Last May, during now led by the Community of Sahel-Saharan and food safety, promote renewable energies a workshop to evaluate the scope and pre- States (CEN-SAD), has progressed. A series and help the most vulnerable populations to feasibility of the GGWSSI, Amos Tincani, of experiments – from the planting of trees adapt to climate change.”

34 Our planet

In actual fact, the GGWSSI reintroduces the dawn of time, but were discarded for the World Bank, Mr Tincani said that sus- practices – some of which are supported many reasons, including attempts at mono- tainable agriculture “is widely recognised by the European Union or covered by culture coupled with persisting droughts. as a fundamental and particularly powerful programmes such as TerrAfrica, LADA Sustainable agriculture lies persistant the instrument to promote sustainable develop- or Solarid – which have been known since heart of all of these programmes. Quoting ment and poverty reduction insofar as it contributes to development as an economic activity, means of subsistence, and supplier of environmental services.” The icing on the cake is that sustainable land management The Great Green Wall will be 15 kilome- riences, it must now disseminate good is a powerful tool for adapting to climate tres wide and more than 7 thousand kilo- practices, and plan and design larger- change, but also for preserving nature and metres long. It will cross Senegal, Mauri- scale projects. As this is a long-term ini- agro-biodiversity. M.M.B. tania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, tiative, its budget is rather difficult to es- Sudan and Eritrea before ending in Dji- timate, but for the forthcoming decade, bouti. The construction of 80 retention the African Union foresees an indicative Keywords basins per country crossed and the in- budget of some US$ 600 million without Great Green Wall; GGWSSI; Sahel; troduction of wild animals in the vegeta- taking into account the action plans that Sahara; Niger; Jozias Blok; M. Tincani; agro-forestry; agropastoral; Marie- tion created are also foreseen. Although every country must now put into place. Martine Buckens. the initiative depends on existing expe- M.M.B.

The virtues of ecological and economic crises

In the south-east of Niger, around the cit- National Coordinator in Niger for the especially important for children suffering ies of Zinder and Maradi, there are agro- Great Green Wall project, these practices from malnutrition.” He added: “It is a ques- forest and agropastoral areas where fruit “have a threefold advantage. They en- tion of vision; one of our proverbs says trees (date palms, mango trees) and trees able the regeneration of the ground wa- that ‘your rooster is a camel’. Our forests for charcoal grow. In the basins between ter and the vegetation – firstly for fodder are not comparable to the Congo’s, but these trees, vegetables are cultivated, plants to re-establish grazing – and allow our farmers reap the same benefits from often providing between two and four secondary needs to be met, by providing them, whether on an economic, cultural, harvests a year. This ‘natural assisted re- firewood, vegetables and fruit, which are sanitary or environmental level.” M.M.B. generation’ is remarkable, in the view of the two consultants in charge of the pre- feasibility study of the Great Green Wall, because “the ecological and economic crises of the 1970s and 1980s encour- aged producers to systematically invest in the protection and management of trees and to develop new agro-forest parks and more complex and more productive pro- duction systems.” It should be noted that these efforts were supported by the devel- opment of government policies and vari- ous projects. The consultants added that “the macro-economic and macro-political conditions in Niger between 1985 and 2000 were not very encouraging, and it is therefore surprising that, despite these conditions, farmers still continued to de- velop agro-forest parks. They created ‘win-win’ situations as they improved their revenues and their environment.” According to Mahaman Laminou Attaou,

Mahaman Laminou Attaou, 2009. © Marie-Martine Buckens

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 35 R eport

A report by Debra Percival

Apia harbour, Samoa 2009. © Debra Percival Seeking to burst through f Samoa were not two long haul flights away from ed Head of State of the two chosen by the New Zealand Europe, it would be overrun with tourists for the sheer trusteeship prior to independence. beauty of its sea and landscapes. Located just to the east of the international date line in the vast Pacific A member of the 16 member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the I Ocean, its unique Polynesian culture is intact; from the country is a major regional player. The Prime Minister has matai – the chiefs who make decisions in villages, to spoken openly against the perpetrators of the December respect for fa’afafine – men who would rather be women. 2006 coup in Fiji. The headquarters of the Secretariat It’s one of the few places where you can sleep soundly in of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) an open beach fale (wooden hut) without intrusion. are located in its capital, Apia. Samoa’s Associate Trade Minister, Hans Joachim Keil, is spokesperson for all Pacific Independent since 1962, its Fono or Parliament, has 49 islands countries in talks with New Zealand and Australia members; 47 Samoan nationals – who have to be matai – on a Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations are directly elected for five years by the people with two (PACER-Plus), also with the EU on a future Economic seats reserved for foreign nationals. The legislature elects Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Pacific countries who the Prime Minister, currently Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi. are members of the Cotonou agreement. Like other small On 17 June 2007, it also elected for the first time a Head island Pacific states, Samoa is vigilant about not becoming of State, Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi, for five years. The submerged in such bigger regional markets, particularly move to a de jure republic followed the death of Malietoa in these times of global economic downturn. Tanumafili II who was the last remaining life-long appoint-

36 Samoa Report

Tradition, belief and challenges Samoa consists of five populated islands Upolu, whose capital Apia is the seat of government, Savai’i, Apolima, Manono and Namua – and five uninhabited ones. Its seafaring population of 186,000 is thought to have migrated west from the East Indies, Malay peninsula or the . The oldest human settlement on Samoa dates back to 1000 BC.

he country has become the centre of Polynesian culture, where migra- tions to other such Marquesas in the east and south to Niue and the T Pukapuka islands of Rarotonga; and north to the and Tuvalu islands started. At the beginning of the 18th century, there was some European presence and from the mid-1800s, religious missionaries.

Throughout the 19th century, Great Britain, Germany and the United States set up trading posts and latterly all claimed part of the Kingdom. 1899 saw a Tripartite Commission consisting of the United States, Germany and the UK sign an agreement which led to Samoa’s partition. Germany received the Western part, becoming known as German Samoa, then Western Samoa and eventually, Samoa, whereas the US negotiated control of Tutuila, Aunu’u and Manu’a which became . To give a semblance of local governance, the German administration brought in the idea Budding seafarers 2009. © Debra Percival

of Fautua or advisers chosen from the four ful demonstration in Apia. He later became paramount chiefs. one of those who drew up the independence Constitution and subsequently Samoa’s O New Zealand occupied Samoa at the out- le Ao o le Malo, co-head of state on inde- break of World War One in 1914, and took pendence in 1962 until his death the follow- up administrative control, first under the ing year, a post held jointly with Malietoa League of Nations and then under a United Tanumafili II. In July 1997, the constitution Nations trusteeship, Germany having relin- was amended to change the country’s name quished its claims in the 1919 Treaty of from Western Samoa to Samoa. Versailles. Striking churches of every denomination From 1908, there was a growing movement are focal points in villages and Samoans for independence led by the Mau (mean- are extremely conscientious in paying their ing ‘strongly held opinion’) movement. It financial contributions to local heads of gained support from the country’s para- religion A daily prayer curfew is respected, mount chiefs and strongly opposed violence. particularly on Savai’i from 6-7 pm every In 1929, however, Tupua Tamasese Mea’ole, evening. Sunday dress code for church one of the two Fautua to the New Zealand attendance for both men and women is Agriculture has a lot of potential. Organic fruit and vegetable basket sold through ‘Women in Business’ Administration, was shot at during a peace- white. The influence of the matai – the © Debra Percival

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 37 Report Samoa

Chiefs of over 400 villages – who total about education cuts by opposition parliamentari- The aim is for goods exports to contribute 18,000 is strong. They gather in Fale Fono – ans although Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele 10 per cent or $100M Tala of real GDP by an open meeting place with vertical wooden Malielegaoi told us that this was due to some 2012 and remittances and tourism together struts or pillars – to take decisions affecting projects in both sectors ending his year. to contribute 70 per cent or $800M Tala the whole village. to GDP by the same year. And although, Deputy Prime Minister Telefoni told us: at 120,000 km2, Samoa has the smallest The structure of Samoan society has “Remittances haven’t fallen, tourism rev- Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the interested many anthropologists such as enue hasn’t fallen, but we’ve had a massive Pacific, a bigger place in the economy is seen American Margaret Mead whose controver- downturn in buying power. What are people for fish exports which accounted for 55 per sial 1928 book, ‘Coming of Age on Samoa’ doing with their money? Some people say cent of total commodity exports in 2007. rocked Western society in suggesting that they are paying debt – getting ready for the Samoan adolescents suffered less of a trau- hard times. According to the banking sys- Samoa is not only challenged by chang- matic transition from adolescence to adult- tem there is $17M Tala excess credit with no ing economic tides but also by climate hood, many women putting off marriage one to lend to”. change. But Dr Tu’u’u Ieti Taulealo, Chief and enjoying casual relationships before Executive Officer at the Ministry of Natural eventually settling down and successfully Resources and the Environment told us that raising children. Outwardly, there some renewable energy technology such as are few signs of poverty solar power, already installed on Apolima “Subsistence opulence” (which only has 100 residents), was expen- > because everyone is sive. He spoke about the “innovative ways Deputy Prime Minister, Misa Telefoni- to conserve forests” such as assistance with Retzlaff describes the livelihoods of helping one another marketing of produce to boost earnings Samoans as “subsistence opulence”. “It’s to get by from cultivated land which would encourage opulence but we are a Least Developed people to leave forest areas intact. D.P. Country (LDC)”, he says. You understand what he means by trav- elling around Samoa. Outwardly, there are few signs of poverty because everyone is helping one another to get by.

As a result, “We have been success- ful in delaying lifting of (LDC) status”, explains the deputy Prime Minister. The uncertain effects of the current global economic crisis on Samoa, which is scheduled to become a Middle Income Country in December 2010, are a big cause for concern. He told us that 2015 was now a more feasible date for Samoa’s graduation to Middle Income status.

In his March 2009/2010 budget speech, Finance Minister Niko Lee Hang said the next three years would be “extremely challenging” for the country. Although the eco- nomic mainstays, private remit- tances from Samoans living over- seas and tourism, are still expand- Sunday afternoon stroll, 2009. © Debra Percival ing, Samoa’s highly open economy and weak fiscal resilience would make it more The government is placing emphasis on * 1 Tala = €3.8 (10/7/2009 Bloomberg) difficult to cushion the impact of economic diversifying exports of both agricultural downturn, said Hang in his budget speech. produce (see article on agriculture)and For the first time in 10 years, Gross Domestic manufactured goods and services – from Product (GDP) was contracting after hav- setting up a call centre to developing future Keywords ing expanded four per cent over the last four rugby stars (many players from the national Samoa; Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi; Misa years. He said there would be a budget deficit side Manu Samoa already have contracts to Telefoni Retzlaff; Dr. Tu’u’u Ieti Taulealo; of $189.4M* Tala this year. There was par- play in Australia, New Zealand and Europe exports; tourism; Manu Samoa; Debra Percival. ticular criticism of the budget’s health and leagues).

38 Samoa Report

Samoa confronts global economic crisis Interview with Prime Minister Tuila’epa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi

47th Independence Day Anniversary celebrations 2009. © Debra Percival

Economist, Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi, was elected to the Samoan Parliament in 1981 as a member of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP). He has been Prime Minister since November 1998, winning a third five-year term in April 2006 with 35 seats in the Fono*. He was previously Deputy Prime Minister and held various Ministerial posts under the adminis- trations of former PM Tofilau Eti Alesana. Between 1978-1980 he was an expert in intra-ACP trade at the ACP Secretariat in Brussels.

How is the global economic crisis the road (A government decision was taken Three major cyclones in succession: 1990 hitting Samoa? to switch from driving on the right to left and 1991 – another in 1993 caused hun- side of the road from 7 September 2009). dreds of millions of dollars’ damage to our Samoa has been seriously affected by the country. We have adjusted our own policies economic crisis in terms of the drop in cor- Is Samoa too dependent on remittances to make sure that we too contribute to the porate income, hitting revenue and duties as (accounting for 25 per cent of GDP) and efforts to reduce the emission of dangerous well as the tax on profit. We had to slash our overseas aid? gases to the atmosphere and are engaged expenditure impacting on what government in both mitigation and adaptation. We are can do this year. Remittances will not suddenly stop – it is a promoting replanting, looking at renewable culture of countries which have huge popu- energy sources; especially wind and solar Our development partners have, to a cer- lations outside; a mentality of taking care and have introduced hydropower. Residents tain extent, fortunately assisted us. For the of your people (There are 140,000-150,000 of one island – Apolima (just 100 residents) current year, New Zealand and Australia Samoans in New Zealand, over 100,000 are supplied with solar energy. We are in are providing grants as budget support. the US and 50,000 in Australia.) We need contact with a major company in Australia Some of the things we cannot do have had continuity of development partnership to which would make solar a lot more popular to be deferred to next year. We are coping ensure that our own economies are develop- source, not only for Samoa but for other well in terms of food security with a good ing and providing a market for development Pacific countries too. A huge number of programme for replanting and agricultural partners’ products. It’s two-way develop- projects for the protection of our sea shores initiatives at the local level to promote food ment, not just aid in itself but as an invest- from impact from the tides and rising sea production and construction of plantation ment for future trade flows. levels have been completed. We are for- roads to help transport food items from tunate that Samoa is a volcanic island. It farms to market. This goes hand in hand How is Samoa adapting to climate is part of our own adaptation process to with our recent reforms to change the side of change? construct good access roads to the planta-

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 39 Report Samoa

tions to encourage people to move up into the plantations so they can live on farms on higher ground which will also make our people more productive.

The opposition criticises Samoa for being a one-party state

Our democracy is the longest standing in a Pacific island country – 47 years of inde- pendence. In the past, we had times when there were four changes of government in one year – especially when we introduced the party system which created instabil- ity. Parliamentarians were crossing and re-crossing the floor, so we decided to inject some elements into our laws to create stabil- ity. One of the provisions is that we would recognise parties in Parliament with at least eight members. With 49 members in our Prime Minister, Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi 2009. © Debra Percival Parliament: if you divide by eight, you can conceptually have six parties in the House. have travel bans but not ordinary Fijians. off by the military to perpetuate their hold The reason for not going below eight was to This reflects the general thinking of the on the power. It is unfortunate that Fiji has discourage the existence of so many parties. international community that even if the an army. It can only create difficulties for We wanted a position whereby we should people in power are corrupt, you must any civilian government. D.P. have two or three major parties to stabilise ensure you do not make people suffer. It is * In the Fono, all seats but two are reserved for eth- the government. unfortunate that the military in Fiji should nic Samoans and only chiefs – known as ‘matai’ can be misguided that they can do better than stand for election. Two seats are reserved for foreign- ers. The Fono chooses the prime minister. The other provision in our laws is that on the civilian government. Fiji has some of the taking your oath, you can only become an most highly educated people in the Pacific, independent if you do not adhere to a party, especially in the public service trained to but you cannot form or join another politi- run the government. They have been sacked cal party. If for some reason you come in as left, right and centre and the military put a member of the Human Rights Protection in whose only knowledge is to aim and Party (HRPP) and you leave, you can shoot and march. They are handling com- change to being an independent. But if you plex issues beyond their comprehension. Keywords decide to join another party then you should The international community should be Debra Percival; Tuila’epa Lupesoliai honourably and voluntarily resign your seat extremely tight in refusing any assistance to Sailele Malielegaoi; HRPP; Fono; climate change; Fiji. and go back and have a by-election, giving the government because it would syphoned your voters an opportunity to express their decision. Five parties contested the election in 2006 and a huge number of independ- ents. When the results came out only two made it; our party (35 seats) and the major opposition party, the SDUP (10 seats). Things remained at that status for several months but a dispute was already boiling in the opposition party over its leadership. The deputy wanted to take over the leader- ship; there was a big dispute and the leader resigned. Immediately the SDUP dropped to less than eight and all were declared as independents. That’s how Samoa became a one-party state – not because of our doing, but because of indecision and lack of cohe- sion by the opposition.

Should the international community be tougher on Fiji?

The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) was spe- cific on sanctions; the government members Typical Samoan village Fono, meeting place of the matai. Traditional and western-style governance run alongside. © Debra Percival

40 Samoa Report

Opposition calls for “checks and balances” With two members, the Samoa Democratic United Party (SDUP) is Samoa’s biggest opposi- tion party. Both sit as ‘independents’ in the Fono (Parliament) since under Standing Orders, only eight or more members are required to form a party in the House. SDUP leader, Asiata Saleimoa Vaai, says leadership problems have dogged his party’s progress, shrinking its number from the 10 members elected in the 2006 general elections.

is just one party and they are prosecuted for contempt of Court when I doing their best to stop any other accused the Chief Justice of being biased. emerging. Under the law, if you Because we are a peaceful people, we see leave one party, you cannot join everyone as our relatives and put up with a another: If you do, you lose your lot of rubbish. The government has its tenta- seat. There are some people now cles into the villages. As you know, we have who have lost their seats (Ed: a chiefly system (known as the ‘matai’ – see Samoa Tautua members). They separate article). Without checks and bal- did not come from a party; they ances in government, I really don’t now how were truly ‘independents’ and we are going to overcome this. D.P. moved to form a party. The Speaker just seems to be making up the rules as he goes along. Keywords

Asiata Saleimoa Vaai, leader, Samoa Democratic United Party (SDUP) 2009. What are the SDUP’s political Samoa Democratic United Party (SDUP); © Debra Percival Asiata Saleimoa Vaai; Samoa Tautua objectives? Party (STP); Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi; Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP); Debra Percival. n December 2008, a new political party, Our basic objective is to make this a demo- the Tautua Samoa Party (TSP) was cratic government. In the past few years, I launched. Led by Lealailepule Rimoni have been saying that this is a one-party state Aiafi, its establishment was partly fuelled because Samoa is a homogenous country: we Iby the switch to driving on the left side of have a very strong cultural system where we the road from the right. Going to press, the are all connected by such things as titles and Speaker of the Fono ruled that the Tautua put up with one another. The government is members must face by-elections, since they using our traditional system to get a strong- were all previously officially recognised as hold on the country. On policies, including ‘independents’ in parliament.This has since those related to the economy, there is little prompted a legal challenge from Tautua. difference between parties. The one major policy issue where there are differences is Meeting in Apia, we asked Asiata government’s neglect of the agricultural sec- Saleimoa Vaai why there’s no strong tor. It used to be one of the major sectors and opposition party in Samoa? is now one of the small ones.

Twenty years ago, there were more viable What sort of democratic change are you oppositions. Over the years, the present seeking? party has reduced opposition by manipulat- ing rules to their own advantage. The parlia- If you look at it closely, the checks and bal- ment is fully dominated by the ruling party. ances between the Parliament and Executive Everyone in government has a ministerial have been removed. The Parliament does post. There is no independence in the public not scrutinise the Executive.The Speaker

service. All this has had the consequence has his own rules and is coming out with Government poster advertising road swap. Opposition of making Samoa a one-party state. There outrageous decisions. Last month, I was parties object 2009. © Debra Percival

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 41 Report Samoa

Grasping the agricultural nettle For many far-flung small islands like Samoa, competing with bigger economies in the global marketplace is not easy in the best of times. Samoa is taking on the difficult global economic climate, trying to diversify its agricultural production and carve niche markets overseas especially for fair trade and organic produce including noni juice and oil. At the same time, the government is encourag- ing Talomua, or increased self-sufficiency in food.

eventy-seven per cent of all Samoans are agriculturally active with an esti- mated 37,000 smallholders working plots of under 10 acres. Agriculture is Skey to the National Export Strategy (2008- 2012) with an aim to use 50 per cent of land suitable for agriculture by 2012 to bring down costly imported foodstuffs. Statistics from the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC) show that the value of imports of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables to Samoa was some $US1.5M in 2007.

Agriculture’s contribution to national income fell from 16.1 per cent in1994 to 7 per cent in 2007, according to Samoan government sta- tistics.The aim is for food exports to contrib- ute 10 per cent of (GDP), or $US100M by 2012. Domestic pro- duction also has to supply a growing number Garry Vui picks a noni berry 2009. © Debra Percival of visitors to Samoa. Or in the words of Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister, for fruit and vegetables; increased land use boost under the EC’s one-off €1bn ‘food Misa Retzlaff Telefoni: “Tourism provides for agriculture; greater conformity with facility’ for farmers. He said that wind- the greatest challenge to farming”. international production norms and a model breaks, improved irrigation and shade and for leasing of customary land. fencing to de-lineate land were all needed as To stimulate agriculture, a ‘Consultation on well as more local processing of animal feed, the effects the Global Financial Crisis on Help for farmers fruit and vegetables and more organic varie- the Economy of Samoa’, which took place > ties to meet increased demand, particularly in March 2009 gathering Samoans from all Grant Percival, Chairman of the Samoa from New Zealand. sectors, suggested: decreasing prohibitive Association of Manufacturers and Exporters, loans interest in sector; promoting develop- told us that he was disappointed that Samoa, In March 2009, Percival chaired a meeting ment of idle lands; an investment act for still a least Developed Country (LDC), was which brought together farmers, NGOs, commercial agriculture; an abattoir for local not one of the African, Caribbean and government and the private sector (in the meat consumption; a heat treament facility Pacific (ACP) states to recently receive a unique ‘Fa’a Samoa’ way which encompass-

42 Samoa Report

Women in Business with… The Body Shop Women in Business Foundation Inc. return for a fair wage under cosmetic was set up 20 years ago to provide ad- chain’s Community Trade scheme to as- vice and support for women who were sist small farmers. keen to get going in business. Since Says Adi Tafuna’i: “The beauty of organ- then, it has extended its services more ics and fair trade is that value is added generally to groups such as disadvan- at the farm gate, giving the farmer maxi- taged rural families and the disabled, mum benefits. Our project is beginning explains its president, Adi Tafuna’i. In to bear fruit, as it now makes an impact a recent agreement with the United on the rural Samoan economy”. Kingdom’s (UK) cosmetics company, “The expertise and wisdom of the Sa- The Body Shop, coconut oil from Sa- moan coconut growers enables them to moa is used in a new improved range extract an organically certified coconut of coconut bath and beauty range, avail- oil using natural extraction processes, able globally from June 2009. Women without the use of chemicals, thus en- in Business which is also a recipient suring the highest level of purity”, reads of aid under the EC’s microprojects the Body Shop’s promotional material for programme – is organising a network coconut oil produced in the “last place of 200 coconut pressers to provide or- on the Earth where the sun rises”. ganic coconut oil to The Body Shop in

© Debra Percival

cer cure. Purists prefer to gulp it down but pressed and the juice is then filtered and Noni: the since it is something of an acquired taste, pasteurised (a process taking between the blend with grape juice is more palat- 30-90 days) and sold in bulk to Japan wonder berry able for most. Vui says that the Samoan and US other markets where, once bot- product is registered by the New Zealand tled, it can fetch between $US15-18 for Glowing with health, Garry Vui is a walk- National Association for Sustainable Ag- 750 mls. In spite of keen competition ing advert for his own product – noni riculture (NASAA) as an organic product, from Tahiti and Hawaii, he believes that juice – pressed from the berry that grows although he also produces noni without the best quality noni is Samoan and says wild throughout Samoa. He is president the organic label. Sitting down with us at the country has potential to expand be- of the recently formed Noni Producer As- the Noni Samoa Processing factory at yond current annual sales of $US3.5- sociation which is promoting the vitamin- Vaivase-uta, Vui explains that shipment 4.4M, especially into shampoos and packed product. from Samoa began in 2000 when the beauty products… if the financial back- Health-boosting claims have been made price was high, peaking in 2006. Since ing were there. for the berry from a hair restorer to a can- then, the price has fallen off. Berries are

es all interested parties) to draw up a fruit grapefruit for markets in Tokelau, American fruit, chili and tomato sauce for the domestic and vegetable sector strategy. In the short- Samoa, Cook Islands, Australia and the market are foreseen whereas there is poten- term (2009-2012), this suggests increasing Samoan community in New Zealand. And tial to export some organic fruit, exotic rar- local market production of eggplants, cab- noni juice, coconut oil, coconut water, snack ity fruit and organic herbs to New Zealand bages, citrus fruit, lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, foods fruits like banana and pineapple and Australia and the US and processed organic mangoes, pineapples, papaya, cucumber flour have potential markets in all the above- products, sauces, canned and frozen fruits and bananas as well as chutneys, honey, mentioned countries as well as Fiji, says the and vegetables and dried fruit vacpack jams and dried fruit. strategy. and yams, also to the EU. D.P.

It also foresees, in the short-term, a market In the longer term (2013-2014), increased Keywords for fresh exports of: organic bananas, coffee, production of onions, carrots, garlic man- Agriculture; Misa Retzlaff Telefoni; Grant cocoa and coconut, plus cabbages, toma- gosteen and processed fruit juices, frozen Percival; Samoa; The Body Shop; Adi Tafuna’I; Garry Vui; Debra Percival. toes, lettuce, cucumbers, limes, pomelo and potatoes and vegetables, bottled and canned

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 43 Report Samoa

The flow to budget aid

Samoa is in line to be one of the first Pacific countries where EC aid will be channelled directly to the government’s budget, specifically the water and sanitation sector where the EC has already built up expertise. The switch to budget support builds on previous EDF programmes for the sector and is testament to the government’s good public finance management, say EC officials. Construction of water tank, SWA 2009. © Debra Percival

nder the €30M allocation from Logical step The institutional framework in the sector the 10th European Development > has been established under national leader- (2008-2013) for Samoa, a €25.5M “The next logical step is to give increased ship supported by the 9th EDF Programme. sum is earmarked for a Water ownership to the government, and to root the The Joint Water Sector Steering Committee U and Sanitation Sector Policy Support sector in a favourable public finance man- involves government, civil society, serv- Programme. The other main focus is a €3M agement and macroeconomic environment ice providers and development partners. Civil Society Support Project and €1.5M through budget support”, explains Thomas It guides and coordinates sector devel- for general technical assistance, studies and Opperer, Head of the EC’s Office in Samoa. opment effectively and is the engine of training. The 9th EDF (2000-2007) paved the way Samoa’s integrated approach towards water for the transition from a project to sector resource management and service delivery, The focus on water and sanitation fits with approach, which will also target increased says Thomas Opperer. The focus now for the Government’s Strategy for Development institutional cooperation, improved planning Government is to strengthen the institu- of Samoa (2008-2012) which highlights and water resource management whilst con- tional arrangements for sector management the sector as a key service area. This is tinuing to fund infrastructure for water and as well as capacity building for all imple- expanded upon in the ‘Water for life: Sector sanitation schemes run by both the SWA and menting agencies including the independent Plan and Framework for Action’ and the independent communities, says Nick Roberts, water schemes association. ‘National Water Resource Management an EC-funded technical expert working in Strategy 2007-2017’. Samoa’s Ministry of Finance. Noumea Simi, Samoa’s deputy National Authorising Officer The EC has become the lead donor in the who manages donor projects says that the Civil society’s key role water and sanitation sector. The Asian running of the 9th EDF programme ahead of > Development Bank (ADB) is also providing budget aid had “made us look in depth at our The 10th EDF’s €3M four-year Civil Society finance. The 8th EDF (1995-2000) funded own public management systems”. Support Programme (CSSP), due to get off a Rural Water Supply Project (RWS); a mix the ground in 2010, will build on others of water infrastructure and public sanita- Thomas Opperer says the transition to financed by the EC since 1995, backing tion schemes. This was followed by the budget support reflects Samoa’s stability small income-generating and social projects 9th EDF’s €20.1M Water Sector Support oriented macro-economic policy, improve- run by community-based organisations and Programme (WaSSP) where funds were ments in the public finance management NGOs. In an interview, Deputy Prime used for construction of pre-fabricated system and the well defined policies in the Minister Misa Telefoni told us that he sees water storage facilities, installation of chlo- water sector. The 10th EDF budget support such income-generating micro-projects as rination plants and for the rehabilitation of will be disbursed in tranches in dialogue one of the country’s priorities for economic distribution systems to connect household with the Samoan authorities on the fulfil- development. They work particularly well and public sanitation units, covering both ment of a set of criteria including increased in Samoa where there is a strong sense of schemes of the Samoa Water Authority access to safe and reliable drinking water, community. (SWA) and those run by independent com- increased cost recovery for water and sanita- munities which currently supply 15 per cent tion services and an improved local govern- According to a 2002 household survey, 7.6 of population. ance by village managed water schemes. per cent of Samoans live below the food

44 Samoa Report

Tank attached to an independently-run sanitation scheme 2009. © Debra Percival

poverty line and 20.3 per cent below the basic needs poverty line, lacking access to employment opportunities and basic serv- ices such as health and education. From carpentry to counselling

Under previous EDFs, the recipients of EC The EC’s ongoing 9th EDF programme funds contributed 25 per cent of the total for NGOs and community-based groups cost of income-generating projects and for c ove r s f ur nit ur e m ak in g to f am i ly c o uns e l - social projects, 10 per cent. At the time ling. The Samoa Association of Women of going to press, finishing touches were Graduates (SAWG) is running a library in being put to the outline of the new four-year the children’s ward at the National Hospi- 10th EDF CSSP programme which is also tal providing books and games for under- expected to permit contributions in kind privileged and disadvantaged sick chil- from recipients such as building materials dren. A carpentry workshop run by the or labour, as well as cash. The new CSSP Tanugamanono Methodist Youth Group also aims to strengthen the management hopes to receive future funding to roll out and business orientation of recipients as well the award-winning-project country-wide as assisting dialogue of NGOs with govern- and throughout the Pacific. ment and networking.

The NGO Fa’ataua-le-ola is addressing Other donors who have pledged funds to some of Samoa’s social problems. Its the CSSP are; NZAID €950,000, (New Zealand), and AUSAID €1.41M (Australian) Director, Ofeira Salevao Manutai, says and the GEF Small Grant Scheme €380,000 that in the 1980s Samoa had the third (Global Environment Facility). D.P. highest rate of suicides in the world. Al- though Samoa has since dropped down Ofeira Salevao Manutai © Debra Percival the table, Ofeira Salevao Manutai be- lieves that there are still some copycat moans are “disadvantaged by traditional suicides mimicking the movies. Other practices”, with a rift between younger social issues being tackled by her NGO and older generation who have more include marijuana use and domestic vio- “fixed beliefs”. She explains her ‘a-ha’ lence. Under an EC-financed project, the method of working: waiting for communi- NGO is working in 74 out of Samoa’s 400 ties to come forward with their problems Keywords plus villages to unearth social problems and request counselling rather than im- Samoa; Noumea Simi; Thomas Opperer; and offer counselling. She says that Sa- posing it on them. Ofeira Salevao Manutai; EDF; ADB; water and sanitation; Debra Percival.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 45 Report Samoa

Fa’afafine: Wanting to be a woman

Translated from Samoan, fa’afafine means “wanting to be a woman”, says Roger To’oto’oali’i Stanley, principal policy analyst in the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development in Samoa and head of the Fa’afafine Association.

across. Roger Stanley – who has and in all areas of society; health, economy, Caption. © Copywrite kept his male name (this is sim- education, employment and culture and ply because people know him as traditions. ‘Roger’), unlike other fa’afafine who often adopt English female names “We believe in nature, not nurture”, says such as Caroline or Tracey, explains Roger Stanley, dispelling the explanation that the association was a natural of fa’afafine in Samoa, given by some in the follow on from fa’afafine alumni West, as families dressing and raising males and sports groups. And fa’afafine as females in the event of a string of male charity events such as Miss Drag siblings in a family. Roger Stanley © 2009. © Debra Percival Queen, won by Roger Stanley in 1990 and 1994 were – and still are Roger Stanley would like to set up a counsel- important dates on the Samoan ling centre for fa’afafine in Apia, capital of cultural calendar, raising money for Samoa. He says that Scottish comedian Billy n most European or Western societies, such as the elderly and disabled. Connolly and his wife, Pamela Stephenson, the sight of a beautifully groomed man have recently offered two scholarships for in a skirt wearing bright lipstick, delicate “Local definition” Samoan fa’afafine; one educational and jewellery and with feminine mannerisms > another vocational, to assist those who have Ican cause heads to spin and fingers to point. Roger Stanley says that the association is dropped out of school. The association has In Samoa and the wider , there’s not focussed on sexual orientation (although also set up the Fa’afafine Industry Variety hardly a second glance. later explaining that fa’afafine are attracted Awards (FIVA) which including awards for to straight men), nor gender identity, but the best employers of fa’afafine. D.P. There is a respect for the role of a fa’afafine the “role” they play in society. Definitions To find out more: www.samoafaafafine.org in society. They are found in all walks of such as gay, lesbians, transsexual, transves- Samoan society, from government advi- tite and transgender do not describe what it sors to lawyers, and are particularly sought means to be fa’afafine, says Roger Stanley. after for their skills in the caring industries The association is hence working on a “local such as hospitality, education and cater- definition”. ing – not forgetting the exquisitely cho- reographed fa’afafine singing and dancing “Everyone is born with the same rights”, performances. says Roger Stanley, “the right to land and title (Ed: extremely important to Samoans). The association set up in 2006, whose Roger Stanley says the association wants patron is Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sa’ilele to boost the pride and esteem of every Keywords Malielegaoi, is promoting the positive role fa’afafine, overcome all forms of social and Fa’afafine; Samoa; Roger Stanley; gender; fa’afafine play in Samoan society and coun- legal discrimination on the basis of sexual women; Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi; Debra Percival. tering any discrimination they might come orientation, gender identity and expression

46 Samoa Report

Blowhole Savai’i (left); Samoa’s national flower, the Teuila or Red Ginger (centre); waterfalls are everywhere (right) 2009. © Debra Percival A boost to the senses Mountains, coral reefs, thundering waterfalls and blowholes, in a palette from the greenest green to the bluest blue; coconut trees chatter in the breeze and lava fields stretch silently to the water’s edge. Samoa is delighting the senses of more and more visitors despite jittery economic times.

he government is confident that The loveliest people in Telefoni, citing as an example business- such natural assets can raise man Richard Chew, owner of the Warwick more than the current 28 per the world, moving and Group who has recently taken out a 99-year cent contribution of tourism to dancing like gods and lease option to build on customary land TGross Domestic Product (GDP) through in Vauvau, Upolu. Samoa is also keen to improved branding, more hotel accommoda- goddesses, very quietly be a firm fixture on the cruise ship circuit tion and all-out promotion in New Zealand, and mysteriously and with 20 boats due to berth this year accord- Australia and other markets. Earnings from ing to Christina Leala-Gale, Manager for tourism rose from ST$207.4M in 2005 to utterly content Planning and Development at the Samoa ST$288.4M* by 2008, according to a recent Tourism Authority (STA). Rupert Broke, English poet study of the economy by Samoan-based consultancy, KVAConsult. Whereas there is luxury ‘boutique’ accom- European visitors although Samoa is also modation such as the ‘Sinalei’ on Upolu and The bulk of those visiting are still friends upping marketing in the UK and USA. The ‘La Lagoto’ in Savai’i, you can hire a beach and relatives of Samoans (40.5 per cent in filming of the ‘Survivor’ reality series on fale on most islands for as little as $ST80 2007/2008), whereas 38.7 per cent were Upolu by the US TV network CBS is also (meals included) with a woven blind and holidaymakers and 9.1 per cent on business. placing the country on the world map. mattress and roll straight from bed to sea. Of these visitors, 41.6 per cent came from And you can be sure that what you pay goes New Zealand, 18.1 per cent from Australia, A new 800-seat conference centre is being straight back to local communities such as 19.3 per cent from American Samoa, 6.8 per built by the Chinese, meaning that more fale developments on Manono Island, which cent from the USA, 1.2 per cent from the hotels rooms are needed, explains Misa with just 1,000 residents is the third most pop- UK and 0.9 per cent from Germany. Telefoni, although attracting investment ulated of Samoa’s five inhabited isles. D.P. is not easy in the current economic cli- * 1 euro = 3.73 tala Boomberg (22 June 2009). “The people who we tend to get are older, mate. Upgrading of other hotels such as the do four islands (Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Tusitala is also going ahead. A complication the Cook Islands) instead of one island and with hotel construction is the issue of land tend to come for between four to six weeks”, ownership in Samoa, 80 per cent of which says Misa Telefoni Retzlaff, Samoa’s Deputy is customary – that’s to say belongs to com- Keywords Prime Minister who is also Minister of munities. But examples of the leasing of Misa Telefoni Retzlaff; Upolu; Savai’I; Tourism. Distance (two long flights) and thus land for future construction illustrates how Manono; Warwick Group, Richard Chew; La Lagoto; Sinalei; Debra Percival. expense are obvious constraints to potential this can be worked around, says Minister

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 47 Report Samoa

Cherelle Jackson The matai influence The author, a Samoan he matai system is not defined ing and can only be passed down to sons or journalist, explains how by a physical structure, but by daughters of the original title holder. The culture and history.. In order to current Government can only select the Samoa’s all-important become a matai (Chief), one has Head of State from holders of Paramount to T be related through blood or marriage titles. matai (Chief) system, the oldest known form to the incumbent. The selection of who is to become a matai is made by each family. Hand in hand of governance in Samoa, Families who have a certain number of titles > was forged by the original passed down to them by their ancestors go Currently the matai system and the demo- through a selection process which involves cratic system work hand in hand. In order settlers and now works healthy debate on why a certain person for a person to run for Parliament, one has to parallel to the democratic should receive a title or on the basis of O le hold a matai title. This is with the exception form of governance. ala i le pule o le tautua (The way to leader- of the two seats reserved for individual voters ship is through service.) The families usu- who are of mixed descent. The base of the ally determine the recipient of their Chiefly Parliamentary system is the Fono a Pulenuu, titles through a valuable contribution of or the Mayors’ Meeting. Each month, the this person to their family, society or to the leaders of each district meet to discuss issues country. For instance, someone who holds that are important to their districts. The The selection a good job and now has a status in Samoan Members of Parliament from these districts, society will most likely be bestowed a title as like any other system, then present the needs of who is to become an acknowledgement of their services and of their people to Parliament. Thereon, the a matai is made by as a way of welcoming them to the decision- usual systems of democracy take over in making level in the family and the village. the way policies and laws are then created, each family altered and implemented. One can either become a Chief, High Chief or an Orator; the prestige of each title is But once a law is passed by Parliament, and noted in the cultural hierarchy of Samoa. has to be implemented, the final say is with The Paramount chief is the highest rank- the matais of the village. Because it is only with their permission that any laws can be enacted in their villages. So although democratic governance works very well on A matai’s burial place, south Upolu 2009. a national level, when it comes to the vil- © Debra Percival lage level, the matais or village council can easily overrule the decision and have it their way. This has resulted in occasional friction between modern and traditional Samoa.

T he st r en g t h of e ac h v i l la g e cou nc i l i s de pend - ent on the wise decisions of the matais who uphold the governance of a village. When someone commits a crime in the village they firstly face judgement or punishment by the village council before being brought to justice in the civil courts. The same applies when the Government wants to implement a project out in a village; the permission of the village council is usually sought first. The successful integration of the two forms of governance has been regularly used as a good example of maintaining traditional systems at the same time as using the new.

Keywords Samoa; matai.

48 D iscovering Europe

Herculanum, Seat of the Augustali, 2009. © Hegel Goutier

A report by Hegel Goutier Art of excess. N aples puts on an act

aples is more than a movie. Its Adore it or hold it neighbourhoods of the Sanitá. Keep your contrasts of light and dark, burn- eyes peeled to go beyond the superficial ing brightness and reflections in contempt, Naples slovenliness of the city. thrown from the pavements which unfailingly stirs Nhave become worn over the centuries make Naples is also kilometres of underground us think of Greek masters clad in togas or the the senses passages inhabited by mysteries, wonders and Napoleonic cavalry or minstrels and symbols secrets. A surrealist marriage of the profane of this fictional city: Stendhal, Luchino and the sacred: crèches, niches and alcoves Visconti and his film crew on ‘Matrimonio aesthetic of excesses, an allegory of dispropor- are spread throughout the city’s churches, all’italiana’ (Marriage Italian-style) or tion. Adore it or hold it in contempt, Naples cultural places, and are commercialised in ‘Ieri, oggi, domani’ (Yesterday, Today, and unfailingly stirs the senses. Its first name luxury boutiques and in the shops that Tomorrow) with Marcello Mastroianni, is that of the beautiful mermaid who killed import their merchandise from China, all Sophia Loren and other glamorous actors. herself for having failed to seduce Ulysses and dedicated to past Saints or Saints yet to be. Naples is a film set in itself, where the trem- whose body, taken away by the sea, was given Ornamental Christmas figures are sculpted ors and sudden reversals of fortune, hopes a pious sepulchre by the city’s citizens. to their image: Pulcinella and San Gennaro, and dreams and surprises, good and bad, are patron Saint of the City, … Maradona. This side-by-side and commonplace. As for trem- > Christmas ornaments and may appear surreal, or slightly uncomfortable ors, ever-present Vesuvius is still very much Maradona… to the visitor, but is not to be derided. Part of active and tirelessly watches over the city the people’s soul is there. And you feel it. and its surroundings. Naples boldly clings Naples reveals layer upon layer of the mag- to its feet as if a courageous person combat- nificence and failures of past centuries Dare to venture to burial sites. The Font- ting its own fear. It is closer to Vesuvius and of the most diversified civilizations of anelle cemetery: imagine a conceptual art- than the martyrs of the past, Pompeii and Greece, , the Etruscans, Byzantium, ist creating a piece in the form of a burial Herculaneum and the Aragonese of the Normans, the ground made up of thousands of skulls and Bourbons and the French Enlightenment. limbs arranged in a litany of cubes, cones Naples is born of the love of a mermaid, and From its most gleaming lustre and the tired, and parallels of every sort in a maze of alley- its history is forever inscribed in fantasy. An dusty beauty of buildings lost in the poor ways, with altars and apocalyptic beams of

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 49 Discovering Europe Naples

light. A skull has a starring role as beads of A visit to Pompeii for to the volcano, the lava petrified it instantly, sweat shine on its forehead. A miracle. Just meaning that even the clothes resisted the one more for a city that cultivates them, like its history is a must, yet heat, and a large part of the mural frescoes the most beautiful nightmare. Very early on, Herculaneum is more have remained intact. Everything here tes- Naples created the Comedia del Arte and tifies to a world of good taste, finesse and adopted the opera. beautiful sensuality.

Good taste, finesse and sensuality Chiaja beach or tiny Chiaiolella marina Another film, ‘la dolce vita’, makes us forget > – immortalised in the film ‘il Postino’. the poverty of the Campania: the Amalfi Either we immediately get lost in the maze Everywhere, small gardens are full of the Coast. Its very name fires the imagination, of streets or we look at the city from the out- aromas of the Northern Mediterranean and before reality sets it ablaze. The path of side. From the islands… Why not approach Africa in a subtle blend of citrus fruit and beauty starts in Ravello, Greta Garbo and the city from the most beautiful island in the cacti of every shape and form. Richard Wagner’s favourite city, that boasts bay of Naples, Prócida. Are we being objec- Europe’s greatest culture festival, magnifi- tive? No. Passionate? Yes. An island where The island of Ischia is another legendary cent gardens and the good taste that hangs everything is coloured in pastel shades. The daughter. It is where an irate Zeus imprisoned over a town that clings to the mountain like soft curves of the houses undulate under the Typhoon who can be heard roaring from a pure ruby, way above the other pearls that the filtered light of early mornings near the time to time. It is a place of relaxation with make up the necklace of the coast, Atrani, port, where the hill softly slopes towards the its many thermal springs and beaches. The Positano, Sorrento and the carefree and sea in impressionist hues. At first glance, garden of la Mortella overhangs the western seductive Amalfi. H.G. they all seem small in comparison with the coast of the island and is ideal for idling. enormity of the castle, although the contrast Nearby, there is the exceptional panorama does not jolt. Prócida is calm, even when it from the La Colombaia belvedere, the former is flooded with tourists. It is as though visi- retreat of the film director Luchino Visconti. Keywords tors immediately become immersed in the Etruscan; Aragon; Bourbon; Pompeii; Herculanum; Campanie; Amalfi Coast; peacefulness, enjoying the scents of lemons Around Naples, a visit to Pompeii for its Stendhal; Visconti; Sanità; Maradona; and orchids, tumbling down the hundreds history is a must, yet Herculaneum is more Fontanella; Prócida; Chiaja; Chiaiollela; of steps towards the inlets where fishermen beautiful. The site is peopled with patricians, Mortella; Ravello; Atrani; Positano; Sorrente; Amalfi; Hegel Goutier. perform their daily ritual and the small the epitome of the elite. As it stands nearer

The emphasis on migration should not disregard development contributions Interview with Plenipotentiary Minister, Elisabetta Belloni, Director General of Italian Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy.

What are Italy’s development policy pri- development priorities which will be reflect- orities? ed, we hope, in the outcome of the G8.

For the first time, Italy was able to draw up Sectors identified are health, education, a strategy for the next three years developed food security and the environment with par- in close cooperation with all Italian develop- ticular focus on water. Fifty per cent of our ment cooperation actors. The Ministry of funding will go to sub-Saharan Africa. Foreign Affairs was mindful of involving the regions, civil society and the private sector In a period of international crisis when funds in order to have a sort of common strategy are being reduced across the entire donor vis-à-vis developing countries and make it community, we think there is a need for more effective. governments to increase resources for devel- opment. Africa is a priority for us and there Elisabetta Belloni, 2009. The guidelines were based on our pulling are priority sectors. But there are some areas © Hegel Goutier together; to make the G8 Italian presidency where a cross-cutting approach is extremely more effective, and more in line with our important. One of these is gender. We also

50 Naples Discovering Europe

tried to rationalise the channels for distri- said, our financial planning covers a three- thinking in terms of a new development bution of funds; the multilateral sector and year period. The cuts will also be reflected concept that puts the accent on trade and the bilateral sector. The UN system and the in next year’s financial commitments and in other mechanisms. international financial institutions remain the 2011 budget. This is a significant issue. of utmost importance to us: we identified We very much want public opinion in Italy How far up the agenda is development their specific role, and their potential added to be aware of the fact that money for devel- for Italy’s G8 presidency? value to our contribution and also the Italian opment cooperation is not only important added value to their own programmes. in terms of cooperation policy but also in Italy has put a lot of energy into handling terms of our contribution to global stabilisa- the G8 presidency. Development issues will In some countries, the state is reluctant to tion in the context of the entire globalisation be the big bulk of the dossier. Of course, I share the ownership of their development momentum we are currently seeing. We don’t want to anticipate the results of the policy with regions. Is this the case in Italy? should increasingly become aware of assist- Summit – but what I can say is that Italy ing economic growth, reducing poverty very much hopes to give development spe- We are in favour of decentralised coop- and reducing disease in other less advanced cial momentum. The G8 should restate eration and in keeping with laws as to what countries. Such efforts are also in the inter- the commitment of the big donor countries regions can or cannot do in the field of inter- ests of our own long-term stability. I am and their responsibility to the development national development cooperation, we are not afraid to say, for instance, that the big of developing countries. We will promote committed to encouraging all regions com- emphasis that we put on the consequences an ‘all development actors’ concept that mitted to development cooperation to work of migration flows should not disregard the goes beyond official development aid and together with us. We have asked them to join fact that real intervention has to start with intends to show that a real development in elaborating priorities and the drafting of a contribution to the development of the process must encompass all contributions our cooperation strategy guidelines. countries where these migrations originate. to developing countries; all actors and all I very much hope that in the course of the instruments. H.G. How can you retain a strong develop- year there will be adjustment to the big * The interview was carried out prior to the G8 meet- ment policy when there has been, rough- budget restrictions but I also have to draw ing of Development Ministers, 12-13 June in Rome. ly, a 55 per cent cut in your development attention to the duty we all have to assist our budget this year? own financial domestic crisis which implies Keywords seeking additional resources for financing Elisabetta Belloni; Italian Development Budgetary restrictions are certainly a seri- development, such as from the private sec- Policy; G8; Migration; development aid; development actors; Hegel Goutier. ous problem for Italian cooperation. As I tor. What’s more, we should probably start

Headquarters of the Naples Chamber of Commerce, 2009. © Hegel Goutier

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 51 Discovering Europe Naples

Italian NGOs on the darkness and light of Italy’s development policy © Hegel Goutier

The foundation that brings together most Italian development NGOs was created in 2000, and is present in most African countries. Sergio Marelli, President of the Italian opera- tions and director of its main component, the FOCSIV (International Federation of Christian Volunteer Organisations), helped us uncover the dynamism of its member organisations and their relations with the Italian regional and federal authorities. His view is that Italian devel- opment policy is a combination of darkness and light.

63 organisations make up the Italian The situation of the Italian government on several occasions using different means, platform of development NGOs, is one of darkness and light. “Let us be including an open letter in the country’s and Africa is their main focus. The positive and start with the light. Minister of major economic newspapers. We even asked FOCSIV alone is an umbrella organ- Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, accepted Archbishop Desmond Tutu to write to her… 1isation for 64 associations with a total our request for regular meetings with NGOs to no avail.” of 70,000 members and is present in 84 to discuss the various points on his minis- countries through 500 different projects. try’s agenda that are important to us. For Italian NGOs also fear that the decentrali- However, because the organisation prefers example, we have just concluded a consulta- sation of development cooperation policy beneficiary-led projects, it only has 500 tion on the mid-term review of the OECD. currently launched in Italy could lead to a members in the field, stresses its director. We had a meeting on the triennial program- ‘Balkanisation’ of the process, with a total ming of the Italian development coopera- of 26 regional ministries, “each carrying Explains Sergio Marelli: “The situations tion. We have regular discussions with the out their own small development coopera- that have led to the best results are those minister, and enjoyed very good relations tion” instead of working together as a net- where the participation of the beneficiaries with the Council of Ministers in preparing work. H.G. is key, especially in areas where international Italy’s presidency of the G8. institutions recognise that this participation is the element that should get the most sup- Darkness emerges from the fact that the port. I have left the old concept of technical government has decided to slice its devel- assistance behind me, since southern coun- opment aid budget by 56 per cent in this tries have all the necessary capacity and year’s national budget. This 56 per cent cut training required for their development. We on the 2008 allocation is equivalent to 0.2 Keywords must encourage a form of support that aims per cent of Italy’s Gross National Product Hegel Goutier; NGOs; Italy, Cooperation; to eradicate the major causes of injustice (GNP). Our minister of finance remains development policy; Sergio Marelli; FOCSIV. that are the root of the many of problems.” deaf to our pleas. We have asked to meet her

52 Naples Discovering Europe

Burden of clandestine immigration weighs on Naples and Campania

Although one of the least prosperous areas of the country, Campania faces the lion’s share of the burden of clandestine immigration into Italy – a conclusion reached by NGOs, like Caritas, based in the area. These NGOs condemn the fact that ministries in charge of social security seem to turn a blind eye to clandestine immigrants, while the authorities in charge of security are all too aware of their existence.

taly’s long history of emigration has Caritas claims that legal immigrants live and then there are the conflicts between Nigerians become one of immigration. Today, work in Italy without any real problems. The and Ghanaians”, laments Trani of Caritas. around four million immigrants from big problems lie with people without papers, some 194 different nations, live legally most of whom reside in southern Italy. Some ministries and institutions react as if Iin the country. This fact sets them apart “These people do not [legally] exist and are these people do not exist, whereas for those from other countries, such as France, the not accounted for by the authorities, so poli- in charge of security, immigrants act as a United Kingdom and Germany, who were cies for their support and social integration scarecrow, whipping up fear: “it is a paradox confronted with more homogenous waves of are left entirely to the care of volunteers”, and one of the many contradictions of the immigrants, explains Mr Giancamillo Trani, criticises Mr Trani. Italian system. The Ministry of the Interior head of Naples’ Caritas immigrant assist- and the police know that there are many ance service. Immigrants make up a total of In Castel Vortuno, in the Province of Caserta, irregular immigrants here, so why do Social six percent of the entire Italian population 18,000 local citizens live alongside a group of Security, Health or Education not know any- in the south of the country, he tells us, In 11,000 immigrants, most of whom have come thing about them?”, he asks... H.G. Campania, there are around 120,000 legal from Nigeria and Ghana. There is no integra- immigrants, putting it in seventh place in tion between immigrants and local Italians Keywords the national immigration statistics by region. and, “this leads to social unease that some- Hegel Goutier; NGOs; Italy, Cooperation; The province of Naples alone is to times makes the front page headlines which development policy; Sergio Marelli; FOCSIV. 40,000 immigrants. talk of murder, drugs or prostitution. And

Don Gaetano Romano, Episcopal Vicar of the Archdiocese of Naples, Director of Caritas

bove all else the role of Caritas is to become a multi-ethnic society. On the other, support people in a brotherly man- some states forcefully send immigrants back “ ner so we approach immigrants across the Mediterranean. At the moment, with our hearts. Our approach the trend is to draw up agreements with the A is warm and the opposite of that of some immigrants’ countries of origin, although it European governments who have little would seem that such arrangements are very warmth for immigrants, are not sensitive to flexible and rarely fully enforced. What can their problems and apply rules and regula- be said? We need to show common sense. tions that have an aura of distance rather That ‘other’, we speak of is a person. You can than welcome. In Caritas we act on another talk of humanitarian rights, of a right to wel- level. We work as Christians and as believ- come, but you must start off with the person ers, which encourages us to practice the and always respect the person.” H.G. first divine commandment: respecting and welcoming other people.

I feel that countries are confused in tack- Keywords Naples; Migrations; Italy; Don Gaetano ling the immigration issue. On the one Romano; Caritas; Hegel Goutier. “Don Romano. The first commandment: respecting and hand, some feel that Europe will inevitably welcoming other people”, 2009. © Hegel Goutier

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 53 Discovering Europe Naples

Determined to fight the recession… and a drab image It isn’t easy to imagine the magnificence of the gilding work and panelling of Naples’ Palazzio della Borsa that lies behind the elegant Venetian Liberty façade of the prestigious headquar- ters of the Chamber of Commerce. Indeed, it could easily be an allegory of the economy of the city and the Campania Region as a whole as recalled by its president, Gaetano Cola: great achievements – including significant progress in the aeronautics industry – under a seemingly drab, uninteresting exterior.

he economic fabric of the Campania also crowned with several types of activi- footing with the national average and need- Region is made up of more than half ties in textiles, leatherwork and food. Also ed help to penetrate foreign markets. Help a million enterprises, half of them noteworthy is the activity in the port, with came from the region and export sup- in Naples. All these companies – exports of over €9.2bn in 2008, 4.8 of which port from the Chamber of Commerce. The T most of which are small and one-man busi- from Naples. Today, the Campania region’s results speak for themselves. For example, nesses – are affiliated with the Chamber of GDP represents 7% of the whole of Italy. the region’s companies have now sold good Commerce, a venerable institution created by worth over €1.5M to the Spanish retailer Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, in 1808. Visible results Corte Inglés. However, notes Gaetano Cola, “our assets > reside in the quality, typical character and The area’s enterprises are facing up to the Yet, Campania’s dynamism in sectors relat- wide range of our industries, from agro- current international crisis. These small ed to research and innovation, particularly food to crafts, to textiles and clothing, tour- companies, whose running costs are around environmental and aeronautical, is relatively ism, logistics and aeronautics”. The area is 20% of the turnover, were not on an equal unknown abroad. An environmental tech- nological centre will soon see the light of day in Bagnoli and will create over a thousand new jobs.

> Brand images “Despite all this activity” Gaetano Cola laments, “the city and the region still have a bad image in the international press that seems to focus solely on overflowing garbage tips, even though that issue has now been resolved. Furthermore, the government is putting great effort into dealing with the Camorra”. Construction in Naples, includ- ing the underground system, have proved very unpleasant for visitors. However, they will soon be able to better appreciate the marvels of the city. In the meantime, the Chamber of Commerce invests with a view to showing an image of Naples that is closer to the reality of a city of rare crafts and industrial creativity, beauty and nature, cul- tural riches and human warmth. H.G.

Gaetano Cola, president of the Naples Chamber of commerce, 2009. © Hegel Goutier

Keywords Hegel Goutier; Chamber of Commerce; Naples; Gaetano Cola; Campania; tourism; aeronautics; port activitites.

54 Naples Discovering Europe

Naples – European vanguard city: arms stretched out to Africa

Rosa Iervolino Russo, > Achievements Mayor of Naples since 2001, These past seven to eight years leads the centre-left majority. have been particularly trying. The country lacks funds. In Naples, this This Italian figurehead is not shortage partly results from the dif- only a former candidate for ficult relations between our centre- the presidency, but was also left administration and the centre- right government. at the head of several key ministries. After having been Our greatest achievement is without © Hegel Goutier doubt our underground, which was a leading figure of the left praised by Danita Hubner, European wing of Christian Democracy Commissioner for Regional Policy, (Democrazia Cristiana), she as the greatest public works project in Europe today. The city of Naples nestles between We would be was one of the founders of the hills and the sea, and its narrow streets extremely proud to take the Italian People’s Party defended the city in the past against numer- a lead in development (Partito Popolare Italiano). ous invasions. These factors all contributed to the urgent need for this infrastructure. aid to Africa

We also focused on the re-development of two large industrial areas around Naples. To the west, in Bagnoli, where the shutdown of the steel-manufacturing plant Italsider national railway museum (Museo Nazionale Bagnoli had left more than ten thousand Ferroviario) to the area. workers without jobs, we steered the area towards tourism, the hospitality trade and Difficulties and assets port navigation, particularly now that the > Naples harbour is completely saturated with Unemployment is our greatest worry. The traffic. birth rate is relatively high and the disman- tling of the old industrial network does not We have already created a tourist harbour allow us to easily absorb our young people in the western area, where we will transfer into the job market. Equally, new tourist the Naples aquarium, making it even more and hospitality structures, currently in their beautiful than Genoa’s, which has an inter- development phase, are not ready to fully national reputation. We will also transfer the welcome them either.

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 55 Discovering Europe Naples

One of our greatest assets is the port of The Naples Chamber of Commerce organis- Naples. About fifteen years ago, it was But our main asset es sessions for the representatives of African almost completely dead. We are now rede- is the people, who are Chambers of Commerce invited in Naples. veloping the area of the Darsena di Levante, They learn about our specialisations and thanks to very intense trade exchanges with both welcoming and products, know our manufacturers and, China. This demonstrates that we are react- cordial, despite the fact when they feel it appropriate, invite them to ing as best we can to attract foreign invest- come to Africa to work together. I would like ments in the current global crisis. that Naples is often to stress that Naples has the oldest western perceived as a ‘Wild university and is the only city where many The region’s strong points Italians also speak Arabic. This exchange > West city’ must live on in Naples, this city that is inex- The first asset is without doubt the land- tricably linked to Europe but that is also its scape. Far be it our intention to offend any- vanguard whose arms are opened to Africa. one, but we have the most beautiful islands Naples and Africa H.G. in the world. Our second asset is nature in > general. Look at the fascinating area around During the excavation works for the under- For more information: www.comune.napoli.it Irpinia in the Avelino Province. Naples was ground, we found incredible riches, amongst born Greek, became Roman, and was then which a Greek-Roman harbour complete under the rule of Aragon, Svera, and Anjou. with Phoenician remains from Northern We have magnificent castles, such as Caserta Africa, Maghreb, and Crete, testifying of or Capodimonte, which boasts an art gallery the intense artistic, cultural and commer- rivalling the Louvre or Leningrad muse- cial relations that Naples already enjoyed ums. But our main asset is the people, who with Africa in those days. Today, this sort are both welcoming and cordial, despite the of collaboration lives on, and we would be fact that Naples is often perceived as a ‘Wild extremely proud to take a lead in develop- West city’. Our young people have grasped ment aid to Africa. But not in a colonialist Keywords the fact that they needed to be prepared to manner: we adamantly stand against coloni- Hegel Goutier; Russo Iervolino; be competitive in the work universe. And alism and promote the free determination of Naples; Campania; Capodimonte; Darsena di Levante, Bagnoli. they are ready. African people.

In Italy, AFRO breaks its silence on Africa etween plummeting official develop- ment aid and Berlusconi’s govern- ment obsessed by the migration* ‘threat’ in Italy, Africa is no win- Bner. This fact is even more blatant for the Italian media who are used to maintaining a polite silence over African issues**. If journalists look at the African news once as a (free) platform for medias created – for Riccardo Bonacina, President of AFRO in a blue moon, they systematically convey the most part – by the African civil soci- Committee. “Our portal would somewhat a biased image of the continent to their ety. Until now, Afronline relies on such aim to fill this gap.” J.M. audiences. Last June, to break the silence prestigious partners as Pambazuka, Syfia surrounding Africa, the Unidea Foundation Info, the PANOS Institute West Africa, * On 2 July 2009, the Italian parliament adopted a con- troversial law toughening its arsenal against clandestine launched an editorial project, AFRO, pro- the Fondation Hirondelle and other ‘non- immigration and authorising the organisation of unarmed moting Africa to the Italian medias through profit’ editorial experiments such as A24, citizen patrols to reinforce security on the streets. an ad hoc information bulletin managed by News From Africa or the South African ** This silence had been exceptionally broken by the the Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AgiAfro), Civil Society Information Service (Sacsis). Italian daily newspapers, ‘Repubblica’ and ‘La Stampa’, and to advocate the awareness of Italian “I don’t think that the outlook of the civil which published special editions on Africa in 2209. and European decision-makers through an African society on the realities of the conti- For more information: www.afronline.org English portal (financed by Italian maga- nent or the rest of the world has sufficiently zine Vita Non Profit Magazine) that serves been taken into consideration”, underlines

56 Naples Discovering Europe

Adoption of skeletons and other phantasmogoria

We arrive in Naples carrying all the unfortunate prejudices of a sulphurous city. It is dizzy-making: so much beauty, so much neglect, such perfection, it’s a place of extremes… Duomo of Ravello, 2009, © Hegel Goutier

our initial instinct would be to flee cavities of the rock or are interred within the Church of New Christ and the square the Sanità, the poor area of town, local stone, which is both soft and resistant. (Piazza del Gesù Nuovo), the cathedral but we cannot help but stay and Remains from the 17th century victims of (Il Duomo) with the receptacle of San marvel at the neighbourhood. And the plague lie alongside 18th century corpses Gennaro’s blood that becomes liquid twice Ywe have a guide. He’s an artist from the (more than forty thousand in total) that were a year to the jubilation of the Neapolitans. Sanità, painter, ceramist and art conveyor descended from the city’s many churches. Or provokes misery if this miracle does Diego Loffredo, who light on every- Neapolitans often adopt one of these souls not take place. The Lungomare, with its thing. The artist creates traditional ceram- that haunt purgatory, thus creating a close underground passages criss-crossing each ics harking back to the Greek past of Naples, link to them, one made of fantasy and of other, the gorgeous theatres like the one that are valued by the most prestigious art hoping for favours from the dead, in return where Totó reigned, an old film by the lat- galleries. But he holds his modern ceramics for their prayers for the souls of the dead. ter, a place to sit and listen to a cult song like and paintings closer to his heart. Malafemma, that every Neapolitan loves to What else is there to see in Naples? this day. And of course, the archaeological Like in most other parts of the city, cemeter- Everything, starting with the heart of the museum is a must, even for those who usu- ies are buried underground in the natural historical centre, the Piazza Bellini, the ally shun such exhibits. This one enlivens

Naples, La Sanità. Cemetery of Fontanelle, 2009. © Hegel Goutier Daniele Loffredo, artist of ceramic painting (right), 2009. © Hegel Goutier

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 57 Discovering Europe Naples

the senses and more so, its ‘secret cabinets’, every hour, taking on a new beauty. But at inaccessible to children, with their inex- night, it is at its best; the tiny imperfections Keywords Hegel Goutier; Naples; Campanie; Italy; haustible collections of erotic works from become invisible and are replaced by magi- Maradona; Sanità; Diego Loffredo. Pompeii and Herculaneum. What is the best cal lights. H.G. time to visit? Naples changes its make-up

A harmony of pasta flavours

Daniele Furia is a designer who honours a lemon chocolate called ‘choconcello’. Naples’ bubbling creativity. With his team, We were just four students in the begin- he has created a whole new variety of pas- ning. We put our faith in quality and made ta flavours based on the lemon. the choice not to produce in some great big warehouse but in Naples’ historic centre. “The tradition goes back to my grand- Our clients understand what we are creat- mother, who started with Limoncello. We ing, enjoy and buy our products.” reused the Neapolitan traditions of Limon- cello here in Naples. First we created new pastries using lemon cream. Using lemon Daniele Furia, creator of pasta flavours, 2009. juice, we invented new products, including © Hegel Goutier

Camorra and litter. The paradox of clichés

Yes, there is the Camorra. And yes, some- near street stalls, it is collected at the end of the region who often stood by them in times, litter does sometimes overflow the of the day. The beauty of the city is un- their turf wars. Today, many of its leaders pavements. Prior to the European elec- touched. live alongside the poorest in areas like tions, President of the Council of Minis- the Sanità. Another paradox. How can we ters of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, said that The Camorra is undeniably immoral but discuss the Camorra without vindicating Rome, Naples and Palermo were as dirty facilitates – in its own interest of course crime? This question is frequently posed as African cities. The recent litter crisis – – the preservation of skilled craftsman- by many Neapolitan commentators, intel- when collections were suspended – was ship in the areas of haute couture and fine lectuals in particular. a protest which has now come to en end. leather craft, as explained by Vitorrio Sa- Although during the day, wrapping papers vani in his famous book: Gomorrha. The and other rubbish do sometimes pile up Camorra is linked to the history of the poor

Many authors have captured the various you were to read only one book in de Lu- A must read … facets, complexities and original aspects ca’s work, choose ‘Montedidio’*. Although of Naples. Erri de Luca, however, helps his not his best book, it is the most revealing readers enter and be transported by the and filled with such sentiment. It recounts soul of the city. In his latest work, ‘Il giorno the story of two young adolescents in the prima della felicità’ (the day before hap- chaotic final years of Second World War piness) which is yet to be translated into Naples. In an attempt to avoid death and other languages, Erri de Luca explores deprivation, the two youngsters tussle with his city delicately, as if a deep-sea diver their weaknesses, their thirst for life and a whose tools were a feather and paintbrush, puzzling sentiment… love perhaps? so that each layer is felt, rather than per- * Same title in French than in Italian. Montedidio, ceived. The author looks through his child- Gallimard, Paris, Prix Femina étranger 2002. hood eyes, which are clouded over with a Naples Museum of Archaeology. Donna e figura satiresca Pompei. © Hegel Goutier melancholy that filters content and form. If

58 C reativity Sandra Federici The 53rd Venice biennale (from 7 June to 22 November) has many novelties, amongst these a first pavilion from Palestine, the first pavilion dedicated to Internet and a total of 77 national pavilions, the largest number in its history.

Paolo W. Tamburella, Djahazi. Venice Biennale 2009, Making Worlds

t’s clear: Africa’s participation isn’t a new and histories, in the North and South of the event and, as we have already said, there is world. The work is a fragmented reportage no longer the need to fight the invisibility of local contexts connected through a glo- ACP art at the of African art in the contemporary scene Ithrough specific ‘African’ participation in biennials as the First African pavilion in 2007 (see ‘The Courier’ no. 2, sept. – oct. 2007). In fact, in the large exhibition space at the Biennale 2009, Africans – as well as, we might add, artists from the Caribbean and the Pacific, are chosen not because of their nationality but their value, languages or messages.

In the beautiful spaces of the Arsenal, Birnbaum placed two large works by Moshekwa Langa from South Africa and Pascale Marthine Tayou from Cameroon. Langa presents Temporal distance (with

a criminal intent), you will find us in the V enice biennale 2009 best place a city, made with an assortment of discarded objects (toys, kitsch souvenirs, thread reels): a cartography of the journey and displacement which are typical of this artist’s production.

Tayou’s large multimedia installation, Human being (2007-2009), evokes the architecture of an African village, with Yvette Berger Owanto, Where are we going? NYC, Colour print on video representations of life and work, creat- canvas, 2009. Venice Biennale ing links between apparently different forms 2009, Making Worlds

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 59 Creativity

Moshekwa Langa, Stage, Installation, mixed media, dimensions variable, 1997- 2009. Venice Biennale 2009, Making Worlds

Noteworthy is the first entry by the Republic of Gabon, which for its pavilion chose Owanto, who was born in Paris, of a French father and a Gabonese mother; she spent her early years in Gabon, and has now lived in Europe for most of her life. Gabon’s strategy indicates that cultural contamina- tion might be the key to access to a better knowledge of its history, its tradition and its visual language.

At the Latin American pavilion one is amazed by the strange beings of the artist Raquel Paiewonsky (Dominican Republic): improbable bodies built with tights, polished nails, and condoms. Georges Adéagbo from Benin continues to give his strong political and economic messages through ironic installations of objects from African, American and Italian culture and media.

It is the first time in Venice for the Comoros Islands, with the project Djahazi, conceived by the Italian artist Paolo W. Tamburella. The name of the project comes from the traditional Comoros boat, which, following V enice biennale 2009 the modernization of the port in 2006, were Pascale Marthine Tayou, Human Being, Mixed media, dimensions variable, 2007. Venice Biennale 2009, Making Worlds. Photo by Ela Bialkowska. Courtesy of Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin prohibited and abandoned. Tamburella has restored a Djahazi, with the goal of shipping bal network, which we cannot perceive as it to Venice. Supported by the local popula- a whole: to understand it, we have to stop tion, the project bears witness to a piece of and observe, video by video, installation by the historical identity of Comoros. installation, dedicating it some time.

Leaving this confusion, we are struck by the emptiness and clean aspect of the work of Richard Wentworth (Samoa), who has minimally placed black walking sticks along the white wall.

The interesting work of Anawana Haloba (Zambia), The Greater G8 Advertising Keywords Market Stand (2007-2009), is an interactive 53rd International Art Exhibition; installation that looks like a simple stand Venice; Africa art; ACP art; Moshekwa ACP art at the Langa; Pascale Marthine Tayou; Richard advertising products from the South but Wentworth; Anawana Haloba; Raquel which, when studied closer, is an ironic criti- Paiewonsky; Georges Adéagbo. cism of the free market and the logic of aid.

60 Creativity

Music Crossroads Forty music festivals in five Southern African countries, attended by 100,000 spectators. This is the result of the work carried out by Music Crossroads International in 2008.

usic Crossroads International is the best songs from these workshops and is a programme for youth empow- promoted through radio and TV. erment through music, initiated in 1996 by Jeunesses Musicales Songs that emerge from these workshops M International (JMI). It presently encom- often address important issues such as life passes Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and death, sickness and health, violence Zambia and Zimbabwe. and peace, education, and poverty, and the best are selected for studio recordings offer- “We started in ‘96 in Zimbabwe”, says ing musicians the opportunity to work in a the director Dag Franzen, a violinist and professional studio setting.” music teacher who for many years has been active in cooperation for development, Why have you focused on Southern Africa? “then we carried on in Mozambique, and the other countries. We involve young peo- “We chose austral and Anglophone Africa ple between the ages of 15 and 25, and we’re because there was almost nothing there to open towards traditional and contemporary/ promote artists, whereas Western Africa is urban music. We started by intervening with very present in the world music field. a standard programme shaped around local needs: a music festival, plus 2 days of work- For example in Tanzania, where there are shops, social interaction activities and a very few institutions dedicated to the arts, final competition. Then it changed slightly, MC Tanzania provides quality training we learnt from experience. Since our pro- and performances by working with partner gramme began 13 years ago it has grown to organizations in the fields of music train- reach over 45.000 musicians”. ing and management, HIV/AIDS and self empowerment. Music Crossroads was intro- duced to Tanzania in 1999. Since then it has How do you manage to get so many musicians grown from having four local festivals to involved? nine festivals across the entire country.” “Our principal aim is to create sustainable musical structures in the target countries. It’s worth visiting the website www.music- We have these membership-based NGOs in crossroads.net: there you can find videos, the five nations, and we meet a lot amongst photos, artists’ biographies, and, most of all, ourselves to exchange good practices. We listen to lots of music. S.F. also do other activities: we give training in promotion, marketing, communication; we assist in the recording sessions, we organise concerts, and we go to all the provinces in the countries. For us culture and education are tools for social growth: music creates self- Images from Music Crossroads International 2008. Courtesy of esteem, self-awareness and social inclusion. Jeunesses Musicales International

We also organise Songs4life, providing train- ing by professional musicians in song writing Keywords Music Crossroads International; Africa; and encouraging musicians to write about music festivals; Jeunesses Musicales their realities; to use their talents in order to International (JMI); Dag Franzen; young make an impact on listeners. A CD compila- people; social growth; Songs4life; Sandra Federici. tion is produced annually, which features

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 61 Creativity

Remember Nono, his name will soon be on everyone’s lips… ith ‘Sources’, his very first progresses behind the mirror – the film a constant passage through a real and a creation that was featured screen. But the frontier is blurred. In this virtual looking-glass. You could say that in last June’s Danse Balsa pas de deux, he goes through the mirror with romanticism, the unspoken thoughts, the Marni festival, 20-years old great fluidity. She stays behind. She is the illusion and the insinuation are all reminis- WHaitian choreographer and dancer Nono sister, the neglected mother, the new mother, cent of something similar to Woody Allen’s (real name Raynold Battesti) most certainly both of them always with some distance Rose of Cairo. So, remember Nono’s name, moved the audience at the Brussels Marni between them, if only a shadow. But both we assume we will hear it again… H.G. Theatre, both with his choreographic style their bodies and hearts dance on the same Théâtre Marni, Brussels. Director: Joëlle Keppenne and his talent as a dancer. level. A pas de deux also takes place between www.theatremarni.com the two main players and Didier Leroy’s ‘Sources’ tells of loss and reunion, of a accordion. This accordion and its musi- brother and a sister torn apart in their child- cian, forms a third character that is both a hood and forced to create a life in another nostalgia for the past, but equally clings to family, in a distant land. This autobiograph- them like a soul, giving Sources much of its ic choreography is devoid of pathos and spellbinding and magical atmosphere. manages to maintain a sensitive modesty. Although it is born out of the genre of rap Two dancers play around each other. His and hip-hop, Nono’s show gives the overall (Nono) and Her (Géraldine Battesti) meet- impression of a new classicism. The syncopa- ing point teeters on the frontier between tion becomes fluid and soft. And to explain reality and the looking glass, the stage and this both sad and beautiful tale, Nono bor- the giant screen. He moves on stage as she rows from the vocabulary of dreams with Nono (right) and Didier Leroy (left). Choregraphy “Sources” by Nono at Marni Theater. © Hegel Goutier

‘God is not a peasant’ “The world’s future lies in agriculture and the future of agriculture is peas- ant agriculture. Because the latter is more human, it does not produce a lot of CO2 and is a breeding ground for job creation.” After working in the field in West Africa for more than thirty years, Mamadou Cissokho is convinced of this, and tells us about it in a book/testimony.

of West African States (ECOWAS). Every recalls that, on the contrary, the conse- Mamadou CISSOKHO. Dieu n’est pas un paysan (God is not a peasant) March day, the organisation is more and more quence of the current crisis is the crisis of 2009, Présence Africaine, Grad, 296 p. animated by key players from civil soci- multinational companies, a system that has ety, amongst which the Network of Peasant failed for agriculture. “And the new combat Organizations and Producers in West Africa in the Western world is a return to a more he author writes: “Rich in resourc- (ROPPA) that we, the farmers from 10 coun- human agriculture that respects the envi- es and rich for our families, West tries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, ronment, a return to our peasant agriculture Africa is today rich with the grow- Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea Conakry, that had been called retrograde.” M.M.B. ing vitality of peasant organisa- Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo) founded Ttions. National platforms uniting stock- in 2000 in Cotonou before extending it to breeders, fishermen, and farmers have been Ghana and Sierra Leone.” Keywords in place since the late 1990s. Beyond the Mamadou Cissokho; the network of borders erected by colonisation, we are The book recalls the story of this construc- Peasant organizations and Producers in increasingly conscious that we belong to a tion. Mamadou Cissokho deems that the West Africa (ROPPA); agriculture; West Africa; Marie-Martine Buckens. community, The Economic Community family nature of farms is a priority and

62 F or younger readers Anna and Bazil and the Sacred Mask

The artists hand- created over 3,000 drawings from scratch, for the animation of the story’s protagonists.

Elisabetta Degli Esposti Merli Drawing from “Ana and Bazil and the Sacred Mask”. Courtesy of Africa Art Toons

nna and Bazil are two children (‘Afrique Art Toons’) and to participate in Sonon explained to us that the importance growing up in the city. They are a three-year training course. Through this of the work of ‘African Art Toons’ lies not the children of the new society of work the association participated in the only in the artistic aspect of the film, but also Benin – a society that is in danger PSICD’s call for bids* and was awarded in the value that this type of creation can ofA forgetting where it came from, as it is funding to carry out the second episode, bring to the whole society of Benin. Anna too taken up with the need to know where entitled ‘Anna and Bazil and the Sacred and Bazil will be inserted into the program- it is going. The two heroes of the story, Mask’. ming of both public and private TV stations. on holiday in Kétou, a small Yoruba town Thanks to its transmission on TV, it will be located in the Plateau Department of Benin, The artists, who include Jo Palmer, Hector possible to bring young people’s attention to find themselves in a mysterious situation: Sonon, Hervé Alladaye and many more, their country’s specific cultural heritage. the thrill of a mask that has disappeared, hand-created over 3,000 drawings from the adventure across an unknown country, scratch, for the animation of the story’s The animated film itself is engaging; if it searching for the lost mask and finally the protagonists. is then transmitted on TV, a sure media- discovery of the spiritual, ancestral and communicative result will be guaranteed. enigmatic world of the masks. In the second episode, Anna and Bazil wit- Sonon complains about the fact that often ness a great drought that hits Ketou after the young people are unaware of much of the This is the beginning of the fascinating plot disappearance of a Guélédé mask, which was history, tradition and geography of their of the first short animated film 100 per cent stolen and sold to a tourist. They decide to own country. made in Benin, entitled ‘Anna and Bazil and go in search of the mask, travelling to many the Sacred Mask’. cities, including Abomey, the capital of the Anna and Bazil will provide something ancient kingdom of Dahomey and a desig- to fill this gap. Culture will again achieve ‘The first episode’ entitled Anna and Bazil nated UNESCO World Heritage Site, and results, in spite of the scepticism of many and the magic book was created in 2007, Natitingou in the North of the country. people. directed by Paul Lhoir, a Belgian devel- * See The ACP-EU Courier no.8, October-November opment worker who works in the field of We interviewed the cartoonist Hector 2008. cultural international cooperation for the Sonon, one of the artists who worked on Centre de réalisation du matériel de com- the film, as well as being the winner of the munication (CRMC). On seeing the enthu- fourth edition of the ‘Human Rights’ sec- Keywords siasm that resulted from this first experi- tion of the ‘Africa e Mediterraneo Prize for Anna and Bazil; Benin; Paul Lhoir; ment, several of the contributing comic the Best Unpublished African Comic Strip Hector Sonon; comics; Hervé Alladaye; PSICD. strip artists decided to set up an association Artist’ (www.africacomics.it).

N. 12 N.E. – July AUGUST 2009 63 Words from Readers Planète Jeunes is the best educational maga- Dear Sirs, We are interested in zine on the continent from one perspective. your point of view However, it should get closer to Africa’s I would like to congratulate you on the underprivileged young people, in particu- relevance of your articles on the issue of and your reactions lar in the poor countries. By taking this sustainable development and the scarcity of to the articles. approach, it will establish an incredible natural resources. Once again, the Courier reputation. is taking the initiative by leading the debate So do tell us what I wish Planète Jeunes every success. in the build-up to the Copenhagen Summit. you think. I appeal once again to the African leaders, N’Goran Abaukan Bathy (Burkina Faso) because I believe it is extremely important that the ACP countries meet and discuss the drawing up of a negotiation agenda.

Babacar Ndione (Senegal)

Address: The Courier - 45, Rue de Trèves 1040 Brussels (Belgium) email: [email protected] - website: www.acp-eucourier.info

22 – 24 October 2009, Stockholm, Sweden Agenda September-November 2009 http://www.eudevdays.eu/

September 2009 October 2009 > 27-30 9th EURAFRIC-Partners Forum > 31/08 World Climate Conference > 14-15 International Workshop Theme: Water and Energy in 04/09 Geneva, (Brussels, 14-15 October 2009) on Africa, Lyon, France For more information and “Poverty Eradication and Sexual http://www.eurafric.org/ registration visit: http://www.wmo. and Reproductive Health” (in French) int/wcc3/ Brussels, Belgium

> 13-15 10th EDF Programming – > 14-17 The Role of the Media in November 2009 Regional Seminar for East agricultural development in Africa, Lusaka, Zambia ACP countries (International > 11-13 2009 African Economic http://architectafrica.com/ seminar) Conference AFRICAN-PERSPECTIVES-2009 Brussels, Belgium Addis Ababa, Ethiopia http://annualseminar2009.cta.int/ > 28-29 3rd EU-Africa Business > 25/11 18th Session of the ACP Forum on Trade and Regional > From Exhibition: L’Art d’être un 03/12 Parliamentary Integration, Entrepreneurship 15/10 homme – Africa, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago Nairobi, Kenya Musée Dapper, Paris, France http://www.dapper.com.fr/index.php > 27-29 Commonwealth Heads of > 29/09 17th Session of the ACP Government Meeting 01/10 Parliamentary Assembly and > 22-24 European Development Days London, United Kindom Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Stockholm, Sweden http://www.thecommonwealth.org ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary http://www.eudevdays.eu/ Assembly Brussels, Belgium

64 Africa – Caribbean – Pacific and European Union countries

Caribbean PACIFIC Antigua and Barbuda The Bahamas Barbados Belize Cuba Dominica Dominican Cook Islands Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Nauru Niue Republic Grenada Guyana Haiti Jamaica Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Timor Leste Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago

AFRICA EUROPEAN UNION Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Finland France Republic Chad Comoros Congo (Rep. of) Côte d’Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Netherlands Congo Djibouti Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Spain Sweden United Kingdom Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

The lists of countries published by The Courier do not prejudice the status of these countries and territories now or in the future. The Courier uses maps from a variety of sources. Their use does not imply recognition of any particular boundaries nor prejudice the status of any state or territory. Not for sale ISSN 1784-682X