The focus of this year’s International Youth Day (IYD), to be observed on August 12, 2016, resonates with the African Development Bank’s key efforts that recognise the role of young people in sustainable development.

Under the theme, The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production, the 2016 IYD is about achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It emphasises the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production.

The Bank’s recently launched Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) strategy underscores the importance of Africa “to promote transformative and inclusive development, where the youth are the drivers of the required transformation and are responsible for their own positive economic and social outcomes”. The initiative is expected to reduce poverty, inequality, as well as economic and conflict-driven migration, increasing social cohesion and political stability. “The future of our young people does not belong at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies in us tapping their talents and putting our resources to support them,” President Akinwumi Adesina said earlier.

The strategy will see the Bank invest US $5 billion over the next 10 years to create 25 million new jobs. These investments are expected to open opportunities for 50 million young people through skills development, and job creation in Agriculture, Industry and ICT. The initiative is expected to generate over US $30 billion in income gains for Africa in the next 10 years.

The agriculture sector, according to President Adesina, offers numerous opportunities for job creation for Africa’s youth. “Agriculture is the future for Africa. We must make agriculture exciting for the youth; and we must stop looking at agriculture as a way of life, as a sector that manages poverty. Agriculture is a business; in fact it is the biggest business in the world,” he said in an address to an ENABLE Youth workshop held in Nigeria in April 2016.

ENABLE (Empowering Novel Agri-Business Led Employment) Youth is an AfDB-led initiative that aims at promoting youth entrepreneurship in agriculture and agri-business. Under the program, the Bank will train the next generation of agriculture entrepreneurs, also referred to as ‘agri-preneurs’. It seeks to launch 300,000 agribusinesses and create 1.5 million jobs across 30 nations over the next five years. A number of countries have already expressed interest in the initiative.

The AfDB, through its East Africa Regional Resource Centre (EARC), is currently in discussion with the Kenya government on how to train youth in agribusiness and develop proposals on bankable projects that can be funded by the Bank, according to the Gabriel Negatu, the EARC Director.

Both ENABLE Youth and the JfYA approaches feed into the Bank’s top development priorities, the High 5s, especially “Feed Africa” and “Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.

Entrepreneurship remains the only viable solution to the economic problem confronting Nigeria, a professor of Accounting at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Prof Taiwo Ashaolu has said.

He advised Nigerians desirous of ending the current economic quagmire to embrace entrepreneurship.

The don who was a resource person at the one-week High School Residency Programme organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) at Landmark University, Omu-Aran, posited that the naira can only be saved by increasing the nation’s productive capacity.

He said: “I will suggest entrepreneurship. Irrespective of our profession, we should combine it with entrepreneurship. There are so many things that we acquired without going out. These are the things that we can do easily. These are things that are innate in us. We do not need to sweat before we demonstrate the ability. This will stem youth unemployment substantially.

“We need to be very careful with the way things are being run in the country. Look at our forex policy; it is either there nor there. It is as if Nigeria as a nation, we have found ourselves in the midst of an ocean and there is no direction.

Naira is daily depreciating and there seems to be no depth to the level it’s going. Things are very difficult for an average Nigerian.

“There is the need for us to increase our production capacity in Nigeria. That is what I said entrepreneurship. We do not need to depend on imports as a nation for our existence.

“It is obvious that the 2016 budget is already hampered by the currency crisis in the nation. We are already in August. What do you think that has happened so far? Nothing! In fact, the initial thought of an average Nigerians was that once the budget was passed, the following day everybody starts to enjoy.

“It is a serious problem. There is the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to bring in experts who are knowledgeable in these areas to assist the economy of this country. We cannot continue like this.”

While delivering his paper titled “Creative Confidence and ABC Principles of entrepreneurship”, Ashaolu told participants that the creative approach is appropriate when there appears to be either no solution or more than one solution to a particular problem.

According to him, “the Creative approach is an idea-producing process specifically intended to generate a number of solutions, any of which will solve the problem at hand. There are a number of creativity techniques available for problem solving situations. Some are for use by individuals working alone, other for use by groups. All the techniques provide a method or mechanical procedure to help the user generate more solutions to his creative problems. The various techniques provide formats for mental stimulation.”

Use of Internet and automated systems has been growing steadily spurring productivity and economic development, according to experts.

Internet users rose to 2,895,662 (about 5.3 percent) this year up from 2,742,269 (or 5.1percent) last year according to International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Bank and United Nations Population Division reports.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that Tanzania is the first country in the world where mobile money transactions are worth more than half the country’s GDP. But despite these positive trends, a multiplier effect is on middle class and most likely to reduce jobs in the market.

Among Economists, Business leaders and others the debate is on how best the advancement of technology can help promote economic growth, yet generate job opportunities. Despite rapid global technological advancement and economic development, Tanzania has not made greater investment in its education systems to replicate the new developments.

“The government is well placed to improve Information Communication Technology-ICT among its units to spur growth,” said Minister for Works, Transport and Communication Prof Makame Mbarawa, at the launch of Technological Festival held in Dar es Salaam.

However, observers question on availability of infrastructures in public schools, not to mention in remote areas. The 2016, Huawei Tanzania Technology Festival was meant to showcase, the firm’s latest innovation especially on the concept of ICT transformation, infrastructure and business transformation operations. Prof Mbarawa outlined that Tanzania has a strongest National ICT Broadband (NICTBB) covering around 24 regions across the country.

“This provides conducive framework for investments.” The NICTBB, according to the minister, is connected to submarine optic cable, offering services to cross-border countries; Kenya, Malawi, Burundi, Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda.

Themed “Open roads to a better connected Africa,” the three days festival has provided a mechanism to redefine that technological unemployment can be twisted to create more jobs than killing the existing ones.

Former University of Dar es Salam Business School Dean, Prof Marcelina Chijoriga said technology in development is inseparable and that if well applied can address development challenges and create jobs. ” Currently, there are more ICT graduates without jobs.

As the government shifts to Dodoma, these jobless graduates can help facilitate the Dar es Salaam- Dodoma migration process,” Dr Chijoriga believes. Likewise, the University of Dar es Salaam Telecommunication Engineer student, Ms Faith Asenga says the expansion of knowledge, advancement of technology as well as globalization issues stakeholders must invest in education sector to help penetration of technology for development.

“The profession is quite challenging. There is also a challenge with competent teachers requiring new planning and technological adaptation to cope with cultural dynamism,” she says. Teachers are implementers, and thus need to learn and apply new technologies into their classroom instructions.

Governments in East African countries as elsewhere, are more conscious than ever about the importance of ICT in the development of a nation in several aspects, such as educational development, economic growth, social awareness, cultural enrichment and political leadership.

The use of ICT in schools is crucial for the development of economic and social change worldwide. ICT provides opportunities to stimulate learning and increase motivation that enables teachers and students to interact productively with neighboring communities and global economy in a wider and higher scope.

To realize this opportunity, however, technologies need to be part of the curricula. Experts say ICT plays a greater role in generating of knowledge and processing information for problem solving and further exploration.

However, it remains to be seen how teachers use, integrate and invite students to learn, access, gather, process, analyse, transmit and simulate information. “The use of ICT in classroom instruction is a more practical, interactive and innovative aspect rather than theoretical.

In effect, the impact of ICT on education is one of the most critical issues,” Mr Juma Suleimain a computer studies teacher said. Adding: “It’s a powerful instrument that enables practical environment and assists new ways of teaching and learning, and helps students to develop knowledge and skills for cooperation, communication and problem solving.” In many African countries, particularly in East Africa, most teachers do not integrate ICT into their instruction as it should be owing to interrelated factors.

Government in Tanzania has been doing a lot of initiative in the last 40 years when it comes to the development of ICT in the country. In 1960 The Ministry of Education designed educational programmes for students to listen through radios and televisions; The Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) has developed an ICT curriculum, for primary and pre-primary education which is currently implemented in few schools near district headquarters and the schools that have ICT facilities 2007 they started Distance Education Learning Services (DILES).

The DILES project develops and provides the teaching and learning materials for secondary school students in printed and electronic format. 2007 – There were Procurement of Computers for Secondary Schools.

The Tanzania Computer Literacy for Secondary Schools Trust Fund (TCLSS) procures computers for secondary schools and helps them to set up computer laboratories 2010 – There was The Bright Education Trust Fund (BETF) initiative which developed the capacity of teachers and school administrators by teaching them how to use ICT to improve both classroom teaching and the administrative tasks of their respective schools.

Despite these initiatives by the government, many learning institutions from primary to higher learning institutions are conducting teaching and learning process with limited ICT facilities which include few computer laboratories with few computers, few computer access points, limited electricity supply, inadequate infrastructure, the cost of bandwidth is still out of reach of many schools.

To address some technological difficulty, Tanzania inked a Chinese leading technology provider–Huawei in 2015 as the official advisor in the field of ICT. The agreement saw the two developing ‘Seeds for the Future Programme’.

Huawei Managing Director Mr Bruce Zhang Yongquan noted his firm was completely dedicated to the development of ICT industry in Tanzania and to the development of Mobile Broadband services. “Huawei has trained many professional and technical personnel for Tanzania.

This year Huawei invited 10 students to China for cultural exchange and ICT training, to bridge the digital divide for Tanzania and in the future, the firm will continue to cooperate with their partners to empower Tanzania through ICT.”

The program will produce 10 students each year that will be dispatched to its headquarters in Beijing to shape their expertise. The arrangement is designed to take ten years according to Mr Yongquan.

Dar es Salaam — Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) is planning to start at least 11 new regular routes including Dodoma after receiving the two new aircraft expected next month.

The state-run airline currently flies only two routes – Kigoma and Comoros – with only one aircraft but the new fleet is expected to restore the company’s business competitiveness, according to acting managing director Mr Patrick Itule.

Tanzania signed agreement with Canadian Bombadier to purchase two commercial aircraft – D8 Q400 and they are expected to arrive in the third or fourth week of September this year.

“As a company we are expecting a smooth run after the planes’ arrival and we will be logged in a competitive business since our long time biggest challenge which is the shortage of planes would be solved, ” promised Mr Itule in a statement issued yesterday.

“The company will not be willing to tolerate employees who fail to conform to the current pace of change,” he stressed.

President Dr John Pombe Magufuli has promised to replenish the ailing ATCL fleet and return it to its lost glory. He said will revive the national flag carrier.

The planes are currently undergoing final touches by the Canadian Bombardier Company, he said.

Some of the destinations the company would conduct its regular flights include Dodoma, Mwanza, Arusha, Mbeya, Kigoma, Tabora, Mpanda, Kilimanjaro, Mtwara, Zanzibar, Pemba, Bukoba and Comoros Islands.

However, he stressed that the mentioned destinations and many more will be established basing on the company’s business feasibility study.

According to Mr Itule, company already has created a task force that oversees various issues including preparations of human resource in order to conform to the current business requirements.

Geneva, Switzerland — Africa’s social development indicators reveal a paradox: high unemployment and poverty coexisting with robust growth. Industrialization and trade are two key instruments playing a major role in economic growth performance having the potential to structurally transform Africa economies.  The goal of trade-induced industrialization must also guide the conduct, negotiations and implementation of trade and investment agreements and arrangements.

In order to provide interested stakeholders with a better understanding of how trade can serve as an instrument of accelerated industrialization and structural transformation in Africa, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) together with the Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), has partnered with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to offer an instructor-led e-Learning course based on ECA’s Economic Report for Africa 2015 (ERA 2015).

he number of participants is limited to 125 persons. Until the registration deadline, participants are accepted to the course free of charge on a rolling basis and subject to availability of slots. A certificate of completion will be issued to all participants who successfully complete the course.

Further information and online registration are available at https://www.unitar.org/event/full-catalog/economic-report-africa-2015-industrialization-through-trade-0.

Registration is open until 9 September 2016 subject to availability.

New York–Close to half-a-billion dollars in US development funding for Tanzania remains in limbo despite the Obama administration’s recent announcement of a $407 million aid package for the country, US officials say.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US government entity that gives conditional grants to developing countries, is continuing its freeze a $473 million development “compact” for Tanzania, an MCC spokeswoman tells The Citizen on Sunday.

Suspension of planning for the initiative was announced in March. MCC officials said then that the Tanzania government’s conduct of elections in Zanzibar and its application of the Cybercrimes Act put the country out of compliance with US criteria for Millennium Challenge assistance.

The US embassy in Dar es Salaam had announced two days earlier that the Obama administration would be providing Tanzania with $407 million in new aid.
That money is being allocated by the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) and is separate from the MCC compact.

The $407 million from Usaid represents the first tranche of a five-year programme intended to help empower Tanzanian women and youth and to sustain inclusive economic growth. The funding also seeks to improve democratic governance in Tanzania, US officials say.

The success of the initial compact with Tanzania led MCC to agree tentatively in 2012 to provide the additional $473 million that is now being withheld. MCC’s board of directors said in March that planning for that compact was being suspended because elections in Zanzibar earlier that month had been “neither inclusive nor representative.”

In addition, the Cybercrimes Act was being used to “limit freedom of expression and association,” MCC said.

The decision by the MCC board means the government will have to carry the burden alone or shelve some of the projects that are key to the energy, infrastructure and agricultural sectors development plans over the next few years. The government was, however, quick to give a reassurance that plans were underway to cover the gap.

At a time when Africa has bold aspirations, through Agenda 2063, to confront large scale challenges like the ascendant demographic curve, green industrialization and domestic resource mobilization, it is imperative that innovation be inclusive in order to facilitate the creation of decent jobs, generate investments, and contribute to the continent’s structural transformation. As a late comer, Africa has the advantage to leapfrog technologies, learn from others mistakes and reinvent things differently in a way that promotes sustainability as well as inclusiveness. But to succeed, deliberate policies are badly needed.

With this backdrop, the book “Innovation Africa: Emerging Hubs of Excellence” is a must read. Authors, Olugbenga Adesida, Geci Karuri-Sebina and João Resende-Santos not only illustrate Africa’s experience with innovation to date but also point to its power for transformation. From the very onset, one is reminded that “Africa is no longer the place it was in the past … the technological innovations taking place on the continent today offer the promise of transforming African countries from trading mainly in materials and commodities to trading in knowledge-intensive products.”

The book posits that the popular “Africa rising” narrative originates from external (non-African) perspectives vis a vis what economic development and innovation systems means for the continent. By default, this perspective ignores many of the realities and opportunities that actually exist on the continent. The book however offers a refreshing alternative; a Pan-African narrative and prospective framework to address the challenges of development as well as underdevelopment to match the African context. For instance, the authors advocate for the development of inclusive innovation systems; the practice of self-reliance as opposed to dependency; and the importance for strengthened human and institutional capacity which includes the richness of the African culture and its endogenous potential.

Through a medley of nine case studies, from Nollywood’s rise to Algeria’s steel industry, sizeable innovations from hubs across different regions of the continent, are showcased. The success factors as well as lessons learned are analysed and concrete policy recommendations offered on what must be done differently going forward. It becomes clear to the reader that Africa has the ability as well as potential to innovate and that there are a multiplicity of the players driving innovation. For example, the study of Cape Verde’s successful electronic government led by public sector, illustrates how policy driven innovation has reduced the costs and time of doing business and worked-well in the context of a small island developing country.

An analysis of the mobile technology innovation ecosystem in Kenya demonstrates how a combination of deliberate policies, infrastructure development as well as having the government in the lead, have been instrumental in providing the enabling institutional and macroeconomic environment needed for the innovation to thrive. The story of Ghana’s Suame Magazine illustrates how the informal sector and its artisans have been key in the emergence of one of the country’s most important industrial zones specialising in engineering and manufacturing. While a study on the Palm Residue Industry in Egypt showcases how innovation has transformed agricultural by-products into a local treasure with social and economic benefits spearheaded by the academic sector in cooperation with the private sector and local community.

A clear take away is that for innovation to mature, thrive and be valued, it must be supported by a conducive ecosystem. More must be done if Africa is to fully harness innovation systems and compete in the new world economy. In turn the book offers a menu of the deliberate policies needed in order to step up the pace of innovation in Africa, making it a treasure trove for policy makers, academics, business leaders and the public at large.

There is an exciting opportunity just around the corner to make Africa the continent of the future if we just pay attention to the messages of this book.

 

Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) issued Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders last month that focuses on the myriad of benefits that aviation brings to the world today and well into the future. GE Aviation spoke with Michael Gill, ATAG Executive Director about the report’s findings and how aviation can continue its sustainable growth.

Why did ATAG release this report?

Michael Gill: Aviation really is a unique industry. We are the only mode of transport that can move people and goods to almost anywhere else in the world within a day. Without air transport, today’s global economy would look very different. The purpose of Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders is to show the impact that global air transport has on the modern world. Air travel has become so widespread that people can sometimes take for granted just how important it is. As well as being a major employer and driver of economic growth, aviation also generates significant social benefits, which are explored in the report.

However, air transport also comes with an environmental cost. What we argue in this report is the need for balance. We need to address the issue of aircraft CO2 emissions, while retaining the undoubted and numerous benefits of air travel. And this is exactly what the whole industry is striving to achieve.

The report details very interesting facts about aviation’s impact on global economic growth and forecasts aviation-supported jobs worldwide will increase to more than 99 million and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to $5.9 million in the next 20 years. But it states that to achieve these benefits will require appropriate support from governments. What type of support is needed?

Michael Gill: ATAG’s members, which represent all sectors of the aviation industry (airlines, airports, manufacturers and air traffic management), all agree that support from governments and intergovernmental institutions is vital if the industry is to grow, particularly in a sustainable manner. In 2015, all sectors of the industry joined together to deliver an open letter to representatives of all the world’s governments. The letter focused on five main requests:

• Investment in and reform of the air traffic management systems;
• Continued support for research into new technology, operational measures and sustainable alternative fuels;
• Improvements in intermodal transport planning;
• Institution of the right policy framework to help accelerate the availability of sustainable alternative fuels; and
• Agreement on a global market-based measure for aviation emissions at the 2016 ICAO Assembly.

These requests all have an environmental focus and would allow the sector to continue to grow in a sustainable manner, but there are other measures governments can take to maximize the economic contribution of the air transport sector. Easing or removing restrictive tax regimes and signing international open skies agreements are steps that governments could easily take to support the industry and reap its many benefits.

How is the report being used by governments?

Michael Gill: The previous reports have been sent to governments and other regional institutions such as the African Union, and we are always happy to see facts and figures included in speeches and reports. But more importantly, when the full range of benefits are gathered together and put on paper, we hope that governments will take stock and consider just how important the aviation industry is and appreciate the need to support its role in the modern world.

Sustainable development is also a key theme in the report. What does this mean for the aviation industry, and how is the industry supporting this set of 17 goals, which were announced by the United Nations as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Michael Gill: When we sat down to plan this report and decided on using the Sustainable Development Goals as a theme, we were struck by how aviation plays at least some part in supporting 14 of the 17 goals. Goals such as ‘decent work and economic growth’ and ‘industry, innovation and infrastructure’ are clearly supported by aviation, but other less obvious goals such as ‘good health and well-being’ or ‘quality education’ can also be aided by aviation. We want to take this quick analysis for the Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders report even further and are exploring ways that we can have a more comprehensive look at the way air transport can support the goals.

What are the key challenges for the aviation industry now and in the future?

Michael Gill: The main challenge for aviation now and in the coming decades is without a doubt sustainable development, but it is a challenge that the whole industry is committed to meeting. We are keenly awaiting the outcome of this year’s ICAO Assembly, where we hope an agreement on a global offsetting scheme for aviation emissions will be made, allowing us to meet our goal of carbon-neutral growth from 2020. However, this is only meant to be a temporary measure.

We, as an industry, have the long-term ambition to halve aviation’s net CO2 emissions by 2050, based on 2005 levels. With billions of dollars being put into technological research and the commercialization of sustainable alternative fuels, we are confident this goal can be achieved. As ever, the support of governments is needed to help us in this endeavor.

Bissau — A Chinese fishing vessel, Hai Feng, will be used to supply fish to Guinea Bissau’s internal market as from Friday, Guinea Bissau’s Fisheries Minister Fernando Correia Landim said Thursday.

“The Chinese vessel will henceforth supply fish to the internal market so that every citizen can access fish products at an affordable price,” Landim said after taking part in operations to offload fish from the Chinese vessel at the Bissau port.

He said the government will avail over 200 tons of fish on the domestic market under an agreement signed with China.

A kilogram of fish that currently costs 650 CFA Francs (1.1 U.S. dollar) on the internal market will henceforth be sold at 500 CFA Francs.

The minister said this partnership with China will enable the Guinea Bissau government to create ideal conditions for supply of fish to the internal market.

On Thursday, Hai Feng vessel offloaded 142 tons of fish, but Guinea Bissau fishmongers urged the government to redouble efforts to supply more fish on the internal market.

Guinea Bissau has in the past experienced a shortage of fish due to lack of fishing vessels in the country.

China and the European Union are the country’s principle partners in the fishing sector.