Structural Stability is a particular focus for reconceptualizing developmental strategy and development aid and has provoked unfore-seen responses in the course of a recent, mainly German debate. This debate began late in 2000 when a number of prominent German scholars in African Studies initiated a policy dialogue through a widely circulated and publicly discussed "Afrika Memorandum" centred on the notion of structural stability. Its arguments are relevant not only to a German audience but offer stimulating and thought-provoking inputs into the debate in the wider European context on bilateral and multilateral relations with Africa.This Discussion Paper presents the revised contributions to a Consultative Workshop on Structural Stability in an African Context that took place at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala on 31 March and 1 April 2003.
With its “Compact with Africa”, the German G20 Presidency intends to encourage private institutional and corporate investment, together with the African partners. The objective is to boost growth and jobs, promote inclusion and give people economic perspectives at home so that they do not have to leave their home country to seek subsistence elsewhere. Stimulating private sustainable investment in Africa has been a longstanding G20 policy target. Total assets managed by long-term institutional investors are projected to reach $100 trillion by 2020, up from $62 trillion just eight years earlier. To fill Africa’s annual infrastructure funding gap of $50 billion, one percent of new institutional investment by pension funds, life insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds would need to be invested in Africa’s infrastructure every year. Yet, despite the longstanding policy focus of G7/20 leaders, private long-term investment in Africa’s infrastructure has remained deficient. Private finance still plays a minority role in funding Africa’s infrastructure. Regulatory supply-side barriers for investors and low-income Africa host barriers are identified as root causes. To help improve the situation, appropriate dialogue partners not envisaged so far are identified, especially prudential regulators. As for low-income Africa, the paper recommends realism: Most African countries are at the first two steps of the Infrastructure Funding Escalator, where public investment and concessionary aid remain the major funding sources. FDI inflows produce important effects which go beyond spillovers to domestic firms. But while some middle-income African countries have managed to enter global value chains, it is shown that the transfers of technology and spillover effects are still limited, especially in low-income Africa; a systematic trend can hardly be identified. In order to drive structural transformation in Africa, some policy prerequisites are seen as key: apart from political and macroeconomic stability, improved transport systems and energy access to generate agglomeration benefits and industrial clusters. Regional economic integration is essential for Africa to realize its full growth potential. The paper suggests crucial elements of a favourable investment climate (such as access to finance and imported inputs, enforcement of contracts, reliable regulatory standards, improved infrastructure) for local firms and foreign investors, to raise the potential of upgrading in global value chains through tax incentives and local content requirements, and the formation of industrial clusters.
Abstract: The verdict on the Compact with Africa (CwA) in its third year is that private cross-border equity flows have not materialised and neither have domestic resources been mobilised. The African countries are not to blame, as their governance scores have improved. Currently, it seems that the CwA is primarily owned by civil servants from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Moreover, neither the private corporate sector nor institutional investors seem to have fully bought into the CwA. The CwA fails to stimulate inclusive growth. The weakesses of the CwA approach illustrate the need for a new agenda for development cooperation
In "Schatten im Licht" entfaltet sich eine fesselnde Geschichte über Geheimnisse und verborgene Wahrheiten. Die Protagonistin wird in ein Netz aus Intrigen und Emotionen verwickelt, während sie versucht, ihre eigene Identität zu finden. Die Erzählung spielt mit den Themen von Licht und Schatten, sowohl im wörtlichen als auch im übertragenen Sinne, und beleuchtet die Komplexität menschlicher Beziehungen. Durch eine packende Handlung und tiefgründige Charaktere wird der Leser auf eine emotionale Reise mitgenommen, die zum Nachdenken anregt.
Die 26 Geschichten entführen den Leser ins Dorf Waabs und auf die Halbinsel Schwansen, wo sie die tiefgreifenden Veränderungen in der Landwirtschaft und im Dorfleben beleuchten. Themen wie Gutsbesitzer, Pastoren, die Nazizeit und die Liebe werden ebenso behandelt wie die Einflüsse von Wind, Wetter und der Energiewende. Zudem wird der Rock'n Roll im Norden thematisiert und die Beziehung der Menschen zur Weite des Meeres dargestellt. Die Erzählungen bieten einen facettenreichen Blick auf die Region und ihre Bewohner.
