Reposted from The Globe and Mail
By Geoffrey York
Here is the finale of the Africa Next series by Geoffrey York. Here how Geoffrey got the idea for this series:
From a recent chat.
It came from seeing all the hype by investment banks and business executives about “Africa Rising” and the “Africa boom.” We know that the official growth numbers are impressive — 7 of the 10 fastest-growing countries in the world are African — but I wanted to know what it really means for ordinary Africans. Are they benefiting from the boom? Are they getting jobs from the foreign investment in mining and oil? Or is it primarily for the benefit of foreign owners?
PART 1: What is gained and lost as investment outpaces aid
PART 2: Russians building luxury homes in Congo? Get used to it
PART 3: The hotel magnate who used to hide from rebels
PART 4: Weary of handouts, Africans try enterprise
PART 5: The impact of the new land grab
NOW: How the boom can transform Africa
Within sight of the biggest gold mine in Burkina Faso, hundreds of children are slipping silently into starvation.
They live in flimsy wattle or mud huts in a scrub wasteland. They help their parents scrounge for flecks of gold in the sand. And every month, hundreds are so malnourished that they need emergency food at the village clinic – just a short walk from the perimeter of the massive high-tech gold mine, owned by a Canadian company.
I’ve seen the same contrasts and inequities across Africa: poverty and hunger in the shadow of gleaming new mines and plantations; luxury hotel towers rising near crowded slums; villagers gaining jobs from multinational projects while others lose their land; local entrepreneurs capitalizing on the economic growth even as most of the profits go to foreign shareholders. Continue reading “Africa’s investment boom offers valuable lessons (PART XI)”