Southern and Eastern Africa Policy Research

Southern and Eastern Africa Policy Research Network (SEAPREN) was a network of six research institutions who were engaged in strengthening policy analysis in their home countries. The network was established in Gaborone, Botswana November 1999.

The aim of the Network was to collaborate on national and regional research projects and capacity building; exchange best practices and mutual learning in research as well as institutional management; and monitor international developments and new approaches within the field of policy analysis to ensure that network members used best practices and techniques.

The network was driven by a Secretariat, which was housed at the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF). The responsibility of the Secretariat was to ensure that the network was managed effectively and efficiently, and was properly resourced at all times. The network took off in 2002 with the seed funding provided by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The IDRC generously funded several meetings of the network and thus was instrumental in its creation. On 24 Janaury 2003, IDRC contributed a Grant to the value of US$ 250,000 for a period of 18 months. These core funds allowed the network to start its activities in the fields of collaborative research, training and dissemination.

African Business Leadership

The company owner, who’s well informed, is more likely to achieve success in the very long run. To have a very good place within the African small business market, it is crucial to get a suitable small business plan. There’s also an issue that numerous companies prefer to receive their people together from different workplaces either across the nation or from farther afield on a normal basis to talk about the business and where it might go. Actually, there isn’t a business within the country that isn’t affected. Actually, this one has already been done by several of the most prosperous businesses within the nation.

Most African small business venture are now in the complete process of small business transformation. It’s something which is required for every African small business aspirants. Practically speaking, African region has developed from a risky small business place to quite a profitable one. After the business is successful, this really isn’t a great deal of problem as the industry owner basks within the glory of their success.

It is now more significant than ever for senior small business executives in marketing or company strategy to genuinely understand the fundamental shifts happening within the digital landscape. So long As the fundamental requirements are satisfied, companies that list themselves in African small business directory companies have the capacity to open doors for further direct sales to other members. Much like other small business directory assistance, African small business directory providers provide rather detailed listings of member companies that fit into various different categories. After all, good leads can become new clients, who can become continuing clients and certainly will be the dollars which come in to maintain your business afloat.

Quick start businesses are designed to last. In business you got to maintain market share after you achieve it. These are advice on ways to get the most out from listing your company on directories. Enjoy yourself, your enterprise and also your everyday living. What many African businesses fail to do is to look outside their local market, the internet enables them to reach out to customers all over the world yet often this opportunity is ignored. There are still challenges and difficulties for operating a digital based business from Africa, problems include filtering, censorship and accessing payment processors many who don’t allow African customers. Most of these can be solved though by hiding your location through a proxy or VPN – this post entitled the best VPN for Netflix explains how it’s done.

The life of any excellent business is based on its plan. In beginning any business, you ought to form a small business plan. A small business plan is likely to assist you to set goals. You might not know about how great your business can grow until you’ve tried this.

Note that this sort of business strategy is helpful not merely in marketing but in addition in making your company. But if you really will make use of the proper marketing ideas then you’ll surely expand your small business in almost no time in any respect. However, by consulting business experts, you’ll somehow produce a good game. And what’s more, they would like to work with people whom they like.

Should you be in any way unhappy or dissatisfied with your own life or your company, you have to re-ignite your initial vision or create a brand-new one. The difference is, in case your vision isn’t articulated, you cannot include it in your organization plan. The part of a leader is crucial, it can tell wherever your group or company is going. This positions the group within an advantaged place to grab many small business opportunities. Always retain your professional conduct, as you’ll be assessed regarding your suitability for a business partner, particularly during the very first meeting. It’s a rewarding career which won’t only enable you to succeed in your endeavors, but will likewise permit you to help countless individuals reach their goals too.

The Development of Africa

Regardless of where Africans were in a world, their circumstances are basically precisely the same. Crime is a significant issue facing African Americans. Nothing may be achieved less the sacrifice of the folks, African folks. The truth is that African history is the heart of world history.
Education should really be a fundamental right for every single African child. Poverty can be associated with academic achievement in the USA. Most importantly, African unity has to be encouraged, it generally does not have to be said that it’s the African folks who are poor.”

Most African rulers are poor duplicates of Western imperialism regarding ideas about how to rule. But then, just as there are numerous ways to things Fage will not mention or doesn’t appear to know, in spite of how in some European liberal circles he’s taunted among the leading scholars of African history. Provided that our own history isn’t intimately and inextricably entwined with everything we do, with each study we undertake, isn’t represented within our Universe, within our buildings as well as our walls, within our houses and streets, then we must study history more consciously than do the Europeans. In reality, it’s difficult for Middle-class Africans to co-operate in virtually any area endeavor.

If there is freedom, the government is for the folks and by the folks, since the individuals govern themselves. If Africans want capitalism, they’ll to develop their very own concept and approach to it, and they’re going to need to do something similar in respect to communism and socialism. They dont understand that there may be a politics beyond party politics. This wasn’t taken well by the folks and also the collective sentiment resulted in a call for liberation.

Higher deficit in the present account is an alternative outcome of high unemployment within the economy. As a result of crisis several of the African countries didn’t get the targets within their production and export revenues. Mutasa said that COSATU has had lots of power previously concerning shaping South African policy. Because of this, New France never created as a colony for settlers.

The banking sector needs to have the ability to cope up with the present pace of the modern-day developments in the world financial system. African countries must keep up a strong economic and fiscal system with the capacity of coping together with the current global financial order. The implications project the lengthy term impacts of the crisis within the continent which might fuel the present food insecurity into the future too. These influence the food security and access to clean water in a lot of the African countries.

The entry of particular products to the African economy was restricted in a lot of the countries within the continent. This would seem to become an excellent boost to the African economy, however once again it’s the specific opposite. Oftentimes Africans aren’t even employed using their own particular skill sets. There are an increasing number of digital entrepreneurs however even then they are at a disadvantage needing tools to get things like an English IP address to hide their actual location. African countries should take urgent step to enhance the banking sector to be able to keep the economic stability by lessening the credit score risk.

A lot of the countries on the planet today fall within the category of creating countries. Therefore, the final outcome with respect to financial gain improves the GDP of the nation. Many countries have proposed significant escalation in public spending within their budget. To develop into developmental States, African countries need to revise their social policies.

James Graham
Author, Blogger and Economist
Also a cricket fan – How to Listen to TMS abroad

BBC Strengthens Links in Africa

The commercial arm of the UK’s national broadcaster the BBC gas struck a deal with a South African company called Rapid Blue. The company is a a rising star in the production world responsible for the African versions of X-Factor and Pawn Stars. BBC Worldwide has actually bought an investment stake in the company although there were no specific financial details released.

It appears that the investment in Rapid Blue demonstrates a desire for the BBC to expand into Africa. The company is obviously already very well known throughout Africa particularly through it’s World Service broadcasts which are listened to extensively throughout the continent.

Rapid Blue was established in 1993 and is based in South Africa, Nigeria and Angola. It specialises in original productions and translating international TV formats for the African and South African markets. Much of their productions are broadcast outside Africa though and making their content for an international market has been part of their success.

The BBC has in fact been working with Rapid Blue for some time already producing such shows as the Weakest Link and an African version of the popular Bake Off series. There is an increasing demand for local content across Africa, which has previously been satisfied with programmes from the European and US market. However it is this demand that the BBC Worldwide hope to tap into and obviously they have a huge catalogue at their disposal to act as a blueprint for the African market.

Many people in Africa already watch the BBC and other UK TV stations online by using a British VPN to bypass the blocks on watching outside the UK. In fact it is estimated that many thousands use the BBC iPlayer service regularly despite it being technically inaccessible from Africa. It is hoped that the BBC will be able to tap into this potential demand with broadcast actually made for the South African market.

Is Africa Suffering From Global Problems?

We often have great news to report on this site with regards the African economy. There are many positive economic and social stories from across the continent, apart from a few obvious problem areas like Zimbabwe. However there are some worrying economic indicators that suggest that the growth in Africa is not continuing unaffected by the general global problems.

Last year, African exports to China fell a massive 38% whereas in the other direction Africa imported more than 3.6% more – obviously not good news for African suppliers and producers. Worst still in many ways was that foreign direct investment fell by about 40% in the first half of the year, without such investment infrastructure changes that are still needed will move very slowly.

Obviously China has suffered it’s own problems over the last 12 months and in some ways it highlights how dependent African growth is on the Chinese economy. It is not inevitable that a Chinese slowdown will be matched by one in the African economy however it is very likely particularly as other countries are similarly affected and hence less likely to invest and buy from African businesses.

Of course, investment is dependent on all sorts of considerations and in the past political instability has been one of the major problems. Nowadays that is less of a problem in most countries but it has been replaced by other issues such as terrorism and climate change. The effect of climate change has actually been cited by the World Economic Forum as one of the biggest risks to world economic development and in Africa especially.

Ethiopia which has enjoyed some great economic success is now experience the biggest drought in decades, IN Zambia there are issues with power deficits and problems with a weak currency. Fiscal deficits and currency shortages are affecting many countries such as Angola and Nigeria. There are a host of other problems which are severely impacting the African economic growth potential too.

The good news that despite challenging global economic and local issues, the fundamentals that have attracted high levels of investment to Africa still remain. There is a still a massive potential in the continent and there has definitely been improvement in overall levels of education, health and infrastructure in most countries. Yet attracting more investment to Africa is essential and it will take more than a simple slidehow video maker to bring the sort of finance required to make a real impact.

The story has changed in Africa and yet the positive developments over the last few years means that success is still possible, It is important that African governments continue to transform their economies and invest wisely in their businesses. It is likely that economic development could be fuelled by the agricultural sector – the one area where Africa has a potentially huge competitive advantage over the rest of the world.

John Collins

http://www.changeipaddress.net/

ISIS Target African Tourism

Latest figures suggest that the recent terrorist attacks by the Islamic State have had a significant effect on tourism in parts of Northern Africa. These countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco rely on tourism heavily and millions rely on these visitors to support themselves and their families.

The figures make depressing reading, despite an overall upwards trend in International tourism, visitors to North Africa have fallen by nearly 5%. However certain countries have been affected disproportionately such as Tunisia and Egypt due to the direct attacks on those countries. Beach resorts such as Sharm el-Sheikh have previously been regarded as a secure and safe place for a foreign holiday, However when the passenger jet was loaded with a bomb at the resorts airport then that perception changed overnight. Tunisia has also been affected by the Sousse arrack where 38 people were killed by a Islamist gunman.

The attack on Tunisia was particularly devastating as there was a previous attack at the Bardo museum were 22 people were killed. The whole area has been subject to the political instability following the Arab spring and there have been many initiatives to bring tourism back to the area.

The problem is that attacking tourism is an effective tactic for terrorists who want to destabilise these areas. The fear of repeat attacks is enough to have a dramatic effect on tourism anywhere in the world but especially in those places with a less established police and security infrastructure.

Many travel firms and tourists will simply use the advice from the Foreign office, particularly those from the UK. Even travellers from other countries will follow the UK guidelines as many use the British media like the BBC using an England based proxy to access them. For example currently the information on Tunisia suggests that ‘further terrorist attacks are possible’ – hardly the sort of backdrop people want for a relaxing holiday. Although guidance suggests that you should be safe people are not likely to be persuaded by the need to be ‘especially vigilant’.

The problem is that individual attacks are usually quickly forgotten by travellers after all they could happen anywhere, but when there are multiple attacks in a short period of time such as in Tunisia the effect is much more entrenched in people’s perceptions.

There will always be holiday destinations which are affected by political, economic and social unrest so it’s best to keep informed and do your research before travelling.

Helen Cartwright

UK TV Guide

Paynet Awarded New Security Certification

Electronic payments supplier Paynet has received the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a vital security certification in the monetary and payment sector.

The award ensures that card management center and the Paynet substitution are safest surroundings managing sensitive payments data belonging to customers, authorities and fiscal institutions.

“I can actually say that in my 27 years in Information Technology, we’ve never undertaken this type of complicated endeavor given the extensive payment services that Paynet offers. Certifying conformity to the international standard needed executing new variants of applications, hardware and applications at each stage alongside some other 350 new processes and procedures. We’re pleased to direct Kenya as well as the East African banking and payment card business right into a world of high security payments,” remarked Mr Matthewman.

Paynet places the biggest monetary substitution in the East Africa region. This peerless switch is utilized by over 72 banks in the area. It powers millions of ATM established MPESA withdrawals for Vodacom in Safaricom and Tanzania and the interlinking of tens of thousands of ATMs to the PesaPoint inter-bank network.

Based on an updated registry of service providers by Visa and MasterCard and other international card partners, Paynet is now a “Level 1 service provider” and the only institutions certified because of this rigorous security certification in Kenya. Card processors as well as switch providers, banks must certify because of this standard to ensure protection of consumers of Debit, Credit, ATM Cards.

Paynet lately formed business mix with Interswitch Transnational in an East- West payments partnership that will further expand the region’s pan-African payments vision.

It will be a welcome improvement for the ever growing digital industry in many Eastern African countries. Such businesses have been at a significant disadvantage particularly when trying to make or receive payments online with accounts often refused or declined. In fact many African entrepreneurs try to hide their location in order to open accounts, a typical tactic is to use something like a UK VPN such as this one, which enables people to operate online as if they were from the UK.

PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) is an open global forum, started in 2006, that’s responsible for the development, direction, instruction, and comprehension of the PCI Security Standards, including the Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Payment Application Data Security Standard (PADSS), and PIN Transaction Security (PTS) requirements. The Council’s five founding international payment brands — American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard, and Visa Inc. — have agreed to incorporate the PCI DSS as the technical necessities of each of their data security compliance programs.

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