The World Of Work 2006 Team

The CIBA Business Forum 2007

2007-04-11T10:48:00.000+02:00

At the end of March this year I attended the China-India-Brazil-Africa business forum on enhancing trade and investment flows. This conference was aimed at bringing together delegates from these countries, whether they own their own businesses, work for big corporates, government officials etc. The main focus was enhancing South-South economic activities between the above mentioned countries.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is the main source of capital and technology flow from developed to developing (South) nations. But in recent years the global economy has witnessed an increasing number of FDI transactions between developing nations. Developing nations acquire well known global companies, and there are a growing number of transnational corporations (TNC’s) from developing countries.

China’s outward FDI (OFDI) has been remarkable, and it is mostly invested in oil, natural gas and minerals. Also, investments in services are growing. Most of China’s outward investments go to developing nations.

India is a significant OFDI source, especially in the IT, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and natural resources sector.

Brazil is one of the leading outward investor from developing countries, and they have been actively investing abroad, primarily in energy and mining.

South Africa is the largest OFDI source in Africa. In 2004, the amount reached an all-time high of USD 29 billion. This is a 67% share of the region’s OFDI stock.

It is remarkable to see how South-South relations are strengthening. It is causing a great shift in the global economy, where some of these developing nations are gaining political and economic influence. There are, however, some perceived problems with South -South investment. There is still the problem of poor logistics, burdensome customs procedures for trade in certain goods, and the distance amongst these countries, but once these logistics and barriers are overcome, and more aggressive free trade agreements are developed, can South-South trade continue to grow even faster.

The emerging markets like these are moving and growing faster than the G10. E.g. emerging market Asia is the key in manufacturing, and a country like Mexico is expanding even more into North America. And seeing that FDI is the largest source of foreign financing, it is very healthy for the developing nations where a transfer of technology and managerial skills is at the forefront of gaining economic growth. This can even be the start of a shift in regional economic dominance by the North.

The importance of South-South cooperation should be highlighted and reminded to all of those involved in the process. It spurs environmental, social, employment, technology and investment benefits, and it increase availability of low-cost high-quality goods. But most of all, it can finally start narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor.

Permanent job

2007-02-27T10:48:00.000+02:00

Bear with me on this entry, it might be a long one since I haven’t blogged in ages. To those of you still out there reading our World of Work 2006 blogs, a big hi to all.

I haven’t blogged since September, but to try and make a long story short, things have been going very well in the past few months. My contract at RMB was once again extended in December 2006 for another six months. My supervisors, Michele and Taryn, also gave me the opportunity to go and look for other positions in the Bank which could be permanent instead of contract. Many colleagues, with whom I’ve become good friends, have helped me with the process of looking for another position by referring me to certain people or just generally giving me sound advice. It all paid off and I was referred to the Treasury department of the Bank. They were looking for a Political Risk Analyst. Mid-January I had an interview, and within a week I was told I was qualified for the position and my letter of appointment was set up. Sign, sealed, delivered.

I have learnt so many things the past 10 months. I have enjoyed every minute of working with my team and, even though I’m nervous of moving into a new team, I am very excited to broaden my network and learning new things. I would also like to comment on the generosity I have experienced while working at RMB. If it wasn’t for the help of my colleagues, especially my team and the great opportunities they gave me, I would not have been in the position I am now. It’s amazing to know that there are people out there rooting for you and hoping you will make a great success of your life. I am very excited to be a full-time employee at RMB. It has definitely lived up to its name of being the preferred employer.

It has almost been a year since I started the World of Work 2006 training programme, and it has definitely paid off to do the course. I got into an internship with the help of the programme, and even though I started off doing a job I didn’t understand and didn’t study, I ended up exactly where I wanted to be: Politics. It’s like they say, getting that foot in the door can help immensely. Good luck to those starting the training programme this year. It is well worth it.

Still going strong

2006-09-28T15:14:00.000+02:00

Work at RMB has been a great experience so far. The learning curve is steep and I’m enjoying every minute of learning new and interesting things. We have two new employees in our Change Management Team and they are great. We all get along very well. That is maybe my number one reason why I enjoy working here so much. My colleagues can make a long day feel like an hour and they are all very helpful. It’s a great feeling to be able to be innovative, take leadership in some of the little projects I do, and having fun at the same time.

It is quite shocking how long ago our team had contributed to this blog. I apologise to those who have been reading our blog entries (if there is anyone out there). Things have been going crazy lately, especially after my 3 month internship was done. That was about 2 months ago, and now I’m sitting typing from my computer at work. I’m sure everyone else in our team has just as hectic a schedule as mine. I’m hoping, and would love to hear, whether any more of our team members have found internships or permanent jobs. I’m positive all of you did, because we were a hard-working bunch. Please let me know what has been happening.

Opening the door to new opportunities

2006-07-31T15:33:00.000+02:00

Yes, its been a long time since I wrote a blog entry. I feel very guilty because lots have happened since my last entry and I haven’t shared it yet.

The last two weeks have been quite eventful. After Mpho and I finished our internship at Rand Merchant Bank, it was back to square one. But luckily I received a call from my supervisors at RMB saying they need me to help with some projects within the Change and Communications Team. So my contract got extended until December.

Since then things have been going very well. The project I am doing will start taking shape this week. I’m doing research at the moment and also little odds and ends which have to be finalised so I’m keeping quite busy. I’ve settled in quite nicely at RMB and have made many friends already. That’s the best part of working here. Last Saturday we had a “Christmas in July” party at my boss Michele’s house. It was great to socialise with my colleagues outside the office. It gives the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level.

I will definitely blog on my future experiences at RMB so watch this space. After reading Lesley Emanuel’s blog on our yahoo group mails about showcasing our employability, it made me realise how important it is to show your employability and using the opportunities we gain to the full. We’ve heard about networking and employability throughout the World of Work 2006 Programme and it was hard to understand it at that moment because hardly any of us ever experienced it seeing that we were recent graduates. The hard work has paid off and its not only my foot that’s in the door anymore, now I’ve got the opportunity to open the door wide and look for other doors to open.

Soccer world cup: some lessons to learn

2006-07-17T10:33:00.000+02:00

I am happy to be back to blogging after one month. Before I jump to sharing practical workdays, I would like to share some experiences from the soccer world cup in Germany, as it constitutes a special world of work in its own. Indeed, Germany 2006 has been not only a great time for entertainment but also a learning experience on success, competition, teamwork, passion, etc at both personal and corporate levels.

Over what was happening in the twelve German stadiums, many people were given an opportunity to voice their opinions. Three people attracted my attention by the way they related the world cup event to their careers, life, cultures and opinions: Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, and the Ivorian president Laurent Bagbo.

For Bagbo, probably sending a political message to French he accuse of over doing in his country’s affairs, Italy has proved to be an established and respectful soccer team in Europ. Maybe in a political message to Bush’ zeal in the fight against terrorism, Clinton said: “sometimes defense is better than offence”.

Our very own African brother, the UN general secretary Kofi Annan probably had one of the most inspiring words for this world cup:

“The World Cup makes us in the UN green with envy. As the pinnacle of the only truly global game, played in every country by every race and religion, it is one of the few phenomena as universal as the United Nations. You could even say it's more universal. FIFA has 207 members; we have only 191. But there are far better reasons to be envious… The United Nations fully relies on this language as it promotes fair play, which is the blueprint to build a better world … the World Cup is an event, which takes place on a level playing field, where every country has a chance to participate on equal terms. Only two commodities matter in this game: talent and teamwork. I wish we had that in the global arena… The World Cup is an event which everybody on the planet loves talking about…. They know who scored and how and in what minute of the game... I wish we had more of that sort of conversation in the world at large…Citizens consumed by the topic of how their country could do better on the Human Development Index, or in reducing the number of carbon emissions or new HIV infections”.

Soccer or sport in general has proved one more time its potential to induce love, peace, forgiveness, and to a certain extent development.

By the time the world is going to watch the first-ever African organized world cup, my wish is to see people being really mobilized to fight corruption, hunger, and unfair trade with the very same spirit and enthusiasm we saw in Germany. Would African people, led by civil society organizations, take a stance and start issuing yellow and red cards to politicians.

For wits WOW 2006 team, should we also learn passion from the players and have the same focus as Italian defenders not to commit the fatal mistake, should we also have that killer instinct of German strikers to always handle our tasks with tact and precision. There is a lot to learn from the career path of a soccer player given that this is the rare careers where workers, I mean players, achieve a lot in their young age and retire so young, mostly in their early thirties! We should not forget that despite their personal skills, soccer players work hard to be part of the national squad (23 players only). They also work had to be part of the fifteen for each game. They even work harder to fit in each game. So far, Wits Interns have good times and I hope all of us will fit in their host organizations or get something for long-term careers.

Cyrille

My Shared work Day

2006-07-14T10:36:00.000+02:00

On the 4th of July I visited Pascalia at Nedlac as a part of my internship programm. I was very excited, because it was a long time since the last time I saw her. I was also looking forward on knowing how she manages the pressure of being an Intern in a big company like that.

I got there at around ten in the morning. I had a privilege of spending few hours in her office. Where I sat and watched her as she was going about her work. At the time she was writing a short article that was going to be read by her managing director. She printed the page and she read it over and over again, just to see whether there were any spelling mistakes.

I have taken that experience along with me, now I do the same before submitting my work. After spending some time in her office we went downstairs in the meeting room. Where we had a meeting with her Supervisor. It was very interesting to me, because what they were talking about is something that we talk about in our meeting too. Maybe it is because we both managing projects and now I found out that we also experiencing same challenges.

It was relief for me to see that Pascalia was also encountering challenges as I did and she also had her own ways of solving them, although some of her solutions were not acceptable to her Supervisor. Then I thought to myself that challenges are always there. When we encounter them is not that we are incompetent,but it is because it's only our first working experience.

We just have to learn from our mistakes and move on. After the meeting we went back to her office where we shared ideas about how to design tables. Then she showed me her table, which I adopted. I’m glad that I got a chance to spend a day with Pascalia. I learned a lot from her. I hope that she also learned something from me as well

AICC workshop

2006-07-05T11:21:00.000+02:00

Last week I went to an exciting workshop, which was hosted by the AICC in partnership with Ernst & Young and first National bank. The workshop was on the value of sustainability reporting. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about reporting. Before this workshop I did not think much about reports, because I thought all reports were about financial matters.

The workshop was about encouraging companies to report on sustainable development http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org.za and not only financial matters. It was encouraging to see that companies were very interested in this trend even though some of them were a bit sceptical. Issues that were raised were that sustainable reporting and how it increases accountability and forces companies to act responsibly regarding environmental matters and socio-economic issues. I am sure that after that session a lot of companies were able to distinguish the difference between public relations and true reporting. My boss asked me to write a report about the workshop, and I am still waiting for the feedback.

The workshop was an eye opener for me, as I have started taking reports that we have in our office so that I can read them at home. I must say I found interesting things in some of the reports, one company in their report disclosed about the retrenchment of their staff. http://www.abnamro.com/sustainability/ . I thought to myself they are very brave, but the fact is that they were disclosing something which was true. This is one of the issues that the lady from Anglo was trying to make companies be aware off, to disclose everything in reports, no matter how bad it is.

The last month of our internship

2006-06-28T14:40:00.000+02:00

This week has been filled with administrative odds and ends. Its fun to do these things because it gives me a break from doing research and sitting behind the computer all day, which often takes its toll on the body. Our research on Change and Communications Management toolkits is going great and Mpho helps me a lot. This is the task we have been given right at the beginning of our internship and every now and then, between all the other tasks we have been given, we will sit down and concentrate on this work.

I’m very excited for next week. We are invited to a seminar on Change and Communications Management with our other supervisor, Michele Wickham. A couple of weeks ago she went to a worldwide conference on this specific topic in Colorado and is going to give us the feedback on Tuesday.

I’ve have loved working life so far. My daily routine never gets tedious and seeing friends for a quick drink after work is also great. Most of my friends work so all of us know that time is precious with your friends. I was also told the novelty of working life will wear off but so far I’m still enjoying every moment.

CSI - Corporate Social Investment

2006-06-19T13:56:00.000+02:00

Congratulations to all of those who are busy with their internships and those who have found a permanent job. But I must say I couldn’t expect anything less from our class. We all worked very hard to benefit from the training we have received.

I just want to give some information through to specifically Cyrille and also anybody who finds Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) an area of interest. To me its not only an area of interest but also an area of necessity for the South African economy and the companies who adopt this way of working.

I found great articles from my supervisor at work, Fiona McDonald, who is actually a consultant for Rand Merchant Bank. And part of her consulting is Corporate Social Responsibility. She gave me a journal to do some extra reading on the topic. It is called “Above Board – Africa’s Global Chronicle on Governance, Leadership and Ethics”. Fiona wrote an article on the importance of CSI and CSR called “The (Social) Butterfly Effect”. This article expresses the nature of these areas and explains that if companies invest in these two areas, the society who will benefit from this will in turn invest into South Africa’s economy, which in turn will increase, like Fiona says, the ‘brand position’ of the company. Here is a short extract from her article to explain it better:

“Investment in education, skills development, healthcare, literacy, child care, HIV/Aids, gender abuse and the like builds a society that can participate more effectively in the economy.

In doing this, we create more skilled employees, more consumers, a healthier nation with a longer lifespan – the ripple or butterfly effect – thus contributing to the economy for a longer period of time, and in a more valuable manner. And all the while, the brand position of the organisation is being enhanced.”

The Johannesburg Securities Exchange has a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index to identify which companies invest socially. This Index assists the JSE in choosing which company to invest in. Companies are ranked according to their achievements with regards to CSI and CSR. The JSE explains the bacground and selection criteria on their website at www.jse.co.za/sri/docs/Background%20and%20Criteria.final.06%2010%2003.pdf.

I thought you, Cyrille, might find this journal very interesting, and also the JSE website could give you more information so that you can incorporate this knowledge with your internship. There is still so much to say about this topic. And I do still think that many companies have not yet realised what a positive impact CSI will have on them and on the South African society as a whole. I think the whole process of the JSE SRI Index should be more publicised and companies who are part of the Index should be praised even more. What do you think could be done to increase investors and society’s interest?

Thanks to those who are still keeping this team blog running. Its great to see what everybody has to say and the interesting ideas and information coming through.

The World Of Work 2006 Team

2006-06-12T22:01:00.000+02:00

I’d like to continue from Mpho’s comments about women in the workplace. A good place to start is to shout out that our own Zanele Mdoda (intern 2006) organised "Take a girl to work" at De Beers!

There doesn’t seem to be a call for us to run into burning buildings or march as South African women did in 1956 when they protested against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act which required women to carry pass- books. South Africa has much to be proud of in the emancipation of women from the paternalistic mindset of apartheid. Most of the assumptions of chauvinism are at least adequately discredited to ensure they get little public exposure.

Girls are growing up with national role models who attest to their freedom to dream of success - as an academic, like Mamphela Ramphele; as a scientist, like Wits University mathematician Mamokgethi Setati; as a pilot, like Asnath Mahapa, or Transnet Group CEO Maria Ramos who has shattered glass ceilings in some sectors of South African business.

But the news is not all good.

As you point out Mpho, women bear the brunt of the Aids pandemic, it is women who routinely pick up the pieces of shattered relationships and bravely raise their children with little or no help from men who refuse to take responsibility for their offspring.

In the words of one woman activist: 'We are more than half the world's population, and we are the mothers of the other half.' As mothers and carers, as producers and farmers, the work of women supports their families and communities. Yet, throughout Africa and indeed the world, the poorest people in the community are predominantly women and their dependent children. Women, on the whole, often work for no pay at all and, if they are paid, they usually earn far less than men. Two-thirds of the illiterate people in the world are women and in Africa they are more than 50%. Women face increasing levels of violence, because of their gender, and half a million women world-wide die each year as a direct or indirect result of pregnancy.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that a pregnant woman with a child on her back and a twenty litre container of water on her head is certainly not weak, but I don’t think we African women have done enough since August 9, 1956 when some 20 000 women joined in the march for their rights, singing "You have struck the women, you have struck a rock." I don’t think we as African women have said anything with such passion since that time.

I think a good place to start, would be to start small. The list for the 100 Best South Africans has apparently been scrapped. I think that’s a good thing. I think we are intimidated by big names, words and deeds. So much so that we don’t appreciate how important it is to do small things and thereby contribute. Greeting people on the street, not buying stolen goods, recycling waste, not drawing the curtains when you hear signs of abuse next door, or simply giving the guy with the cardboard at the robot a smile, is as important as launching a programme to eradicate poverty. Another good place to start would be to value work that women do beyond and outside of the commercial arena.

Gone for a learning experience

2006-06-11T16:18:00.000+02:00

In the last comment I left in Celeste’s blog I promised two posts on the globalization debate by addressing in one the good side and the bad side in the other blog. I do apologize for not keeping that promise because this was another opportunity for creating rooms for more debate in this blog. My focus during the last two weeks was a little bit far from that topic but I will be working on that very soon

As for this post, there is something that I picked from Yoliswa and Mpho on their posts of last week. It relates to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is my current focus.

Indeed, there is a growing concern in national and international debates as to how companies should respond to social and environmental issues in the environment they operate. Many governments’ policies are more and more prone to that and corporations are also committing to that. The idea behind is sustainable development, which is defined as development that meets the needs of present generations without threatening the needs of future generations.

The reason why this is my present area of interest is that I got an internship with Central African Gold, a mining company with some of its operations in some francophone countries such as Mali, and the DRC. Part of my internship responsibilities there is to advice the company on social and environmental concerns that relate to their activities. Mostly, how the company can contribute towards achieving the goals of sustainable development and promote social well-being and community development where it has operations.

What I liked most is that this responds to my expectations of gaining some practical exposure to a diverse environment, the case here French and English cultures alike, people with diverse background, etc. The other thing that makes me happy is the expectation of being assigned some tasks related to development and poverty alleviation. The ride is quite interesting, the environment convivial and I feel very happy about this learning opportunity.

I just hope that this soccer world cup is not going to take all my spare time and prevent me from blogging!

Women emancipation

2006-06-09T08:18:00.000+02:00

Some could argue that the status of women is still not well presented in the workplace spectrum and other spheres of life in most African countries. It is also evident that the problem that women face today differs from the problems that they faced in the yester years.The problems that South African women faced then in the1950s can be described as “trivial” matters in today’s times because then they had problems such as housing, food prices, and permits. In this era South African women are faced with a wide range of issues such as poverty, domestic violence, child abuse, HIV/AIDS, unemployment gender discrimination, etc.

It is when facing such situations that women stand up for themselves within the community to take up these challenges. South African history notices that women from all backgrounds have been the building block for transformation. Women in the township especially have been very active in fighting some of the problems they face. Through the movements that they form such as “stockvels”, women have really been a source of courage for the various communities. In most HIV/AIDS programs you find women from all spheres of life-rich to poor, coming together to fight AIDS. Foreign countries have lauded South African women for this.

Just to kill the old adage,” a women’s place is in the kitchen”, women have really taken steps to show that “their place is everywhere”. We now see them taking centre stage in careers that were believed to be for male-only. South Africa has a good presentation of women in their government cabinet. In addition, through programmes such as “take a girl to work,” girls are given an opportunity to explore different careers and to really experience for a day how it feels to work in various jobs. This is very encouraging because these girls will be focused in achieving their career goals beyond high school qualifications.

Wired Magazine lets you in on the secrets of how to be a blogger

2006-06-06T09:34:00.000+02:00

Build a Great Blog With WordPress

Want
to create a professional-looking blog? In this beginner-level tutorial,
Tim Ziegler shows how easy it is to set up a custom WordPress blog
using templates, tags and a little bit of code. In Webmonkey.

This snippet lifted unedited from Wired News.

Agreement on Agriculture: What’s the use?

2006-05-30T09:17:00.000+02:00

I want to talk a little bit about one of the major reasons African and other developing countries are still battling against poverty: AGRICULTURE. I know a lot has been said about this topic, and I might be repeating what so many scholars, writers, intellectual etc. has said. But the reason for my repetitiveness is the fact that so much has been written and nothing has been done about this problem. Why not add another peace of writing to the pile?

We all know how the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) has faced some difficulties in the past and still at present. And the future is definitely not looking bright. Promises have not been delivered yet. The Doha meeting in 2001 is an example of these promises not being met. The reforms which have been discussed at this round have not yet been as extensive as anticipated.

President Thabo Mbeki once said what is “critical in this regard is access of our products into the food market of the developed countries, some of which continue to subsidise their own agriculture in a context that verges on intellectual, economic and social obscenity and brutal selfishness.

How can developed countries live with themselves when they know how African and other developing countries are battling as is, and yet they still subsidise their local farmers’ products, ignoring the fact that the main source of income in these countries depends on agriculture.

One of the major dilemmas in these countries is developed countries dumping their products on our markets. Obviously this disables out producers to compete with low subsidized prices. This eventually creates a vicious circle. Our domestic markets are destabilised, we start depending more on imports, and this in turn denies us our export opportunities. Developing countries do not have the time and money to be able to address these issues. And another problem, which is self-explanatory and very well-known, is the influence of transnational companies who dominate the world agricultural market due to continuous high tariffs.

Even at the recent Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, no progress has yet been seen after the agricultural negotiations. There is still the argument by developed nations that they will continue to offer little with regards to better agricultural agreements and they still demand that developing countries open their industrial and service markets to developed nations. Where is the sense in that?

Hopefully one day the WTO will realise the realities of the global agricultural market. The AoA must appreciate that not all nations can comply with the same rules and liberalization policies. Agricultural policies need to be diverse in order to consider each country’s personal needs.

Internship at AICC

2006-05-29T15:14:00.000+02:00

I got accepted at AICC www.aiccafrica.org. I officially started working today (29 May 2006). When I first arrived I was a little bit anxious in case I could not cope with the work load but as hours went by I relaxed. Every thing at the moment is exciting because I am involved in this project called South African Citizenship Programme. I think this is linked to the development theme that the WOW trainees are blogging about.

The project is about building partnerships between NGOs, government and business in order to create sustainable development for poor countries to alleviate poverty and create employment in order to empower SADC countries. The project is aimed at Southern African countries, I am excited to be working or assisting around this project since I have knowledge in this subject matter as I have done Corporate Governance at Honours level. On the first day the work that I had to do was already mapped out for me to last at least two weeks. So when I arrive early at the office atleast now I have work waiting for me.

AICC is about promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), I thought that this would be interesting for the WOW trainees since this is linked to our theme. One WOW trainee blogged about good governance being a luxury, this made me realise that AICC is one of the exciting NGO’s since it promotes good governance and corporate social responsibility amongst other things. Because of NGO’s like AICC good governance in the near future won’t be a luxury but a necessity, because of the clear policies that they have for promoting CSR and Corporate Social Investment (CSI).

The nation's pride in economic's campaign

2006-05-26T10:32:00.000+02:00

South Africa is one country in Africa that has implemented a new economic campaign called, "Proudly South African" that encourages local production and consumption. Thus far it has helped to combat poverty, unemployment and has instilled a national pride amongst the community.Most South African's have embraced the idea of supporting South African branded products and services instead of Western brands.According to http://www.safrica.ifo/what-happening/news/features/proudlysa.htm, in order for a company to join in, it must meet the following criteria:

The company's products and services must meet high quality standards;
It must be committed to sound environmental standards;
Must be committed to fair labour and employment practices and
The company's products and services must incur at least 50% of their production costs.

The campaign has encouraged most South Africans to be innovative, to use their entrepreneurial skills and find a sense of pride in what they do. The rural communities have especially embraced the idea by producing handmade products and successfully selling it to tourists. On the other hand, large brand owners like Nkhensani Manganyi have started the clothing brand "stoned cherrie" with an aim of reclaiming South African's past.Other brands like "loxion kulca" meaning "township culture" started by Wandi Nzimande and Sechaba Mogale has grown tremendously and has in the process born two labels: Zweto and Deletso.
Tourists who visit South Africa have also been encouraged to buy South African products like biltong, beer and wine when abroad.
More is still being done to educate tourist about South African products and to endorse national pride in their production.

Is it all about trade?

2006-05-23T08:59:00.000+02:00

So globalization is the buzz word on our team blog. There’s no doubt about the opportunities and challenges that have been facing our continent due to this rapid advance of technology, information and communication. And it fuels the discussions around our team blog topic, African development.

What better way to fight the negative impacts of globalisation than South-South cooperation. The reasons for South-South relations are simple: Growing tension between the South and the North should be restored; the South should no longer depend heavily on the North; and to promote southern economic development by opposing unjust political, economic and social international order in the 21st century.

Let me come to the point I’m trying to make. IBSA is one of the new forces to help do all of the things I mentioned above. IBSA is the India, Brazil, and South Africa Dialogue. This dialogue is a means to address various issues including trade and investment, science and technology, education, health, poverty, etc.

Some of the future targets of IBSA are the following:

Establish sophisticated relations two enhance South-South cooperation
Strengthen the southern voice in international organizations to make it more democratic and representative.
Promote South-South trade (boost investments from +/- $4.6 billion to $ 10 billion in 2007).
Cut down North tariffs and agricultural subsidies like that of the US and the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU.

But is it all about trade?

I think we should not look at only trade to determine the success of IBSA. It is plain to see that trade between these nations are not complementary. I have no stats to prove this but I have read that Mercosur’s exports to SA are almost five times bigger than ours. And even though we export basic commodities to Mercosur, their value-added products are starting to dominate our market.

(Just to be clear about Mercosur, it is the regional partnership between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay).

So I asked myself what should be the main determinant for the success of IBSA and what makes it so necessary? All three these nations have to stick together to prove that South-South relations is important for the well-being of the southern nations. Also, IBSA is an alliance to meeting the challenges of poverty and development, two major trends occurring in these three nations. Many assume the dialogue is purely based on trade. But IBSA has started a poverty plan for the three nations and for the rest of the southern countries who are in need. It is called the IBSA Facility for Hunger and Poverty Alleviation. All three IBSA members have committed $ 1 million each every year to be able to help the facility grow and be successful.

Many are skeptical about this partnership, and justifiably so. Because it’s such a young agreement, it is difficult to see the progress made. But in the end of the day, South-South cooperation has been a failure in the past and was in a haphazard state. IBSA is a new approach which can enhance the relations between southern nations, so why not embrace it.

Do people think IBSA is a lot of hot air? Some comments on this topic will be great. It will also be quite interesting to talk about the agricultural relations between these nations. Looking forward to some debating.

IFI's

2006-05-17T10:24:00.000+02:00

Thanks Cyrille for that blog on African development. It is one area I have always been interested in, specifically the international financial institutions and their effects on the world, especially Africa. They are the epitome of globalisation and how the West benefits most from this global phenomenon.

But I do find that the negative aspects of this topic are always prominent, and little is said about the successes which programs like structural adjustment policies have obtained. I’m also guilty of this subjectivity. And I must say these programmes have probably been more detrimental than anything else. But as with the implementation of any programme or initiative, the IMF (www.imf.org) experienced various degrees of success in Africa.

The IMF concluded that programmes like the HIPC Initiative (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) marked a major innovation in development finance and that the fundamental goal was to give a fresh start to the world’s poorest countries. The Initiative has resulted in increased spending on social sectors and pro-poor growth. I know this action is limited but it is better than nothing. I saw some stats that showed what has been done a couple of years ago.

In 2002, Tanzania for example used the initial debt service savings to increase education spending and eliminate school fees for elementary school education. An estimated 1.6 million children have returned to school in Tanzania.
Mozambique increased health spending by $13.9 million. Half a million children were vaccinated against tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria, increasing coverage to 80 per cent in two years; $10 million has been spent on electrification of rural schools and hospitals and rehabilitation of infrastructure following the floods; $3.2 million is also being used to increased the number of girls attending school and scores of new primary schools are being build.

In many cases, governments have engaged with civil society in the development of their anti-poverty strategies. Although this new process can create problems, in principle it is making governments more accountable to their electorates, and giving local communities a voice.

One significant design improvement in structural adjustment programmes over the years is that it retains flexibility to review a country’s debt conditions assesses whether additional debt relief is required to cope with unexpected increases in the burden of debt. So in some instances the social aspects of countries have been addressed. The Operations Evaluation Department (OED) of the World Bank has proven that 40 % of the IMF and World Bank (www.worldbank.org) projects have been in collaboration with a more social dimension than before, and that this has been to the benefit of most of the programs.

But here I start with my subjectivity again. Let’s forget about all the good things these programmes have done for certain African countries. Let’s look at who the REAL beneficiaries are of these initiatives.

I find that most of these programmes perplex the illegitimacy of most of Africa’s debt. As such, it fundamentally undermines the strong imperative for debt cancellation. Many of the loans being repaid by African countries today were disbursed for strategic purposes, to pop up repressive and corrupt regimes during the Cold War. Thus, not only do these programs fail to acknowledge the illegitimacy of much of these debts, it actually sanctions the exploitation of indebted countries by rich creditor nations and institutions.

I read a quote the other day and forgive me for not remembering the name, but this person said that the windfall of the programmes goes to the same governments that racked up the debt in the first place, many of which are weak, corrupt and authoritarian - hardly the best intermediaries to carry out a philanthropic agenda.

The argument is not so much that development assistance, like loans, is inappropriate, but rather that the IMF is an inappropriate institution through which to give it. Thus there should be even more possible improvements in the African debt programs that may help the future of African countries look a bit brighter, and the IMF look more humane. Any suggestions?

P.S. A good read will be the book of the author Cyrille was referring to: Peet, R. 2003. The Unholy Trinity: The IMF, World Bank and WTO. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.

This book is for sale at www.kalahari.net. The specific address where the book is available is http://www.kalahari.net/bk/product.asp?toolbar=none&sku=26372457&format=detail.

Traditional Values, Innovative Ideas

2006-05-17T08:37:00.000+02:00

Last week was quite an interesting and busy time. Together with completing our normal tasks each day, I had the opportunity of helping organise an induction for the new employees. What a fantastic day. I have met many people on that day, from those who have been working at RMB for a while to those who have just started. I also had the honour to sit in on the induction and listen to some of the presentations given my established employees of RMB. The presentations were very informative on the workings of RMB. I always had a broad understanding of what merchant banking is and what RMB does. And this was now an opportunity to learn even more.

I also listened to the presentation of Michael Pfaff. The culture of RMB came through strongly in his speech. He explained how RMB is a company who appreciates traditional values, and thrives on innovative ideas. It is everyone’s duty in RMB to care for an environment where intellectual capital can flourish and businesses can grow. Like Paul Harris, Director of First Rand Bank, says, “You owe it to yourself and the people around you to nurture and build the corporate culture, as this will ensure that this is a company you will be proud of and happy to work for”.

I made my own assumptions on what type of character belongs in RMB and what sort of character will get the job if applying at RMB. Five aspects of a person should be strong and prominent: A person should be smart, competitive, hard working, a self starter, and a person with set values.

It is great to work for a company with those types of ideas of what they want. Personally these are aspects I deem very important in my life. I believe in empowering myself, being confident in what I do, and taking pride in every aspect of my life. And to sustain these characteristics, I believe in the importance of care, dignity, and respect of one self and those around you.

Can globalization promote African development?

2006-05-09T17:50:00.000+02:00

Now that the wow 2006 team seems somewhat tired of blogging, I feel like reviving the debate by sharing my views on globalization, but still in line with the theme of African development. This is indeed a very controversial topic and I hope it may create an environment for opened debate.

Globalization is presented to us both as a competing discourse and as a contested project. Whatever the angle one may view it, there is more and more public awareness that we live in a world of transformation, affecting almost every aspect of what we do. For better or worse, we are propelled in into a global order.

Nonetheless, one of the things that always worry me about globalization is that whatever standpoint one takes, more and more people advocate its advent and mostly urge Africa to follow the successive Asian global integration. Very few, however, present to Africa how to share to its maximum benefits attached to globalization. My view is that, the fact that globalization is a dragging force no one can resist should not be used to make African countries blindly go along will all global trends. We all want and advocate to go global but mostly we should learn how to go global. A regrettable fact is that literature as well as many African initiatives emphasizes more on what Africa looses by being less integrated in the global economy.

Without being skeptical, what always matters to me is the portion of the poor in the globalization rhetoric. How can Africa reap better is more of concern to me than why Africa does not act globally?

This concern brings me to how does globalization affect our lives? This goes beyond TV, Internet, western books or computers we use. It gets us to policies our governments adopt nationally or regionally through bodies such as SADC, Nepad, AU, etc. Indeed, social, political and macroeconomic policies are fascinating grounds when it comes to looking at how globalization impacts nation states. In fact, the wave of global integration known as globalization affects our policies in various ways, both providing opportunities to its actors (nations) and promoting a particular set of economic interests such as neo-liberalism. IFIs such as the World Bank and IMF, through aid conditionalities can make countries adhere policies that may even contradict a ruling party ideology. One of the most striking examples is the Structural Adjustment Programmes- SAP- led by both the IMF and the World Bank and implemented in developing countries through the 1980s. Some African countries have not yet fully recovered from its disastrous effects so far.

The UN, and its policy directives are another illustration of molding nation state policies. Thus, the UN peace treaties are examples of how nations may be bound to a global ideology. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), another UN initiative, is now serving as a referential framework from which many nations design their anti-poverty policies. At least these are good examples of global governance.

To get back to the side of global policies hindering development prospects in some regions and countries, my first observation is that globalization has been more benefiting to certain countries, mostly western countries. As a result, those countries are the one to configure the political global governance. They make rules through WTO, IMF, and the World Bank and the rest of the world has no choice but to abide by those set of laws. Peet (2003) calls this triad [IMF, WTO, World Bank] ‘the unholy trinity’ and I think he is somehow right. With the blessing of some governments, international institutions are instrumental in determining the outcomes of globalization. Despite some good lessons (free and fair trade, good governance, democracy, etc) taught by these global institutions, they are fundamentally undemocratic. As a result, they simply enforce capitalism, exploitation of the poorer and the weaker. Unfortunately, Africa is the weakest link of this global system and its population simply bears the brunt. The fact is not only that the poorest countries are often the least able to take advantage of the opportunities of globalization but also that and they are the most vulnerable to the challenges and crises generated in the global system.

Besides IFIs, multinational corporations –MNCs- and capital mobility are the other way globalization influences our daily lives. As a result, we are all propelled into a process of international rule making and enforcement, which we cannot avoid. MNCs provide jobs, enhance competitivity of companies in recipient countries, true and great but in many other cases, they are associated with exploitation. By making these points, I do not ignore the need for an international financial system. Nor I am suggesting that IFIs should be blamed for poor performance in developing countries.

Despite all these disadvantages, Africa is not doomed to fail. Indeed, the African misery is not due to the system put into place by the ‘unholy trinity’, though they share some responsibilities, and the good news is that there is still some hope for Africa. The point I am trying to make is that, our focus should shift from how much we loose by being less global to how well we can maximize by acting global. How well can we make MNCs responsive to the well being of communities that host them?

As a continent, Africa must be aware that there are benefits attached to globalization. Africa should also know that the west and recently Asia are the maximizers of those benefits. But Africa can still find some opportunities or generate them.

Therefore, Africa should not oppose globalization, instead, our first task should be to identify some niches that constitute African potential and that can be used to reap the best of globalization. The recipe comprises both local and global initiatives to be taken.

At the local and regional levels, countries in Africa that are most likely to succeed will be characterized by:

Successful shift of trade and export patterns (shift form labor intensive sectors such as agriculture and mining);
Effective, stable and participative government;
Efficient public administration that is responsive to the needs of the poor;
Sound macroeconomic policies and legislation; as well as
Reduction of instability, risk and cost of business in order to attract foreign capital; and
A balanced regional and continental integration as well as a south-south dialog;

On the global level, initiatives should be orientated towards influencing bilateral and multilateral cooperation for the advent of democratic and just global governance as well as a fight for a fairer trade.

In the world of work

2006-05-09T08:15:00.000+02:00

I got an internship at De Beers ,last months.I was very excited I could not wait for second of May.I must say it is nice to be part of the action like in the world of work.However in my first day I was very bored,because there was nothing much for me to do while everyone else was busy.

But now I'm busy like them and I'm enjoying it.

Top Management Lies -- by Kathy Sierra

2006-05-08T08:18:00.000+02:00

This post is pretty much a mightily coherent restatement of much of what I told you guys about being yourselves in the world of work. I remember a bunch of you being thoroughly sceptical about the idea that you CAN be yourself at work. Many of you had the idea that employers would be put off by you if you bent the rules or appeared anything other than the norm. Kathy's post below is a wakeup call. She CLAIMS that she's just joking with this list, but in my experience, every word she utters is true. And this means that YOUR job is to shake managers like this out of the world of work. Do it by taking a stand FOR things the way they NEED to be, rather than fitting into their narrow views of how YOU should be. -- Roy Blumenthal

Roy Blumenthal blogs at Coffee-Shop Schmuck.

The post below is reproduced from Kathy Sierra's blog, Creating Passionate Users.

Nobody says they want to hire "yes men". They say they want employees who are bold, creative, self-directed, take initiative, and aren't afraid to speak up. But what managers say they want and what they actually want (and reward) can be very different...

In a post last year on teamwork, I wrote:

"In his book Re-imagine!, Tom Peters says, "We will win this battle... and the larger war... only when our organizations are chock-a-block with obstreperous people who are determined to bend the rules at every turn..."

I reckon that most top-level managers would agree. They'd say that their company should take the bold whatever-it-takes person over the ever-compromising, risk-averse Yes Man. "If that person shakes us up, smacks us around, creates some creative tension, well that's just what we need to stay competitive", the CEO says. Yeah, right. While I believe most CEOs probably think this way, that attitude reverses itself dramatically the futher you reach down the org chart.

There's a canyon-sized gap between what top managers and CEOs say they want (brave, bold, innovative) and what their own middle management seems to prefer (yes-men, worker bees, non-boat-rockers). Of course I've never heard a manager say that... but you see it over and over again in their choices. When the tech downturn hit, consider who were often the first to go during the layoffs... "

Feeling the same way today, and inspired by Guy Kawasaki's Top Ten Lies of Engineers, I made a list of the things managers will often say, along with what some of those managers might actually be thinking.

(Yes, I'm aware this is generalizing, reinforcing negative stereotypes, and is completely biased toward non-managers. It's just for fun ; ) Really.)

"My job is to be a buffer between you and upper management."
"Your job is to make me look good to upper management."

"We value your criticism and ideas."
"If you're so smart, how come I'm a manager and you're not?"

"We set reasonable deadlines, and we never underbid our projects... so our employees don't need to work weekends."
"Since when is Saturday part of the weekend?"

"We provide our employees with the state-of-the-art tools they need to do their job."
"When I did this job, a Windows 98 box and a 640x480 monitor was plenty. You're just typing code for crise sake..."

"I know you're working hard now, but we'll make it up to you later."
"Riiiiiiiight."

"Hey, you're preaching to the choir here. I'm on your side. But upper management just doesn't get it."
"You just don't get it."

"We empower our employees to do whatever it takes for the customer."
"You gave that guy a refund?! What the #@&! were you thinking?"

"Nobody is getting a raise this year."
"Nobody at your level is getting a raise this year."

"My job is to hire good people and get out of their way."
"But so far, I've never had an employee that didn't need micromanaging."

"I won't tell you how to do your job."
"...as long as you do it exactly the way I would do it."

"We provide ongoing, comprehensive training for our employees."
"Joe will show you around this afternoon, and then you're on your own. Oh, and your first TPS report is due tomorrow."

"You've got upper management written all over you."
"Finally someone who does exactly what I tell him to without question."

"Don't hesitate to speak up during meetings."
"...as long as it's to compliment me on the great job I'm doing."

"I really went to bat for you, but upper management just wouldn't budge."
"Oh, yeah, like I would actually risk my job for you..."

"When this project is over, we'll talk about the promotion. I promise."
"I've already forgotten we had this conversation."

"We have a great career track for non-managers."
"Let's face it, programmers just don't have leadership potential."

[Note from Kathy: "I promise I'll balance this out soon with a post on the Top 15 Employee Lies. No, seriously. I mean it. Just as soon as my current project is over..."]

Got anything to add to the list? ; )

Posted by Kathy Sierra on May 7, 2006 | Permalink

Obstacles to development

2006-05-03T15:43:00.000+02:00

We have been tackling the issues of development, which is a good thing especially if it involves the different communities that we are staying in. However there are people who seem to be working against development by being dishonest especially when it comes to the issues of money. I have been trying to get my drivers license and I thought that I should try the local driving school, and I was conned out of my hard earned money.

By registering with the local driving school I thought I would surely be contributing to the development of my community by helping Small Micro Medium Enterprises (SMME’s) to grow and be prosperous businesses, however the person who is in charge of the driving school spoiled it for everybody and took of with my money. I hate people who just think about filling their pockets and rob desperate people like me. The reason I registered with this driving school in the first place is that, I like supporting local businesses so that in the near future these businesses can also help contribute to our local communities, by employing local people, but after what I experienced I have serious doubts. I just do not think that they are capable of doing something so honourable.

At this moment I don’t know if I should go lay a charge of fraud or not, because the person who ran the driving school was the administrator and also the driving instructor. What upsets me is that I did not ask for a receipt, therefore I do not have proof of payment. I don’t think I’ll ever use the services that are available in my community and this is all because of one bad experience. I know it is wrong to paint every body with the same brush, but after going through this experience it is difficult to trust businesses that are still trying to establish themselves since they are not reputable yet.

Since I can’t even lay charges against this person, the only thing to do is to make sure that he does not do it to someone else again. Therefore I want to tarnish his reputation by taking my story to the local newspaper so that they know what kind of a person he is. What does every body think?

Good governance is not a luxury

2006-04-29T10:30:00.000+02:00

Back to ancient time, classical tasks of the state have been making war and ensuring internal order. However, the event of modernism has seen the state mostly performing a role of economic transformation and development achievement though still performing its classical roles.

In present times, there is mounting evidence that success in development depends, to certain extent, on internal structures that a state is made of. Many studies such as the one by the sociologist Peter Evans prove enough that differences in the level of development is much due to the nature of states and the kind of relationships states develop with their societies.

As far as sub-Saharan Africa is concerned, the observation is that conditions of empty democracies easing elite to capture many states, failing and under-resourced bureaucracies, corruption, and many other symptoms still prevail. Yet without state, the other master institution of modern society (markets) cannot function (Evans 1995).

On the other hand, “managing an economy is not an easy task, especially in a context of global imperatives, where a country that deviates from the global norm is meted with punishment by global capital. The task is more difficult in a society like ours [South Africa] with conflicting imperatives. … These competing imperatives pose critical challenges for building one nation that belongs to all South Africans. To a large extent, South Africa’s ability to effectively address these imperatives will be dependent on the ability of the ruling party, the African National Congress… (Edigheji, 2005).

However, this long quote should not be taken for excuse. Instead, Africa should learn that the 3 successful post-war development experiences over the world emphasize the role that state apparatuses have played:

The Marshall plan, which consisted of funding the post war reconstruction of Europe. Great results where achieved by European states such as France.
The East Asian Growth and Development Plan (where US capital inflows helped to generate anti-communist states), and
The European Integration Programme (attempt to promote growth and overcome regional inequalities in Europe).

In the East Asian case for instance, the East Asian miracle, countries did not only receive US aid to prevent communist expansion. Well known as the tigers, states played a vital role by:

Successfully using financial instruments to channel investment decisions in line with national priorities, hence the concept of state-capitalism;
Effectively initiating and presiding industrial transformation, hence the concept developmental state;
Surmounting particularistic interest and securing collective goals, hence the concept embedded autonomy.

In the 1990s, the World Bank initiated a research in more than 200 countries to determine prospects of development based on six sectors:

Voices and Accounatbility, measuring political, civic and human rights;
Political Instability and Violence - measuring the likelihood of violent threats to, or changes in, government, including terrorism;
Government Effectiveness - measuring the competence of the bureaucracy and the quality of public service delivery;
Regulatory Burden - measuring the incidence of market-unfriendly policies;
Rule of Law - measuring the quality of contract enforcement, the police, and the courts, including judiciary independence, and the incidence of crime;
Control of corruption.

All the 6 indicators used by the bank relate to governance, that shows how good governance is determinant for development.

In 2005, the World Bank research was released and its main findings indicate that a realistic improvement in just one of the 6 areas within a country, can result in about 300% increase in the national per capita income over the long the term!
Main conclusions of the World Bank report are that:

Improved governance leads to higher standards of living and poverty alleviation;
Such improvements in governance are realistic;
Measuring governance changes over time: significant improvements are feasible;
Yet the worldwide reality is sobering: limited progress on average;
Demand for rigorously monitoring progress: the power of data.

Hence the Bank to conclude: ‘Yet good governance is not a luxury that only wealthy countries can afford’.

Despite this brief book review one should be aware that I am not an advocate of the World Bank, in fact my empirical study in DRC last year made me side with those still questioning the genuineness of the Bank’s latest policy regarding poverty alleviation, I do respect most of their research findings.

Besides that, the UN Convention against Corruption has just set some institutional arrangements to fight corruption and urges States to appoint bodies to coordinate prevention and enforcement measures (UNDP, April 2006).

All this makes me conclude that the thesis that development’s outcomes in third world depend on the role a state performs is still valid to a certain extent. Thus, good and stable governance, sound macroeconomic policies, pro-poor bureaucracies and service delivery will characterize African countries that are going to make a difference.

WOW bearing fruits

2006-04-25T16:02:00.000+02:00

Hello every body nothing much has happened this week, but I have learned that some of our colleagues have secured internships with different organizations and I just want to say to them congratulations. It just shows that the WOW programme is quick and effective, because within a week after the completion of the programme about four people have been placed for internships and they are working already.

After hearing such good news, I gained so much confidence in myself and believe that very soon it will be me and other who have not been placed yet. I hope that by the end of the year almost every one of the WOW trainees will have been placed and some of us employed permanently by their host organizations.

I hope you as the WOW trainees will share your good news with us so that we know what is going on in your lives also so that we can share tips on ho is hiring and so forth. I have so heard that five WOW trainees have been placed one of them of course being Rochelle. I wish all of them the best and I hope that they will do us proud.

I got an internship!

2006-04-25T08:41:00.000+02:00

I have been working at Gender Links (GL) for a week now. I had an interview on Thursday, 13 April, with organization called GL (see http://www.genderlinks.org.za/), to be an intern. I got the position and I am very excited. This blog is not about the organisation or even the interview, rather I want to start a discussion on our blog about networking and networking skills. Throughout our internship programme, various presenters stressed the need to network with people in our field of interest and also with random people who may be of assistance in the future.

So I interviewed the Director of GL, Kubi Rama, last year September, while I was doing my field work for my research. She is an expert in the area of gender and media and she had a lot to say in regards to my research topic (news media coverage of women's health in the realm of HIV and AIDS). While I was at the interview I met someone who used to go to Wits, Agnes, and she was the intern at the time. I told Agnes what great experience she was getting and that I would want to intern there as well. Now that I think retrospectively, this was the first point of the network, but I did not think much of this at the time, I was working really hard to finish my research report. I just wanted to share my enthusiasm with her about how I thought GL is doing great work.

In March I got an email from Agnes, she wanted a copy of my research because she was doing some research herself on a similar topic and wanted to sort of compare notes. I sent her a copy and at the same time I asked her if there was any positions for an intern open at Gender Links. She replied gratefully for my research and said she would ask around to see if there were any openings. I waited about two days and she told me to forward my CV to her director (she returned the favor). I sent my CV in an email the next day and a week later I got a phone call to come in for an interview; that was Thursday the 13th of April. I met with the Executive Director and the staff in an informal meeting/interview and they asked me questions about my interests and passions and realized that I was a great fit for their organization and told me I could start today.

Now the point of this little story is to ask about the issue of networking. I do not think GL would have told me that they have a place for an intern if I had phoned their office and no openings were advertised on their website. This makes me think that I would not have known about this position if I didn’t know Agnes. I know that I had to be qualified and available to actually get the position, so I am not saying that’s it is ALL about who you know. It just makes me think about the importance of networking. I would like some feedback on this…

“It’s all about people. It’s about networking and being nice to people and not burning any bridges. “ ~ Mike Davidson (not related to me. I think…)

Chelly blogs at http://www.rochellerenere.blogspot.com/

Africa reinvention = NEPAD = Government and business cooperation

2006-04-24T09:16:00.001+02:00

NEPAD (www.nepad.org) is the African initiative for development which is an attempt to put Africa on the path of good governance and prosperity with a consolidation of peace, security and stability. It is especially an attempt to shift the ideology of a donor-recipient relationship to rather a partnership between nations to give and receive aid.

It realizes the need for policy reforms in order to establish sustainable development within all African states. It is an attempt to redefine the concept of development assistance, and it has a strong emphasis on partnership to be able to do this. Thus it seeks policy reform and enhanced investment within the following sectors: Agriculture; human development, particularly in health and education; developing a better infrastructure which incorporates transport, energy, and information technology; more diverse economies with regards to their export and production particularly with regards to mining, tourism and agro-industry; promote trade between African states and increase access to developed markets of the world. These aims and policy reforms are very similar and can be directly related to that of the Post Washington Consensus.

Throughout this brief background of NEPAD it can clearly be seen that the central policies outlined in NEPAD, namely constant macroeconomic policy and strength, greater openness of African economies to the world, and good governance, are at the heart of the Post Washington Consensus policy instruments. Similarly, these two mechanisms for development realizes that developing nations need stable financial guidelines, competitiveness, policies to assist in the transfer of technology, and transparency, to name a few aspects ignored by the Washington Consensus. Like the Post Washington Consensus, NEPAD understands that without government action there will be too little investment in the production and adoption of new technology.
Initiatives like NEPAD can be seen as a response to these reforms, trying to apply the Consensus reforms in a positive way. It is a reaction to the failures of the Washington Consensus, but it also takes some of the positive aspects and it attempts to promote greater integration of Africa into the international economy from which it has been marginalised. One of its main goals is increased international competition by, for instance, encouraging regional production chains and the development of the markets around Africa.

However, NEPAD faces some problems. In brief, the major difficulty they are facing at present is the fact that it is not very clear about the development path that needs to be obtained in order to reach the clearcut goals they have set forth. There is also the worry that NEPAD is taking on the same policies that have been in the running for 20 years which are linked to the Bretton Woods institutions, and in turn the Washington Consensus. And many critics argue that NEPAD is only there to answer the call of institutions like the World Bank (www.worldbank.org) and donors countries for Africa to implement policies that reflect those of the Washington Consensus.

Having mentioned the above however, one must also note that without the commitment on the part of both government and business on the continent towards issues of good governance, both politically and within the corporate sector these ideals will not see the light of day. Continuous engagement between the two parties on issues such as the foreign policy objectives of a country also becomes very important. Here, one refers to not only the political objectives but also government always being on the lookout for possible contracts on behalf of companies in their respective countries. Another matter that requires urgent attention and cooperation is on the infrastructural challenges facing the continent, an important component of Nepad. Expertise and experience from all over the continent needs to be harnessed in order to meet the ultimate objectives of the programme. Technological expertise needs to be shared amongst African countries and further regional integration needs also to take place.

African development requires leadership and ethics!

2006-04-23T21:58:00.000+02:00

Last Friday I attended a conference which brought 8 former African presidents to address the public at wits. Great initiative! This was part of the African Presidential Roundtable co-organized by Boston University and the African Presidential and Archives Research Center (http://www.bu.edu/aparc/). Pierre Buyoya from Burundi, Masire from Botswana, Rawlings from Ghana, Kaunda from Zambia, Offman from Mauritius, Nicefore Soglo (Benin), Maria Pereira (Cape Verde), William B Mkapa (Tanzania), and Hassan Mwinyi (Tanzania) were there. They are controversial figures since many people relate African misery to them. Avoiding the blame game, I took away two things from them:

Excellence Kaunda (Zambia) said: ‘Young people, you are the legacy of Africa, and if you do not take over your responsibilities, then Africa is lost’.
N Soglo (Benin) argued that, once in office I was confronted by things that I never learnt from university: I realized that corruption was a world institution, institutionalized and protected by the west!

Drawing from that, my first premise is that African development needs a strong leadership form the current generation.

Many attendees at that conference may disagree with me. Indeed, the discussion we had mostly turned around questions like: corruption, why very long stay in offices, why didn’t you implement what you are saying now, why, why and why.

Disagree or not, WHY is the most difficult question on this earth. One day, after watching some pictures of some ‘wanted’ gangsters in his city, a little boy went to see a police officer in his vicinity and asked him this very question: “why did not you guys catch these gangsters when you were shooting them?”…

And so was our conference.

To answer the question on overstay in power, ex president Ketumile Masire stood up as the respondent on behalf of the group. His argument, “you can be in that office as long as you perform…in the US, people were overstaying up to when one took too long. Then they decided to fix a term. We are simply coping from them. Chirac in France, Thatcher in UK, etc overstayed and no one complained…”

Another argument ex African president sticked to, was that: we fought for our independences.

The real question that we should ask our self, as next generation or rulers, is how well prepared and ready are we compared to them?

It’s always good to look at deficiencies of a predecessor, but I think we better move the debate beyond that.

Being endowed with diversity of natural resources brought misfortune to Africa. Western countries, helped by African elite in power have been looting our riches. The aim of those powers has always been to have control over the Liberian or Sierra Leonean diamond. Belgian declared DR Congo a geological scandal! Since the last discovery of petrol in Chad, the country is now subject of international attention from some western powers after years of neglect.

As Soglo (Benin) said, corruption is like tennis game, you need a receiver on the other side to send the ball back to you. Do not blame African leaders only; it’s a highly organized network. Moreover, your university curriculum will never teach you about that.

When blogging on that, I do not mean that we should go for corruption! Instead, it teaches me about ethics, and that is my second premise.

If African leaders do not understand their role in the expected change, things are likely to not improve. Zimbabwe celebrated her national day 5 days ago, but the situation there leaves much to desire. Mugabe is a great nationalist, true and great, but we want to see that being translated in improvement of people’s lives and national economics. Emigration in that country has tremendously increased, would you tell me that Mugabe is doing well. On the other side, his opponents seem to be short of inspiration.

LD Kabila took over Mobutu’s 32 year-rule in DRC. I liked that guy, fluent in more that 7 international languages. His discourse was seducing: “Le peuple congolais a besoin du changement” (= Congolese need change). Indeed, we were tired of Mobutu. Then, Kabila ruled for 4 years but except his discourse, he never proved to be the nationalist (Lumumbist, Lumumba) he claimed to be.

South Africa, at least what sub-Saharan Africa can be proud of, is still struggling with a crisis of leadership and a jobless growth that is not yet correcting the wealth divide caused by Apartheid.

This generation of ours is the next to take over the destiny of the continent. What a huge responsibility! If we are not aware of it, we are likely to do the worse.

Cyrille

Guy Kawasaki talks about how to evangelize a blog

2006-04-22T09:55:00.000+02:00

This post is by Guy Kawasaki, copied from his blog at blog.guykawasaki.com. I regard him as one of the great gurus of the business world. He's new-ish to blogging, and already has a huge following. That's cos he follows his own advice. Walk his talk.
-- Roy Blumenthal.

The 120 Day Wonder: How to Evangelize a Blog

I know a fair amount about evangelism and a little bit about blogging, so I've combined the two in order to provide some insights into the evangelism of a blog. Granted, I've only been at blogging for 120 days or so, but marketing is marketing, right?

1. Think “book” not “diary.” First, a bit of philosophy: my suggestion is that you think of your blog as a "product." A good analogy is the difference between a diary and a book. When you write a diary, it contains your spontaneous thoughts and feelings. You have no plans for others to read it. By contrast, if you write a book, from day one you should be thinking about spreading the word about it. If you want to evangelize your blog, then think “book” not “diary” and market the heck out of it.

2. Answer the little man. Now that you're thinking of your blog as a product, ask yourself if it's a good product. A useful test is to imagine that there's a little man sitting on your shoulder reading what you're writing. Every time you write an entry, he says, “So what? Who gives a shiitake?” If you can't answer the little man, then you don't have a good blog/product. Take it from someone who's tried: It's tough to market crap, so make sure you have something worth saying. Or, write a diary and keep it to yourself.

3. Collect email addresses. The first piece of advice that I give authors who want to evangelize their book is to accumulate email addresses. (The second piece of advice is to start blogging before the book comes out.) When I launched The Art of the Start, I sent out email to 95,000 people who had made contact with Garage in the past nine years by attending our conferences, submitting business plans, ... whatever. Also a team of student interns compiled a database of every entrepreneurial organization on the planet for me.

When I started this blog, I sent out 10,000 email announcements. (I didn't use the entire Garage database because I thought that was too tacky even for me.) You may not have the ability to collect email on this scale but collect them nonetheless. For example, when a bozo includes you on a large carbon-copy email, mine the addresses. However, don't buy address lists or spam people (I define "spam" as sending email to someone who has never sent me one) because for email promotion to work, you must know the recipient--or be known by the recipient.

Two more email related recommendations. First, when you answer an email, stick in a “by the way” that mentions your blog. (The only email responses that I send that don't make reference to my blog are the ones that are responses to an email about my blog.) Second, your email signature should contain your blog address.

4. Collect links for blog rolling. This is something I wish I had done on day one, but I was totally ignorant of this linking thing. If I had to do it over again, I would look for all the interesting blogs that cover similar topics to my blog. Then, on day one I would have blog rolled them all and ensured that Technorati pinged my blog, so that the bloggers might find out that I existed. I use Blogrolling.com to create my current blog roll.

Now that I understand how linking works, I use NetNewsWire and Endo to look for new links to my blog, and I find sites that I would have never seen were it not for their links to my site. Basically, you want bloggers to find out about you because you linked to them. You never know what they might do for you.

5. Scoop stuff. There's a very interesting honor system in blogging. Suppose Blogger A finds an obscure article and posts it to his blog. Blogger B reads about it on Blogger A's blog and links to it. However Blogger B doesn't link only to the article; she also links to Blogger A to give him credit for finding the article.

This means that if you hustle and scoop stuff, other bloggers will link to you. For example, when I found and publicized the Stanford Social Innovation Review article by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Bob Sutton, many other bloggers linked to my blog, not just the article itself. I was surprised by this. Bottom line: if you want lots of people to link to you, read voraciously and find cool stuff first. As a Japanese philosopher once said, "Eat like a bird, and poop like an elephant."

6. Supplement other bloggers with a followup entries. Read the blogs of the top fifty or so bloggers (using Technorati's ranking is fine) and see if you have in-depth knowledge about their topics. Then instead of leaving the typical, dumb shiitake comment (“I think you're an orifice who shouldn't make money recommending products that you've invested in.”), craft a real essay that complements the blogger's entry.

When someone does this for my entries, I want to get down on my knees and thank God because it's less stuff that I have to write. Look at this example that was a followup for my entry about recruiting. I don't know about other bloggers, but one of the biggest challenges I face is feeding the content beast. If you can help me feed it, I'll gladly link to you and give you publicity.

7. Acknowledge and respond to commenters. Only good things can happen when you read all the comments in your blog and respond to them. It makes commenters return to your blog. This, in turn, makes commenters feel like they are part of your blog's community which makes them tell more people to read your blog.

(I'd like to do this better, but I've created a monster. I don't have any quantitative evidence, but it sure seems like a I get large volume of comments to my entries. There are days that I simply can't keep up, so forgive me.)

8. Ask for help. If you are providing value in your blog, don't hesitate to ask for your readers to help. If you don't ask, you don't get. You don't have to be as blatant as I am in the desire to climb Technorati's ranking, but in a perfect world, you provide something in your blog and your readership will want to reciprocate by helping you spread the word.

9. Be bold. I'm not saying you should intentionally piss other bloggers off, but if you can't speak your mind on your own blog, we might as well all give up and stay on the porch. This is a fascinating thing about blogging: Even when people torch you, they link to your site. I would have thought that you don't link. My logic was: Why give someone you torched any exposure?

10. Make it easy to join up. A blogger named Steve Nipper showed me the list about this. I had no idea what Feedburner and FeedBlitz did until he told me about them. The bottom line is that you should enable your readers to get to your blog in multiple ways. It's no different than distributing physical products through multiple channels.

May you use this knowledge to rise in Technorati and make the A List. Just say hello as you pass me by--someday I'll be sucking up to you. :-)

PS:

Here are some other resources that I found by reading Christian Blog Evangelism:

How to Build Traffic to Your Blog by Priya Shah

Promoting Your Blog

Infrastructure in South Africa

2006-04-21T08:06:00.000+02:00

I am very pleased about the development of infrastructure in South Africa, especially the rural places. When visiting villages like Qwa-qwa [Free State Province], Tlokweng [North West] I am always surprised to see the enormous change from what I saw ten years ago. There are roads, water taps available at every corner, shopping facilities, well -build educational facilities, houses,pleasure and accomodation places.

Afer winning the 2010 World Cup opportunity to host the Fifa soccer, we now have a chance of showing the world that South Africa is the best. We have a chance to show how we can work together as a nation. Business people and the community will participate as well as gain economically by providing excellent transportation and communications systems, not to mention the hotels and other accommodation places.

Post internship training

2006-04-18T14:47:00.000+02:00

The internship training is complete and I am waiting in anticipation to gaining entry in any organization that is willing to give me a chance to do an internship with them. So far I have been to two interviews and none of these two organizations are interested in me. I am starting to panic and wonder if there is anything that I am doing or not doing that is making these people uninterested in me.

I have a feeling this is going to be a long road that is felt with uncertainties but not disappointments because I am positive that some one will be interested in me and others fellow trainees who are in the same boat as I am. I am looking forward to this journey, because it is after a long weekend (Easter weekend) and I had enough time to reflect on what I have learned in the training programme and how I can use the skills that I have learned in to practice.

I hope that we as fellow trainees we will keep in touch so that we can inform each other about the developments that are happening in our lives. After the graduation ceremony, I am hoping that we will actually see the fruits of the internship training programme and I am excited because I believe that exciting things will come our way and we will get a chance to show our expertise and skills in the work place, thanks to Lesley and Jean and the guest speakers who made this internship training possible.

A map and a compass

2006-04-14T20:09:00.000+02:00

Now that the debate over the gospel of Judas has reached its peak in news during the time Christians celebrate Easter, some are focused on the first democratic elections in the DRC (32 candidates!) and others are concerned with the mixture of the next Italian government, I am shifting away from all that to blog on the ambiance we had in the World Of Work (WOW) training. Definitely, this is one of the experiences that I will always remember in my life.

From March 13 to April 11, 2006, as interns of the WOW program; we were addressed by almost 40 people from different organizations. Some of them spoke for as long as 20 minutes but said as much constructive as longer presenters. One of the earlier things I learnt is an advice from Shameen Naidoo (CCDU) who addressed us on emotional intelligence (EQ) and stress management. Being altruistic by nature, my main challenge was how to find a balance between self and social awareness. Her advice was simple; three of the 5 elements of EQ concern the self […], therefore allow sometimes to you and give yourself this month then work from that. Three weeks later, I have realized that it was the done thing to myself and I can still find room for people surrounding me.

After a school attendance of 24 years, despite some interruptions here and there, it was time to negotiate an eventual shift. Please note that, the record for school attendance among 2006 WOW interns was held by Maina with 25 years!

We were a group of 17 interns, all humanities students but from all over the world. The beauty of the thing was that we had to see each other and spend at least a third of each working day, which was quite different from post-graduate studies we have just finished. When attending postgraduate classes (at least at Wits), the longest sessions we had were two-week block studies intermittently held. In the WOW, I started to realize that my formal studies were over though I am still struggling between embarking for the workplace or progressing towards a Phd, which is another story.

The WOW was a sort of ambiance I had to discover and learn from. Planning to work in an organization with diversity as main characteristic, the WOW was the shadow of the career environment I have been longing for. Not only that the caliber of guest speakers was high, but also the diversity of study programmes and countries we all were from gave it a special character.

Besides that, we had two special ladies: Jean Power and Lesley Emanuel managing the programme. I like the power and heart Jean has; you can’t be insensitive to that. On the other hand, Lesley’s frankness, desire for excellence and high-standard pieces of work taught me a lot.
Another opportunity this program gave me was to make me part of the the blogosphere, this complex virtual community of people from all over the world, not limited by space and time, but always interacting through web blogs. I really felt what it entails to be a citizen of the global village. Thanks Roy, thank you to all our guest speakers (since I cannot name each individually).
Now, with this blogteam, my wish is to see the very same atmosphere, not as real as the physical we had, but a virtual interaction through blogging.

I learnt a lot and space does not allow me to list what I have been empowered to. In short, after attending this programme and listening to all our guest speakers, I feel like being given and taught on a pack of two things: ‘a map and a compass’ with their user’s guides. Drop me in the Amazon forest and for sure, with the two tools, I can still find my way out, I can still locate South Africa or DRC. I mean, I am ready to ‘go to work’ in South Africa, Brazil, DRC or elsewhere as long as it is on earth where I can use my map and compass.

Thanks a million,
Cyrille

Development with DBSA

2006-04-11T15:51:00.000+02:00

I got so excited today when the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) www.dbsa.org came to present their internship opportunities in their company. In the beginning of the presentation I thought Jean must have made a mistake because there are no B Com students in the training programme. Then the speakers told us that there are actually many opportunities for social science students in their programme that are dealing with research, project management and so on.

What I like about the bank is that it deals with development issues, for example poverty alleviation and unemployment, especially amongst graduates. I am interested in community development and I would like to do an internship with DBSA. I also have a background in research, because I helped with research in the department of Forced Migrations studies at Wits. What is more exciting is that the speaker told us that there are employment opportunities after the completion of the internship, depending on the performance of the individual and commitment. As post-graduate students I think that we are capable of introducing new project that are linked to development that is why we are suitable to work at DBSA.

It is refreshing to know that financial institutions are interested in social science students and see them as valuable in their companies. I am also glad that we are finally being given a chance to offer our expertise in financial institutions, because the speaker spoke of other banks (Land bank and so on) that also employ social science students. So we are employable after all.

'Dead' lines

2006-04-11T11:15:00.000+02:00

Yesterday an Executive Director asked students to prepare a presentation on aspects of his organisation. For early next week. Very early. From my corner of the room, I could see the turmoil on all the students’ faces: the opportunity (of the presentation) versus

-difficulty getting computer/internet access
-family commitments
-other work demands!
-holiday time (so well deserved right now, after WoW training sessions)

One brave person spoke for all the others: “Actually, could we have more time? We have holidays...”

Deadlines, when you’re trying to gain access into an organisation, can’t be negotiated. When you don’t have an established reputation, or when they don’t know you, employers make a very easy jump to some very damaging conclusions when prospective interns/employees try to shift things to suit themselves:

-“he’s not keen”
-“ah, so that’s his work ethic: holidays come first!”
-“she doesn’t really want this job”
-“that kind of attitude won’t fit in here.”

If you’re an intern, or an entry-level employee, you are going to have to make some personal compromises in areas like these.

Actually, this isn’t only true for interns. I know a married couple who have worked together for the last 30 years. They create databases, she designs and he delivers. They got a great contract. She designed – and he had to install it, right in the middle of an extraordinary, wonderful camping holiday to Mozambique that they had planned with extended family. She went. He worked.

They complained bitterly - to friends only, of course. He did the work professionally and only mentioned the fact that he had missed his holiday in passing, once, to the company CEO. The story ends with the contract ending successfully. Lots of subsequent work.

Oh - and the CEO gave them a gift. He painted the couple holidaying together in Mozambique. Framed it, and also gave them a fully paid weekend to Mozambique, in their own time.

Not that we can expect the same for our commitment to our work. But maybe we should re-think the degree to which we are prepared to compromise and commit. Maybe we should think differently about things like workplace ‘dead’- lines, because when you’ve handed in a piece of work, or when you sit down right after you have given a presentation, you have created the potential for exciting, life-changing things to start happening. Maybe that’s how workplace deadlines are different to deadlines for academic work.

So when you’re offered a deadline (perhaps as part of an interview process) that has you in a corner, grab it with enthusiasm and energy, even while your heart sinks. Late nights, red-eyes, working under pressure will pay off in the end.

On the subject of what to do and what not to do in an interview: here’s a fun article, a collection of weird stories from employers – the worst experiences they ever had with a candidate in an interview or in the hiring process.
http://www.vault.com/surveys/manners/comments6b.jsp

Lesley Emanuel

How to put your resume online on your blog

2006-04-10T20:59:00.000+02:00

Hi Guys...

This is one way of putting a decent cv online. Take a look at John T. Unger's blog for an example of how he's done it.

Log onto your Blogger account, and click on 'make a new post' in your own blog.
If you've got your CV formatted in MS Word, cut and paste it into your blog post. If not, simply type it in, and use the various formatting tools to make it look good. Please note: if you're using an old-style approach to CVs, you're doing yourself a disservice. NO ID NUMBERS. NO AGE. Okay??? This is vital! An employer does NOT need to know how old you are.
Give the post a proper title. Such as: The Online Resume of Joe Bloggs -- Updated 08 April 2006.
Post the cv to your blog.
Now, view the blog. At the bottom of the entry you'll see a little hash sign: #. If you right-click on that sign, a context menu should come up, depending on the browser you're using. Look down the menu until you see something that looks like, 'Copy Link Location'. Something like that. Click on that option. You will now have the permalink URL (address) of your CV on the computer's clipboard.
Go to your blog dashboard, and click on 'edit settings'.
Now go to 'template'. Click on it.
Up pops a window with loads of inscrutable CSS and HTML in it. Ignore the confusion.
WARNING: Do not skip what I'm about to tell you. I caused myself three hours of extra work last night cos I forgot this one vital step... Copy the text of your existing template into an MS Notepad document, and save it to your desktop, so that you have a backup copy of your template.
Now you're ready to start tampering. Scroll down that code until you find the contents of the sidebar. (This is where the link 'edit me' was found before you edited that. It's where you popped links of your buddies' blogs in.)
Just take a moment to study the format of that section. You're going to do something cunning right now.
Find a nice position for your CV to go. I would put it directly beneath the profile section. Put the cursor in the right place, and PASTE the URL into that spot. You're a quarter of the way through now.
Now, you need to make a section titled: 'My Resume', with an entry in it called, 'The Online Resume of Joe Bloggs'.
Right... easy... take one of the existing sections, such as 'Links'. Copy the code, including the links. Now change the text within that. Where it says 'links', change that to 'My Resume'. Where the link url appears (the thing with href="http://etcetera" re-copy your pasted URL into its place (eg http://etcetera). Then change the link text (eg blahblah) to your desired link text.
Remember that HTML works with opening and closing things, and they're all embedded. Whenever you see something in sharp brackets you've got to see an equivalent closing set And they're nested.

[a]
[b]
[c]
[/c]
[/b]
[/a]

See what I mean?
Click 'preview'. A new window will open with your blog in it. This is a preview. It does NOT exist until you've saved and published your site. It's there for you to see if your change is right, or if something awful is wrong.
If you're happy with what you see, go back to the template edit page that's still open, and click, 'save template'. Once it's done that, which will take some seconds, up comes an instruction at the top of that page that says, 'publish index only' and 'publish site'. Click on 'publish site'. That will take a bit of time. Once it's finished, you're done. Your blog has a section labelled 'My Resume' with a link in that section titled 'The Online Resume of Joe Bloggs', or whatever you've chosen to use.
If some disaster has befallen your code, you've got to go through it with a fine tooth comb, ensuring that those tags are nested, and that every open tag has an equivalent closed one.
And please, guys, help each other with this. HTML can be tricky for beginners. But you need to be a resource for each other. And you need to ask for help from your friends.

Good luck!

Roy Blumenthal blogs at Coffee-Shop Schmuck.

Technorati Tags: resume, cv, curriculum vitae, marketing, selfmarketing, selfpromotion

Africa needs ‘ubuntu’ to build ‘amani’ and achieve development

2006-04-10T19:47:00.000+02:00

War is a destroying force that has been hindering prospects of development in many African countries and over the world. It has taken hope away from our countries by recruiting young teenage soldiers just like these two pictures.

If yesterday only dictators were spending billions for war-related needs, the current trend is that developed countries have taken the shift. I am not the right person to tell how much Bush spent in Afghanistan and Iraq ($ 45.3 billions were budgeted for 2006! http://www.clubconspiracy.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1445) .

Most of African leaders that invested much in military spending have passed away, but as if history teaches nothing, some current presidents are following the very same path. The motives behind their behavior are always greed, gluttony, megalomania, and delusions of grandeur. Mobutu (find his profile on http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578969/Mobutu_Sese_Seko.html) is one of them, at least the one that I know better since he ruled my country for 32 years. The guy always argued that ‘Zairians (Congolese) owe me everything’. He instituted the law of jungle and ruled by force.

On the other hand, being endowed with natural resources brought misfortunes on certain countries. Liberian and Sierra Leonean diamond, Iraqi gas, Angolan diamond, as well as Congolese diverse wealth are roots of what we coin in civilized words civilian wars and genocide.

When coming to colonize DRC, Belgians for instance clearly stated ‘this is a geological scandal’. And for 5 decades, the Belgian King had DRC (a country 80 times bigger than his) as his own property. Unfortunately after the colonial looting citizens did worse.

What most of them forget is that, there is no harmful situation as feeling that you are missing your family or you will never see them anymore. Some finally came to understand only after a coup was inflicted to them. They never cope with exile.

Just like a plant, human beings seeking for asylum or refuge as well as displaced need their homeland to blossom. Being uprooted from homeland where one belongs has turned to a nightmare for some.
The wealth that was supposed to help us build Africa serves to oppose brothers. As a result, African diamonds and gold end up in Beyrouth, Tel Aviv, or Brussels at the expense of African sons and daughters that are buried. (http://mondediplo.com/2000/06/02sierraleone http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html).

Genocide and atrocities (such as disemboweling pregnant women, crushing living babies, raping women, and burning villages) have affected young generations by leaving indelible traumas. Most of these scenes were kept far from media broadcasting, but the wounds they caused are very alive in many and tough to tell.

This is a painful and terrifying experience no one wishes to revive. What Africa needs today is ‘ubuntu’, that consciousness that we are humans, and as such we need to unite and care for each other. That is the basis for building a sustained ‘amani’ (peace) and secure development for next generations.

Contradictory, when diamond fuels wars elsewhere in Africa, Botswana the world’s largest producer of diamond is a very good example stability, peace and growth (http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/courses/306/africa_diamond_wars1.htm).

Rich...! at Missing Link shares some thoughts on 'How to Differentiate Your Company' (and yourself)

2006-04-08T09:20:00.000+02:00

Rich...! is a dude you can learn from. His company -- Missing Link -- walks the talk. When you leave their premises, if you're not wild about that company, it's probably cos you're a walking dead person.

I first came across them when I was directing a tv series about the Open Source movement (you can download the series via bit-torrent). At that time, they had skateboard ramps all over their offices, with okes actually skateboarding on them. And because of that first impression, I've been yearning to work with them for ages (and we have indeed done some work together), and I've been spreading their name far and wide.

Here is some core thinking from Rich...! on using excellence as your starting point, adding uniqueness and memorability as your differentiator. Pay attention to this post. It'll make you rich. (Or Rich...!)

How to differentiate your company.
by Rich...! at Missing Link

So here's the trick as I see it. People need to stop trying to differentiate simply on the product alone. They should just differentiate (like these guys).
Let me use our company as a case-study here. I own a presentation firm, our client's are big corporate companies, in theory they just come to us for presentations i.e. we're not a "creative" company as such. However when they come, we have a rule, and every employee knows it:
When someone visits our office we have to make such an impression that people talk about us at home later, not just at their office.
So we collect em in a stretch limo with hot-rod flames, we have no corporate ID, but collectable business cards (here's one). My desk is a queen-sized bed, D'ave has a coffin for his, we have a beach in the office, clients get doggy bags when they leave, and there are lots of other little things.
None of this has anything to do with our product though.
Here's the secret, the product rocks, it has to, but it doesn't matter if they talk about the product or not, as long as they talk about us.
The human brain likes to compartmentalise things, so we set out to make an impression, a big one. That big impression gets tagged "presentation guys" in our client's mind. Later when they chat to someone about presentations, that tag sets of an alarm and our guy will say, "You just have to chat to this crew, they're really good, and crazy too, they..."
So make sure your product is better than good enough, then differentiate on the simple day-to-day things that no-one else bothers with. Our visitors apologise that their business cards are so dull. That's a cool conversation to have.
This post is not about us though, promise. It's about you.
Change the mundane...!
Post inspired by Richard

Posted by Rich...! | Permalink

Roy Blumenthal blogs at Coffee-Shop Schmuck.

Technorati Tags: rich...!, missing link, presenting, marketing, differentiation

Advice for conference presenters: Be like Steve -- reproduced from Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds

2006-04-08T09:13:00.000+02:00

Garr Reynolds writes about delivering presentations on his blog, Presentation Zen. Here, he looks at how 'you can be like Steve Jobs' (the main honcho at Apple). His main point? When you're presenting, be more yourself and less the expectation of what a presenter should be. Being you is the key to conveying your passion.

The blog entry is reproduced from: http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2006/04/advice_for_conf.html

Advice for conference presenters: Be like Steve

by Garr Reynolds
Today in Business Week Online, presentations coach, Carmine Gallo, has an interesting article on Steve Jobs' acclaimed presentation skills called How to Wow 'Em like Steve Jobs.

I've talked about Jobs' presentation style a lot on this site, more than any other prominent business figure. He's the best. (Gallo also highlights many other great communicators, including Jobs, in an older BussiessWeek article called The Great Communicators.)

I don't suggest you necessarily "be like Steve." Instead I suggest you "be yourself." But -- and it's a big but -- that's easier said than done. In front of a large audience most people have a difficult time being that clear-thinking, interesting, charismatic person they are in small meetings and personal conversations. What Steve Jobs does so well, then, is to appear relaxed, natural, and enthusiastic on stage (without having to jump around). He appears absolutely confident, focused and in control, and yet warm, human, and approachable. Audiences respond well to this kind of speaker. The key is not to "be like Steve," but to be like that interesting, engaging person that you actually are.

Below are the five key points made by Gallo in the BusinessWeek article (in bold). I've added my comments under each of Gallo's points.

"Sell the Benefit"
Do not only give the "what" (statistics, features, etc.) but the "so what." Sell the meaning. Ask yourself: Who cares? Why is this important? What's it all mean?

"Practice, Practice, and Practice Some More"
A lot of practice will allow you to appear more relaxed, confident, as well as conversational and spontaneous (yet organized and focused). Practice helps you nail your story, cut out the fat, and speak more extemporarily on your key points during the presentation. Practice gives you the confidence to go more fully naked.

"Keep It Visual"
Slides and other visuals should help you make your point easier to grasp quickly and retain for the audience. Don't get bogged down in nitty-gritty details on a slide -- we're lucky if our audience remembers two-three key ideas from our talk the next day. There's no point drowning them in superfluous details. Focus on what is most important. Remember, complex graphs, table, etc. usually work better in your takeaway documents.

"Exude Passion, Energy, and Enthusiasm"
If you are asking people to sit for 20 minutes or an hour for your talk, it must be important. Right? And if it's important, you sure as heck must have a passion for the subject. Show that energy, show your enthusiasm. If it were only about giving information, sending a well-written document may be more effective. But it is not only about the transfer of information, it is about selling your ideas. And that selling is done better live. Non-verbal communication is powerful; don't waste the opportunity to make a real connection.

"And One More Thing..."
Here Carmine Gallo is talking about Steve Jobs' tendency to have surprises in his talks, especially at the end. A sort of "save the best for last." Audiences generally love little surprises and they are hoping to learn something new or to be unexpectedly inspired. Never be afraid to delight or to surprise, and always finish big. Conference presentations usually have a Q&A session near the end. Fine. But do not end on that. Take the last few minutes to drive your point home again in a different way such as with a relevant short story, amazing photograph or statistic, etc. Finish big with a "one more thing" not with a "well, that's all folks..."

Present different
You say it's not the same thing. You say it's easy for Jobs because his audiences love him. Yes, he has fans. But most people in your audience, too, want you to succeed. They want you to do well. Why would they want to waste their time watching a failure? Who's got time for that? Sure, they may be skeptical or hard to convince, but your enemy they are not. Also, in Jobs' case, the bar is high and the audience's expectations are higher because Jobs is always competing with his last excellent presentation. Unfortunately, a lot of conference presentations are mediocre at best and the bar of expectations is rather low. But this is good news for you. Be engaging, be clear, concise, and relevant and you just may standout above all others. So next time you speak at a conference, why not put your audience first and make a stab at being "insanely great." It's worth a shot, isn't it?

Thanks to Blackfriars Communication for the Businessweek article link.

April 07, 2006 in Delivery | Permalink

Roy Blumenthal blogs at Coffee-Shop Schmuck.

Technorati Tags: garr reynolds, presentation zen, presentation, powerpoint, present

Women more vulnerable?

2006-04-07T12:31:00.000+02:00

Research has indicated that in Africa the majority of HIV positive adults are women mostly between the ages of 15 -24 than men of the same age group. Women are disproportionately affected by HIV in multiple ways due to the influence of gender and other cultural factors. HIV related risks are greatest in situations where women are socialized to please men and defer to male authority. Traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, the lack of social support for single women, vaginal tightening which increases friction and may cause tears and abrasions during sex, wife inheritance, rape or violence contribute greatly to the vulnerability of women to HIV/AIDS.

The African epidemic is understood as one in which women especially poor women are significantly more vulnerable to HIV infection than men. Such vulnerability is based on biology and the lower social status of women. Women subjected to sexual abuse, often finding themselves in coercive sexual relations, unable to insist on condom use and frequently remaining faithful to abuse by partners who are not www.undp.org/hiv/publications. In areas where virginity testing has become commonplace like here in South Africa, young women may be engaging in unprotected anal sex. The rise of such cultural practices has been accompanied by a corresponding rise in infection rates in girls of the relevant group www.aegis.com/news/suntimes. In some parts of Africa, women can be beaten for suggesting a condom, for refusing sex, and being found or suspected of having another partner www.hrw.org/campaigns/women/aids/factsheet.

It is important to interrogate gender or the ways in which men and women are socialized in trying to understand how the disease is pursuing its trajectory in the African population. Research and intervention programmes are needed for both men and women to solve problems that may arise from methods that may be used to prevent HIV/AIDS.

Growth programmes in South Africa

2006-04-07T08:52:00.000+02:00

Since South Africa reached democracy, it has embarked on a great national project for growth with the aim of alleviating poverty, creating jobs and growth. But honestly speaking, there has been very few jobs created. While in some economical sector the country is doing well, it is still lagging behind developed countries as the growth is too slow to lessen poverty and unemployment.I read somewhere on the internet that according to economist, this country should grow by at least 5% – 6% a year to absorb job seekers. It is believed that this economic growth will stimulate investment and make it worthwhile for companies to employ people.
http://www.southafrica.info/doing_business/economy/fiscal_policies/labour.htm

I believe that in the beginning the country did well when it launched programmes that address the poor people's needs. As a sequel the economy turned up well and many foreigners started pumping money into the economy. But the problem with these investors is that they have a short-term effect in South Africa. They only want to market their products and seldom buy South Africa's bonds. In terms of long- term goal, they are very careful when it comes to transferring technology and employing people. Another problem is that social programmes are paid for by productive workers, but in South Africa most people are not working. Thus it is not easy for the economy to support the social programmes. The wage structure is also contributing negatively. Because unskilled workers are priced out off the job market, this causes some of the households to receive very little income. Crime is also hitting negatively on social programmes. Crime imposes directly on financial and emotional costs and indirectly on tourism and investment attraction.

There are areas that require urgent attention in order to have effective growth programme in South Africa. South Africa needs to restructure their investment and privatisation programme for foreign investment. The country still needs to deal with the level of crime and the discrepancies in wage structure. Lastly, more effort should be structured in enhancing skills in South Africa.

Maina Mutonya

2006-04-05T19:34:00.000+02:00

CHECKMATE!
Whenever I feel disoriented, a game of chess brings me back to my usual senses. As I pondered over my next move after a two game thrashing by my dear wife, I remembered the therapeutic session we had with Tracy Rowe of Investec before she gave us very useful tips on professionalism. This was a day after an enlightening and brilliant talk from robust Kuseni Dlamini.

Telling one’s story, what they call narrative therapy, is crucial in expunging pent up emotions. Colleagues went on about imprisonment, working as barmen, sad childhoods, exciting moments in life as well as embarrassing moments, shattered dreams and faded hopes(Joseph, I still hope that one day, I will be as prolific a striker as Samuel Eto’o). However, an aura of optimism amidst a dark past was enveloping throughout.

What struck me most was Pascalia’s story, which was my story, this time not in Zimbabwe but in Kenya. Interestingly though, these two countries share a common colonial legacy… settler colonies, armed resistance and suffered the direct rule under Her Majesty. It is no coincidence that both countries have produced leaders who leave a lot to be desired; Uncle Bob (Robert Mugabe) and Uncle Dan (Daniel arap Moi). The two leaders’ difference is only in academic qualifications with one being a man of letters while the other should have stuck to his initial calling…. goat herding (guys I have nothing against goats; the meat is quite tasty!!).

Sticking to the narrative therapy, I remember my other job (colleagues, forget about the barman story for now) as an intern when I was in my 2nd year at varsity at the premier human rights organization in Kenya. Brilliant boy, from the university, my first task was to type a letter. Had I seen computers…yes. Did I know how to use them…? Never. It took me a whole day to type a one page letter on MS Word (holy heavens, and here I am blogging!! Or is it bragging?!).

Sounds more like Pascalia’s story, not so? Over the three months, I was able to overcome challenges and when our university acquired Internet facilities, I was in the forefront of utilizing to the maximum the facility. Three years down the line, I was teaching Information Technology for the Humanities to undergraduate students at Wits University (yes, Wits, Johannesburg). Cutting a long story short, I think the computer challenges we faced just show how education systems can be inadequate, but again, computer facilities only held sway in Africa less than a decade ago (we were born at theh wrong time?!). It is encouraging that today’s kids are computer whiz- kids (I still learn a few computer tricks from my 14yr old nephew in Kenya). Given the life stories of the Zimbabwean and the Kenyan, (I’m sure there are worse stories we can get from both countries), we have endeavoured to overcome all these challenges, ranging from bad governance, to economic mismanagement, low levels of technological developments, etc. Surely, there is hope for Africa.

What is expected of us, as Kuseni Dlamini aptly puts it, is to transform from being consumers of knowledge to producers of knowledge. Experiencing life outside our depressing domains is a step towards embracing globalisation, a modern day reality; realizing the malfunctional systems which are our origins, embracing the fastidious life of more industrialized nations and producing knowledge which will uplift the horrible living conditions of our people is the important cycle of globalisation; local to regional to global to local…ad infinitum. We should think and act local, regional and global simultaneously.

… and I made my next move, but was checkmated by the accomplished chess player, my lovely wife. I was to avenge for the defeat in a three game-win in a row the next day against some anonymous chess player (we are living in a global village, aren’t we?) on http://www.chessanytime.com/. The player might have been Garry Kasparov…who knows!!!

water in South Africa

2006-04-05T13:47:00.000+02:00

Water is an essential commodity, as Cyrille Mutombo suggested in his article Water in Africa. In 1996 South African government adopted GEAR as new economic policy. This policy included privatisation of government services such as water. The idea behind the privatisation of water is that in the townships people were not paying for water, because they could not afford or simply because of the culture of non-payment.

Access to water is right to all South Africans, those who can afford to pay and those who can not. However it becomes a problem for service providers to serve a good service if communities are not paying for the services, since they depend on water payments to do so. For instance they need to pay municipal workers, to fix the infrastructure and other things. This statement can justify the privatisation of water.

At the same time what about those people who can not afford to pay for water, because they are unemployed. I know that the government supports those households by giving them 6000 litres of water per month. But I do not think that it is enough, because most of black South African households you can find more 10 people living in the same households. Tell me what 6000 litres of water can do for them?.

I know water has been wasted before especially, in the areas where water was not paid before, but I believe that government could help those areas by teaching them how to save water and also introduced flexible ways of paying for water. Water is an essential commodity and no one can survive without it. The privatisation of water would force people to live in the unhealthy environment, such as untidy toilets.

We all have great need for water; however water should be treated with care ad respect, because it is a scarce commodity

Hugh Macleod on how blogging makes you powerfully viral in the real world

2006-04-05T09:14:00.000+02:00

Now this post by Hugh Macleod of Gapingvoid is one mighty important post to bloggers. Very very important. Cos it's about HOW blogs work IN THE BACKGROUND.

Hugh's saying something vital.

I'll paraphrase him in my terms: 'If you have a very good blog, high quality, informative, and you post often, and you have a commitment to excellence, then there are three major consequences: (1) Your blog will display your skills to the world and show how good you are at what you do; (2) You become someone that other people can recommend; (3) You become someone who can recommend people to people.

Here's the post in HIS words:

on becoming more viral in the offline world...

Had an interesting conversation with Anu Gupta yesterday, all to do with how blogs make people more viral, even in the offline world.

Take HR, which is Anu's profession. I know very little about HR. What I know about HR could could probably be written on the back of a postcard.

So let's say I'm talking to some hotshot at a cocktail party, and he mentions he's looking to hire someone in HR.

As I know nothing about HR, nor do I know anyone in that profession very well, in the pre-blog world I would probably have just gone, "Sorry, can't help you", and quickly have changed the subject.

But with blogs I can tell the hotshot, "Well, there's this guy named Anu Gupta that works in HR. Don't know much about him. Met him once or twice before. Nice guy. Seems pretty bright. Here's his link. Maybe talk to him etc."

Suddenly a connection between the hotshot and Anu is made, without the bridge (i.e. me) having had to risk any of his (my) social capital, via making the recommendation.

In other words, the better your blog, the less qualified I have to be to recommend you. The easier and less socially risky it is for me to spread your story. Because all I have to do is give the guy your link, and hopefully your blog does the rest.

And if the same is true for everyone else who knows you, suddenly, like Anu, you've become a lot more viral.

Which surely is a good thing, right?

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/002610.html

Roy Blumenthal's blog is Coffee-Shop Schmuck

Globalisation and development

2006-04-04T12:44:00.000+02:00

About ten years ago, third world and developing countries did not want accept globilasation. They wanted to reject it because they felt that the Super powers wanted to further their dominance and influence on third world and developing countries and opress them further economically andpolitically. Few years later, developing and third world countries realised that in order for their economies and politics to improve they had to join the game and catch up very quickly in order for them to survive the changing world.

I think that I can link globalisation to development because of the constant change of technology, for instance only few people post their letters by the post office and jobs are also applied through the internet. These days people use emails and so on to communicate with world, therefore one of significant changes is that peolpe must be copmuter literate in order for them to survive the changing world. Most of us were touched and motivated by Ghadijha Vallie to be invloved in cour communities on order to help them develop and catch up with rest of the continent. In my community I know that a lot of people are still not computer literate yet there are a lot of internet cafes. I realized that even though a lot of people in townships are now becoming computer literate, there is still the older generation who were not fortunate to be taught computers and therefore they are not going to fit in this evolved world.

I can safely say that I have discovered an area that needs to be develpoed in my community, and I will make a change, even though it is going to be difficult for me since I do not have a computer myself, but I am going to take one step at a time and see what I can change or help to develop in my community.

Changing perceptions

2006-04-03T08:56:00.000+02:00

The presenter this morning, Andrew Hofmeyer, observantly stated that we are “nice people with wonderful intentions and unlikely to get a job.” While he wasn’t trying to be negative, his first impression of us is probably what most employers think.

Leslie Emmanuel stated that in the world of work perceptions = reality. She stressed this point in her business writing skills session because she wanted us to understand that the simplest of writing material (emails, cover letters, CVs) create perceptions about how professional and conscientious we are as potential employees.

After last week’s presentations we need to consider something important: there are perceptions about us (Arts and Humanities graduates) that our heads are stuck in the clouds because we are:
· too theoretical;
· we do not have the practical skills needed for the world of work;
· and, worst of all, we are idealistic.

This equation “perceptions = reality” does not only apply to writing professionally, I want us to consider that in the world of work this equation is one of the reasons why we as “theoretical idealists” cannot get work. The perceptions which I stated above unfortunately work against us. Apparently, we are people that cannot make the transition from student to worker.

How can we change these perceptions? Indicated by our team blog and being in this programme with you the last three weeks, we are people that are passionate about the progression and development of Africa and we have innovative thinking about how this process should happen. We need to update the narrow perceptions about students coming from humanities. We need to sell the fact that development in this country and in the rest of the continent will not be successful without critical thinking and visionary minds like ours.

My favourite session so far was on Thursday with Ghadija Vallie, such a visionary. Looking at your faces during her discussion I could see that she really gave us inspiration and confidence in our abilities to be a force in our world. She gave us some powerful instructions: be innovative, be a visionary, be self-motivated, be passionate and be humble.

Andrew Hofmeyer wanted us to see that we can create our own opportunities by being conscious of ourselves (i.e. our skills) and what we can contribute to the world of work.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” ~ Margaret Mead

Investment in Africa worthwhile

2006-04-02T15:25:00.000+02:00

In my previous post on the World of Work Team blog, I wrote about the importance of South African business and their effects on the rest of Africa. The question that I raised was whether these companies are a force for good or bad. But you ask yourself, why should South Africa be the one to be a force for good in Africa? Let me briefly explain this:

South Africa (SA) can unlock Africa’s vast economic potential.
SA is the economic powerhouse of Africa - our economic and environmental infrastructure is much more sophisticated, advanced and diversified.
We are not as reliant on commodities, and we’ve got a strong manufacturing and industrial base.
European and American activities in Africa are mostly only limited to petroleum, mining and construction (SA can fill that gap).
SA expands itself further into non-traditional sectors (unlike most African countries).
SA’s good global reputation can rub off on Africa.

There are many aspects why Africa has found itself in this predicament of poor sustainable development and slow growth. These reasons differ from country to country, but overall, Africa needs this help because of the following reasons:

Africa provides 1.5% to the global GDP, and 2.1% to global trade. But Africa makes up 13% of the world’s population.
Some comparative examples: Spain’s GDP = $ 580 billion (Bigger than Africa’s GDP).
Pentagon budget = $ 400 billion (Slightly smaller than Africa’s GDP).
Africa is in a marginal position and has a pessimistic stance towards the rest of the world.
World investment is weary (due to corruption, high business costs etc.).

Considering these impacts, it is obvious that South African businesses should get involved in the development of Africa. It will help liberalise their productive forces, SA business will put some profit into social investment, there will be a transfer of skills, improvement of quality, and most of all a increase in SA Foreign Direct Investment into Africa.

There are some areas where Africa has already shown improvement. These improvements are reason enough to not doubt the effect of business integration into Africa. These improvements are the following:

Even though there is still high risks involved, returns are quite high.
Sometimes returns on investment can be between 50-60 %.
Policies and regulations are improving and countries are becoming more transparent and accountable.
There is more privatisation.
Two-thirds of African governments have been democratically elected and there are many anti-corruption committees.
There are high returns on equity.
There is a big move towards membership in international organisations. The WTO already has about 40 African members.

With the help of South African companies and the improvement Africa has shown in the past couple of years, its only a matter of time that Africa could become the ideal business-friendly environment. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Water in Africa: a SPRAT approach for sustainable development

2006-03-31T16:39:00.000+02:00

African development is such a broad and diverse topic that I had to think and rethink on what to write. As the world celebrated the 14th world water day on March 22, I felt inspired and decided to write on this topic for my post of the week in this team blog.

I adopt the SPRAT technique, which we learnt from Lesley’s session at the world of work (WOW) training [http://www.pghumanities.wits.ac.za/wow/]. SPRAT stands for:
Situation, which is the story or trend on ground;
Problem or the issue that must be solved;
Resolution that is the answer or proposal to the problem;
Action, which is the implementation of the proposal, and lastly;
Thanks as for the closure.

To start with, what is the situation regarding water? Water is the thing that makes our daily life. Over 80 or 90 % of our bodies are made of water. The coffee, tea, juice, or coca cola we drink is made of water. We treat water, we eat water, we live water, we dive in water, we pay for water, play water, and pray with water. Water is our culture, water is our future. Yet, world water resources are shrinking when our daily needs for it are tremendously increasing.

The second stage of the SPRAT model is the problem, which teaches us that water is a non-renewable resource. Moreover, there is no substitute for water. Besides that, water is unevenly distributed in the world despite the fact that two third of the universe is made of water (unfortunately much of it is retained by polar ices). So many other issues are water-related:

Ø Almost one fifth of the world still does not have access to an adequate supply of drinking water;
Ø Ninety percent of natural disasters are water-related;
Ø Poor water quality is a key cause of poor livelihood and health, causing many deaths, remember Kostad and Umtamta in South Africa;
Ø According to the World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org/), every day, nearly 6,000 children die from water-related illnesses;
Ø Some tourists in 5 and 6 stars hotels in Jozzi or in Cairo demand up to 900 litres of water daily when some people in South African cities and townships can’t access more than 20 litres per day;
Ø Some sources of water like Lake Chad, are threatened of running dry;
Ø Some regions like Europe manage to use more than two third of their hydraulic potential when Africa makes use of only 7% of its potential. Hence the statement, Africa has considerable water.
Ø Some natural disasters like Tsunami, Catherina, etc are water related;
Ø Competition over scarcely distributed water, always brings Niger and Guinea to clash;
Ø Privatization promoted in some countries like South Africa has skewed access to water, determining who gets how much water,
Ø The list is not going to end.

To get back to the SPRAT model, how then is this issue being handled?

Let’s start with the global level,

In 1992, the United Nations (http://www.un.org/) came with a resolution that the 22 March of each year would become the World Water Day (WWD) as of 1993. For that celebration, a different UN agency is selected each year. For 2006, the theme is ‘water and culture’ under the auspices of the Unesco (http://www.unesco.org/).

The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/index.asp) plans to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

Other solutions to water related issues are implemented at regional or country levels:

v Recycling sewage water, which decreases pollution;
v Riccardo Petrella (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Petrella), a prominent European academic suggests that we stop exploiting water as petroleum (petrolization of water, he argues);
v Museveni, intervening on CNN on the 2006 WWD refutes the statement that Africa has considerable water, he goes for reasonable water.

Action, as the fourth step in the SPRAT model, made some governments act pragmatically. Libya is one of them. In 1985, President Kaddafi launched the ‘Great Man made River’ (www.watert-technology.net/project/gmr/), a program aimed at extracting water from Saharan fossils and drain it to the Libyan shore, the most agricultural favourable region in the country. The program is expected to start delivering from 2010. Unfortunately, Kaddafi was criticised as building a white elephant, I do not share such view.

In brief, water-related issues are to be treated with same respect and attention as other burning development issues such as attracting FDI, trade, governance, etc.

Lastly, who should I thank? Remember the last step in the SPRAT model. Special thanks to Lesley for adding the SPRAT approach to my knowledge. Definitely, it will always be part of my analyses even if Lesley used that in a presentation on writing skills. I also thank you, my reader for spreading the news that with more than 6 billion people today and still increasing population, the earth is a risky place to be carrying of economic growth and prosperity only with less concern for environmental changes and water crisis. To avoid Africa becoming a source of world conflicts because of its reasonable (not considerable) water resources, we must start planning its equitable access and rationale management. By so doing, we are going to make a difference in the future with water as the African comparative development advantage.

The problems with black economic empowerment

2006-03-31T07:53:00.000+02:00

I believe that from a macro perspective BEE (black economic empowerment) can be seen as an integrated and orderly socio-economic process that was located within the context of South Africa's transformation programme. The aim of BEE was to address the imbalances of the past while also seeking to ensure a broader and meaningful participation in the economy by black people. But the question is -is the process working to reach its aim ?

Many people feel that the whole process of empowerment is not complete. Many companies are still owned by the the minority population and many farmers still see black economic empowerment as a threat to their own existence. Then there are also the misunderstanding of BEE. The people who get involved in BEE concerntrate only in ownership of assets (especially the mines) and overlook areas such as human resource development, management at senior level and indirect empowerment through corporate social investment. Then there is the big issue of BEE benefitting a selected few. I also question myself as to why certain individuals are always empowered. Then I come up with the possible answer which says people at ground-level are not well- informed of the role they could play in the economy.

I belelive that in order to achieve the aims of BEE, there should be an effort from both the citizens and government. The government should make more effort to inform people about the economic activities while also the citizens should broaden their business skills and views. Companies should also create an enabling environment which align black empowerment iniatives.

Migration and HIV/AIDS

2006-03-30T16:54:00.000+02:00

The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and indeed the world over should be viewed with particular concern. HIV/AIDS is incapacitating the most productive age groups in our societies. Its ravaging effects are stripping people of their human rights and human dignity. The way the disease has claimed so many lives and left examples of hopeless orphans, child headed families and old people who have to assume responsibility for them is very tragic indeed.

It is noble that the United Nations has seen it in its power to declare the pandemic a “global emergency” as it is undermining the social and economic development of all sectors in society be it national, regional, communal or the individual levels. The UN Special Session Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS in 2001 noted that the progression of the pandemic is in the long run going to have negative effects on the achievement or attainment of Millennium development goals www.un.org/ga/aids . I believe that there is need for governments to spearhead efforts at slowing down or putting an end to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region.

This is with the realisation that we are now leaving in a global community where people are constantly migrating for different reasons. Some people have been displaced or forced to migrate by conflict and have found themselves having to settle in other countries other than their own. This presents new challenges in some instances and opportunities in others. Many countries are now potential destination points for different migrants there is need to put in place structures and programmes for HIV/AIDS that accommodate all the citizens in any particular country.

I know that this is a tall order given that some countries do not even have adequate health systems to take care of the “normal” ailments let alone this frightful disease HIV/AIDS. But it is important to have a situation where people have all the adequate information of where to seek medical help in case of necessity or where to get information concerning HIV/AIDS. In South Africa for instance several studies notably by the Forced Migration Studies department of this university and indeed several others by different organisations who work with migrants have revealed that most migrants’ especially undocumented ones are afraid to seek medical help from the big hospitals because there they will be asked for legal documents. They would rather go to the small clinics where service is hassle free but then what happens in the event of a complication that requires more expect involvement? It is evident also that the social stigma associated with being a migrant from a certain country also plays a role in the health seeking behaviour of some migrants.

It is imperative then for African states to commit themselves to providing health services to everyone in their countries regardless of legal status. For instance STDs are known to exacerbate the transmission of the virus so it is important that migrants get assistance if the pandemic is to be arrested. It becomes necessary to make sure that such services are available without discrimination as migrants may not have sex amongst themselves only but may also do so with local people.

It is then necessary to protect the health of everyone involved as migrants become integrated into the communities of the countries they have settled in. A cholera outbreak in a largely migrant community for instance can end up infiltrating nearby non migrant communities as well so governments need to consider that in order to preserve the health of their citizens they may also need to preserve the health of their “visitors” too.

Africa and development

2006-03-30T14:13:00.000+02:00

I believe Africa has got the potential to develop. We have the expertise and the resources. However, there are factors that impede development. They include civil wars, poverty, corruption and exploitation of resources to mention a few. It is therefore up to the international community and Africans in particular to deal with these issues if Africa is to develop. Peace and security, democracy and good political, economic and corporate governance and regional co-operation and integration are essential to ensure sustainable development. We need to improve the image of Africa to attract foreign investments.

The diversity in the continent should also be taken into consideration; different cultures and history and some countries have plenty of resources while others have limited resources. This is where African Union, New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), regional oarganisations and development agencies should come in an help identify solutions to unique situations. If all the objectives and principles of NEPAD were to be followed, then nothing would stop Africa from developing and be competent in the global economy.

Nedlac and development issues

2006-03-29T13:35:00.000+02:00

Since we are all social science students, I imagine that the development issue is part of our career aspirations. The presentations on NEPAD, Nedlac and other presenations that had something to do with developmet raised our interests.

NEPAD and Nedlac I think are good concepts, because they are part of developing a successful South Africa. I think that it is taking time though for the South African community to see the desired results. On the side of nedlac it might be difficult for us to see the results because, the organisation does not deal entirely with development. Nedlac deals with proposed laws and so on. However on the side of NEPAD we already see the results, and so far they are not as good as we innitially thought they would. Why I say this is because, for one thing only those who rich and can afford to trade with other African countries are the only ones who actually see the benefits of it, meanwhile those who are poor are actually getting more poor and some of them have no idea what NEPAD is about. One colleague even said that he feels as though NEPAD is only for the rich Africans, and he does not feel as he is part of of it.

As for the peer review mechanism, I don't think it will work on the long run, because for example if you take the issue of Zimbabwe and president's Thabo Mbeki's quiet diplomacy tactic, you actually see that it is just a waste of time and nothing will come of it. Some of our African leaders are scared of the challenge of reprimanding each other when comes the need to do so.

As postgraduates who aspire to introduce change to the injustices of this world I think that these organizations would do well to take us on as interns. Maybe on us will introduce an idea that will successfully speed up the pace of development in South Africa if given the chance to do it.

Community economic development

2006-03-29T12:53:00.000+02:00

To start your own business it used be a problem. Now in South Africa there are number of business opportunities that are available to previously disadvantaged communities. Now they can own businesses as a community or individually. Local Economic Development (LED) is one of the government programmes that motivate local communities to become business entrepreneurs. For instance in Soweto there is a development of cultural tourism. Cultural tourism is a form of tourism that attracts foreign and local visitors to visit Soweto so that they can learn about its history and culture.

This is very interesting, because local people now own small business, such as guest houses, shebeens, restaurants and other small business. As a result people who were previously unemployed are now employed in this business. This also shows how local people can use their own available assets, such as their homes and labour to develop themselves. Like Marius Venter was saying that sometimes you do not need money to open up a business. All you need is a good calculated plan and motivation. Previously disadvantaged communities are now responsible for their own development. This should be a lesson to other African countries that they can use their own available assets to develop themselves.

Two more reasons for this 2006 teamblog

2006-03-26T22:17:00.000+02:00

Roy gave us 9 reasons for the existence of this blog and I do share his views.

I also think that this blog exists for whoever believes in teamwork. I like a comment Celeste wrote in her blog about teamwork. Actually she refutes Roy conception of teamwork http://celestewatch.blogspot.com/. I side along with Celeste and I urge the 2006 team to take up the challenge by demonstrating that teamwork is achievable, even if that works according to the Pareto principle.

Nonetheless, I am not over ambitious and I share Roy’s realism that 20% ends up doing the all job. Which side do you want to be?

Maina said something quite true in one of his blog posts ‘for teamwork to be effective, individuals have to perform to their best.’ http://mainamutonya.blogspot.com/. Let’s show how high our TQ is. Let’s do something for this blog guys.

The second reason comes from what Lesley wrote, referring to the HRSC study on job hunting among graduates. The workplace already makes it difficult for us to get jobs and we rank the last. If this team can properly use the blog tool, I think we are going to make a difference and show that we are different.

Cyrille

A Force for Good?

2006-03-26T15:32:00.000+02:00

How do people feel about the intervention, or rather involvement, of South African companies in Africa? Or do most people see this as a means of pure self interest on behalf of the companies?

This has been one of my key interests for the past year and a half after I have completed a course in South African Corporate Foreign Policy. In the 21st century it has become crucial for business and state to sort out new challenges by figuring out how to work together in order to make their relationship work to benefit both the company and the state.

The responses to these challenges have to take into account the necessity to provide a better life for those who are living in the chosen country. The relationship between the state and the companies are ever changing, especially in Africa and specifically South Africa. Reminiscent of what we have learnt from Mr Kapelus from the AICC, corporate governance are one of the aspects to make life better for those who are affected by companies. In other words, there is an increasing need or demand for companies and states to be more transparent, accountable and regulated. Of course there are global institutions that are there to provide information and regulations for companies to measure their accountability (like the World Trade Organisation), but this is a whole different area that I would rather not get into due to my lack of patience and enthusiasm with these types of global organisations. However this topic is definitely open for discussion if anybody wants to dare go there.

In this day and age it is unavoidable for companies not to think seriously about the implications of their actions on their own personal reputation. This brings me to the actual point I would like to make. The increase in activities by South African companies is heavily debated. It is beyond a doubt that South African companies play an enormous role in Africa. It helps with African development and increases growth. But most of all, this growth and development of Africa also serves the interest of South African companies.

Mr. Metcalfe tried to explain to us the other day how Nepad is a way to improve the relationship between companies and states and how FDI can be generated when Africa becomes a safer investment zone. This is still a wait and see process. Some companies still face challenges while others have gained from these interventions. However, there is still the problem of some companies exploiting African nations and raking in the profits.

Consequently it is highly important for companies to assess their corporate foreign policy towards African nations. I feel the majority of South African companies are a force for good in Africa and that most African states, NGOs and other stakeholders should be open to their involvement in their countries. This will eventually show the rest of the economic world that Africa can be a safe environment to invest in. I do realise there are many other aspects to consider and not just the hope of generating more FDI, but shouldn’t this be the point of departure for the development of Africa? Am I being too ignorant and optimistic or is there some concurrence on this subject matter?

What makes us different...

2006-03-26T01:02:00.000+02:00

Thanks for the description, Roy.

All I can think of that needs to be included is that we are postgrads from the Humanities and Social Sciences.

A repeated criticism of human sciences training is that too often it is an irrelevant scholarly endeavour: just “knowledge for knowledge’s sake”. Add a dose of skepticism from industry about the value of human science training in terms of direct economic or political benefit and the result is precarious career prospects for humanities and social science students.

The case is worse for those humanities and social science students who will graduate from academic programmes that are not specifically oriented to meet the needs of an industry or profession. A 2003 HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council) study tracked the job-hunting progress of 2 672 graduates who obtained their first degrees between 1990 and 1998. The type of qualifications held by graduates was also highlighted by the HSRC study. Graduates from the humanities and the arts had the highest unemployment rate, at almost 47%. Graduates in medical science had the highest success rate in finding employment (79%) followed by engineering graduates (77%).

There are no other similar interventions out there that look at how 'people like us' should re-package knowledge for the workplace. So the fact that Humanities and Social Sciences people are doing this through the World of Work Programmes, and through this blog, makes us unique.

What do you all think?

Lesley

Let's come up with a better description for this blog

2006-03-25T12:57:00.000+02:00

I've taken the liberty of adding a description to the blog, and I think it's probably better if you guys come up with your own one. Here's my stab at it:

"The World Of Work 2006 Team

An intensive course for post-graduate students to get immersed in the 'world of work' before they actually enter it. This blog is put together by the team to guide the way for other students to ease themselves into the great wide yonder."

Your objectives in writing this blurb will be for people who visit this blog to see at a glance why they should read it. What are they going to get out of it?

It doesn't have to be one line. It could be several sentences. Take a few stabs at it.

Blue skies
love
Roy

Why does this blog exist?

2006-03-25T12:47:00.000+02:00

Here are the reasons I can think of for having this blog. I'm sure you can think of some to add.

1. Make your learnings open to the world. In other words, share.

2. Keep your group together in cyberspace, so that you may continue to network together, into the future. It's VERY easy to say, 'let's do coffee'. But when you're in the working world, time runs out, and you end up seeing your buddies once a year.

3. Focussing you on professionalism. When each of you posts to this blog, you'll be accutely aware of the standard of posts by your colleagues. My guess is that one of two things will happen: either all of the posts will sink into being absolutely awful, and the blog will stop, quickly; or you guys will call an emergency meeting, get angry with each other, and vow to create a professional product. The people who come through that process will be great bloggers, and will make a superb blog. Some of you will drop out of the blog, cos it's just too much work.

4. Giving employers something to think about. If you show a brilliant team blog, employers can read between the lines as to how individuals on the team blog might fit into their organisations. It'll also warn them off people who won't fit.

5. Making it easier for your guys to motivate each other to greatness. Each of your individual blogs will benefit from this process.

6. Giving Lesley a single, united front to show off on her WoW website. Hopefully, you'll use this space to make her proud.

7. For you to learn a little bit about how the world of work ACTUALLY works. The Parieto Principle almost always holds in the real world. It's also known as the 80/20 Principle. It works across allll sorts of things. In short, it can be stated as 80% of the success of a group comes from the efforts of 20% of the members. Or, 80% of the profits of a company come from 20% of its clients. And so on. In this case, you guys are going to come face to face with some ugly truths about each other, about teamwork, about motivation, about how tough things are, about projects, about project planning. Hopefully, you'll also get to see some amazing things about those topics!

8. One day, several of you are going to go into business together, either as partners, or as collaborators. Doing this blog together will let you know who you want to work with in the future.

9. The team blog (and your individual blogs) are very potent job interviews that are continuously happening. If you think of the blog as a microscope into your world that anyone can look at anytime they want, then you're on the money. This is an extravagant career-creation tool. If you use it properly.

What I'd love from you guys is to jump into this as a debate, either in the comments section, or in separate blog entries.

Bravo Celeste

2006-03-24T18:35:00.000+02:00

Congratulations Celeste for taking up this task.
We have been all busy with our own blogs when you decided to make this work.

Thank you Roy for this brilliant idea. Hope We going to keep it for the 18 months!!!

Please tell me Roy if this is going to work for 18 months, what is going to happen next year when new interns will start the 2007 programme?I may sound silly if technically that is feasible to make it work for both years, but i am worried about us interfering in the interaction of 2007 team.

Go 2006team,

testing

2006-03-24T16:25:00.000+02:00

Hi guys, sorry you have not read from me in a long time, i had a lot of problem in accessing the blog stuff, i ll keep you guys posted,
Have a great day
Beatrice

WoW!

2006-03-23T21:20:00.000+02:00

This World of Work Team Blog is very exciting!

It's the best way for people in this team to share ideas and network, long after the training programme.
I think it will also become an important reference for all postgrads from the Humanities and Social Sciences who are about to enter the workplace.
It will certainly be a valuable reference for employers.

Thanks Roy, for the idea. Thanks Celeste, for the action.

Best,
Lesley Emanuel

Well done to Celeste on creating this team blog

2006-03-22T17:34:00.000+02:00

Hiya Guys...

Just a quick congratulations to Celeste on setting up this team blog.

Now we've got to work out the technical details. I'm a little bit baffled as to why it's only showing Celeste's profile. Maybe it's a matter of selecting one of the other blog templates?

I'm on a team blog called TECHNOLOGY CIRCLE which automatically lists all of the team members under the profiles list.

Slowly slowly we'll sort this one out.

Blue skies
love
Roy

[update: 25 March 2006] The mystery about listing team members evaporated as soon as I made my first post... this one, in fact. It would seem that as soon as a second person makes a post in a Blogger team blog, the list of team members is created. Sorted!

Welcome!

2006-03-20T13:48:00.000+02:00

Hello everybody

Welcome to the World of Work 2006 Team blog. This is the chance for all of us to show what we are made of. And what a fantastic way to do it by writing down our ideas and passions for people to read. I hope you all enjoy it and I'm looking forward to reading everybody's thoughts and comments.

Happy blogging!

Disclaimer

2006-03-19T00:17:00.000+02:00

The views and opinions expressed on this, The World of Work Team Weblog, are the personal views and opinions held by the individual contributors. This blog does not represent any official university policy or opinion of the University of the Witwatersrand, its World of Work Programme, or any other organisation (whether that organisation is associated with the World of Work Programme as a host organisation or not). These organisations do not endorse anything contained herein. All content on sites linked to the World of Work Team Blog, regardless of their authors' affiliation with the University of the Witwatersrand or the World of Work Team Blog, are also not endorsed by the university.