Our speaker today was International Development consultant, Edna Alemayehu. Edna was introduced by Ashley Alemayehu.

 

Edna stated that “Due to the unbalanced coverage of Africa in mainstream media when most people think of Africa, and places like Ethiopia they think of hunger and poverty, places that need saving, which is an unbalanced narrative.”

 

Africa is comprised of 54 countries, that are in different stages of economic growth. Africa is not poor, it is just poorly managed. It is the richest continent in human and natural resources. It has the largest youth population in the world, and 30% of the world’s remaining minerals. It is the mismanagement of these resources that has kept it from realizing its full potential.

 

Africa’s ongoing struggle to create stable nation states can be traced back to the Berlin Conference of 1884. Where all the major European nations met to decide the partitioning of Africa. These nations “decided” to carve-up the continent of Africa (colonization) for their own purposes. The Conference was NOT attended by any representative of the African nation. By 1914, 90% of Africa was divided among seven European nations, the only African countries not under European power were Liberia and Ethiopia. Liberia was under the protection of the United States, Ethiopia was the only African nation to maintain its independence by resisting and defeating the Italians in 1896. Ethiopia is arguably the most misrepresented country on the continent due to a massive humanitarian aid and media campaign in the 1980’s. When in fact it is one of humanity’s oldest civilizations and one of the oldest Christian nations in the world.

 

Edna argues that, “the one-sided “despair” story of Africa affects our approach to aid, how we give it, and how ineffective that aid becomes. It completely misses or misreads important events and changes on the continent. Without the ownership, full participation and knowledge of beneficiaries, positive and sustainable change will not happen. Good intentions cannot replace good intelligence.”

 

Good intentions without good information can have unintended harmful consequences. Take for example sending free t-shirts to Africa. Dumping free t-shirts onto the continent suppresses the local textile economy, putting tailors out of business. The textile industry in sub-Saharan Africa has plummeted as a result of free clothing from the West.

 

Many “helpful missions“ are detrimental, since they fail to receive direct input as to the real needs, neglecting to ask for and accept direction from the local stakeholders. Free products only end up strengthening dependency.

 

There are so many positive elements and stories about Africa which are never seen in print or through mainstream media, such as: Africa produces more women entrepreneurs than any other part of the world (18% in Africa compared to only 12% in North America, countries like Ethiopia and Rwanda who have overcome extreme poverty and war  have the fastest growing economies in the continent. Six out of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are African. The rapid expansion of mobile phones and internet connections has transformed how the continent functions all together, creating unparalleled access to market prices, health service delivery, banking services, and governance.

 

Edna concluded by stating that the goal is “to help African nations find sustainable development solutions NOT to strengthen the cycle of dependence. No country in the world has amassed wealth through hand-outs and charity, what African countries need is growth opportunities and strong leadership.”