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Investing in bananas and avos

Avocados and bananas are the new focus of the Norwegian development finance institution, Norfund.

Recently the government funded body invested in Africado Limited, Tanzania's first avocado plantation in the foothills of Kilimanjaro. The idea is to give local farmers an alternative to coffee production. The avos are to be exported to Europa.

Further south, near Nampula in Mozambique, Norfund has invested in a new banana plantation - also for the export market.

The institutions is clearly interested in a range of activities from building hydroelectric power stations, to investment funds and food plantations. And they seem to have cross-party political support in the Norwegian Storting (parliament).

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Mega-Projects but minor benefits for Mozambique

(Photo credit: Fred Hoogervorst - Panos pictures)

Charles Mangwiro, Panos London

Mozambique encourages foreign investment. But with a third of jobs going to ex-pats, how do locals benefit?

Lazaro Alfredo Mathe is only 20 years old and he already has a wife and three children. He supports his family with the little money he makes selling tomatoes at the nearby vegetable market in his homeland, Chibuto, some 250 km north-west of Mozambique's capital Maputo. Under different circumstances, Mathe might have been in college, but he is illiterate. "I don't speak Portuguese," he says in the local Shangana language, "my wife can help with the translation." 



Norwegian development policy to focus on climate, conflict and capital

 

(Photo credit: Amila de Saram Larssen)

 

Amila de Saram Larssen

 

White Paper (#13) on Norwegian development policy was presented by Minister of Development and the Environment, Erik Solheim, in Oslo today.  

The title of the paper loosely translates as, “Climate, conflict and capital: Norwegian development policy in a new environment.”

 

The document seeks to address the new challenges facing the world today such as climate change, conflict and capital. Minister Solheim underscored the fact that the White Paper was not about development aid, but rather about forces driving development in general.  The paper addresses the important role of private investment, remittances, economic crises, etc. in addition to development aid, in bringing about development.

The policy paper has been approved by the government and will be up for debate in parliament at a later date.

The document is not available in English for the moment. 

 

You can watch a webcast of the launch here.

Water rich Nepal plagued by poor power supply

Navin Singh Khadka 

Hydropower development has always been a favourite slogan of Nepalese politicians.

For years they have cited the country’s more than 6,000 gushing rivers and rivulets and sold the Nepalese people the dream of becoming rich by exporting hydroelectricity to power starved India, its neighbor to the South.

Nepal’s water resources indeed have the estimated potential of generating more than 80,000 megawatt of power.

Aid to fight corruption in developing countries not effective

In the mid-nineties, donors started to place more emphasis on anti-corruption efforts in aid. Norad’s Evaluation Department, in cooperation with five other evaluation offices, commissioned a literature review that looks at how effective this effort has been. 

 

The review indicates limited success in  aid funded anti-corruption efforts.  Major findings include:

• There are few evident successes, and the results of specific anti-corruption efforts have been limited.

• Fight against corruption requires political support, good laws and a functioning court system - all of which are often lacking in poor countries.

Interview with Justin Lin, World Bank Chief Economist

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Per-Ivar Nikolaisen of Bistandsaktelt interviews Justin Lin on the the World Bank's response to the current financial crisis, the role of China in the mitigation of the crisis and Lin's personal experience as the first non-European chief economist of the World Bank.  The interview took place at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on January 12, 2009.

Justin Lin, World Bank Chief Economist on the impact of the financial crisis on developing countrries

Amila de Saram Larssen

Justin Lin, chief economist at the World Bank was recently in Oslo and spoke of the impact of the current financial and economic crisis on high-income countries like the US and Norway, emerging markets like China and on low-income countries. 

In the clip below, Lin outlines strategies to cope with the crisis, including what he terms, "a Marshall Plan for Development."

Promoting Tourism to Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands

(Photo: Reidar Dieserud)

Amila de Saram Larssen and Reidar Dieserud

Sustainable tourism has great potential to improve income and quality of life for the poor in the developing world.  Recently, 10 African countries including South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi, Madagascar, Namibia, Mauritius and Egypt were in Scandinavia to promote outbound travel from Scandinavia to Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

Here is what some of the participants of Spotlight on Africa and Indian Ocean had to say about tourism in their countries, sustainable tourism and tourism as an engine for socio-economic growth and poverty alleviation.

Jacinta Nzioka of the Kenya Tourist Board, Nairobi.

Adolescent Girls Initiative launched by World Bank

(Photo: Flickr © Gennadiy Ratushenko / World Bank) 

Amila de Saram Larssen

The World Bank and the Nike Foundation plan to execute the first pilot project to help smooth the transition of adolescent girls from school to quality work in Liberia in January 2009.  

Interventions planned include helping girls complete education, build skills that match market demand, find mentors and job placements, offer incentives to potential employers to retain, and train young women to overcome some of the cultural barriers to young women's employment.

Richard Murphy on tax havens

(Photo credit: Tax Research UK)

Jan Speed

Richard Murphy, an expert on taxation policy issues and a fierce critic of tax havens, was recently in Oslo where he spoke to reporters on topics including Barack Obama’s anti-tax haven stance and its implications, the role played by tax havens in the present financial crisis, and ideas for tax compliance.