Mobilising migrant resources for development in Africa

The reduction of transfer costs of migrant remittances and the mobilisation of these resources to complement other sources of finance for the development of the African continent have for several years been a subject of increasing interest for the African Development Bank, which has supported several initiatives in this area including the recent World Bank study “Leveraging Migration for Africa”.

The creation of the Migration and Development Fund (MDF) responds to this interest and the impetus to f

The Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation operation aims at improving the infrastructure for the supply, sanitation and waste management of the lake’s water. Upgraded water and sanitation services are to alleviate the living conditions of poor populations.  

Road rehabilitation in Douala contributes to economic efficiency and helps tackle social and environmental problems, as well as safety issues related to traffic problems.

The ‘Access to Douala’ project aims at widening and reconstructing a 20-kilometre section of the access road to Douala in Cameroon. The current road is too poor to carry long-distance heavy traffic and lighter urban short-distance traffic. This creates permanent traffic jams, safety risks for pedestrians, bikers and motor bikers and is harmful for the environment.

Rehabilitating the Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant is part of a bigger plan in Liberia to regain power stability and financial benefits. The project is to answer to the Liberian people’s urgent electricity needs and also to produce power to neighbouring countries.

The plan to develop the entire St. Paul River Basin is part of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) CLSG Redevelopment sub programme. The aim is to reach the pre-war level of the power plant: 64 MW.

East Africa is facing growing energy demand alongside rising levels of fossil fuel consumption. Together with growing urban populations and deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions are also sharply increasing, which is why there is a great need for renewable energies in the area.

As part of a bigger plan to enhance information and communication technologies in Africa, the African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project supports the establishment of a continental African internet infrastructure.

The project aims to create an African internet system through setting up:

The ‘Common Ground initiative’ aims at increasing funding for small and diaspora organisations based in the UK and supporting development in Africa. With over £20 million made available for grants from 2009 to 2012, the Common Ground Initiative is one of the most important government-funded diaspora support programmes in Europe.  

The African Medical and Research Foundation /AMREF is implementing training programmes for all categories of the health workforce in Eastern and Southern Africa to combat the critical shortage of health service providers.

WEREEMA stands for Wind Energy, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. It is the name of a project promoting the use of renewable energies in Morocco. Launched by the Desertec Foundation, its purpose is to consolidate expertise in this field through knowledge transfer.

ILO Project Youth Employment Support, Jobs for the Unemployed and Marginalized young People YES JUMP, funded by the Federal Republic of Germany and with the overall technical management from ILO’s Regional Office for Africa in Addis Ababa, Youth Employment Support (YES) Jobs for the Unemployed and Marginalized young People (JUMP) Project has been established in Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The “Partnership for labour migration management” Partenariat pour la gestion des migrations professionnelles, PGMP project, co-funded by the EU under the Migration and Asylum Thematic Programme, supports the Public Employment Services (PES) of four African countries: Benin, Cameroon, Mali and Senegal.

Ensuring food security in Madagascar when the price of a staple like rice can fluctuate by 200% is a challenge that the project Improved Food Security for the Vatovavy Fitovinany Region (SAAVAFI) is tackling. By making sure that local population feels fully implicated, the project will combine environmental imperatives with the need to ensure everyone has access to the food they need.

The ADPP (Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo) training school in Bissora has extended its range of training options with new courses in the fields of solar energy, water and electricity. The project aims at contributing to economic development in Guinea-Bissau by building up knowledge in these fields and boosting employment in still underdeveloped sectors.

In view of the thousands of young people braving the sea in 2007, a project aims at implementing a training system in order to offer alternatives to the young wanting to emigrate illegally towards Europe.

Social security is a basic human right, enshrined in major international instruments, and an important tool to alleviate poverty and ensure social cohesion. Nevertheless, only 20 per cent of the world's population has adequate social security coverage, and fewer than 10 per cent of workers in least-developed countries are covered by social security systems.

Helping African countries produce quality fruit and vegetables that conform to EU food safety regulations is crucial if farmers are to benefit from exports. The Pesticides Initiative Programme (PIP) aims to help producers in Africa meet these demands. Its stated objective is to, “Maintain and, if possible, increase the contribution made by export horticulture to the reduction of poverty in ACP countries”.

Tropical forests have an important role to play – not only in providing physical buffers to drought, scorching heat, dust storms and flash floods, but also in providing livelihoods to millions of people across the globe.

Mauritius has undergone a successful transformation from an agriculture-based to a diversified economy. However, particular efforts targeting marginalised and vulnerable groups are necessary to integrate them into the economic mainstream and create a stable social and political environment. The Decentralised Cooperation Programme was set up to alleviate poverty through empowering non-state actors and creating jobs.

The days of walking long distances in search of clean water are now a thing of the past for most inhabitants of Mubende, Hoima and Masindi. One Hoima resident explained the change and what it means for her: “Water is no longer the need I wake up to and fall to sleep with. Once hard, life is now soft!” she said. Through the Mid-Western Towns Water and Sanitation Project, direct access to safe water has been made possible for her and 25,000 others.

Improving education is crucial for Egypt: with a global population of 18.7 million students and 1.7 million ministerial employees, the country’s education system is the largest in the North Africa, and it is growing rapidly.

The Effective School Project (ESP) was set up to meet this challenge. Through new pedagogical and managerial approaches and a school-based, bottom-up approach targeting greater involvement of the local community in school life, the project works to achieve the following objectives:

Empowering women who have fallen victim to abuse is a crucial step towards gender equality. In Botswana, the organisation ‘Women Against Rape’ (WAR) is providing support to women who have been raped or have suffered other forms of violence.

While the main focus is to assist women in recovering from the trauma, WAR also works to address the root causes of violence against women.

Its activities include

A major step forward in the fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis has been achieved with the setting-up of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). Through developing new or improved drugs, vaccines and microbicides, the partners contribute to reversing the spread of these afflictions.

The African Peace Facility (APF) was set up to support peace and security on the African continent in the framework of the EU-Africa Partnership. The three main strands of action are capacity building, peace support operations and the development of an early response mechanism.

Peace support

Science and technology are key to Africa’s future development. In January 2007, the AU Heads of State and Government declared 2007 as the launching year for building constituencies and champions for science, technology and innovation in Africa. The Pan-African University (PAU) was set up by the AU Commission in response to this growing political momentum.

A third phase of the scheme to help African graduates, post graduates and teaching staff move freely between universities on the continent is receiving EU backing of €45 million, under the tenth European Development Fund.

Achieving sustained progress towards development goals in Africa involves careful analysis of environmental changes as well as of the long-term impact of human activities. The GMES programme provides the ideal framework to carry out this type of analysis in a systematic way.

1.6 billion people in rural and semi rural areas have no access to electricity, a problem particularly acute in ACP countries. Working around the problem means using traditional fuels whose smoke is both polluting and can be a health threat.

With €200 million at its disposal, the EU’s Energy Facility co-finances projects on the ground and governance programmes aimed at ensuring everyone, with an emphasis on the most poor, has access to sustainable, modern services across the continent.

Infrastructure development fuels economic and social progress on the African continent. Investments in transport, energy, ICT services and water management directly contribute to boosting trade, reducing poverty and strengthening integration at regional level. According to studies, investments in infrastructure accounted for half of the average 6% growth in Africa before the financial crisis in 2009. But the financing needs in this field remain considerable.

The Ouagadougou Water Supply Project has succeeded in delivering a steady water supply to a rapidly growing urban population and helped a water management authority struggling to cope with demand to become among Africa’s highest performing public utilities.

A decade ago, clean drinking water in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital city, was running out. The city’s population had doubled to almost one million inhabitants between 1985 and 2000 and is still rising now.

The Equity Building Society has gone from the brink of collapse to become a profitable business that also helps lift the rural community in Kenya out of poverty. The adoption of innovative practices and the support of outside experts have been key in its transformation.

Equity has become Kenya’s leading microfinancing institution, serving more than three million low and moderate income people. The bank has been at the forefront in providing new financial products and access to capital for Kenya’s underserved rural population.

The reestablishment of local government in Sierra Leone has been a key step in securing the return to peace. The ‘Institutional Reform and Capacity Building project’ supported by the European Commission and other international donors, is helping Sierra Leone in the rebuilding process.

Health services in Benin and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have introduced an integrated approach to HIV and Tuberculosis care which is helping to decrease mortality and improve the quality of life of HIV/TB patients.

The International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease has been collaborating with the national health services of Benin and the Democratic Republic of Congo within the context of its ‘Integrated HIV Care for Tuberculosis Patients Living with HIV/AIDS’ (IHC) programme.

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa has been working to strengthen the capacities of Africa’s national and regional agricultural research systems since 2002. With actions concentrating particularly on smallholders and pastoral enterprises, the aim is to improve productivity, competitiveness and markets, and contribute to poverty reduction through sustainable growth and improved livelihoods.
 

An African Union - European Union co-operation programme aimed at providing all African nations with the resources to manage their environment more effectively is up and running. AMESD, the African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development programme, uses data from EUMETcast satellites to implement five regional projects covering climate and environmental themes.

Utilising satellite technology

The Africa Connect project is helping to modernise and develop education and research in sub-Saharan Africa countries by supporting networking and internet connectivity.

The first Pan-African action against trafficking of small arms and light weapons (SALW) was officially launched in early 2010 with support from the EU. The three-year initiative will support peace and security in the region by actively fighting against the proliferation of firearms and explosive materials in Africa.

The Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP), launched in July 2008 as one of the major initiatives under the Union for the Mediterranean, is designed to ensure that increased electricity demand in the region can be met in a sustainable and renewable way.

The successful Dutch-German collaboration Energising Development, or EnDev, is investing in developing renewable energy sources in Africa with a view to improving reliable access to sustainable energy for energy-deprived populations.

The Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) in Bamoko, Mali, is a joint EU-Mali pilot project set up to help provide a coordinated response to the migration phenomenon and to address the concerns of potential migrants, returning migrants and Malians residing abroad.