BBC reports that "Rwandan President Paul Kagame has praised the way China does business in Africa, criticising the West for basing relations with the continent on aid."

Read the entire article.

Check out the full article on his blog.

Here are some highlights:

"Me: Hello, I have a reservation for this evening, for a non-smoking room with one double bed.
Hotel: Yes, the Hotel Reconstruction and Development Bank has approved an Overnight Accomodation and Poverty Reduction (OAPR) grant for this purpose.

Me: So can I have my room please?
Hotel: The OAPR committed the room, but in order for the room to be disbursed you have to present an Overnight Accomodation and Poverty Reduction plan, to be approved by our board. Here is the OAPR Preparation Guidelines and Best Practices Sourcebook (hands over thousand page document).

(hours later)
Me: Thanks for approving my OAPR plan, now can I have my key?
Hotel: The OAPR is a collaborative effort involving many donors. The keys are provided by the Swiss. Thanks to our improved coordination efforts, the Swiss aid office is only 60 kilometers away, and can help you complete the Swiss room key procurement guidelines.

(hours later)
Me: Hello, is this the front desk? I just got into my room, and there is a stranger who says that he also is sleeping in my room.
Hotel: The OAPR is available to all eligible beneficiaries. Best practice guidelines try to maximize the utilization of all available beds."

...continue reading

Great article in this months Forbes magazine. Slowly but surely the message of our film is making it to the wider public. 

"How to pull Africa out of its desperate poverty? The Gates Foundation attacks disease on the theory that debilitated people cannot become prosperous. Celebrities clamor for debt forgiveness. The UN has Millennium Development Goals that promise universal public education, aids containment and a reduction in extreme poverty by 2015. Amid all these competing approaches comes a backlash against the entire aid system. It started with Ghanaian economist George Ayittey in his 2005 book Africa Unchained. He was echoed by William Easterly, formerly of the World Bank, in The White Man's Burden (2006), and former Goldman Sachs economist Dambisa Moyo, in Dead Aid (2009).

Moyo says that $2 trillion (in today's dollars) has been transferred from rich countries to poor ones over 50 years, with most of that going to Africa. The U.S. has spent $300 billion on Africa since 1970. The result: GDP per capita in Moyo's home country of Zambia is under $500, less than it was in 1960. The most heavily aid-dependent countries, she writes, have negative or flat annual growth over the last 30 years. Moyo proposes that Africa be weaned off all aid in five years so that its economies can fend for themselves."

The Canadian premiere of "What Are We Doing Here?" will be held on September 23rd at 7 p.m in the Eckhardt-Gramatte Concert Hall, Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary and will be followed by a panel discussion with two of the film directors, Tim and Daniel Klein, as well as representatives from the international NGO and Calgary business community. Additional screenings will be held at The Plaza Theatre, beginning September 24, times to be confirmed. 

The screenings are hosted by the Fig Tree Foundation - for more information on the screenings go to:  http://www.figtreefoundation.org/premiere.aspx

"Ending Africa's Hunger" is a new article in the Nation Magazine that looks at the Bill Gates foundation and their support of an "African Green Revolution".  It examines whether Gates is setting a course for African agriculture that does more for U.S. corporations like Monsanto than it does for the average African farmer.  With a $30 billion endowment, the Gates Foundation is already having an impact in Africa and is a major player in the development world - exactly what that impact will be is yet to be seen. 

Read the entire article at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/patel_et_al 

Authors: Raj Patel, Eric Holt-Gimenez and Annie Shattuck