Africa Rising 21st Century

          Prior to the August 12 election in Zambia, there were widespread fears that then-President Edgar Lungu would follow the playbook of some other Africa leaders (and those outside the continent) and prevent his main opponent Hakainde Hichilema from winning through a fair vote.   State resources were used to promote Lungu, including handing farmers subsidies.   Hichilema was prevented from freely campaigning.   The electoral commission was stacked with Lungu supporters. And even some civil society figures had been coopted.             Even though polling suggested Hichilema would win a majority of the vote in a free and fair election, it looked as though he might not get a chance to prove that prediction.             However, Hichilema and his United Party for National Development (UPND) won with 59% of the vo...

  Africa is the continent where life began and spread across the world, but despite being the mother of all living, it also is the youngest continent in terms of population.   Sixty percent of Africans are under 25, and in less than a decade from now there will be about 320 million Africans between the ages of 15 and 24. The challenge we face is to ensure that opportunities are there for them. It won't be easy, because by some estimates, Africa will need 18 million new jobs per year for the next 20 years just to match these new entrants into the job market.   Clearly, Africa’s future lies with its youth, but they are being ill-served. According to the United Nations, for the first time in two decades there has been an increase in the incidence of child labor and the coronavirus pandemic could push millions more youngsters toward the same fate.   In a joint report, the International Labour Organization and the UN children's agency, UNICEF, said the number of c...

            We live in a time of great upheaval worldwide, which according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has resulted in 79.5 million people displaced – the highest recorded number in history.   The agency reports that 48 million people are internally displaced, i.e., they are moved out of their homes by conflict or other causes but are not able or willing to leave their country.   One person is forcibly displaced approximately every two seconds, according to UNHCR calculations.   So, consider how many thousands will be newly displaced once you finish reading this blog post.             UNHCR statistics show that 1 percent of the world’s population is among the displaced.    About half of the world’s displaced are children, and 25 percent are young women, with an additional four percent being pregnant women.   This p...