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Getting Africa on Pace

Dawit Astatike
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Getting Africa on Pace

Joy Kategekwa is Head of UNCTAD Regional Office for Africa since 1 July 2015– leading delivery of the organization’s trade capacity building programs to Pan African Institutions across Africa.
She is an international trade and development law and policy specialist and has spent the last 16 years shaping development-friendly trade agreements at both the World Trade Organization and in Regional contexts.
She is one of the architects of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and has led technical teams in designing the draft legal negotiating instruments for the AfCFTA. Trade and Development Strategy (2017-2022) and the SADC Bilateral Investment Treaty Template and others.
Prior to joining UNCTAD, Kategekwa was an official at the World Trade Organization responsible for the portfolio of African participation in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations, and the Committee on Trade and Development. She is the author of a series of peer-reviewed publications in world-class legal journals. Her book “Opening Markets for Foreign Skills: How Can the WTO help?” is an acclaimed treatise on matters concerning international trade in services and the movement of persons in cross border trade.
She holds a Ph.D. in International Trade Law from the University of Berne’s prestigious World Trade Institute, a Master of laws in International Trade and Investment Law from the University of the Western Cape, and a Bachelor of Laws from Makerere University. She has a track record of academic excellence – was Uganda’s first state scholar in 1998, and has taught at various leading training institutions offering programs on international trade and development law. Capital catches up with her to talk about the work UNCTAD in the region. Excerpts;

Capital: It is known that the UNCTAD report on the digital economy which indicated that Africa lags behind the US and China which dominate the digital economy, what should African countries do? Could you also discuss UNCTAD’s support for African countries?
Kategekwa: As you rightly said, UNCTAD launched in 2019, a digital economy report focusing on value creation because it is the name of the game when it comes to gaining traction in the digital economy. It is really a data and platform game. Who owns the data and manages to transform the data analytically and transforms it into intelligence and transforms something monetized back to the public in terms of advertising and so on. So the striving point is Africa is lagging behind but it is not the last, Africa is at the bottom, what that propagates is a yawning gap of inequality, and makes difficult to structurally transform the economy to enable it to break out of the cycle of poverty.
In this regard, UNCTAD works in two ways, The first one is Bringing the issue to the table from knowledge perspectives in creating a sound platform of knowledge products that analyses the trends, the dynamics and the social challenges from economic perspectives and pays attention to what the digital economy is , You know UNCTAD is a knowledge institution.
Intergovernmental, a conversation about the development challenges and what the consensus would be in terms of countries to break this digital economy, is the second area that UNCTAD is working on. Our inter-government group of experts in the digital economy is critical in dealing and interrogate these multilateral issues and find solutions as a digital economy is global issues. In African UNCTAD also support to contextualize the issue with their status, UNCTAD has the tool called the rapid e-trade readiness assessment that helps countries to know where they really are in terms of law, institutions, infrastructure, data protection, recognizing data resources, skills, etc it is critical because it allows countries to know the gaps and opportunities. And now, the policy recommendation and action to take and support in capacity development. Tip review, Science and technology innovation policy review is also another intervention UNCTAD does, data is the realm of ICT, and countries should know the capacity of their ICT and understand the gaps in terms of gaps and opportunities.

Capital: The African Diaspora has started moving to support their continents’ efforts in the digital economy, what have they done far?
Kategekwa: I think Diaspora are a critical part of every countries growth toll, human resources, you can’t quantify the contribution of Diaspora in the development process, the digital economy requires a high level of entrepreneur skills, has the knowledge, with the financial skills The African Union has the initiatives, UNCTAD does not a specific roll to deal with that, But we support countries who want to shape polices and to see how Diaspora dividends can harness the national economic growth. We are supporting some African countries to erect polices to create bonds with Diaspora that allows contributing for their countries.

Capital: CFTA will be implemented soon, but the continent is behind the rest of the world when it comes to digtitzlizing the economy, what can be done?
Kategekwa: CFTA is a very ground breaking phenomena. It promises to change the life of Africans in terms of fighting poverty, and enhancing the economy by empowering small and medium size enterprises. CFTA is a developmental blue print of the continent, so the link is digitalization and democratization of how to use the opportunities in terms of market gap This includes information. Digitalization increases the room for trading as the digital economy is how we use data, so, electronic commerce is one of the critical parts. Inter-African trade allows companies, large or small, to scale in feasibility and the market is offering market access.
Therefore, I don’t see an effective CFTA without digitalization of the economy.

Capital: UNCTAD is supporting the Ethiopian government’s entrepreneur strategy, tell us about that? And do you think the plan is ambitious?
Kategekwa: The plans to create close to three million jobs are not ambitious in the first place, plans should be ambitious, because behind ambitions there is a plan to fight poverty, and one of the critical ways to fight poverty is to empower people to create their own jobs and entrepreneurship is one of the tools.
UNCTAD is supporting the government of Ethiopia in designing it’s national entrepreneur strategy, where our work in supporting global network of developmental practices under investment division, enterprise branch. What are the specific pillars of intervention that need to be assessed, strengthen entrepreneurship, and of course to find financing and so on.

Capital: How is UNCTAD contributing to Ethiopia’s economic reform and the so called “home grown economy”?
Kategekwa: I think it is fascinating as it is branded as a home grown economy in a sense that Ethiopia has its own model of development, a model that UNCTAD supported for a long time in a global market place of ideas And UNCTAD is behind Ethiopia’s model of the developmental state and to it is better to understand the specify of their economy how they want to position trade.
UNCTAD is also supporting Ethiopia in Diaspora bonded policy, there is the science and technology policy review to support intellectual property rights can support industrialization, and also work with ministry of trade in connection to WTO accession. We also support countries to shape their own trade led growth.

Capital: What will be the fate of regional trading blocs such as ECOWAS, and COMESA after CFTA comes into force?
Kategekwa: Although inter African trade is not on the level of expectation it is really growing. Concerning the fate it is the political agenda of the African Union, but there should be a lot work done in facilitating trade in the continent .The idea of CFTA is a key regarding broadening the market, however, it is the interest of ECOWAS or other regional trading blocs’ to make sure that CFTA adds value in their trade arrangements. The closest countries are the trading partners of the countries, and of course their interaction is not a kind of sacking out the energy of regional trading blocs and vises versa.

Made In Kibera This Nairobi-Area enclave is emerging as a global center for fashion

admin
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Made In Kibera This Nairobi-Area enclave is emerging as a global center for fashion

AMONG THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF RESIDENTS LIVING IN ONE OF THE CONTINENT’S LARGEST URBAN SLUMS ARE ARTISANS AND CREATIVES WHO ARE PUTTING THE BUZZING COMMUNITY ON FASHION’S GLOBAL MAP.

More than 7,000 miles from the lavish fanfare of New York City’s Fifth Avenue, Kibera’s bustling streets tell a divergent story of fashion ingenuity. Throughout the Nairobi area settlement, bold colors and secondhand style abound among the mud huts that have come to define the “Chocolate City.”
Kibera was not always a center for fashion, but today it stands as an emerging scene for the artists who have chosen their bodies as canvases and carefully curate their ensembles as a means of self-expression. Clad in conspicuous garments, these men and women are painting a rich picture of the Kenyan community most often defined by its abject poverty.
For photographer Brian Otieno, the opportunity to capture Kibera’s evolving fashion footprint on film has led to an internationally recognized passion project. CNN, the BBC, The New York Times and The Guardian have all spotlighted the work of the 26-year-old, whose Kibera Stories photo collection has been shown in Paris, Lisbon, Kampala and New York City. Since 2016 the documentarian, who goes by the moniker Storitellah, has used his skills behind the lens to show a vibrant society that has grown in spite of scarcity.
“You find that so many people come to Kibera, and they always have in mind that they’re coming to a poor place, so they are going to take ‘poor’ images; they are going to take photos of people suffering,” Otieno says. “And, yeah, I know that’s happening, but that’s only part of the story.”
Since the introduction of free public Wi-Fi in the East African country around 2015, Kibera’s narrative has slowly started to shift. Kenyan public-policy expert Naomi Rono explains that the presence of social media, stemming from access to mobile technology and the Internet, has enhanced the universal interest in the shantytown. Simultaneously, it has expanded the locals’ appreciation for what style actually is.
Prior to the digital penetration of the area, Rono asserts that the stitching of clothes was not regarded as fashion. Rather, it was simply a trade. But the perception has changed with the fusion of cultures made possible by visual platforms like Instagram. “It’s almost like it’s transforming a very traditional trade that our parents used to perform as a regular and mundane task to something that is really getting attention and is even attracting people to develop runway-quality material,” says the D.C. transplant.
Designer David Ochieng is one of the local designers Rono is referring to. The twentysomething, known around Kibera as Lookslike Avido, started his company with two U.S. dollars—a typical daily income in Kenya—given to him by his mother and a sewing machine gifted to him by the late Kenneth Okoth, the area’s former parliamentary member. Before working with quality textiles, Ochieng used bedsheets from one of the settlement’s secondhand markets to stitch together looks for his dance team.
“The bedsheets were like 60 cents each, so that’s 120 cents, and then the other cents I used for the transport fee to the market and back,” the grade-school dropout recalls of the start of his growing fashion business.
While Ochieng has graduated from used linens to more luxe fabrics for his roster of clients, which now includes Jamaican reggae artist Chronixx and dancehall entertainer Agent Sasco, many of the trendsetters in Kibera rely heavily on the pre-owned goods sold at Gikomba and Toi markets, two of Nairobi’s shopping plazas. Jabez Ojiambo, a photographer and filmmaker, credits the vendors with giving young people who want to present themselves well but can’t afford it an opportunity to dress up and “look sharp” while being realistic about their financial limitations.
A perfect example of this trend is a group of young adults known around town as Gurafushi. Ojiambo shot the band of friends for a photo series he called Thrift Kings. Much like Ochieng and Otieno, they have used social media to grow their following. Rono suggests that the number of people looking to these avenues to promote and create revenue for themselves will continue to rise. “The population is growing—or at least the people who require gainful employment within the country is growing—faster than they’re able to generate jobs,” Rono points out. “So a lot of these people are opting for self-employment, and they look for things that they can easily do with minimal capital and then see where it leads them. They start with small pieces, and maybe a few friends will buy clothes that they design or sew. And then from there, depending on whose eye they catch, the business grows.”
Enterprise creation within Kibera is booming. But entrepreneurs with a heart for its people are also sourcing talent from inside the impoverished area to grow culturally relevant brands outside of the Kenyan market. California-based designer Yema Khalif is a product of the slum settlement. He’s chosen to sow into the community by tapping local artisans to create handcrafted footwear for his yemacalif.com retail store.
Twenty percent of the proceeds from his online sales go toward scholarships for orphaned children in both Kibera and his wife’s country of Ethiopia. It is this act of giving that landed Khalif where he is today. Though the burgeoning businessman was forced to leave high school due to financial instability, a scholarship to attend college in the United States put him on a path to greater success. Now the San Francisco Bay Area resident travels home regularly to participate in the fashion scene that he continues to help advance.
“There is an organization that I’m involved in that puts on fashion shows in Kibera every year,” Khalif discloses. “It’s just a reason for the people of Kibera to laugh and to appreciate the beauty that is there. It also allows them to see that they can become models, that they can become actors, that they can become whatever they want to be.”
In spite of the circumstances surrounding the people of Nairobi’s neglected neighborhood, hope, dressed in broad strokes of color, provides the innovators, the storytellers, the culture shifters, an opportunity to see the beauty within the bustle. It moves Otieno to create masterpieces amid the mud. It gives Khalif a reason to fight for the children of Kibera’s future. It prompts Ochieng to get out his sewing machine and continue designing.
“I’m showing the world that we do this here,” Ochieng says with conviction. “Despite not having the expensive things to wear, we find a way to do what we can to express ourselves to the world. Kibera is a home of talent; it’s a home of art. And, yeah, it’s a center for fashion.”

This story appears in the September issue of ESSENCE.

Moon Shot is just the beginning, India harnesses space technology for the benefit of all

Staff Reporter
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By Pallava Bagla

India’s Moon Shot is well on its way to the Moon and if all goes well the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hopes to soft land a robotic craft on the lunar surface in early September. Dr K Sivan the Chairman of ISRO has described the Chandrayaan-2 (Moon Vehicle) as the `most complex space mission ever undertaken by India’.
India has a total of fifty operational satellites that provide navigation services, weather forecasting, help smart cities, aid satellite television and even help in banking operations, today `touching lives and saving lives is the Hallmark of ISRO’ says Sivan. India has end-to-end capabilities in space making its own satellites, rockets and launching them from India. Many foreign companies use India’s rockets to launch their satellites. The South Asia satellite launched in 2017 is a unique friendly bird in the sky that helps connect India’s neighbours and India provided this communications satellite at no cost to the South Asian countries.
Most recently on the hot and humid afternoon of July 22, 2019 at India’s rocket port the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota exactly at 2.43 pm India’s most powerful rocket the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-3 nicknamed the `Baahubali’ lifted off into the monsoon clouds carrying India’s Chandrayaan-2 satellite into space. In less than 17 minutes the 640 tonne rocket, equivalent to the weight of 1.5 Jumbo Jets, which stands as high as fifteen storey building at 44 meter in length completed its mission by putting the Chandrayaan-2 satellite in a `better than expected orbit’ said Sivan.
Possibly the rocket was compensating for the heartburn it caused when a week earlier on July 15, 2019 the launch had to be aborted less than an hour before lift-off due to a `technical snag’. Scientists at the Indian space agency burnt the mid night oil and fixed the glitch, bouncing back with aplomb. Speaking about the rapid come back Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said `if you ask me what the two greatest lessons I have received from Chandrayaan-2, I shall say they are faith & fearlessness.’
Modi is a known space enthusiast who knows how to deploy space technology for effective governance of the 1.3 billion Indians, he further added ` the second important lesson is – never lose hope in the face of stumbling blocks or obstacles. The way our scientists rectified technical issues in record time, burning the midnight oil, is in itself an exemplary, unparalleled task. The world watched the `Tapasya’, the awesome perseverance of our scientists. We should also feel proud of the fact that despite hindrances, there is no change in the arrival time [on the moon] … many are amazed at that. We have to face temporary setbacks in life… but always remember- the capacity to overcome them resides within us.’
Earlier this year India also carried out another spectacular space experiment when on March 27, 2019 India shot down its own low earth orbiting satellite Microsat-R using a custom made missile launched from the Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal. Called an Anti-satellite weapon test (A-Sat) it was dubbed `Mission Shakti’ and according to Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which spearheaded this test said `India acted responsibly by conducting the test at a low altitude so that minimum space debris was generated’.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said `through the A-Sat, we have acquired the capability of destroying a satellite three hundred kilometres away in a mere three minutes. India became the fourth country in the world, possessing this capacity’ after USA, Russia and China who have demonstrated this lethal capability to knock down satellites in space. This was a demonstration by India that it will do all what it takes to protect its vital space assets in space. Indian satellites help the country’s economy and are a vital space borne infrastructure for New Delhi.
Chandrayaan-2 is India’s second moon shot the first was launched in 2008 named Chandrayaan-1 and it was an orbiter where `India was the captain and several countries like USA, UK, the European Space Agency were players as India lofted their instruments all the way to moon free of cost’. Chandrayaan-1 made global history when this under $ 100 million mission made the startling discovery of the presence of water molecules on the parched lunar surface. This renewed twenty first century `back to the moon’ effort in way was spurred by Chandrayaan-1 and now USA seeks to send astronauts back to the moon in the next few years.
Chandrayaan-2 according to Sivan `is a three in one mission’ where there is an orbiter that will go around the moon, a lander named Vikram that will attempt a soft landing near the South Pole of the moon and small six wheeled moon rover called Pragyaan. Modi says `Chandrayaan-2 is Indian to the core. It is thoroughly Indian in heart & spirit. It is completely a `swadeshi’, home grown mission. This mission has proved beyond doubt, once again, that when it comes to attempting an endeavour in new age, cutting edge areas, with innovative zeal, our scientists are second to none. They are the best… they are world class.’
India has sent 13 indigenously made scientific instruments that will analyse the lunar surface, map the topography search for water and measure moonquakes among other things, this time also India is carrying a small instrument for the American space agency NASA on board the Vikram Lander.
The Indian moon rover is powered by artificial intelligence and is expected do its long march on the moon surface for about half a kilometre in its nominal life of 14 days. ISRO hopes to soft land on the lunar surface on September 7, 2019, and if it succeeds India will become the fourth country after USA, Russia and China to have the capability to soft land on another planetary body. Sivan says `there will be 15 terrifying minutes when the Vikram lander goes in for its final landing manoeuvre ’.
This is not all, by the end of this year India has another ten space missions lined up which includes the much awaited heart stopper the demonstration of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) or the `Baby PSLV’ a low cost rocket with a short turn-around time that can hoist 500 kilograms in space.
India also has plans to send a planetary explorer to Venus, have another robotic mission to Mars in the next few years. The mother of all missions Gaganyaan is also well on its way where, by 2022 India hopes to send an Indian astronaut into space on an Indian rocket from Indian soil.
India is no doubt betting big on space technology. Modi says `I fervently hope that the Chandrayaan-2 mission will inspire our youth towards science & innovation. After all, science is the path to progress.’

(Pallava Bagla follows India’s space program very closely and is author of the book `Reaching for the Stars: India’s Journey for Mars and Beyond’ published by Bloomsbury. He can be reached at pallava.bagla@gmail.com or Twitter: @pallavabagla )

Dealing with mediocrity

Ton Haverkort
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Why it is that workers don’t perform as well as they could and what can we to get them to give their best for the company? I hear of unemployed people begging for a job, being given the opportunity to work, kissing the feet of their employer and only months later turn against the same employer complaining about the working conditions they accepted so eagerly. I hear of workers speaking badly behind the backs of their employer, forgetting that the same employer provides a salary which makes it possible to pay the bills. And I also hear employers complain about the poor working ethics of their staff. Why is this so and what can be done about it? This is complex material and no one answer will do the trick. There are many factors involved here related to both the workers and the company. So let us examine some of these factors a bit closer. Performance is the result of personal attributes of workers, the effort they put in and the organizational support they receive. All three factors must be present in order for performance to be achieved. If any of the three factors is absent, then performance will seriously deteriorate. In order to get maximum result or maximum performance, each of the factors need to be maximised. Managers must therefore understand how these three factors, acting either alone or in combination, can affect performance results.
We need therefore to realize that:
Individual attributes relate to capacity to perform.
Work effort relates to a willingness to perform.
Organizational support relates to the opportunity to perform.
Individual attributes include three broad categories, namely demographic characteristics (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity), competency characteristics (aptitude or ability) and personality characteristics (what a person is like). From a performance management point of view the individual attributes must match task requirements to facilitate job performance.
Work effort relates to the motivation of the worker. Even if the employee fits the task requirements as closely as possible, it does not necessarily mean that performance will be high. In order to achieve high levels of performance, even people with the right capacities must have the willingness to perform. If in a factory for example, workers have the same academic qualifications, skills and experience, their individual performance may vary considerably. Why is this so? Part of the answer lies indeed in each person’s motivation to work. Hard work however does not necessarily mean that performance will be high too. Motivation predicts work effort, which in turn, combines with individual attributes and organizational support to predict performance. The challenge of managers is than to find ways of positively influencing other people’s motivation to work. The willingness to work ultimately lies with the individual. It is therefore in the manager’s interest to understand and learn more about the psychology of motivation.
Organizational support is the third factor of the individual performance equation. Even if personal attributes and motivation are high, performance may still leave much to be desired, because there is inadequate support in the workplace. Typical constraints could include: lack of time, inadequate budgets, inadequate tools, equipment, supplies, unclear instructions & information, lack of required services and help from others, or inflexibility of procedures.
Almost anybody will face one or more of such constraints at some point in her or his career. Having to rush a job because of a short deadline, insufficient tools, unclear instructions are common examples. It is the responsibility of managers to ensure that organizational support for performance exists in their areas of supervisory responsibility.
Over the next few weeks we will go a bit deeper into the above mentioned factors, more especially some of the individual attributes and motivation issues, in order to understand better why some workers perform well and others not, even though they have the same qualifications. In Ethiopia, we need to realize as well that there still hangs a heavy negatively charged cloud over business owners, who try to earn a living for themselves and their employees. By many, including their own employees, they are still seen as exploiters, who want to get rich quick at the expense of their workers and customers. While there are certainly business owners who fit this description, it is in my opinion necessary to change this perception and try to understand some of the constraints business owners themselves face in the process of building an honest business, which provides employment opportunities for others. Collecting the monthly pay cheque and not putting in the best you have is simply not ethical as well.

ton.haverkort@gmail.com

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