Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Waste management, pollution, inadequate access to sanitation services and poor urban conditions are identified as some of the major challenges to development in the Southern Africa Development Community region. This is because of the rise in the quality of life, high rates of resource consumption and the dumping of electronic waste (discarded electronic devices such as televisions, stoves, cartridges, refrigerators, printers, cellphones, computers, microwaves and other electrical appliances, which would have completed their life cycles and then disposed) in the region. According to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an agency of the United Nations that co-ordinates its environmental activities and assists developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices, the penetration rate for electronic devices in developing countries has grown over the years and this caused environmental challenges especially in countries within ...

Lazarus Sauti Is an HIV/AIDS free generation possible in countries within and across the Southern African Development Community? The SADC region has the highest levels of HIV prevalence globally. According to the joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) 2010 Global Report, out of the total number of people living with HIV worldwide in 2009, 34 per cent of them were resident in 10 SADC countries. “Globally, 34 per cent of people living with HIV in 2009 resided in the 10 countries in southern Africa; 31 per cent of new HIV infections in the same year occurred in these 10 countries, as did 34 per cent of all AIDS-related deaths. About 40 per cent of all adult women with HIV live in southern Africa,” notes the report. This means one of the greatest challenges facing the region is HIV and AIDS, which has affected almost every facet of the region. Without doubt, most countries in the region are grappling with the severe impact of HIV/AIDS related diseases such ...

Lazarus Sauti British naturalist, Charles Darwin, once said it is not the strongest species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the ones who are most responsive to change. Borrowing from Darwin’s quote, the United Nations Environment Programme – the voice for the environment in the United Nations system – believes countries that are most responsive to investment in climate change adaptation can stimulate and transform their economies through more efficient use of natural capital, job creation and increased household incomes. “Investment in climate change adaptation can help ensure that the impacts of climate change - including a projected 20 to 50 per cent decline in water availability – do not reverse decades of development progress in Africa,” asserts a new report “ Keeping Track of Adaptation Actions in Africa – Targeted Fiscal Stimulus Actions Making a Difference”, recently released by the United Nations Environment Programme. The first graphical report that ...

Lazarus Sauti The 21st Century thrives on information and communication technologies, as they have transformed societies and businesses. Supported by broadband, countries cannot only close the digital divide but also accelerate economic and social transformation. This is so because broadband is the next vehicle in economic transformation. “It (broadband) permits instant access to nearly unlimited sources of information globally, and the knowledge provided through such easy access to information is creating unprecedented opportunities and having a dramatic impact on the way people live and work,” asserts Mohsen A Khalil, Director of the Global Information and Communication Technologies Department at the World Bank Group. Sharing same views, an expert in technology, Joseph Tegbe, adds: “Broadband creates an enabling environment for businesses and governments. It improves overall productivity and creates jobs – jobs such as the construction works, trenching, laying of f...

Lazarus Sauti Africa is the second-largest and second most populous continent on earth with an estimated population in 2013 of 1.033 billion people. Due to its ballooning population, the continent is faced with poverty challenges. However, the continent’s efforts toward poverty alleviation will yield minimal results unless immediate measures are taken to address the issue of housing – a basic human right. Housing is inadequate in most African countries and as a result millions of citizens live in substandard environments or slums which lack basic amenities. The Southern African Development Community region is also heavily affected by housing challenges. Low-income earners in the region are still marginalised and in desperate need of adequate housing due to the rising costs and difficulty in securing mortgage finance. Housing problems can be attributed to lack of priority on the allocation of resources and unavailability of land, energy, finance and manpower. Because ...

Lazarus Sauti Jean Claude Bastos, f ounder of the African Innovation Foundation and the Innovation Prize for Africa, says the continent of Africa has enjoyed 15 years of sustained economic growth, yet there are signs that this growth has not resulted in robust growth of good jobs. Bastos , also an internationally active entrepreneur and investor, further said there are concerns that the rapid economic growth has not translated to rapid poverty reduction in the continent. “Africa has the lowest responsiveness of poverty reduction to economic growth of any of the worlds developing regions despite 15 years of sustained economic growth,” he says, adding that “while six of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, the unemployment figures are startling.” According to the World Bank, a United Nations international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes, youth account for 60 per cent of all unempl...

Lazarus Sauti Sustainable land management can be defined as “the adoption of land use systems that, through appropriate management practices, enable land users to maximise the economic and social benefits from the land while maintaining or enhancing the ecological support functions of the land resources”. This appropriate management practice is crucial to minimising land degradation, rehabilitating degraded areas and ensuring the optimal use of land resources for the benefit of present and future generations. Southern African Development Community (SADC), with some of the world’s arid and semi-arid lands, urgently needs innovative sustainable land management practices if the increasing population in the region is to be provided with adequate food, water and increased income. The United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme agrees: “Countries in the SADC region need integrated management of land resources… sustainable land management ca...

Lazarus Sauti Most countries in the Southern African Development Community are blessed with vast mineral resources such as gold, platinum, diamonds and other resources that are critical ingredients to the transformation of the region. However, with the abundance of its mineral resources, citizens in most – if not all – countries in the region are wallowing in abject poverty. This, therefore, calls for strong action from regional leaders and development partners to adopt and embrace appropriate technologies that can add value to mineral resources and effectively improve the lives of citizens in SADC countries. SADC leaders – as they set to gather in Zimbabwe to deliberate on strategies for economic transformation in the region – must, therefore, critically think about nanotechnology and its significant application in mining, especially in mineral exploration and processing. This is so because nanotechnology can extensively improve mining operations and add value to mi...

Lazarus Sauti The extractive sector is a driving force of many economies, particularly those in the developing world. In many Southern African Development Community member states, mining plays a major role in the economy. It employs just 5 percent of the population but contributes 60 percent to the foreign exchange earnings and 10 percent of gross domestic product for the region. Roughly half of the world’s vanadium, platinum, and diamonds originate in the region, along with 36 percent of gold and 20 percent of cobalt. Despite being endowed with these minerals, the region remains one of the least known geological regions in the world; the full extent and value of its unearthed mineral reserves remains guess work, according to Dr Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa at the level of United Nations Under-Secretary General. He goes on to say that if recent discoveries of minerals in Tanzania and Mozambique are anything to go by, the reg...

Lazarus Sauti Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said: “Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development… It is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” This means education is the bedrock of social and economic development as it is fundamental to growth and development and serves as critical indices to measure progress of development agenda. It is also a most powerful driving instrument of reducing poverty; improving healthcare services; and ensuring peace and stability. However, the education sector in the Southern African Development Community is facing a stern test as it has moved beyond reading and writing to the development of skills and capacities in Information and Communication Technology. “ICT now permeates the educational environments and underscores the very success of the 21st century; an important aspect tha...