Development Alternatives

MACUA, a partner organisation of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF) in Cape Town, has recently launched a new podcast series.

As African countries embark on net zero transitions, it is critical that Global North actors align their investments to specific and localised understandings of ‘Just Transitions’

As South Africa celebrates heritage month in September the coastal community of Sicambeni on the East Coast of South Africa, together with social justice partners celebrated a victory for indigenous people. On 1st September 2022 the Makhanda High Court ruled that Shell’s exploration right to conduct seismic surveys on the Wild Coast of South Africa was granted unlawfully and therefore set it aside. Community and environmental activist Ntsindiso Nongcavu reflects on what the ruling means for those who lives are spiritually and economically connected to the oceans.

Under Germany’s presidency, the 2022 G7 Leaders’ Summit invited Senegal, which holds the rotating chair of the African Union (AU), Argentina, India, Indonesia and South Africa. South African researcher Mikatekiso Kubay explains how the G7 can be genuine development partners to Africa.

Links between environmental disasters and mental health are increasingly coming into focus as ticking time bombs. It is vital that spatial planning strategies at local government level are adapted with this dual threat to societal welfare in mind.

Heritage Month comes and goes each year, always with much fanfare around celebrating our country’s diverse cultures and history. Yet, many of the government’s proposed energy solutions pose significant risks to human life and the environment, while ignoring customary rights and risking several heritage sites. If not challenged, they will most likely leave communities across the country at a huge disadvantage.

Can community kitchens play a role in moving our approaches to hunger beyond the binary of ‘charity’ and ‘market’?

The first podcast from our friends at the Food Agency Cape Town (FACT), reflecting on the stigma of hunger and the potential of community kitchens to transform a commodity fixated food system.