Perspectives is a publication series of the Africa offices of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. With this series, we intend to let experts from Africa express their views about current political issues in their region. Perspectives focuses on Southern- , East- and West Africa where the foundation has established offices.
Against a background of political and cultural disruption, Perspectives approached writers to inquire, speculatively or not so speculatively, into an African future. The result is an eclectic mix of contributions and conversations across the arts, culture, philosophy and politics. They offer glimpses of African futures – fantastic, idealistic, or sober, but always self-confident – that place the continent at the centre of a world to come.
This edition of Perspectives seeks to shed new light on aspects of the movement of African migrants that have remained on the margins of discussion, and to place the pressures experienced in Europe within a broader perspective.
This policy brief focuses on the realities of the provision of free basic services to residents in insecure and informal environments, and draws on examples from three municipalities where the ABS project was implemented in South Africa.
With the 2016 municipal election coalition politics has become an integral part of South Africa’s political scene. There are many lessons to be learnt from elsewhere. Hence, this paper seeks to identify the main issues and challenges prevailing in coalition politics globally.
This brief highlights key challenges and gaps between the intended policies and how they are actually implemented, drawing on some lessons from three municipalities in South Africa.
This research paper explores responses by the police to victims of domestic violence, specifically, in their capacity to refer women to shelter services as required by legislation. The paper is associated to the Enhancing State Responsiveness to GBV: Paying the True Costs, a project of the HBF and the NSM.
In S v Baloyi the Constitutional Court placed a clear duty on the state to address domestic violence. Shelters disrupt this violence in significant ways but are significantly under-funded. This brief examines existing policy around shelters for abused women and recommends how this can be expanded and costed to more effectively uphold women’s rights and needs.
Shelters provide critical services to abused women, yet, most are chronically under-funded and highly variable. Current government allocations to shelters are not informed by a costing framework. This results in services being driven by resources rather than best practice. A new report aims to address that short-coming.
This publication is the first of a series of shadow reports that the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the National Shelter Movement of South Africa have produced in relation to their ‘Enhancing State Responsiveness to Gender Based Violence: Paying the True Costs’ project. The publication was partly produced with the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre to End Violence against Women.
This publication is the second of a series of shadow reports that the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the National Shelter Movement of South Africa have produced in relation to their ‘Enhancing State Responsiveness to Gender Based Violence: Paying the True Costs’ project. The publication was partly produced with the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre to End Violence against Women. This report was produced with the financial support of the European Union.
The main purpose of this report is to highlight the different funding models for nuclear power across the globe and to show that no matter what model the SA government chooses, the bottom line is that nuclear is unaffordable, takes too long to build and comes with too many risks.
Municipalities need support to build their capacity, to provide them with detailed technical information, and to prioritise from the range of management. This practical guide serves to promote the development of an equitable low carbon, clean energy economy throughout Southern Africa.
On 25 September 2015, the member states of the United Nations agreed on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will be the cornerstone of the Post-2015 Development Agenda[1]. The SDGs are acknowledged as a great achievement that amalgamates the sustainability agenda with the development agenda.[2] The South African government has unreservedly endorsed the SDGs, noting that the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality that they address is also the primary focus of the country. As such, the SDGs are conceptually aligned to South Africa's National Development Plan.
This report presents an update on the current state of energy poverty in South African cities. It explores the energy poverty-gender nexus in the urban environment, an aspect that is largely overlooked.
This booklet briefly examines alternative energy technologies and associated energy sources available in the market that are cleaner, appropriate, applicable and sustainable relative to those that are currently available and used by informal households for their domestic energy requirements.
With the assistance of our project partner, the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, communities affected by gold mining in eastern Zimbabwe came together to formulate a Community Protocol taking a stand against destructive mining impacts.
Civil society is under pressure worldwide. This e-paper focuses on dynamics and patterns of shrinking spaces and repressions on civil society with regard to natural resource struggles and takes a closer look into consultation processes and the role of the economy.
This paper discusses the ways in which community protocols can be an effective tool for communities to respond to extractive industry projects in their area. It provides an overview of what has taken place over the last three years in four pilot community protocol processes and captures lessons that can be applied to future processes.
In their very first newsletter WoMin updates us on their work to build an African women-led women’s rights grassroots driven campaign addressing fossil fuels, energy and climate justice.
This edition of Perspectives contributes to the ongoing debate on infrastructure development in Africa by sharing snapshots of experience from around the continent, exploring questions about democratic participation, the role of human and environmental rights, and economic transformation.
Informed by the discussions at an international conference jointly organised by the German Development Institute, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Stanford University on “Emerging Power or Fading Star? South Africa’s Role on the Continent and Beyond”, held 12–14 July 2016 in Cape Town, the articles gathered in this edition of Perspectives shed light on some of the nuances and challenges that define South Africa’s place in the world today.
For decades, the world of development banking was dominated by a few multilateral actors, foremost the World Bank Group as well as regional development banks. In recent years, some established banks have much expanded their scope of operation, while new actors and interests are moving in. A number of national development banks, for example from China and Brazil, have entered the international arena in a big way, often operating far outside of their respective home countries and becoming truly global actors.
Some claim that the biggest obstacle to boosting investment levels and reviving the global economy as the absence of regional "pipelines of bankable projects". In this paper, Nora Rohde describes the "solution" --Project Preparation Facilities (PPFs) to accelerate the launch of (mega)projects.
