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.
Which African leaders qualify as an icon? Perhaps this is always a controversial question, but it was much easier to answer, say, 25 years ago, when the public memories of Pan-Africanist champions such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere were still fresh, Nelson Mandela had just walked out of prison, and Robert Mugabe was a widely respected leader.
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.
Read this step by step guide to understanding and analyzing a local government budget with a focus on a specific service delivery issue. The guide was a collaborative effort with the International Budget Partnership-South Africa and the Accounting for Basic Services project.
Activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social movements across the world are facing verbal hostility from politicians, new laws and regulations that curtail their ability to operate, and outright violence. Africa is no exception.
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.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, as in much of the world, reporting on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression (SOGIE) can be tricky. Cultural taboos, entrenched stereotypes, social hostilities, legal prohibitions and editorial censorship often distort coverage of these sensitive topics. Add religion to the mix and producing responsible journalism on sexual and gender minorities can seem impossible.
This policy brief considers the provision of shelter services to victims of domestic violence and is done in relation to the Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF) and the National Shelter Movement of South Africa‘s (NSM) “Enhancing State Responsiveness to GBV: Paying the True Costs” project. Funded by the European Union, this project aims to support state accountability for adequate and effective provision of domestic violence survivor support programmes, specifically those associated with the provision of shelter for abused women.
Engender is a television series focussing on feminism, gender issues and related concepts. The first 3 episodes of the pilot series explored the concept of feminism; feminism and intersectionality; and gendered representations in the media. The Engender Resource Kit mirrors the episodes and was developed from research undertaken for the series.
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.
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.
With this edition of Perspectives, the Heinrich Böll Foundation explores some of the approaches and instruments that communities and their NGO partners have developed to create room for community-centred stakeholder participation, and to champion community interests and rights.
How could a just and democratic resource politics look like that respects both planetary boundaries and human rights? The Memorandum “Resource Politics for a Fair Future” is the outcome of a two-year international dialogue process of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
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.
