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Nordiska Afrikainstitutet

The Starbucks/Ethiopian coffee saga : geographical indications as a linchpin for development in developing countries

Upphovspersoner: Watson, James | Streatfeild, Jeremy
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2008
Ämnesord: Coffee, Property rights, Trademarks, international trade, Exports, economic development, Geographical aspects, Business and economics, Ekonomi
A coalition of Ethiopian coffee producers and the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) set up a programme to acquire trademarks in important export markets, with a view to increasing the profits on these brands for the producers. In March 2005, the Ethiopian government filed its first US trademark applications for three contested coffee names. After 15 months the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) agreed that the name Sidamo was generic and therefore could not be trademarked. This led to an outcry by some commentators, including NGOs and Intellectual Property Rights professionals. Yet, the arguments in favour of protecting indigenous knowledge under international trade rules as a linchpin for economic development and poverty eradication has been forcefully put forward by African countries and other developing countries in both regional trade negotiations and at the World Trade Organization. With the Ethiopian and Starbucks dispute in mind, James Watson and Jeremy Streatfeild eloquently explain in this piece how geographical indications can be used to enhance the capacity of farmers and economic development in Africa and other least developed countries.

Re-thinking Africa : A Contribution to the Swedish Government White Paper on Africa

Upphovspersoner: Arnfred, Signe | Utas, Mats | Cheru, Fantu | Hammar, Amanda | Havnevik, Kjell | Kamete, Amin Y. | Lindell, Ilda | Myhre, Knut Christian | Ngangjoh Hodu, Yenkong | Obi, Cyril I. | Oinas, Elina | Palmberg, Mai | Thorsen, Dorte
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: Foreign relations, Development aid, International cooperation, Government policy, Sweden, Africa South of Sahara, Political science, Statsvetenskap
Edited by Signe Arnfred and Mats Utas.

More Tax, Better Governments

Upphovsperson: Hårsmar, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2010
Ämnesord: Taxation, Tax systems, Tax reform, Tax revenues, Fiscal administration, Governance, Foreign aid, Aid dependency, Business and economics, Ekonomi
It has been argued that aid donors should focus more on supporting low-income countries to broaden their tax base and raise overall taxation. Besides increasing revenue, this has also a political objective. When citizens are taxed without excessive coercion, taxation can contribute considerably to improved governance and accountability, and to state building. Due to the effects of the financial crisis, calls for increased mobilisation of domestic resources are now being renewed. But is broadened taxation a viable strategy? Some signs of progress are visible in sub-Saharan Africa. However, governments and donors need to see taxation as part of the broader framework of social contracts and not to lose sight of the bigger picture.

Labour migration : a child and youth issue

Upphovsperson: Thorsen, Dorte
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2008
Ämnesord: Labour migration, labour market, youth unemployment, child labour, Rural-urban migration, access to education, educational opportunities, Africa, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Considerable policy effort has been made to eliminate child labour and is currently being directed towards job-creation for youth. Most programmatic solutions are premised on education being a key component of childhood and education deficits a major impediment to youth employment. Long-term difficulties of finding work at the end of schooling or vocational training are addressed only as ill-suited curricula and economic barriers preventing youth’s entrepreneurship. Children’s work (below 18 years) is contentious per se, whilst youth’s labour migration receive no attention in the most recent Swedish and Danish Africa strategies.By bringing together policy discussions on child labour and your unemployment – usually separated and dealt with by different organisations – this Policy Notes highlights a series of questions for consideration in contextualised policy-making. It argues that- The strong focus on formal education makes working children and the skills they learn outside school invisible.- The focus on technical/vocational training as a means to bring youth into work ignores rural-urban inequalities, as well as how African labour markets work.

Migration in sub-Saharan Africa

Upphovsperson: Adepoju, Aderanti
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2008
Ämnesord: International migration, Emigration, economic aspects, Migration policy, Development research, International cooperation, Brain drain, diaspora, Human trafficking, Africa South of Sahara, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Africans arriving by rickety fishing boats to the Canary Islands, risking the passage across the Straits of Gibraltar or washed upon the Italian island of Lampedusa are familiar examples of therecent growth in migration from Africa to Europe. There is a darkside of migration in human trafficking, but the picture of a continenton the move also includes highly skilled professionals fromNigeria and Ghana who seek employment in universities and otherprofessions in South Africa. On the positive side migrant remittancesare a major source of income in many sub-Saharan Africancountries, helping to sustain the lives of poor home communities.A major challenge now facing sub-Saharan Africa is how to attractskilled emigrants back for national development.

Young women in African wars

Upphovspersoner: Coulter, Chris | Persson, Mariam | Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: War, conflicts, youth, Women’s participation, Women’s role, Social conditions, Government programmes, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Young women are combatants in contemporary African wars. They also participate in a whole array of different roles. However, by and large, they remain invisible to us. In fact, our “northern” hackneyed views on women’s innate non-participation in war prevent us from seeing specific needs for young women during and in the aftermath of wars. For instance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes often fail to address appropriate needs for young women and in a variety of ways “prevent” them from partaking. Issues of stigma, safe demobilisation, individual concerns for post-war marriage, health and education, need to be addresed in both a more gendered way, but also with an apposite understanding of young women’s agency in both peace and war. In this Policy note it is argued that to improve policy and programming efforts it is necessary to broaden the understanding of young women’s roles and participation in armed conflict in Africa historically and today.

The development dimension or disillusion : The EU's development policy goals and the Economic Partnership Agreements

Upphovsperson: Stocchetti, Marikki
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: Partnership, International negotiations, Economic agreements, Trade agreements, international trade, Economic and social development, Sustainable development, Business and economics, Ekonomi
The EU and the ACP countries aim to conclude the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by the end of December 2007. All parties agree that these trading arrangements are meant to be first and foremost “development instruments”. However, their positions differ greatly on how the EPAs will impact on theultimate goal of poverty reduction. In this policy note Marikki Stocchetti addresses the key issues of this disagreement.

Dynamics of post-conflict reconstruction and peace building in West Africa : between change and stability

Upphovsperson: Ismail, Olawale
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2009
Ämnesord: conflicts, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Post-conflict reconstruction, Peace agreements, Regional organizations, Economic Community of West African States ECOMOG, West Africa, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning
This NAI Discussion Paper critically explores the concepts, norms and practices of reconstruction and peace building in post-conflict West Africa, drawing largely on the case of Liberia and Sierra Leone. It provides an up-to-date analysis and critique of the impact of the UN-led praxis and practice of peace building in the post-conflict states in the region. The material in this study covers the context of post-conflict reconstruction and peace building in West Africa; the evolution and analysis of the global peace building regime; the architecture of peace building in West Africa; the ‘un-making’ of peace building in Sierra Leone. It also interrogates the basic assumtions that underpin international peace building in Africa, noting that at best, it is designed to promote stability and security rather than a deeper and more sustainable popular and socially rooted peace.

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