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Horizon Scanning

Environment Horizon Scan Newsletter

Issue 21 - May 2011

The latest issue. Southern Africa Searchlight's latest issue of its newsletter, Horizon Scan, can be downloaded here.

Issue 21's contents

POVERTY, DEVELOPMENT AND DONOR ISSUES
  • Colloquium on Law and Poverty
  • Implications of complexity theory for development: Extracts from a blog post
ECONOMIC ISSUES
  • World Economic Forum on Africa
  • Poverty fight should inspire the move to Free Trade Agreement
  • Mozambique: Economic growth and subsidised food for the urban poor
  • The financing of city services in Southern Africa - A cause for concern
  • South Africa unlikely to enforce local procurement for Wal-Mart
POLITICAL ISSUES
  • Local elections good for the deepening of democracy
  • Angolan police put down anti-poverty protests - change on the way for Angola?
  • Meanwhile tension mounts over escalating Botswana protests
  • The ANC has began using its majority muscle in the South African national assembly to push the controversial ‘secrecy bill’ through parliament
SOCIAL ISSUES
  • Lack of work experience leave graduates unemployed
  • South Africa’s economy is in dire need of highly skilled workers
  • 17 million children in Southern Africa are orphans
  • Poorer countries better at looking after children
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
  • ‘If we work together as a region, the balance of our endowments looks a little different.’
  • Africa must start identifying Climate Fund projects
TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
  • Participatory mapping project in Congo nominated for Buckminster Fuller prize
  • New pharmaceutical research centre at University of Cape Town to take Africa forward
  • Space science in South Africa to contribute to urban and rural planning, and economic development
  • In Africa, the potential for Apps goes far beyond games, entertainment and publishing

 

Get the latest issue of Horizon Scan now.

Last Updated on Friday, 09 November 2012 14:43

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The Horizon Scanning Project April 2011 Newsletter

Horizon Scan, issue 20, April 2011

Contents in the latest issue of 'Horizon Scan' -- the newsletter of the Horizon Scanning Project

  • Poverty, development and donor issues.
    • The poor will suffer more as a result of projected oil price increases.
  • Economic issues.
    • World Economic Forum on Africa 2011: “From Vision to Action, Africa’s Next Chapter”.
    • South Africa, deemed the gateway to Africa, joins the BRIC economic group.
    • Southern African rulers eying the money, not development.
    • The economic contribution of tourism in Mozambique – insight from a social accounting matrix.
    • Zimbabwe and Angola tourism updates.
  • Political issues.
    • India and South Africa as Partners for Development in Africa?
  • Social issues.
    • Few service providers have planned for an aging African HIV-positive population because no one expected this group to survive to old age.
    • Swaziland’s unmatched HIV-Aids epidemic can most plausibly be traced to a unique combination of biological, economic, social and cultural factors.
    • The challenge, and contradictions, of organised crime and urbanisation in Africa.
    • Cities report looks at future.
  • Environmental issues.
    • Middle income households may become more vulnerable to droughts as they transition away from traditional agriculture towards more modern agricultural livelihood strategies - evidence from Malawi and Botswana.
    • South Africa’s acid mine drainage waste-water is ‘mineable’.
  • Technology issues.
    • New technology that can diagnose patients with tuberculosis (TB) in two hours.
    • Africa's largest and latest fibre-optic submarine cable has brought a number of firsts to South Africa and the continent.
    • Umbono update: A blog post by Brett Commaille, dated 26 April 2011.

 

Snippets from 'Horizon Scan', issue 20

We think you have to read these articles in the newsletter:

> The poor will suffer more as a result of projected oil price increases.

In this article, the potential impacts of increasing oil prices are considered.

Reporting on a study conducted by the Overseas Development Institute, Horizon Scan identifies those countries in Africa which will be worst hit and those states with better resilience. Who is most resilient and who's in for a pounding?

> Read the article by downloading the complete newsletter.

 

> Southern African rulers eying the money, not development

SADC leadership, August 2010'Horizon Scan' turns to the matter of tariffs and the Southern African Customs Union, and recounts an analysis of SACU and reports of jostling between SACU members and South Africa.  South Africa's efforts to boost its own industries, and its reliance on tariffs as a tool for doing so, is not pleasing everyone in the SACU. So, who is unhappy?

> Read the article by downloading the complete newsletter.

 

> Africa's largest and latest fibre-optic submarine cable has brought a number of firsts to South African and the continent.

'Hey, we got cable!' That's the news about the West Africa Cable System, the 14,000km, ultra-high capacity (five terabytes per second) fibre optic submarine cable that's running along the west coast of Africa. Who is involved, how they benefit and what's at stake are described in this article in 'Horizon Scan'.

> Read the article by downloading the complete newsletter.

 

 

> Want to read the whole newsletter? Download it by clicking here.

 

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Disclaimer

The information and commentary expressed here are the selection and views of the scanning organisation, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Rockefeller Foundation.

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Horizon Scanning Project

> Read Horizon Scan, the latest newsletter of Searchlight Southern Africa.

> Find out about the Searchlight Southern Africa Project.

> Learn more about horizon scanning.

> Discover who else is involved in the global Searchlight initiative.

> Contact the Searchlight Southern Africa Project.

> Get involved.

 

'Horizon Scan' -- the newsletter of Searchlight Southern Africa

Get the May 2011 issue of Horizon Scan now.

 

About Searchlight Southern Africa

  • Horizon or environmental scanning is the job of Searchlight Southern Africa, another South Africa Node initiative.
  • Searchlight Southern Africa is a horizon scanning and trend monitoring service for globalisation-related issues in the Southern African region.
  • Ten countries are included in the project's scope: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Countries beyond this group of ten are considered, too, when relevant.
  • Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, it contributes to the Rockefeller Foundation’s international Searchlight initiative.
  • What the project does:
    • Monitors journals, newspapers, books, grey literature and e-texts in, from and about the region.
    • Aggregates trend information on a monthly basis.
    • Shares this knowledge with futurists' networks.
    • Tracks trends that include:
      • Poverty.
      • Development and donors.
      • Economics.
      • Politics.
      • Environment.
      • Social development.
      • Science, technology and innovation.

 

Searchlight across the globe

Searchlight Southern Africa, an initiative of the South Africa Node of the Millennium Project, is part of a global network.

Searchlight across the globe

 

Learn more about horizon scanning

"We need a better understanding of the present, not just the future, and for that reason horizon scanning is a sense-making tool for understanding better the complexity of the present and also the future," says Tanja Hichert, scenario planning practitioner and futurist, and owner-director of Hichert and Associates.

Here are useful links to information about horizon scanning:

> A Slideshare presentation on horizon scanning from a research methods festival in Oxford.
> From Shaping Tomorrow, a practical foresight guide.
> An example of how horizon scanning is used for thinking critically about the UK's jobs market of tomorrow.
> The South Africa Node of the Millennium Project's 2010 presentation on horizon scanning, the Searchlight Project and futures research.

 

Contact Searchlight Southern Africa

You can get hold of Searchlight Southern Africa in the following ways:

  • Email: Click on this link to open an online email form -- and Tanja Hichert, from Hichert and Associates Pty (Ltd), will get back to you.
  • Landline: +27 21 8555 839.
  • Mobile: +27 82 576 6429.

 

Get involved

Futurologists, scenario planners, futurists -- experienced and enthusiastic -- who want to contribute to Searchlight Southern Africa should get hold of Tanja Hichert by email.

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