Change in the Ballot Box in Africa

Ruling parties were defeated at the ballot box in four African countries last year, and in a fifth, the incumbent party only retained power as part of a coalition government.

Commentators the world over dubbed 2024 the “Year of Elections.” There were national elections in more than 60 countries, including some of the world’s largest and most vibrant democracies—India and Mexico, South Korea and Japan, the UK and, of course, the US. But as is so often the case, little attention was paid to the vibrant elections taking place across the African continent.

Niger's River Blindness Lesson

Niger just announced its elimination of river blindness. In 1976, the disease had a prevalence rate in the country of 60%.

What is sometimes lost in today’s noisy arguments over foreign assistance is the longstanding role the private sector has played in making our initiatives affordable and successful. Take, for example, Niger’s recent victory over river blindness.

AI’s Promise Comes With a Price

A search on ChatGPT uses 10 times more energy than a comparable Google search.

Few topics stir our emotions more these days than what artificial intelligence, or AI, will mean for humanity’s future. Many believe AI will lift the human condition and bring accelerated learning and innovation to countless communities and people. Many others fear that AI’s emergence is really the beginning of humanity’s decline. A few even suggest it will eventually lead to our extermination.

What everyone does agree upon is that the last few years have witnessed a dramatic expansion of AI’s role in nearly every sector of the economy and every part of our lives.

There’s Mining, Then There’s Illegal Mining

The Democratic Republic of the Congo loses about $1 billion each year through illegal mining. Almost 90 people were recently killed in an illegal mining mishap in South Africa. Colombian criminal gangs earn more from illegal mining than they do from cocaine.

Last year, the global mining industry was valued at $792 billion. With clean energy production and multi-sector technological innovation on the rise, global demand for precious metals and critical minerals like gold, copper, lithium, cobalt, and tantalum will only grow in the years ahead. The increased demand will certainly benefit the extractives industry, but it can also be good news for mineral-rich countries themselves in the form of increased revenues and high-paying jobs. Much of the world’s known critical mineral reserves are found, after all, in developing countries desperately in need of economic opportunity and revenue.