Haumba’s Trendy Thoughts

The problem of poverty and how to reduce it remains the most pressing dilemma in the many international development debates. More precisely, two questions are at the heart of much of academic research and public policy for development, namely: what is it that makes Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) the poorest region in the world and what can be done to deliver the sustainable and broad-based economic growth required to address this? This article seeks to provide an introduction to current debates on these two interrelated questions.  A section of zaina rice grown in Doho irrigation rice scheme, Butaleja. I will not pretend to offer a broad overview of a vast and ever changing body of academic literature and government policy. Rather, this article is set to answer two main questions. Firstly, what are the prime drivers and maintainers of poverty in SSA as I see them (building on a holistic approach to defining poverty) and, secondly, I briefly highlight how agriculture can aid in eco...

Relatively few would pick Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 as their “favourite” out of the 17 goals. However, it is a very important goal, which all the other SDGs are reliant upon. SDG 17 Partnership for the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015 for example, the Global Compact Network Canada conducted a SDGs Survey asking Canadian businesses to rank the top 5 SDGs according to their importance within Canada and in the world, in terms of the company’s existing initiatives and the importance for own business. The results of this survey were very interesting, and it was striking to see that SDG 17 was consistently ranked among the lowest of the priorities in each of the four questions. In reality, goal 17 is a very important goal and deserves a lot more attention as the success of the SDGs as a whole largely relies on successful partnerships. The aim of SDG 17 is to “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development”....