18 Sept 2018

Ashinaga Fully-funded Undergraduate Scholarships for Orphans from Sub-Saharan African Countries 2019

Application Deadline: 16th December 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Field of Study: courses offered at candidate’s choice higher institution

To be taken at (country): Higher institutions outside of Africa, in countries such as Japan, US, UK etc

Eligible Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea Conakry, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Republic of Congo, Senegal and Togo.

About Scholarship: Ashinaga presents the “Ashinaga Africa Initiative” aiming to provide higher education to 20 brilliant students from Sub-Saharan African countries each year, some of which are among the poorest in the world, and encourage them to become leading professionals in their own countries.
We search and screen for potential candidates: orphaned or bereaved students with academic potential but who cannot afford to apply to university. We provide them with a concentrated study camp for six months at Ashinaga’s facility, Kokorojuku, in Uganda and Senegal, where they are given dedicated support and assistance with their study of various subjects and languages, as they prepare to apply to highly ranked universities around the world. We also provide them with a full scholarship and living expenses for four years during their studies abroad.
We expect to see these young, educated people go back to their own countries and establish democratic and fulfilled societies, bringing people a higher national income and high-quality education. This movement will eventually contribute to the overall wellbeing of Sub-Saharan countries by helping to break the cycle of poverty, even though the effects will not be immediate, as they are when food or equipment is donated.
There is a theory that the African population will expand to more than three billion by the end of this century. We believe if we can create a bright future for Africa, a continent with so much potential, humanity’s global prospects will be bright as well.

Offered Since: 2014

Type: undergraduate

Eligibility: Applicants must:
  • Have lost one or both parents;
  •  Have completed 12 years of education (primary and secondary school) within the last two years;
  • Were born after 1st October, 1996;
  • Have an outstanding academic performance at high school and were amongst the top students in their class;
  • Be willing to return home, or to Sub-Saharan Africa, and contribute to society in Sub-Saharan Africa after graduating from university;
    (See the full list of requirements here)
Number of Scholarships: up to 20

Value of Scholarship: The Ashinaga (100-Year Vision) Scholarship provides a full scholarship that covers the cost of tuition, accommodation (during the terms and vacation), insurance, flight, and provides monthly stipend which covers food and necessary academic costs.

Duration of Scholarship: for the period of undergraduate studies

How to Apply: There are three ways to apply for the Ashinaga Africa Initiative, although the Program prefers online applications or those sent by email. There is no application fee, and you must never pay anyone to apply or to apply on your behalf.
  • Completed application form
  • Working email address and telephone number
  • Document proving the death of one or both parents, such as a death certificate
  • Proof of age, such as a birth certificate, national ID or passport
  • Secondary school/high school graduation certificate
  • Results from final national exams
  • Academic report cards from the last two years of high school/secondary school
  • Passport-style photo of yourself
It is important to go through the Application instructions in the Scholarship Webpage before applying.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for Details

Award Sponsors: Ashinaga.

Important Note: Please note that if you apply by post, all submitted documents will not be returned to you. Therefore, you must send copies of documents ONLY.
This application and the selection process are FREE. Any person requesting payment at any stage of the process, does against Ashinaga’s will, and should not be paid.

Washington Post Newsroom Internships for Students Worldwide 2019 – USA

Application Deadline: 12th October 2018

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): USA

About the Award: Come be a reporter, photographer, videographer, multiplatform editor or producer, news or digital designer, graphics reporter or developer, or social media producer. Apply for the Washington Post Newsroom Internships.
  • Reporters: Clear, concise, energetic writing is highly valued. Conventional coverage of news events should be demonstrated, but a higher value is placed upon enterprise reporting that shows creative, inventive or investigative skills. Writing for the web is also highly valued. Please indicate your reporting assignment preference: General Assignments (includes national and health/science), Foreign (assignments would be in the Washington newsroom), Arts, Entertainment and Culture, Local, Sports or Editorial. No more than three clips.
  • Visual Journalists: For digital photographers, candidates must be proficient in Photoshop CS, photo management software, and Mac and PC platforms. Your application must include a portfolio. Videographers must be proficient in all aspects of digital video/audio and editing software, including Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere. Experience with voiceover narration and HTML is helpful. Required portfolio must be attached. Please indicate your assignment preference: Photography or Video.
  • Multiplatform Editors: Successful editors must be able to edit for multiple platforms, writing headlines that are tailored for print and digital audiences. Editors must also have a keen understanding of style, grammar and sentence structure, and must be able to edit for clarity. We also value editors who can detect problems in stories and work with others to make them better. Writing captions for photo galleries, proofing pages and the ability to work calmly under intense deadlines are also requirements, as is strong news judgment. Include up to six examples of news or feature stories you have edited, preferably files that include a headline and caption(s) for web or print.
  • Multiplatform Producers: The producer will be responsible for updating the web and mobile sites with fresh content and making sure article pages have critical web elements. We are looking for interns with solid news judgment, the ability to write smart headlines and blurbs and experience at packaging web stories, photo galleries and videos. An ideal candidate also will be adept at analyzing traffic data and web trends, understanding search engine optimization, be a quick and effective problem solver and be able to quickly learn to use new web publishing tools.
  • News & Digital Designers: The designers craft the visual presentations of our content across platforms. We are looking for interns capable of creating innovative storytelling presentations and then tailoring them to all of our platforms. A candidate must be a strong visual designer, able to work well on deadline and have experience working well with photography and video. They should be proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Photoshop, and InDesign. Send a portfolio that includes five to 10 examples of your digital design work. The portfolio should be contained in one PDF or link on your application form.
  • Graphics Reporters and Developers : The graphics reporters and developers tell visual stories and present data on the web. A candidate should be able to utilize the entire storytelling toolbox — writing, reporting, charting, coding, mapping and data visualization — and know how to weave it all together to tell engaging stories. The candidate will create, or assist in creating, news applications such as data-driven maps, databases, social media apps, widgets and mobile tools that will either stand alone or be paired with other digital content. They will work closely with reporters and editors in the newsroom, either through mining existing data on the web, taking in feeds, or working with digital producers to imagine new ways to present information. They will work with the design and development team to indicate, design and help develop tools digital producers can use to enhance engagement. Candidates must be proficient in CSS(3), HTML(5), JQuery, JavaScript and must have experience in developing with databases, XML, JSON, PHP and/or Django. Send a portfolio that includes five to 10 examples of your work. The portfolio should be contained in one PDF or link on your application form.
  • Social Media Producers: The producers foster engaging and useful conversation on washingtonpost.com and social media platforms. We are looking for students who have an ability to identify and participate in online communities, big and small. Familiarity with web publishing and basic HTML is required. Please send at least one sample of an online discussion you’ve led and include links to your personal social media handles and/or accounts you have managed. The most successful candidates live and breathe the Internet and can write well, too.
  • Audio Producers: The producer helps record, write and edit audio stories for long-form and short-form podcasts, and works collaboratively with reporters and editors to find and bring to life Post reporting. The ideal candidate has a background in sound design, audio production or both. Our producers combine traditional journalistic skills with creative approaches to telling stories through sound. We also value a producer who brings creative approaches to promotion and community-building. Proficiency in either Adobe Audition or Pro Tools is required. Please include three links to audio clips with your application.
Type: Internship

Eligibility: To be eligible for the Washington Post Newsroom Internships,You must be a college junior, senior or graduate student enrolled in a degree program on Oct. 12, 2018. You must have had at least one professional news media job or internship.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The Washington Post Newsroom Internships are paid. For summer 2018, the salary was $750 per week.

Duration of Programme: 3 months

How to Apply: Complete the online application and attach all relevant materials, including résumé, work samples and autobiographical essay. All work submitted must be in English.

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Chivas Venture Accelerator Programme for Social Entrepreneurs (USD$1,000,000 Funding) 2019

Application Deadline: 31st October 2018

To be taken at (country): In each participating country.

About the Programme: The Venture is a global search to find and support the most promising startups with the potential to succeed financially and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
The most promising startups – one from each country participating in The Venture – will make it to the global final and have a chance to win a share of $1 million in funding.
In 2014, Chivas Regal launched The Venture, a $1million annual fund and global search to reward those who are using business to create positive change. Over the last two years we have invested $2 Million in a new generation of extraordinary startups, that do well by doing good, because we believe generosity and success go hand in hand.

Type: Entrepreneurship contest

Eligibility: The Venture is looking for exceptional startups that use business innovatively to transform communities and solve global challenges. Social businesses that are creating a better future. Whatever it is, if it’s brilliant and can create real, positive change then we want to hear from you.
  • The Venture is looking for social entrepreneurs who have a registered, for-profit startup or business.
  • The Venture is searching for businesses in seed stage (which means the product is still in prototype stage and the business is not yet generating revenue from customers or users yet), startup stage (which means the business has a working prototype of its concept, ideally with some demonstrable user traction, generating a maximum of US $500,000 – or local currency equivalent – in annual revenues and has been incorporated for no more than three years) or growth stage (which means the business is beyond the working prototype stage, and can show significant user traction and sales, generating a maximum of US $1 million – or local currency equivalent – in annual revenues and has been incorporated for more than three years).
  • You will have a strong vision, a compelling idea and a solid business plan.
  • You’ll also need to showcase how your business has a positive impact and articulate how funding would help to take your business to the next level.
  • You must be over 25 to enter The Venture.
Selection Process: Each country participating in The Venture will select one winner to go to the global final. The selection process will vary between countries so please be sure to check your local Terms & Conditions to find out more.

If you are successful at the national final, you will head to The Venture’s Accelerator Week; an intensive five days of learning, where finalists will receive world-class mentorship and support in preparation for the high stakes pitch in July. The week will involve expert trainers and inspirational mentors recruited by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.
After the Accelerator Week, you will have the chance to inspire the public to vote for your startup in order to receive funding. During the voting period, we will allocate $250,000 of the $1Million fund by giving people the chance to vote for their favourite startup.

Final Pitch: At an exclusive event in front of a live audience of business experts, influencers and changemakers, you will have the opportunity to pitch to The Venture’s global panel of judges, who will decide where the remaining share of the $1Million fund will be awarded.

Selection Criteria: Every submission will be judged on five criteria. These criteria are:
  • Market opportunity and size.
  • Demonstrable impact: measurable social or environmental impact and a model that can scale.
  • Sound business model and organizational strategy.
  • Financial feasibility and sustainability: can earn revenue.
  • Skills, experience and commitment of management team.
Number of Awardees: Not specified.

Value of Contest: 
  • A share of the $1 million fund!!!
  • finalists will also take part in a variety of intensive business master-classes at some of the world’s leading businesses to help them sharpen their skills.
  • business and pitching support
  • The global finalists will feature on The Venture website and crowdfunding site IndieGogo. Our international campaign will reach millions of people around the world, offering incredible exposure for your business.
  • The Venture is an international project with some of the participating countries offering additional prizes.
How to Apply: Apply now
It is highly important to go through the FAQ page before applying.

Visit Contest Webpage for details

Award Provider: Chivas Regal

UNHCR Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) Scholarship Programme for Undergraduate Refugee Students 2019

Application Deadline: Ongoing. Varies according to countries

Eligible Countries: 
  • Sub-Sahara Africa: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe.
  • Middle East & Northern Africa (MENA): Algeria, Egypt, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Syria & Yemen.
  • Asia & Pacific: Bangladesh, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan &Tajikistan.
  • The Americas: Ecuador.
  • Europe: Azerbaijan, Russian Federation, Turkey & Ukraine.
About the Award: he DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) scholarship programme offers refugee students the possibility to pursue an undergraduate degree in their country of asylum. Through the dedicated support of the German Government, and additional private donors, the programme has supported over 12,000 young refugees since 1992. The purpose of the DAFI Programme is to maintain and strengthen the level of capacity of refugees, enabling them to become more self-reliant and to actively contribute to the development of both refugee and host communities.
More generally, the DAFI Programme aims to encourage the development of qualified human resources who contribute to their family and host or home country communities’ self-reliance, thereby supporting greater peace and stability in the region.

Type: Undergraduate

Eligibility: In order to be eligible, a candidate must:
  • be a refugee with recognised refugee status;
  • have successfully completed secondary schooling to a high standard;
  • have no other means of support for university studies;
  • select a course of study that is likely to lead to employment in the country of origin with maximum three to four years duration;
  • not be older than 28 years at the beginning of studies;
  • have no other family member receiving a DAFI scholarship.
Selection Criteria: The DAFI Programme is targeting socio-economically disadvantaged and academically deserving refugee students in the first country of asylum. Priority will be given to:
  • students who had to interrupt their studies due to displacement, and who possess proof of previous university or college studies in their country of origin;
  • qualified refugees who have no means of financial support for university studies, or who are excluded from application for scholarships available to nationals;
  • refugee students who have proficiency in the language commonly taught at universities or colleges in their country of asylum;
  • students who interrupted their DAFI scholarship in the country of asylum due to repatriation to the country of origin. Subject to prevailing conditions and available funds, these students may be supported to continue and/or complete their studies in their country of origin;
  • students who choose shorter and inexpensive courses with high chances of employment (such as computer studies, paramedical and teaching professions, etc).
Other protection related aspects taken into account throughout the selection are:
  • gender-balance
  • individuals with special needs, such as physical disabilities;
  • students’ commitment to community support, voluntary work etc.
  • fair distribution of scholarships among urban and camp-based refugees
  • ethnic and religious diversity
Selection committees can agree/ prioritise a country specific selection criteria in accordance with the DAFI Guidelines.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Undergraduate refugee students are provided with scholarships that cover a wide range of costs, from tuition fees and study materials, to food, transport, accommodation and other allowances. To support their academic achievements and skill development, DAFI scholars receive additional support through close monitoring, academic preparatory and language classes based on students’ needs, as well as mentoring and networking opportunities.

Duration of Programme: The granting of scholarships is limited to students contemplating undergraduate courses of four, or fewer years’ duration, with high probability of employment. As funding is limited, and the programme seeks to offer as many scholarships as possible, full length university courses in medicine and similar courses will normally not be entertained. On an exceptional basis, scholarships can be granted, if refugees had to interrupt their education in their country of origin, require assistance for four years or less to complete their education in the country of asylum, and who are able to provide credible records of their previous studies.

How to Apply:  
  • Check if there is a current DAFI Programme in your country of asylum.
  • Check if you meet the above-mentioned criteria.
  • Contact the respective UNHCR country office to receive a country specific application form.
  • Complete the application form and submit as indicated on the form.
Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Important Notes: Please, do not submit your application to UNHCR headquarters in Geneva or Copenhagen.

NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) for Recent Postdoctoral Scientists 2019

Application Deadline: 1st November, 2018, 7:00 PM EDT.

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): USA

About the Award: The NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) supports outstanding postdoctoral scientists to pursue independent research which contributes to NASA Astrophysics, using theory, observation, experimentation, or instrumental development.  The NHFP preserves the legacy of NASA’s previous postdoctoral fellowship programs. Once selected, fellows are named to one of three sub-categories corresponding to NASA’s “big questions”:
  1. How Does the Universe Work? – Einstein Fellows
  2. How Did We Get Here? – Hubble Fellows
  3. Are We Alone? – Sagan Fellows
Type: Postdoctoral, Fellowship

Eligibility:
  • The NHFP is open to applicants of any nationality who have earned their doctoral degrees in astronomy, physics, or related disciplines on or after January 1, 2016, or who will receive their degree before September, 2019.
  • NHFP fellowships are tenable at U.S. host institutions of the fellows’ choice, subject to a maximum of two new fellows per host institution per year, with no more than five fellows being hosted by a given institution in any three-year period (where the cumulative count begins with the 2018 fellows).
Number of Awards: Contingent upon NASA funding, 24 new fellowships will be awarded for 2019.

Value of Award: The NHFP provides salary support plus benefits for up to three years, and an additional allowance for travel and other research costs.

Duration of Programme: 3 years

How to Apply: Apply Here

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Accenture Firestarter Africa’s Top 30 Tech Start-ups for African Start-ups 2018

Application Deadline: 7th October 2018, 23:59:59 SAST

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: We are looking for those start-ups founded by Africans, that are solving problems in business, government and civil society. We believe in championing start-ups, accelerating digital transformation, driving innovation and helping to unlock Africa’s abundance for all!

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: To enter, you must:
  • Be an *African start-up, founded by an African
  • Demonstrate innovation
  • Be a registered business
  • Be less than nine years old
Selection Criteria: We are looking for start-ups:
  • That are closing significant market gaps
  • Whose core businesses demonstrate innovation
  • That demonstrate exponential growth
  • Whose products or services are unconstrained by geography
  • The tech product must be market validated and at least have customers
  • The tech product must be piloted
  • Start-ups can be pre or post profit
Selection: Entries will be adjudicated by a diverse panel including: academics, corporate sector specialists and representatives from the innovation ecosystem. Survey findings will result in a study identifying success factors for African start-ups.

Number of Awards: 30

Value of Award: Globally, new ecosystems of diverse players are forming to solve social and business problems. Some of the most pivotal players in these ecosystems are disruptive new digital and specialised technology solution providers—they offer cheaper and faster development times, innovative products and services, and new paths to market. As a Firestarter, you will:
• Join the global Accenture Open Innovation network, membership to this network allows your tech product to be considered for other opportunities across the globe through Accenture.
• Gain media exposure as one of Africa’s Top 30 Tech Start-ups.
• Participate in an Accenture led corporate market access week in Johannesburg, where you will be exposed to pitching techniques, client co-creation sessions and speed dates.
• Be invited to Accenture led client workshops to co-create and pitch with Accenture’s project teams.
• Have the opportunity to house your tech innovation in the Accenture Liquid Studio in Johannesburg, where we host multiple corporate workshops per week.
• Network with corporates and key stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the exclusive awards dinner in Johannesburg February 2019.


How to Apply: Are you a Firestarter? If so, click here to enter and complete your application form.

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

The Roots of Haiti’s Movement for PetroCaribe Transparency

Kim Ives

Haitians worldwide, both in Haiti and throughout its international diaspora, have been demonstrating over the past two months to demand: “Where is the PetroCaribe money?”
They are referring to a fund established in Haiti a decade ago by Venezuela, in conjunction with the Haitian government, which was supposed to finance projects to benefit the Haitian people. A November 2017 Haitian Senate investigatory report found that some $1.7 billion from the PetroCaribe Fund was either lost, squandered, or embezzled from 2008 to 2016. Its management “was marked by serious anomalies, irregularities, acts of malfeasance and fabrication,” the report said. Today, analysts estimate that some $3.8 billion of PetroCaribe money is missing or misspent.
The fund’s establishment was a remarkable act of international solidarity initiated by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and it was bitterly opposed by Washington. Under an accord signed in 2006 but not finalized and implemented until 2008, Venezuela agreed to provide Haiti with cheap petroleum products – some 20,000 barrels a day – when oil was selling for about $100 per barrel. Furthermore, Haiti only had to pay 60% of its oil bill to Venezuela up front. The remaining 40% of petroleum revenues went into the PetroCaribe Fund, repayable to Venezuela after 25 years at only 1% interest.
But what happened to this fund which could have provided so much development to the Haitian people? In short, it was largely stolen. It happened like this.
Two years after the PetroCaribe accord began, Haiti was hit by the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake of Jan. 12, 2010. Washington used the disaster to virtually wrest control of Haiti from President René Préval. It rammed through the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), which made former U.S. President Bill Clinton Haiti’s de facto ruler and treasurer. Clinton and his acolytes decided how the $13 billion in post-quake international assistance to Haiti was to be spent.
Préval passively resisted, increasing Washington’s dismay with him. After the first-round of Haitian presidential elections were held in November 2010, then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton forced out Préval’s candidate, Jude Célestin, who had won a spot in the run-off, and replaced him with U.S.-friendly neo-Duvalierist candidate Joseph Michel Martelly, a pro-coup konpa musician known as “Sweet Micky.” Martelly won the Mar. 20, 2011 election with less than 23% of the electorate voting, the lowest turnout for a presidential election in not just Haitian but Latin American history until then (Haiti’s 2016 election would beat that record.)
In the short space of five years from May 2011 to January 2016, President Martelly, with different prime ministers, burned through about $1.256 billion (74% of all the money the Haitian government took over a decade from the PetroCaribe Fund) to finance projects which were either not finished or not real. Martelly’s close friend and longest-serving Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe himself declared, before the Haitian people chased him from office in December 2014, that 94% of his government’s projects were financed by the PetroCaribe Fund.
The 2016 Haitian presidential election was nominally won by Jovenel Moïse, Martelly’s protégé. With the largest campaign coffers (thanks to the PetroCaribe fund), he came into office under indictment for laundering millions of dollars through his banana exporting business Agritrans (money that many analysts believe came from the PetroCaribe fund).
As part of its growing war against Caracas, the Trump administration last year imposed financial sanctions on Venezuela, including limiting bank transactions. As a result, the PetroCaribe program in Haiti was stopped in October 2017 because the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) could no longer make payments in foreign currency. This has been a tremendous blow to the Haitian economy.
Over the last seven years, Martelly and Moïse let Haiti’s payments for Venezuelan petroleum fall into arrears, and Haiti now reportedly owes over $2 billion in addition to the $1.7 billion withdrawn from the PetroCaribe fund. In 2010, Venezuela forgave some $295 million that Haiti owed it. That represented about a quarter of Haiti’s total $1.25 billion foreign debt. In November 2017, Venezuela allowed Haiti to use $82 million of the debt it owes Venezuela for social projects in Haiti. In return, Haiti is to reimburse Venezuela with food products.
So during the five years from 2006 to 2010, we saw President Préval sign and begin a very promising oil and development program in conjunction with Venezuela. But from 2011 to 2018, we’ve seen Washington hijack the Haiti state, using two subservient administrations to plunder the PetroCaribe Fund and create the political and economic crisis Haiti faces today.
From Jul. 6-8, 2018, tens of thousands of Haitians took to the streets of Haiti, burning stores and stopping all activity, because the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington’s sheriff for neo-colonial finances, had ordered the Moïse government to slash oil price subsidies, drastically hiking fuel prices, up to 51% in the case of kerosene.
History has shown that it is unwise to try to take back a gain won by the Haitian people.
The Haitian people rose up and formed Latin America’s first independent nation in 1804 after Napoleon tried to reestablish slavery in the colony of St. Domingue.
They rose up again, after overthrowing dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986, when Washington tried to reestablish a neo-Duvalierist military dictatorship. That uprising culminated in the 1990 election of former anti-imperialist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first time modern U.S. election engineering was foiled in Latin America.
Today, again, the Haitian people are again rising up to demand a reckoning after the governments of Martelly and Moïse, in cahoots with Washington, France, and Canada, fronted by the IMF, try to take back the oil and development wealth that the Venezuelan people gave to Haiti, thanks to Hugo Chavez’s internationalist spirit.
Demonstrations are growing and spreading in Haiti, Montreal, and New York. A “Petro-demo” will took place in Miami on Sep. 15. Demonstrators know that they will never get the truth about or justice for the theft of PetroCaribe funds from the Moïse government. That would be asking a thief to arrest himself.
But the call for transparency and restitution are fueling people’s growing conviction that the only way to break Haiti’s downward spiral of corruption and impoverishment is with a revolutionary movement to take back the government and treasury stolen from them in stages since the U.S.-backed coup d’état against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
Starting in 2005, Venezuela established the PetroCaribe alliance with 17 nations, mostly in the Caribbean. In many of those countries, the program has been curtailed in recent years under pressure from Washington’s aggressive sanctions and low worldwide oil prices.

Is China Springing Debt Traps or Throwing a Lifeline to Countries in Distress?

Gerry Brown

Tales spun by Western corporate media and politicians about China devastating economies in Global South by luring them into debt traps have increasingly worn thin and become threadbare. The latest episode to debunk such false narrative is China giving a fresh loan of $5 billion to Venezuela on President Maduro’s visit to Beijing last week.
The loan is a timely lifeline to Caracas, which has experienced hyperinflation over the last two years as a result of falling oil prices and America’s economic sanctions and sabotage against the Maduro government. Inflation rate in Venezuela smashed past 46,000% from January to April, with IMF forecasting an eye-popping 1 million % by year-end! The dire situation is similar to the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe in the first decade of the new millennium and Germany during the 5 years immediately following the end of the First World War.
According to press reports, the grace period for repayment for some of China’s $19 billion loans to Venezuela expired in April 2018. Instead of declaring loan defaults and demanding immediate repayment, as IMF and western banks are wont to do, China has agreed to lend another $5 billion to Venezuela.
China also helped its “Iron Brother” Pakistan last month by providing a  $2 billion loan to avert Islamabad’s balance of payment crisis. In 2016, Beijing came to the rescue of Egypt by lending $1 billion to its central bank and entering into a currency swap agreement worth $2.7 billion. This financial package enabled Cairo to obtain $12 billion loan in three tranches from IMF.
Half of China’s foreign aid goes to Africa.  China’s growing largesse to the Global South is fast catching up with America. With Trump taking a sharp knife to foreign aid, China is set to surpass the US as the largest donor by 2020. In addition, the Middle Kingdom has forgiven $3 billion debts owed by some African states over the past two decades. At the recent China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Beijing, President Xi Jinping announced that China would write off more soft loans extended to the most impoverished nations on the continent.
So, where are the debt traps sprung by China on unsuspecting developing countries in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia? China is no Shakespearean Shylock, demanding to exact a pound of flesh on some hapless and helpless defaulters, or the Economic Hit Man from IMF.

China struggles with Belt and Road pushback

James M. Dorsey

China, in an implicit recognition that at least some of its Belt and Road-related projects risk trapping target countries in debt or fail to meet their needs, has conceded that adjustments may be necessary.
“It’s normal and understandable that development focus can change at different stages in different countries, especially with changes in government. So China can also make some strategic adjustments when cooperating with these countries, but it’s definitely not a reconsideration of the B&R (Belt and Road) initiative,” Wang Jun, deputy director of the Department of Information at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges told the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper.
The Chinese concession, initially made public in an August 27 speech by President Xi Jinping and reaffirmed by the Global Times. came in the same week that Pakistan during a visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi demanded that China expand its US$50 billion plus investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the single largest country infrastructure investment related to the People’s Republic’s Belt and Road initiative, to include manufacturing and poverty reduction projects.
The change in China’s approach towards Belt and Road would in the case of Pakistan involve a substantial recast of CPEC that appeared to position Pakistan as a raw materials supplier for China, an export market for Chinese products and labour, and an experimental ground for the export of the surveillance state China is rolling out, particularly in its troubled north-western province of Xinjiang.
The focus of Chinese investment takes on added significance as Pakistan weighs options to solve its financial crisis, including a request for up to US$12 billion in assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would involve a straightjacket for structural reform.
An IMF assistance package would require Pakistan to provide chapter and verse of the finances of Belt and Road-related projects that have so far been kept under wrap.
Mr. Wang, the foreign minister, seemed despite the statements suggesting change, cautious in his response to the Pakistani demands. He indicated that that expansion, if not re-orientation of CPEC, would not be immediate. “The two sides have agreed that the CPEC cooperation will gradually shift to industrial cooperation,” Mr. Wang said during his visit.
Pakistan was not the only country that was pushing back at China’s approach towards the Belt and Road. Nepal joined Pakistan last November in withdrawing from dam projects because of China’s commercial terms.
More recently, protests against the forced resettlement of eight Nepali villages have apparently persuaded CWE Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges, to consider pulling out of a 750MW hydropower project. CWE said it was looking at cancelling the project because it was “financially unfeasible.”
Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has suspended or cancelled US$26 billion in Chinese-funded projects since his election victory in May.
Similarly, Myanmar is negotiating a significant scaling back of a Chinese-funded port project on the Bay of Bengal from one that would cost US$ 7.3 billion to a more modest development that would cost US$1.3 billion in a bid to avoid shouldering an unsustainable debt.
China has written off an undisclosed amount of Tajik debt in exchange for ceding control of some 1,158 square kilometres of disputed territory close to the Central Asian nation’s border with China’s troubled north-western province of Xinjiang.
Zambia, following in the footsteps of Sri Lanka that was forced to give China a major stake in its port of Hambantota because it could not service its debt, saw itself this month left with no choice but to hand over control of its international airport as well as a state power company.
The Chinese concession also comes amid increased international attention on China’s crackdown on Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, including, the roll-out of its 21st century Orwellian surveillance state.
The concession is part of a concerted effort to downplay the geopolitical nature of the Belt and Road initiative and stress its sustainable development and job creation aspects.
Ray Washburne, president and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an intergovernmental agency that channels US private capital into overseas development projects, earlier depicted the Belt and Road initiative as a ploy to ingratiate itself with other countries by funding infrastructure projects.
China ”is not in it to help countries out, they’re in it to grab their assets,” Mr. Washburne said. He charged that China was intentionally plunging recipient countries into debt, then going after “their rare earths and minerals and things like that as collateral for their loans.”
That view persuaded Greenland this month to select a Danish rather than a Chinese company to build and upgrade three airports.
“The big fear is that even a small Chinese investment will amount to a large part of Greenland’s GDP, giving China an outsized influence that can be used for other purposes,” said Danish foreign and defence policy scholar Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen.
Mr. Rahbek-Clemmenen’s concern reflects a widespread belief that the sheer scale of Belt and Road, involving up to US$1 trillion in investments in scores of countries across the globe lends it significant geopolitical attributes irrespective of what Chinese leaders may have had in mind.
A recent study by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) argued that the Belt and Road is driven by “interest groups within and outside China (that) are skewing President Xi’s signature foreign policy vision.” The study argued that the positioning of the initiative persuaded Chinese local and regional authorities as well as companies to brand their activities as Belt and Road-related to gain economic and political advantage.
Earlier, the Washington-based Center for Global Development warned that “there is…concern that debt problems will create an unfavourable degree of dependency on China as a creditor. Increasing debt, and China’s role in managing bilateral debt problems, has already exacerbated internal and bilateral tensions in some BRI (Belt and Road initiative) countries.”

Plastic Pollution: The Age of Unsolvable Problems

Ugo Bardi

How bad is the situation with plastic pollution? Rather bad, by all means. Citing from a recent paper by Geyer et al., more than 8 billion tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s. Of this plastic, 9% percent was recycled, 12% was incinerated, the rest is in part still in use, in part dispersed in the ecosystem. It is this mass of plastics, billions of tons, which form the pollution we see today. It is almost one ton of plastic waste for every human being living today. Imagine if it were magically to appear in your living room: one ton for every member of your family. 
Still following Geyer et al., in 2015 the world produced 380 million tons of plastics from fossil hydrocarbons. To get some idea of how polluting this mass is, we can compare it to the total carbon emissions produced by hydrocarbon combustion, which today can be estimated to be around 9 billion tons of carbon per year. Plastic is mainly carbon, but we should take into account that the process of creating it cannot be 100% efficient. Anyway, we are interested here only in an order of magnitude comparison so we can say that about 4% of the fossil hydrocarbons we extract become plastics.  
4% doesn’t seem to be a large amount, but it is not negligible, either. Apart from the horrible state of some beaches, the islands of plastics in the oceans, it is a lot of carbon pumped into the ecosystems and its effects are scarcely known, especially on humans: we are all eating microplastic particles, today. What will that do to our health, nobody knows — we are all guinea pigs in a great experiment. The long-run problem is that all this plastic is made from fossil hydrocarbons, it is going to be gradually oxidized and turned into gaseous CO2. Then, it will contribute to global warming.
So, we have a problem and not a small one. Then, how do we deal with it? The Greens in their various shades will respond with the magic words “recycle!” or “reuse!” but there is a little problem with this idea: you can’t recycle or reuse anything for more than a limited amount of times. Recycling plastics is just a way to procrastinate the unavoidable: you may know the quote (attributed to Christopher Parker) that says “Procrastination is like a credit card; it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.” Eventually, even recycled/reused plastics must become waste and at that point, we get the pollution bill to pay.
A different brand of problem solvers, maybe we could call them the “anti-Greens,” will come up with a completely different strategy: “let’s burn it!” Yes, sure, after it is burned, we don’t see it anymore — which means it has disappeared, right? And, in the process, we magically create energy! Isn’t that a good idea? Maybe, but if there ever was a perfect illustration of the concept of “sweeping the problem under the carpet” this would be it. When burned, the stuff plastic is made of doesn’t disappear — it is simply turned into CO2 which goes into the atmosphere to create more global warming. And the energy we can get from incineration is just a trifle and it is obtained in a dirty and inefficient manner.
There is a third brand of people whom I could call the “bring me a problem and I’ll show you an opportunity” brand. They take notice that there exists something called “bioplastics” which doesn’t generate extra greenhouse gases (at least in principle) and is bio-degradable, at least in principle. So, it could solve the problem while keeping everything the way it is in the best of possible worlds. They will notice that, nowadays, weight for weight, bioplastics cost 2-3 times more than ordinary plastics made from fossil fuels but, hey, higher prices mean higher profits! After all, the fraction of the budget that an ordinary family can’t be but small, so they can surely afford to pay a little more. Besides, technological progress will surely bring costs down. And when they discover that bioplastic production today is only about 4 million tons (1% of the total production of plastics), wow! Think of the possibilities of growth!!
But is bioplastic the solution to the problem? As it often happens, quantification makes short work of ideas that seemed to be good in theory. Today, bioplastics are made mainly from cereals (corn) or directly from sugar. According to the data from Statista, the world’s production of sugar was about 170 million tons in 2017, less than half the amount needed to make the currently produced amounts of plastics even in the wildly optimistic assumption of a 100% efficient process. About grain, the data tell us that in crop year 2016/2017, a total of approximately 2.62 billion metric tons of grain were produced worldwide. Again in the wildly optimistic assumption of a 100% efficient production process, it means we should set aside about 15% of the world’s grain production – more realistically about 20%-25%. 
Think for a moment of what losing 25% of the food production would mean for a world where billions of people live on the edge of starvation and you see that we have a little problem, here — similar to the one that would come if we were to try to switch from fossil fuels to biofuels. And I am not saying anything about the fact that agriculture is far from being fossil-free, not at all: think of fertilizers, pesticides, transportation, refrigeration, processing, and more. Think also that, the way it is performed nowadays, agriculture is an unsustainable process that destroys the fertile soil that it needs to produce food. There is just so much that agriculture can do: it can’t feed more than 7 billion people and, at the same time, provide chemicals and fuel for everybody. 
Does that mean that the problem of plastic pollution unsolvable? No. It is, actually, a minor problem in comparison to other, much more difficult problems we face. We need to phase out fossil fuels from the world’s economy but, if we were to do that very rapidly, the world’s economy would cease to function. But we could phase out fossil-based plastics tomorrow. It would be uncomfortable and complicated, but nobody would die and we would rapidly adapt to new ways to do everything we do today, just using something else: metals, paper, ceramic, tissue, or whatever at hand — even nothing in some cases. And we don’t even need to phase-out plastics completely: in some areas, plastic materials are really indispensable, think of one-use medical equipment or rubber tires for road vehicles. But, in that case, we can use bioplastics: if we use it in limited amounts, it is possible. What we have to do is just to eliminate the wasteful and frankly stupid one-use plastic items: plastic bottles, for instance.
It is, in the end, not a technological problem: it is a problem of governance: we (intended as humankind) have been able to manage reasonably well the elimination of some harmful substance from industrial production. Think of lead as a component of paints or in gasoline. Think of mercury in thermometers, beryllium in some alloys, CFCs in refrigerators, DDT as an insecticide, and many more cases. International agreements were discussed, approved, and implemented. Then, these and many more substances were banned and removed from industrial use. It is possible and it has been done.
So, it would be perfectly possible to develop and implement international agreements that would curb the use of plastics made from fossil fuels and eventually ban it completely. That implies changing something in our everyday life: the “overpackaged” products that today are so common in supermarket aisles would have to disappear. But packaging is not evil: it is a way to store food more efficiently. We need to learn how to be much more efficient with it.
So theoretically, it should be possible — even reasonably easy — to eliminate plastics pollution by means of international legislative action but, in practice, it looks difficult. Over the years, efficient technologies of anti-governance (aka good old disinformation) have been developed and honed to near perfection — we saw them applied to the issue of global warming. These technologies can be used by industrial lobbies to stop all legislative changes that would reduce their profits. That has suddenly made every problem impossible to solve.
Right now, the fossil fuel industry is desperately fighting to survive. It has been able to successfully stop many attempts to do something against climate change. It is at least unlikely that it will stay silent while it loses a market worth some 600 billion dollars per year. So, expect soon a loud campaign in favor of plastics: some hints are already starting to appearAnd they will blame you for not differentiating your waste well enough!
If the campaign to keep fossil plastics will work, then the only way to get rid of the stuff will be a full-fledged Seneca Collapse — that, too, has happened in the past to take care of the things that humans were unable to care for by themselves. It can surely happen again. Even in the age of unsolvable problems, collapse is a feature, not a bug.

Needled Strawberries: Food Terrorism Down Under

Binoy Kampmark

There is something peculiar doing the rounds in Australian food circles.  The land down under, considered something of a nirvana of fruit and vegetable production despite horrendous droughts and calamitous cyclones, is facing a new challenge: human agency, namely in the form of despoliation of strawberries.
The results have knocked Australia’s highly concentrated supermarket chains, with both Coles and Aldi withdrawing all their fruit with a nervousness that has not been seen in years.  A spate of incidents involving “contamination”, or pins stuck in the fruit, have manifested across a range of outlets.  Strawberry brands including Donnybrook Berries, Love Berry, Delightful Strawberries, Oasis brands, Berry Obsession, Berry Licious and Mal’s Black Label have made it onto the list of needled suppliers.  There have been possible copycat initiates doing the rounds.  “This,” exclaimed Strawberries Australia Inc. Queensland spokesman Ray Daniels, “is food terrorism that is bringing an industry to its knees.”
The game of food contamination, infection or, as Daniels deems it, food terrorism, is the sort of thing that multiplies in fear and emotion.  It targets the industry itself (the strawberry market is already frail before the effects of pest and blight), and ensures maximum publicity for the perpetrator.  Then there is the constant fear of a potential victim, the all stifling terror of legal action that might find a target in the form of a provider.  Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has already boosted such feelings, ordering the Food Standards Australia New Zealand to investigate the matter.  “This is a vicious crime, it’s designed to injure and possible worse, members of the population at large.”
Out of 800,000 punnets of strawberries, notes Daniels, seven needles were found.  “You’ve got more chance of winning lotto than being affected.”  Take your chance, and, as with all food production, hope for the best as you would hope for the arrival of a green goddess.
Others such as Anthony Kachenko of Hort Innovation Australia have also moved into a mode of reassurance, a salutary reminder that Australia remains in the stratosphere of food excellence despite such adventurous despoilers.  Sabotage it might be, but it was surely isolated, a nonsense that could be dealt with surgical accuracy. “Australia prides itself on safe, healthy, nutritious produce and we have the utmost confidence in the produce that we grow both for the domestic and the export markets.”
Such attitudes mask the fundamental bet that has characterised human existence since these unfortunate bipeds decided to experiment with the cooked and uncooked.  History shows that wells have been poisoned and fields salted.  The divorce from hunter gatherer to industrialist consumer oblivious to the origins of food made that matter even more poignant, and, in some cases, tragic.  The consumer is at the mercy of the production line, and everything else that finds its way into it.
The food science fraternity are being drawn out to explain the meddling, pitching for greater funding, and another spike in industry funds.  “The things we’re usually concerned about,” suggests Kim Phan-Thien of the University of Sydney, “are the accidental contaminants; spray drift or microbial contamination [which is] a natural risk in the production system.”  What was needed, claimed the good food science pundit, was an examination, not merely of “unintentional adulteration and contaminants but the intentional adulteration for economic gain or a malicious reason for a form of terrorism.”
Take a punt (or in this case, a punnet), and hope that source, process and final destination are somehow safe.  The cautionary note here is to simply cut the suspect fruit to ensure no errant needles or pins have found their way into them.  (This presumes the needle suspect was probably hygienic.)
But the strawberry nightmare highlights the insecurity within the food industry, the permanent vulnerability that afflicts a multi-process set of transactions, recipients and consumers.  Purchasing anything off the stands, and in any aisle of a supermarket is never a guarantee of safety, a leap of faith based upon a coma inflicted by industrial complacence.  We are left at the mercy of speculative fancy: the item we take home is what it supposedly is, irrespective of labelling, accurate or otherwise.
The scare, as it is now being termed, has had the sort of impact any fearful threat to health and safety does: an increased focus on security, a boost in food surveillance and the gurus versed in the business of providing machinery.  Strawberry Growers Association of Western Australia President Neil Handasyde revealed that growers were being pressed for increased scanning in the form of metal detectors.  “As an industry we are sure that [the needles] are not coming from the farm, but we’re about trying to get confidence into customers that when they buy a punnet of strawberries, that there isn’t going to be anything other than strawberries in there and they’re safe to eat.”
Possibly guilty parties have been distancing themselves with feverish necessity.  This, as much as anything else, reeks of the legal advice necessary to avoid paying for any injury that might result.  Mal’s Black Label strawberries, one of the growing number of needle recipients, has taken the line that the farm is above suspicion, with the suspects to be found elsewhere.  Strawberry grower Tony Holl suggested that some figure was floating around, needle and all, intent on fulfilling the wishes of “a real vendetta”.
reward of $100,000 has been offered by the Queensland government for capturing the villain in question, if, indeed, there is a conscious, all-rounded creature doing the rounds.  He, she, or it, has now assumed various titles from the Queensland authorities.  The “strawberry spiker” or “strawberry saboteur” seem less like life-threatening agents than lifestyle names intent on an encyclopaedic entry.  But biosecurity, and matters of food health, are matters that throb and pulsate in Australia.  Authorities are promising to find the culprit.  The culprit may have other designs.