East Africa FutureDay NAIROBI | NOVEMBER 2012
Guns & Roses: Security, Ecology and East African Integration SID Rockefeller Foundation
Some thoughts on East Africa’s Future In my imagined journey… … I felt fear that the hope of East Africa remains just a hope. … A highly volatile and dangerous youth population, lacking opportunities for work. If you display wealth, you are a target for a mugging. … I am rich, I am well-to-do, I am part of the %. Excellent infrastructure, but just beyond my view I could imagine the familiar slums and shantytowns. … I feel free to work wherever I want in the EAC, to go and come as I please. … I am fulfilled, satisfied, content, peaceful, but there are ill feelings, tension and bitterness between people.
… I am shocked at how things turned out; it’s built up. … Our region and people are united by common borders and identity without the stiff hierarchy of ethnicity and wealth, but the youth still lack inspiration. … People are ready to integrate, putting their differences aside and improving the region in infrastructure and other aspects. … We have developed, but have we gone forward – have we changed as people, or are we ourselves still the same? … EAC becomes center of business, the Dubai and Guangzhou of Africa.
Twitter:
Three Futures for East Africa (Aidan Eyakuze / SID International Secretariat)
AfricaFuturesProject@AfricanFutures #EAFutureDay By , Tanzania’s population is forecast to eclipse million. What will that Tanzania look like? pic.twitter.com/ziWchFre Lilian Matari@LilianMatari @SIDEastAfrica It doesn’t necesarily mean they are against regional integration with the EAC, they can always join as an independent entity Aine@Ruthaine “Organize yourselves to bring about the change that you want to see.“ – Omar Muhammed BBC Media Action #EAFutureDay SID East Africa@SIDEastAfrica Will we ever see an ‘African Spring‘ similar to the one we saw in North Africa last year? What would entice East Africans? SID East Africa@SIDEastAfrica The #EAFutureDay hastag had over tweets yesterday | http://www.tweetarchivist.com/SIDEastAfrica/ | Cc: @futurechall_org
There are three visions for an integrated East Africa. . I want to be a star. At the moment, this is what we are. But will we continue to be the life of the global economic party? . I want a visa – both kinds. Regional integration is fantastic for me, whether it works out for the poor or not. I want my visa card, I want to be part of the globe-trotting, Davos set. . Don’t rush me. Let’s think about what I really want first, and be thoughtful about the many facets of this before we move forward. But really we have no choice. It’s in our social DNA to be integrationist, but it’s also being compelled from outside.
It’s all about People
Mr. Magode Ikuya
Is there such a thing as too much optimism? Seems like there’s a general disconnect between the population and the decision makers. Some of the hopes of the interviewees included: increased travel freedom; ease of moving goods and doing business; equalized cost of living; increased educational opportunities. But is it too optimistic? Or is such optimism necessary for success?
problems problems
MY YOUR problems OUR
MY Problems and YOUR Problems meet and become OUR Problems?
The chicken and the egg One critical subject that’s come up several times, and in different ways, is the disconnect between the macro and micro levels, the border and the center, the institutional and the personal. Average citizens don’t seem to understand in very much detail what the plans for regional integration are, and why the governments do what they do. This is of course not dissimilar from a lot of other places, not least the US, though the reasons are very different. If monetary union and political federation are achieved, clearly that doesn’t constitute regional integration. It is an empty frame. It needs to be filled with the components of social and cultural integration to become sustainable. Does this mean that we’re focusing on the easy questions at the expense of the more difficult – and more important – ones? Does the development of political institutions for regional integration precede social and cultural integration, or the other way ‘round? Which is the necessary precondition for the other?
Good to hear
I talked with one of the participants after the event. She’s worked in government, hydrocarbons and non-profits. She said those words that all of us who put on these events are dying to hear: the event changed her view of these issues.
“My greatest hope:
My greatest fear:
Michael Ager, , Kenya
Contact tom.fries@bertelsmann-stiftung.de Tel + anneliese.guess@bfna.org Tel + () nicole.kleimann@bertelsmann-stiftung.de Tel + www.futurechallenges.org | www.sidint.net | www.rockefellerfoundation.org