Free The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai Page B

international cooperation over the crises in Darfur, Congo, and Zimbabwe has been inadequate, to say the least. But such engagement might go some way toward assisting countries to get out of their morass. And, in the long run, if citizen activists are supported, interacted with, and provided with the opportunities to learn from civil society leaders in other countries who have dealt with oppressive regimes, the pillar of democratic space would be strengthened and the stool's other two essential pillars could be put back in place and, crucially, maintained.

AID AND
THE DEPENDENCY SYNDROME
    IN RECENT YEARS , the emerging consensus within and outside Africa on the importance of democratic space for the continent has coincided with increased interest within East Asia and the West in helping the poorest one billion individuals, many of whom are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, to reach at least the lowest rung of the development ladder, from which they can climb higher. Elected leaders, senior diplomats, economists, and celebrities have helped to place the issues of Africa's dehumanizing poverty, HIV/AIDS crisis, food security, and debt relief on the international community's agenda.
DEALING WITH MALARIA AND DEPENDENCY
    In January 2005, I attended the World Economic Forum, a gathering of heads of state, entrepreneurs, economists, and public figures that is held every year in Davos, Switzerland. In one session, I listened as then Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa addressed the theme “Funding the War on Poverty” on a panel that included President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil; Domenico Siniscalco, Italy's then minister of economy and finance; Gordon Brown, then the UK's chancellor of the exchequer; American economist Jeffrey Sachs; and Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. 1 President Mkapa made a passionate appeal for the global North (the wealthy, industrialized countries, which are mainly located in the northern hemisphere) to cancel the debts that his country owed, which, he said,severely hampered his government's ability to make investments in public health, including, for example, providing bed nets to protect Tanzanian children from malaria-infected mosquitoes.
    During the question-and-answer period that followed, an audience member, the American actress Sharon Stone, told President Mkapa how moved she'd been by his speech and that she wished to help him save Tanzanian children from malaria. She immediately made a pledge of $10,000 to buy bed nets. She then turned to others in the room and asked them to do the same. I could hear the urgency in her voice to solve right there and then what for her seemed an eminently preventable problem: children were dying of malaria for lack of bed nets. I could empathize; all of us feel pain when we hear that children are suffering. Within a short time, Ms. Stone had received a number of pledges, totaling $100,000. 2 The funds would be donated to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
    It is always inspiring to watch famous or wealthy people stretch out their hands to help the poor. There are few well-known Africans who could command the same level of attention from the international media, donor agencies, or governments as Ms. Stone and others like her from the United States or Europe can. Some celebrities, such as Bob Geldof and Bono, who was also in the room that day, speak out forcefully about how current economic and political systems continue to harm Africa—views that they can take to any elected leader in the world and get some results. Nevertheless, once such international personalities have done their part, it is up to the African leadership and people to make sure the resources that result are used appropriately.
    Still, while sufficient funding is important—for instance, to purchase bed nets—in my experience development success isn't only about money; if it were, Africa would have solvedmany of her problems years ago. Since 1960, the