Antoinette Sayeh, IMF Africa Head at SAIS: ‘The Region is Catching Up’

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African agriculture, African governance, Antoinette Sayeh, Burkina Faso, Deborah Brautigam, IMF, Infrastructure in Africa, Liberia, SAIS, Shanta Devarajan, Uganda, World Bank

The last time I heard the head of the Africa division of a global financial institution speak on Massachusetts Avenue (Shanta Devarajan of the World Bank at Brookings), I was thoroughly displeased.  Yesterday, I heard Antoinette Sayeh, former Finance Minister of Liberia and currently the Director of the Africa Department at the IMF speak on “Drivers of Growth in Middle and Low-income sub-Saharan Africa.”  Although one can almost always find a bone to pick (keep reading for what it was this time), on the whole, I found her macro-economically focused remarks to hit most of the notes I would like to hear.

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ZANU-PF, USAID, US NGO’s, and a Common Vision for Economic Development in Zimbabwe

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African agriculture, IRD, Robert Mugabe, USAID, ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe

IRD Calendar, March 2013, Zimbabwe

Not long ago, I attended a career fair that had many representatives from the various non-governmental organizations that exist in the DC/MD/VA area to solve the problems of the African (and developing world) masses.  I made sure to get all the swag that is typically available at such events, a tote bag, pens, and candy (I was particularly excited to find my favorite sweet, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup).  However, the best item that I managed to pull was a 2013 calendar issued by International Relief & Development, an Arlington based NGO that seeks “to reduce the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable groups and provide the tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency.”  Washington DC readers may remember IRD from their aggressive marketing campaign on the DC metro about a year ago.

The March page of the calendar tells me that “IRD has worked in Zimbabwe since 2009 to help catalyze the transition of the country from a complex humanitarian emergency to development.”