OSSREA’s 8th Congress and Its International Conference
The Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) held its Eighth Congress from 21- 23 November 2005 at the United Nations Conference Centre, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. OSSREA Congresses take place every three-years, and engage OSSREA members, African and Africanist social scientists, researchers and policy makers from member and non-member countries.
Every OSSREA Congress comprises of two major activities, namely a scientific forum and a business meeting. While a conference and a panel discussion constitute the scientific forum, the business meeting is concerned with reviewing OSSREA’s activities over a three year period since the last congress, adopting constitutional changes (if any and as found necessary), and electing a new executive committee – all as per the OSSREA Constitution.
This year’s international conference on the theme of International Aid, Trade and Development in Africa: The Search for a New Development Paradigm was attended by close to 200 participants drawn from both within and outside of Africa. Participants included policy makers, members of parliaments, the diplomatic community, as well as government officials, social scientists, researchers, representatives of regional organisations, non governmental organisations, various stakeholders and the media.
The President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, His Excellency Girma Woldegiorgis officially opened the Conference. This was preceded by the welcoming remarks of the OSSREA’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Alfred G. Nhema, and the address of OSSREA’s Executive Committee’s outgoing President, Dr. Regina G. M. Karega. In his opening speech, His Excellency President Woldegiorgis commended OSSREA for its efforts in organising various panel discussions and undertaking serious research on various pertinent and timely issues for the continent, and congratulated the Organisation on its Silver Jubilee, and for “creating the interface that has encouraged various actors to come together, build capacity in the region and lead the way forward in research”. His Excellency’s speech was followed by a brief Vote of Thanks from Dr. Regina G. M. Karega.
OSSREA’s 8th Congress chose the topic of International Aid, Trade and Development in Africa: The Search for a New Development Paradigm as the theme of the Conference because of its crucial significance and topicality in the African and global contexts. The major aim of the Conference was to create a platform for participating social scientists, policy makers and development practitioners to meet and deliberate on the imperative issues of aid, trade, and the continent’s predicament in terms of realizing development.
Well over 180 researchers, social scientists, academics, and development practitioners from various countries responded to the call for papers and submitted abstracts of their proposed papers. Out of these, about 70 abstracts/papers that successfully fulfilled the selection criteria were selected, and a total of 68 papers under ten sub theme groups were presented at the three-days Conference. The sub themes were:
International aid and development in Africa;
International aid, globalisation and governance;
Social and economic impact of aid policies;
Trade, trade liberalisation and poverty alleviation;
Regional integration and development;
Gender, trade and entrepreneurship;
Economic and social impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic;
Agriculture, market access, trade and development;
Private sector development and market access; and
Democracy and development.
The presentations were conducted in two separate conference rooms. The ten sub themes under the major theme of the Conference were discussed from various angles based on the presentations of the researchers and resource persons on their pertinent findings on causes, processes, prospects, and the way forward regarding foreign/international aid, trade, and economic development in terms of the African experience. These helped create more awareness among participants and generated lively discussions on existing trends and unfolding events on the continent, as well as on future prospects in relation to the different components of the Conference theme. In addition to this, the Conference also examined the necessity for and the possibility of implementing a paradigm shift in view of the recurrent failure of various development strategies in the past that were meant to bring about economic progress and betterment of life on the continent.
Another notable event at the Congress was the launch of new books by OSSREA under its Senior Scholars Research Grant programme. The four books, which were authored by the winners of the Grant and published by OSSREA, were the following:
Victor Muzvidziwa. 2005. Women without borders: Informal cross-border trade among women in the Southern African Development Community Region (SADC). xiii + 180 pages, ISBN 1904855 61 X.
Mary Njeri Kinyanjui and Meleckidzedeck Khayesi. 2005. Social capital, micro and small enterprises and poverty–alleviation in East Africa. xiii + 130 pages, ISBN 1 904855 60 1.
Kennedy Nyabuti. 2005. Prevalence and determinants of risky sexual behaviours among migrant tea plantation workers in Kericho, Kenya. xiii + 127 pages, ISBN 1 904855 63 6.
Richard Y. M. Kangalawe, Amos E. Majule and Elieho K. Shishira. 2005. Land-use dynamics and land degradation in Iramba District, Central Tanzania. xiii + 130 pages, ISBN 1 904855 62 8.
The final session was devoted to a round table discussion involving policy makers represented by members of parliaments, government ministers, and representatives of regional organisations, non-governmental organisations and agencies.
The Conference came to an end on the third day. The then President of the OSSREA’s Executive Committee, Dr. Regina G. M. Karega gave some closing remarks, which was followed by the reading out of the Final Statement of the Conference.
Final Statement of the International Conference on International Aid, Trade and Development in Africa: The Search for a Development Paradigm
This report captures recommendations from over 66 presentations, including plenary presentations. The papers covered 10 themes as appeared in the abstracts.
The context of the deliberations were succinctly captured in the Plenary in which:
i) Africa’s conflict situation provided a debilitating framework- from initially 21 Hot Wars to the current three;
ii) The unreconstructed African State after political independence that has so far been unable to engage with the unequal and unfair trade, rules and regulations, and finally,
iii) Debilitating food insecurity that has been taken advantage of by the delivery of Food AID, itself characterized by subsidies and protective tariffs from the North.
Some of the key findings, resolutions and recommendations to emerge included the following:
1. There is need to restructure the African state in order that it is capable of providing leadership for development in the 21st century. The question as to how the African state, currently in the process of encouraging its regions to integrate, can participate in the global economy was raised. To this end, Africa also needs an indigenously neutered private sector that should play the role of nationally oriented investment decision and partnership with the state.
2. Research also revealed that intervention strategies on HIV/AIDS required to be broadened to include men for a more comprehensive impact instead of focusing on the women alone. It was also pointed out that HIV/AIDS policies needed to be mainstreamed into broad policy options for maximum impact.
3. The socio-economic impact of Emergency Food Aid was also argued to be undermining the local agricultural capacity, despite demonstrating a commendable ability of Africa producing 83% of its food requirements mainly through the efforts of women.
a. There is serious and continued marginalisation of African institutions, such as NEPAD, an initiative that has since been relegated by the Africa Commission, AGOA and other Northern initiatives, that attempt to deal with the continent’s development.
b. Within the international trade regimes, there is little market access for African products on equal terms. It was also observed that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa has tended to be concentrated around extracting natural resources, leaving the continent’s development agenda unfulfilled.
c. The Way Forward: OSSREA should encourage African scholars to embark on issues of research focusing on international trade and development, as this is an under-researched area.
In the subsequent hours following the closing ceremony, OSSREA held its Business Meeting in which invited members participated. Various issues on the agenda were discussed extensively. The Congress re-elected the Executive Secretary, Dr. Alfred G. Nhema, for a further three-year period, and elected the following new Executive Committee members:
Dr. Rosalia S. Katapa (Tanzania), President
Prof. Linda E.R. De Vries (South Africa), Vice President
Prof. Jotham C. Momba (Zambia), Vice-President
Dr. Kassahun Berhanu (Ethiopia), Resident Vice-President
Dr. Alfred G. Nhema (Zimbabwe), Executive Secretary
Grephas P. Opata (Kenya), Member
Dr. Idris Salim Elhassan (Sudan), Member
Dr. Lily Mafela (Botswana), Member
We are glad to announce to our readers that the detailed Proceedings of the Conference will soon be available to interested individuals and organisations.