OLPC instructors teach students how to use their laptops in Kigali, Rwanda. Photo: cellanr (flckr)

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame wants to secure a piece of the growing technology market that has already brought so much change to sub-Saharan Africa, and he’s starting young.

Kagame recently announced that he would provide a laptop for every child in his country between the ages of six and 18, reports The Economist. The magazine suggests the move is based on both economic as well as educational motives: The President has made it clear that he intends to have 50,000 computer programmers by 2020 as a result of the laptop program.

To reach that goal, he is working with the American non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC), an organization that is the first of its kind to provide durable and affordable laptops to many in the developing world. According to their website they believe (as I do) that a laptop can be a key for children to engage in their own education more fully than traditional rote learning. OLPC claims their laptops offer a way for the user to connect with both their local and greater communities in order to expose them to a world that is often not available.

The more practical economic benefits of such a program are also apparent. The president has already purchased 100,000 laptops from OLPC, according to the Economist, and plans to buy 1.2 million more as early as 2012. Over the long term, the initiative will create more jobs for computer teachers and repairmen.
And Government agencies and businesspeople have already started programs to help educate a computer-savvy population reports The New Times of Kigali.

Understandably, the plan has been criticized by many who think the money would be better spent on more visible and perhaps more necessary projects for the impoverished nation, including food distribution, health care subsidies and infrastructure development. Although the country must never lose focus on these persistent problems, there must also be room for the Rwandan Government to take risks on other fronts. The overall benefits of education are difficult to quantify but are nevertheless unquestionably valuable. Technology markets are on the rise throughout Africa, and President Kagame doesn't seem to want to let this opportunity pass.

A market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Haiti’s informal economy has begun to flourish despite the destruction caused by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on Jan. 12, the GlobalPost reports.

[D]espite the lawlessness and absence of government, the Haitian people have started to reactivate their street economy amid the ruins, providing a vital lifeline… as the first week since the quake came to a close, Haitians pulled their few resources together to get small shops and market stalls open, rickety buses and motorbike taxis moving and local radio stations on air.

At two weeks after the disaster, many residents are still living and sleeping outdoors. These conditions have contributed to a new street culture in Port-au-Prince, where many are finding new business opportunities. The Miami Herald says barbers, impromptu phone booths and laundry services can be found at almost every street corner.

Even before the earthquake it's estimated that 80 percent of workers in Port-au-Prince operated in the informal economy, according to the Miami Herald. With the city now in ruins, the Herald suggests that many Haitians previously employed in the formal sector are looking for more informal work so they can earn a little money.

Sauveur Celestine, who was once an accountant, tells the Herald that he is now recharging cell phones using discarded car batteries to make ends meet. “This has enabled me to earn some money that is not a great amount,” says Celestine “but at least it is enough for me to buy two meals a day.”

Cassandra Nelson helps to distribute high-energy biscuits to locals at a hospital in Port-au-Prince. Mercy Corps

Yesterday the banks reopened in Haiti for the first time since the earthquake rocked the small island on January 12th.

Mercy Corps' spokeswoman Cassandra Nelson, who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince, stressed the importance of the banks reopening in her latest post on the Mercy Corps blog. "This means a lot to the aid effort, because there are a lot of people in Port-au-Prince who have some money — maybe not a lot — but they were having to live on handouts simply because they couldn't access their money." Without cash on hand, even wealthier Haitians were forced to seek handouts while the banks were closed.

As cash became more readily available throughout the day, Nelson saw the street economy reinvigorate from the rubble of damaged store fronts. Hawkers selling bananas and mangoes are helping restart the flow of food and resources within the country, allowing aid agencies to focus on those who are most in need of help.

You can keep up with the latest news about Mercy Corps' relief efforts in Haiti by clicking here.

A Chicago bucket drummer illegally plays his tunes for a little cash. Photo: grendelkhan (flickr)

The term “shadow economy” tends to invoke images of sly back-alley business deals. But in reality, the term encompasses everything from bucket drummers on the streets of Chicago to the woman who sells tamales at my workplace. Because of the recession and layoffs, a growing number of Americans and illegal immigrants have been forced to try and make ends meet in this informal market.

It is staggering to learn how large the shadow economy really is: about a trillion dollars and rising, according to a recent Christian Science Monitor article that explores many aspects of the informal market. Economists are curious about where all this money is ending up, and what it is doing to the economy as a whole.

Some argue that a rise in the shadow economy unfairly increases the competition with local small businessmen — people who are already struggling with a damaged economy, reports the Monitor. But others from the International Monetary Fund claim that the competition actually increases the efficiency of both markets. They believe that the shadow economy makes goods and services more available and affordable than in formal markets. Their studies also show that roughly two-thirds of the money illegally generated in the shadow economy is actually spent in the official economy.

In the end, it boils down to the fact that the majority of those working in the shadow economy are the same ones who have been excluded from the official economy — typically because of socioeconomic status. In October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate had reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent nationwide. For many Americans and illegal immigrants who have been the hardest hit by this recession, the shadow economy is often the only way to get by. The trillion-dollar size of the informal market is yet another signal that people everywhere are struggling.

Malawi's economy has deep roots in the small family farms that pepper its landscape. But farmers often can't earn enough from cash crops like tobacco, sugarcane, peanuts and tea.

The Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) hoped to change this when they started working with rural Malawian farmers in 2006. As they explain on their website, they encouraged the farmers to grow soy instead of peanuts, which is more nutritious, gets better yields, and is easier to grow.

In one particularly impoverished district, CHDI also worked with a group of local farmers to build a large commercial soy farm. Collectively, the farmers could get a better deal by buying in bulk, which drove down the price of seeds, fertilizer and irrigation tools. CHDI also used the farm as an informal classroom, showing locals how the different cultivation techniques were used.

After only two full years in the country, CHDI reports that for many farmers, harvests have more than doubled under the new system, with income not far behind. One of these farmers shares her story in the video below.

In a country as poor as Malawi, where an estimated 53 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day, that extra income provides farmers with many opportunities that had previously been out of reach.

Severe unemployment threatens security gains made in the last few years. Photo: Dogon56 (flickr)

Security in Iraq is undoubtedly improving, but rising unemployment threatens to increase instability and worsen corruption, according to Iraq expert Frank Gunter.

Gunter, who's done two tours in Iraq as an economics adviser, points out in a recent op-ed in the New York Times that 51 percent of the population — and an even greater percentage of young people — is either unemployed or underemployed.

Almost half of the country’s labor force is paid by the government from its revenues from petroleum exports. With the exception of agriculture, legitimate private-sector employment is small — by my calculations, about 6 percent of the labor force. Most of the remainder of the Iraqi labor force is either unemployed or working in the underground economy.

Gunter further laments that any business faces either the inefficiencies of the underground economy or the corrupt ministries that regulate them. (Iraq was just listed among the top five most corrupt countries in the world.) The process to register a new business is expensive and complicated — a license costs $2,800 and requires approval from 12 different ministries.

"The potential for private sector job growth is great," Gunter writes. So what needs to be done? The number-one thing, Gunter says, is to make it easier and less expensive to register a new business. He also recommends that provinces, rather than Baghdad, set rules for regulating businesses.

But whatever is decided, the government of Iraq is running out of time. It must either end its hostility toward private businesses — or accept that a sharply growing mass of unemployed will nullify the progress of the last three years.

A street dentist in India. Photo: Christian Luna (flickr)

Would you want an unlicensed dentist working on your teeth?

You might if, like many of India’s poor, you lacked the money to see a professional. By your willingness to pay for these services, you’d also be creating a kind of employment for someone who could never find work in a traditional medical office.

Workers like these amateur dentists are part of India's informal sector, made up of the small-business employees like cleaners, agricultural workers, and hawkers of street goods who work for cash without a contract or benefits. Although India is best-known for its high-tech economy, the Indian government estimates that more than 93 percent of Indian workers are informally employed.

The informal sector didn't benefit much from India's tech boom, but its extra-stretchy quality actually makes India's economy stronger, says businessman Semil Shah. Why? For starters, he explains, the informal economy "provides markets for goods and services that may not have been otherwise traded." Others also see the the informal economy as a safety net for workers, since it gives more work possibilities to those who've lost jobs in the formal sector. Because of this, the informal sector may help sustain India through the global economic crisis, reports CNN.

However, maintaining a large informal economy isn't the long-term answer for India's poor, many researchers say. Life in the informal sector is harsh, since employment is often uncertain and poorly-paid. Moreover, working conditions aren't always good and competition can be stiff, especially when workers from the formal sector flood back in. Without a safety net of their own, informal workers hit the ground hard when they fall.

Despite all the drawbacks, many out-of-work Indians would probably agree that the uncertainty of informal work trumps the certainty of no work at all.

Not a lot is known about North Korea. Westerners are rarely granted permission to enter the country. And we almost never get to see images other than those from state-coordinated photo ops.

But in May, Foreign Policy magazine published seven photos of North Korea taken by documentary photographer Tomas van Houtryve. Pretending to be a businessman looking to open a chocolate factory, van Houtryve toured Pyongyang under the watchful eye of his state-assigned guides. Despite his escorts, van Houtryve covertly snapped photos of life in and around Pyongyang.

The resulting photo essay, "The Land of No Smiles," shows empty streets, somber faces and dimly lit subways. They also offer a glimpse of what van Houtryve calls “emergency capitalism” — factories set up in special economic zones along the North-South border that allow South Korean companies to hire cheap North Korean labor.

Click here to see the photos — and don't forget to read the captions, which are nearly as fascinating as the images they describe.

Afghanistan is facing a dangerous new threat, but it does not involve suicide bombers or roadside explosives.

As the Washington Post reports, government corruption is threatening to topple Afghanistan’s fledgling democracy in the wake of a presidential election plagued by delayed vote tallies and reports of voter intimidation. The Wall Street Journal explains that corruption in Afghanistan is so pervasive that the United States and its allies are reconsidering their strategy in dealing with President Hamid Karzai. Allegations of misconduct are so prevalent that the U.S. has begun to view Karzai not as an ally, but as a liability in their effort to reconstruct the war-torn nation.

USAID recently released a report that said roughly two-thirds of Afghans had been victimized by a corrupt government official — the highest level ever recorded. In a country where the average person makes $700 a year, it takes a $400 bribe to be connected to the electrical grid.

If it's allowed to continue unchecked, the report says, corruption will make it impossible for Afghanistan to develop an economy capable of attracting foreign investment and aid.

Despite the obstacles to eliminating corruption, one organization has begun to make headway. The Christian Science Monitor reports how a multinational relief effort called the Aga Khan Development Network has begun to train Afghan villagers in basic accounting techniques. The villagers — who are now able to audit their community’s financial records — are better able to prevent embezzlement and theft. While the organization's efforts have so far met with success, they're only one soldier in the fight against a serious problem.

Ditch your car keys and tie up your laces. Photo: Geir Halvorsen (flickr)

Does your neighborhood influence your driving habits?

A University of California at Davis study has found that neighborhoods boasting corner stores, restaurants, coffee shops, hardware stores and other small businesses inadvertently encourage residents to run their errands by foot, rather then by car. About 87 percent of respondents that live less than .5 miles from a grocery store said that they chose to walk instead of drive about six times a month. In contrast, about a third or respondents from less walk-friendly neighborhoods said they walked to complete a single errand in a month's time.

When you add it all up, people living withing walking distance of stores end up driving 42 percent fewer miles than their car-dependent counterparts. Grist points out the importance of this reduction on a global scale. If more people lived in walk-friendly neighborhoods, they would drive fewer miles, and thus, reduce carbon emissions.

Working in China seems to be an attrative option for many American graduates Photo: flickr(keso)

How far from home will you go for a job? For some people, the answer is "pretty far."

The New York Times reports a rise in the number of recent college graduates traveling from the U.S. to China in search of a decent job.

According to a recent New York Times article, "they are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.”

In the current job market, these graduates would be lucky to and a entry-level job in the U.S., but in China they stand a shot at higher-level jobs. Some more entrepreneurial types are starting their own businesses. And Chinese businesses seem to be quite pleased they're coming. Not only do they value their English language skills, but they also appreciate their general knowledge of Western culture.

Boxing is opening new doors for some Muslim girls from India. Photo: flickr(slack12)

An article in Friday's Wall Street Journal looks at how boxing is giving Muslim girls in India an alternative to their "practically scripted" life.

For many of these girls, the Wall Street Journal says life goes like this: "they stay home, help their mothers, and get married so they aren't a burden to their families anymore."

Sabihal Hussain, a women's studies professor at a New Delhi university explains how boxing is opening up new doors for the girls.

They find (boxing) as a way of coming out from conservativeness. They have very limited role — poor Muslim women — in the public sphere. So thes women, these boxers, they find a way to come out and this is an outlet for them to fight poverty.

The boxers train hard and those that are good enough to compete internationally, fight for cash prizes. But for many girls, boxing can be a gateway into a job with the the police or land them a college scholarship for a spot on the university sports team.

Afghan farmers holding up poppy pods in a field of poppy flowers. Photo: Mercy Corps

The United States is dropping the stick and picking up the carrot in combating the Afghan poppy trade. The new anti-drug policy ends the effort to eradicate poppy fields and will now focus on giving farmers financial and technical aid to help them replant their poppy fields with wheat and other food crops, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Past efforts to reduce the number of poppies, the basis for opium and heroin production, used a mix of incentives, but consisted primarily of eradication programs, like the cutting and burning of poppy plants. Richard Holbrooke, the senior American official for Afghanistan policy, tells the Wall Street Journal. "All we did was alienate poppy farmers," he said. "We were driving people into the hands of the Taliban."

While eradication campaigns may have made life tough for farmers, they did not materially impact the drug trade. Over the past decade, Afghanistan's share of global poppy production has grown from about a tenth to over 90 percent of the world total, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.

Holbrooke bluntly informed the New York Times that "[t]he Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure". The new policy of crop substitution, while laudable, faces many of the same challenges that derailed the earlier plans.

Switching from poppies to other crops isn't a simple task. One of the reasons that poppy production is so profitable is that drug traffickers pick up the poppies at the farms. If they grow a food crop, farmers must build storage buildings and get the crops to often distant markets. While bearing these higher costs, they must also contend with prices both lower and less predictable than poppy prices. Even if they can subsist on the less profitable food crops, they have to deal with threats of violence from the Taliban, which opposes any switch to non-poppy crops.

What's more, the Afghan political elite has a vested interest in the poppy crop. The United States intelligence community estimates that only $70 million out of $3 billion dollars of drug receipts go to the Taliban, according to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In a Committee report, officials related that many of the recipients are U.S. allies and members of the government.

"These warlords later traded on their stature as U.S. allies to take senior positions in the new Afghan government, laying the groundwork for the corrupt nexus between drugs and authority that pervades the power structure today."

Most business owners wouldn't invest in a high-risk product with low returns. So it's understandable that Afghani farmers aren't making the switch from poppies to wheat in droves. There are likely to be some parts of the country with sufficient security and strong enough markets for the program to succeed, as Ganesh Sitaraman, a lawyer for the Counterinsurgency Training Center Afghanistan, notes in a New York Times op-ed.

The U.S. is to be applauded for switching from a destructive, ineffective policy to a constructive, potentially effective policy. This new policy will only be part of a larger effort, that will have to include greater security for farmers, to reduce the scale of the Afghan poppy crop.

A fruit farm in South Africa. Photo: flickr (Harris S)

Do you have ideas that might help African farmers be more successful?

If so, a new Peace Corps initiative called African Rural Connect, or ARC, wants to know about it.

Through its website, ARC hopes to connect people with ideas to the development community and even the farmers themselves. The site is relatively new, but a solar-powered irrigation system and an easy-to-build and inexpensive grain silo are just two examples of recent ideas.

ARC explains:

The humblest farmer can have the idea with the greatest impact. We believe there is untapped collective wisdom that just needs a space to ignite. This is a growing movement... No idea is too grand — no contribution is too small. Share your story — we will hear you.

It's ideas like these that fit the bill for the grassroots approach U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hopes will help African farmers improve their agricultural capacity, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

To help kick things off, ARC is offering a contest for the best idea. The winner gets $20,000 — and some help from development experts — to put their idea into practice.

By allowing Wal-Mart to sell only to wholesalers, the Indian government hopes to protect smaller merchants like the one shown here. Photo: (nz)dave (flickr)

Wal-Mart has long been a source of controversy, but the July opening of the chain's first store in India was greeted relatively warmly and drew huge crowds in its opening days, the Washington Post reports.

Wal-Mart India isn't the same as the American version. The store goes by the name Best Price Modern Wholesale, which reflects the fact that Wal-Mart India is a joint venture with Indian business conglomerate Bharti Enterprises. Another difference is that the store is open only to wholesale customers like hotel and restaurant owners, and their friends and family. Time reports that India's commercial laws prevent international retailers from directly competing with domestic businesses.

The flagship store is located in Amritsar, in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab. The arrival of Wal-Mart has created curiosity and interest, which the Washington Post highlights through one customer's reaction:

"In Punjabi, we have an expression: When there is a wedding, everyone flocks to see the new bride," said Kamal Gambhir, a wholesaler whose congested offices are located in this city's oldest bazaar. "I myself had returned from a trip and came back to hear little children asking, 'Where is the new Wal-Mart?' I told them it's on our most historic road."

As the largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart has raised concerns in India about the store's consequences for smaller retailers and the vendors found in community markets. According to American Public Media's "Marketplace," some worry Wal-Mart's presence will raise business owners' profits while less-connected and poorer members of society are hurt by the new competition.

Wal-Mart says it will build 10 to 15 stores in India over the next three years.