In my ongoing efforts to generate grassroots involvement in creating a better vision for development in Africa, I am passing this along:

Call for Abstracts
The G8�s Response to Africa: Is it Making a Difference?
November 2006 (exact date TBA)
At the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Deadline: August 1, 2006
http://www.gsc.upenn.edu/programs/ip.php#g8

2005 was a monumental year for addressing issues surrounding global poverty, particularly the problems plaguing Africa. While the Live 8 concerts raised public awareness, the G8 summit at Gleneagles attempted to address and eventually resolve these global matters. This "Group of Eight" nations, which initiated its annual meetings in 1975, has been discussing major issues for the past 30 years. These issues have ranged from the building of safe nuclear power plants in Russia to addressing the imminent dangers of global warming. More recently, their attention has turned to Africa. As in previous years, the 2005 summit discussed the G8 Africa Action Plan which includes: improved governance and the building of effective states in Africa; building peace and creating security across the continent; improving opportunities for good health and education; and finally, increased aid and debt relief. The Millennium Development Goals, intended to be fulfilled in 2015, were also raised to the forefront, with a particular emphasis on: halving extreme poverty and hunger, universal primary education, halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, reducing child mortality by two-thirds, and cultivating a global partnership for development. Reinforcing these goals, the leaders of the G8 agreed to write off certain national debts, double aid to developing countries, provide universal child health care and education, and universal access to HIV/AIDS treatments.

A year has passed since these agreements were reached. The question remains: Has anything changed? What has been done thus far? What action has been taken to implement change and how? What do these plans hold for Africa? Will they alleviate the developmental pressures that the African governments and the African people face? Or will they simply diversify the already-apparent symptoms of poverty?

This two-day conference will commence with our keynote speaker, Kwesi Botchwey, executive chairman of Africa Development Policy Ownership Initiative, and visiting professor of International Development Economics at Tufts University. Professor Botchwey was also the Minister of Finance for Ghana from 1982 to 1995.

The conference proposes to investigate the complex issues surrounding poverty, debt relief, healthcare, and other related matters in Africa in a cross-disciplinary setting. Accordingly, we are inviting abstracts from all disciplines found within the humanities, the sciences, and the social sciences. Graduate students, scholars, and practitioners are encouraged to submit abstracts. Before August 1, send poster proposals and presentation abstracts to: G8 Conference Abstracts, Graduate Student Center, The University of Pennsylvania, 3615 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6221. In addition to the abstracts, please include information about yourself: past/present university affiliations, publications or description of research, and contact information.

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