KPMG RELEASES REPORT ON INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN BLANTYRE, NOVEMBER 2009

MCI is pleased to announce the release of KPMG International's report on investment opportunities in Blantyre, Malawi, one of the Millennium Cities. The report was produced in partnership with MCI and analyzes sectors and products showing potential for investment in Blantyre and the region. 

MCI RELEASES HEALTH NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR MEKELLE, OCTOBER 2009

MCI is pleased to announce on October 15th the release of the sixth in a series of Social Sector Working Papers to measure progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in each of the Millennium Cities. Entitled, “Health Needs Assessment for Mekelle, Ethiopia” (Working Paper No. 6/2009), the paper was researched and written by Genessa Georgi, Kripa Krishnan and the MCI and can be accessed here for the report (in pdf format). The accompanying model can be accessed here, in a read-only Excel file.

MCI has found that Mekelle’s ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in health by the target date of 2015 will depend on the local and national government’s capacity to train and hire more skilled professionals for local health facilities and to equip those facilities with emergency obstetric equipment as well as with other basic medical equipment and supplies. Given the excellent medical leadership in Mekelle, the region of Tigray and nationwide, MCI estimates that an annual per capita investment of $31 for five years can improve maternal health, reduce infant mortality, and reverse HIV/AIDS and TB prevalence rates, thereby making Mekelle a model for how to attain the health-related MDGs in severely under-resourced urban settings.

MCI is carrying out these MDG-based needs assessments in many of the Millennium Cities to provide guidance to Millennium City stakeholders as they determine their top development priorities and generate integrated urban development strategies to realize these. Through its field-based research, careful policy analysis and recommendations, the MCI Social Sector Working Paper Series is intended as well to outline challenges and opportunities for host and donor governments, in their efforts to achieve the MDGs in each of these vital areas. More MCI needs assessments will be published as part of this series in the weeks and months to come.

For further information, please contact MCI Social Sector Research Manager, Dr. Moumie Maoulidi, at mm973@columbia.edu; Editor-in-Chief Susan M. Blaustein, at sblaustein@ei.columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha, at pmc2105@columbia.edu.

MCI RELEASES SITUATION ANALYSIS ON GENDER FOR MEKELLE, ETHIOPIA, OCTOBER 2009

MCI is pleased to announce the publication on October 13 of its “Situation Analysis of Women in Mekelle City, Ethiopia,” the fifth in MCI’s series of Social Sector Working Papers.

Through its own research and analysis, MCI has found that despite significant investment in recent years in women’s education and economic empowerment on the part of municipal, regional and national government, critical challenges remain, if Mekelle women and girls are to realize their full potential. A number of low-cost interventions that would rapidly advance progress toward the third Millennium Development Goal of gender equality include: educational support to help more girls in grades 5 – 8 continue on to secondary school; training for women in small-to-medium sized enterprise development; capacity-building for women in the political arena; an outreach media campaign to build awareness of women’s rights, in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, domestic disputes, property and inheritance; incorporating gender sensitivity training into the standard training for law enforcement, and professionalizing judicial and social services for victims of domestic violence. This is the first MCI working paper devoted explicitly to gender equality and women’s empowerment;the three previous MCI Social Sector Needs Assessments have focused on education, with girls’ attendance and achievement as a vital component. All MCI working papers in both the social sector and investment arenas are available on the MCI website, at: www.earth.columbia.edu/mci.

MCI PARTNERSHIPS FLOURISH WITH A VARIETY OF EXCITING PROJECTS, OCTOBER 2009

MCI partnerships promise a fruitful October for several Millennium Cities: in health, the American non-profit AmeriCares continues to deliver much-needed medical equipment, supplies and medicines to Kisumu, Kenya, and Kumasi, Ghana, while Physicians for Peace is leading another fistula repair surgical mission to Segou, Mali.

In health-related infrastructure, the Dutch NGO Cordaid is in Kisumu this week, planning a large-scale slum-upgrade focused in large part on water and sanitation, which is also the focus of a new Gates-funded initiative undertaken there by Kisumu's Sister City, Boulder, Colorado. With Kisumu currently undergoing severe floods and having endured two outbreaks of waterborne diseases thus far this year, both interventions, facilitated by MCI, could not be more timely.

In education, also with MCI's help, Israel's Mount Carmel Training Center will lead another on-site early childhood development workshop for Kumasi educators starting a pilot pre-school program.  In another francophone Millennium City, the American NGO CyberSmart! is currently in Louga, Senegal, planning an interactive digital learning project for Louga schools.

More school-to-school partnerships are gearing up for Kisumu and Kumasi, as the school year gets underway. One MCI partner school, Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, participated, together with Millennium Villages Project partner schools and the One World Youth Project, in the United Nations International Student Peace Day celebration, where students heard Dr. Jane Goodall argue for preserving the planet, in support of the Secretary General's eloquent plea for disarmament as a critical key to peace.

MCI RELEASES EDUCATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR MEKELLE, ETHIOPIA, SEPTEMBER 2009

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University is pleased to announce the release of the fourth in a series of Social Sector Working Papers to measure progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in each of the Millennium Cities. Entitled, "Education Needs Assessment for Mekelle City, Ethiopia" (Working Paper No. 4/2009), the paper was researched and written by Jessica Lopez and Moumie Maoulidi and can be accessed here for the report (in pdf format), and here for the model itself (a separate, read-only Excel document).

MCI’s critical finding is the city of Mekelle is on track to achieve MDGs 2 and 3 -- universal primary education and gender parity in educational institutions -- by 2015. However, gender parity needs to be maintained as the children grow older. Efforts must be made to reduce girls’ repetition rates, especially in the eighth and 10th grades. The ongoing school rehabilitation/construction program, including primary schools, secondary schools and private girls’ bathroom facilities, needs stepping up, and more female teachers need to be recruited and trained, to serve as role models for girls and boys alike. The city’s school libraries and laboratories are severely underequipped, exacerbating the challenges inherent in helping Mekelle students strive toward higher education. The likelihood that Mekelle will meet the MDG targets, together with these clearly defined opportunities, should make it more attractive for regional and national government, appropriate international agencies and other development partners to assist the City in its pursuit of educational excellence and the sustainable economic development that a well-educated citizenry can bring.

This working paper series marks the first application at the municipal level of the MDG-based needs assessment instruments now administered by the United Nations Development Programme and created by the UN Millennium Project, under then-Secretary General Kofi Annan and Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs. This is the third working paper to focus on the education MDGs, the first two, published in December 2008, and June 20009, evaluate the situation in Kisumu, Kenya and Kaduna, Nigeria, respectively. These and subsequent working papers will hopefully afford interested researchers insights into some of the notable accomplishments of and challenges faced by midsized metropolises across sub-Saharan Africa, as they strive to deliver quality education to their respective populations.
The MCI has also carried out MDG-based needs assessments in the areas of public health, gender and water and sanitation, to provide guidance to Millennium City stakeholders as they determine their top development priorities and generate integrated urban development strategies to realize these. Through its field-based research, careful policy analysis and recommendations, the MCI Social Sector Working Paper Series is intended as well to outline challenges and opportunities for host and donor governments, in their efforts to achieve the MDGs in each of these vital areas. More MCI needs assessments will be published as part of this series in the weeks and months to come.

A separate MCI Working Paper Series on Investment can be accessed at the MCI website: http://www.earth.columbia.edu/mci.

For further information, please contact MCI Social Sector Research Manager, Dr. Moumie Maoulidi, at mm973@columbia.edu; Editor-in-Chief Susan M. Blaustein, at sblaustein@ei.columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha, at pmc2105@columbia.edu.

MCI TEAM CONDUCTS ETHIOPIA VISIT, AUGUST 2009

MCI Team Reviews Data with Director of Tigray Bureau of Health Dr. Gebreab Barnabas

MCI Co-Director SUsan Blaustein led a panel at the Millennium Villages Project annual retreat in Addis Ababa in late July, featuring MCI Social Sector Research Manager Dr. Moumie Maoulidi; MVP Health Coordinator Dr. Sonia Ehrlich Sachs; School-to-School and Masters of International Development Practice Coordinator Katie Maeve Murphy; MVP Health Systems consultant Prabhjot Dhadialla, and Millennium Promise Business Enterprise Development Coordinator Rustom Masalawala. The purpose of the session was to inform the Millennium Villages Project team about the social sector programs and agenda of the MCI, including the continuum of care, from the most remote household to health post to the Millennium Cities’ tertiary care centers, as well as the exciting agribusiness potential of the Millennium Villages, which will link the farms to the urban markets and infrastructure found in the Millennium Cities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MCI Co-Director Susan Blaustein addresses Ethiopian officials at MVP scale-up meeting in Mekelle

While in Ethiopia, Moumie Maoulidi and MCI-Mekelle’s Aberash Abay held a series of data validation sessions with the relevant public officials in Mekelle regarding MCI’s social sector needs assessments for that Millennium City. These assessments, focused on what it will actually cost to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in public health, education, gender and water/sanitation, and carried out by researchers from Mailman School of Public Health, Teachers College and Humboldt State University, are intended both to help Mekelle citizens determine their own development priorities going forward, and to inform government and the donor community what it will take to fill these vital gaps inhibiting social and economic development. The complete set of Mekelle needs assessments will be made available on the MCI website in the weeks to come

MCI RELEASES SOCIAL SECTOR AND INVESTMENT PROGRESS REPORTS, JULY 2009

Please click here to access MCI's progress report for investment-related activities, as of July 2009. Please also click here for MCI's social sector progress report.

MCI FACILITATES AND ORGANIZES  TRAININGS WORKSHOPS IN THREE MILLENNIUM CITIES, JUNE 2009

In June the MCI organized and facilitated a diverse array of workshops in three Millennium Cities in order to advance progress toward the MDGs. These workshops consisted of:

• A municipal strategic planning workshop in Kisumu, Kenya, led by Israel's Weitz Center for Development Studies, will help enable the city to tackle such challenges as waste management, transport, industrial and lakefront development through coordination and consultation with local stake-holders.

• In Louga, Senegal, the American NGO CyberSmart! introduced interactive digital learning to a middle school and to several of the nearby Millennium Village schools, to strengthen literacy and numeracy education. This and other Information and Communication (ICT)-based strategies create a learning environment that is both exciting and comprehensible for students and teachers alike.

• Ongoing in Kumasi, Ghana, experts from Israel's Ben Gurion University conducted their fifth in a series of neonatal emergency medical trainings for staff at the two new neonatal units. The Government of Israel’s Office of International Cooperation (MASHAV), in cooperation with the MCI, designed this training series in order to decongest Kumasi's dangerously crowded neonatal intensive care unit.

 

KADUNA CITY, NIGERIA ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE MDGS ON EDUCATION BY 2015

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University is pleased to announce the release of the third in a series of Social Sector Working Papers to measure progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in each of the Millennium Cities. Entitled, "Education Needs Assessment for Kaduna City, Nigeria" (Working Paper No. 3/2009), the paper was researched and written by Matthew A.M. Thomas and can be accessed here for the report (in pdf format), and here for the model itself (a separate, read-only Excel document). MCI’s critical finding is that the education MDGs can be achieved in Kaduna City by the target date of 2015, if sustained attention is paid to a) sufficiently financing primary education, b) increasing the number of students getting to junior high school and c) improving the quality of teaching and of education overall.

This working paper series marks the first application at the municipal level of the MDG-based needs assessment instruments now administered by the United Nations Development Programme and created by the UN Millennium Project, under then-Secretary General Kofi Annan and Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs. This is the second working paper to focus on the education MDGs, the earlier one, published in December 2008, evaluating the situation in Kisumu, Kenya. These and subsequent working papers will hopefully afford interested researchers insights into some of the notable accomplishments of and challenges faced by midsized metropolises across sub-Saharan Africa, as they strive to deliver quality education to their respective populations.

The MCI has also carried out MDG-based needs assessments in the areas of public health, gender and water and sanitation, to provide guidance to Millennium City stakeholders as they determine their top development priorities and generate integrated urban development strategies to realize these. Through its field-based research, careful policy analysis and recommendations, the MCI Social Sector Working Paper Series is intended as well to outline challenges and opportunities for host and donor governments, in their efforts to achieve the MDGs in each of these vital areas. More MCI needs assessments will be published as part of this series in the weeks and months to come.

A separate MCI Working Paper Series on Investment can be accessed at the MCI website: http://www.earth.columbia.edu/mci.

For further information, please contact MCI Social Sector Research Manager, Dr. Moumie Maoulidi, at mm973@columbia.edu; Editor-in-Chief Susan M. Blaustein, at sblaustein@ei.columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha, at pmc2105@columbia.edu.

PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE COMPLETES LIFE-SAVING SURGICAL MISSION IN MALI'S MILLENNIUM CITY AND VILLAGES

The MCI, together with the MDG Center in Bamako and the Millennium Villages Project team in Tiby, Mali, arranged and facilitated a Physicians for Peace surgical mission to the Millennium City of Segou, Mali, where 33 VVF (vesicovaginal fistula) repair and prostate surgeries were carried out for people from the city and the nearby Millennium Villages. This life-saving mission was the third undertaken in several Millennium Cities by Physicians for Peace, MCI’s longtime partner in health based in Norfolk, Virginia, which, at the request of the Mali Ministry of Health, now hopes to organize urology and cardiology trainings in Segou and to ship donated mobile blood banking units to the region.

MCI RELEASES WORKING PAPERS ON FDI OPPORTUNITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRAINTS TO BUSINESS ACTIVITY IN BLANTYRE, MALAWI

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) - a joint center of Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute - are pleased to announce the release of the sixth and seventh working papers in the MCI and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment in the Millennium Cities.

The sixth working paper in the series (No. 07/2009), entitled “Foreign Direct Investment in Blantyre, Malawi: Opportunities and Challenges,” analyzes foreign investment opportunities in Blantyre, including in the textile manufacturing and agro-processing industries, and identifies their investment potential. The paper was produced by an Economic and Political Development (EPD) workshop team from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Special recognition is given to Sawa Nagakawa for her outstanding contributions in finalizing the paper.

Working paper No. 08/2009 is entitled “Assessing Infrastructure Constraints on Business Activity in Blantyre, Malawi.” The paper analyzes current infrastructure constraints faced by businesses in the Blantyre region, including in transportation, electricity, water and communications. The paper was produced by Zaki Raheem.

The following papers have already been published:

• “Kumasi Marketing Strategy: Tourism,” (Working Paper No. 02/2008);

• “Assessing Infrastructure Constraints on Business Activity in Kumasi, Ghana,” (Working Paper No. 03/2008);

• “Bamboo Bicycles in Kumasi, Ghana,” (Working Paper No. 04/2008);

• “Assessing Infrastructure Constraints on Business Activity in Kisumu, Kenya,” (Working paper No. 05/2008);

• “Sugar in Kisumu,” (Working Paper No. 06/2008).

All papers can also be accessed on the VCC website. For more information on the working papers series, please contact Editor-in-Chief Dr. Karl P. Sauvant at karl.sauvant@law.columbia.edu, Editor Joerg Simon at jks2149@columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha at +646-884-7422, pmc2105@columbia.edu.

SCHOOL-TO-SCHOOL MISSION TO KUMASI, GHANA -- TEACHERS AND STUDENTS FROM WASHINGTON, DC TEACH AND LEARN IN MILLENNIUM CITY, MARCH 2009

From March 16-20, MCI Co-Director Susan Blaustein led a school-to-school mission to the Millennium City of Kumasi, Ghana, during which 7th-graders from Washington’s Sidwell Friends School taught about watersheds, environmental protection and led labs in which some 135 of their peers carried out tests for dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, nitrates and phosphates on tap, well, spring, stream and lake water. The Kumasi students, who had never before participated in a science lab, became excited and emboldened in the course of the week, as they came to understand that dissolved oxygen may be good for their drinking water but bad for their lake, and that bathing and detergent use, as evidenced when their lake water turned blue, really does result in visible and deleterious consequences. Members of the Sidwell Friends community contributed four laptops to create a computer lab for the junior high, and a high school history teacher lectured as well on American and Ghanaian history, politics and government to more than 650 well-informed high school boys. The delegation from the Obama children’s school also played, visited and exchanged cultural information with the children in the affiliated elementary school and with an eighth-grade English class in Keniago, one of Ghana’s Millennium Villages.

This visit was part of MCI’s and the MVP’s broader school-to-school project, which matches independent schools in developed countries with under-resourced schools in the Millennium Cities and Villages. For MCI, the project seeks to engender relationships between the students, teachers and administrators of specific paired schools, as well as to support the sub-Saharan schools with simple science equipment and lab supplies, books and ready-to-use laptops.

MCI RELEASES SOCIAL SECTOR WORKING WORKING PAPER ON MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AFFECTING KISUMU AND WINAM GULF, MARCH 2009

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University is pleased to announce the release of the second in a series of Social Sector Working Papers to measure progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in each of the Millennium Cities.

The paper, entitled, "An Overview of the Main Environmental Issues Affecting Kisumu and Lake Victoria’s Winam Gulf,” was produced together with the MDG Centre Nairobi, in response to an urgent request to MCI from the Mayor of Kisumu, to help address rapidly deteriorating environmental circumstances in the region with scientific analysis and recommendations pointing toward a set of implementable corrective and preventive strategies.

The overview was researched and written by Dr. Sharon Gordon, environment specialist at the MDG Centre; Moumie Maoulidi, Social Sector Research Manager at the MCI, and Ms. Andrea Castro, whose water and sanitation needs assessment reports on Kisumu and other Millennium Cities will be published in forthcoming releases in this series. 

The MCI has undertaken MDG-based needs assessments in the areas of public health, gender and education, as well as on water and sanitation, to provide guidance to Millennium City stakeholders as they determine their top development priorities and generate integrated urban development strategies to realize these. Through its field-based research, careful policy analysis and recommendations, the MCI Social Sector Working Paper Series is intended as well to outline challenges and opportunities for host and donor governments, in their efforts to achieve the MDGs in each of these vital areas. More MCI needs assessments will be published as part of this series in the months to come. A separate MCI Working Paper Series on Investment can be accessed at the MCI website: http://www.earth.columbia.edu/mci.

 For further information, please contact any of the following: Co-Authors Sharon Gordon, at s.gordon@cgiar.org , and Moumie Maoulidi, at mm973@columbia.edu; MCI Social Sector Specialist for Kisumu Ben Obera, at benobera@yahoo.com ; Editor-in-Chief Dr. Susan M. Blaustein, at sblaustein@ei.columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha, at pmc2105@columbia.edu.

MCI PARTNERS WITH AMERICARES

 

MCI INVESTMENT DAY, LONDON, DECEMBER 9-10, 2009

The Millennium Cities Investment Day, which took place in London on December 9th and 10th, was a call to action for business executives and members of various diaspora communities throughout the United Kingdom.

Mayors, ministers, governors, and representatives from six Millennium Cities -- Akure, Nigeria; Blantyre, Malawi; Kaduna, Nigeria; Kisumu, Kenya; Kumasi, Ghana and Mekelle, Ethiopia -- convened to declare their cities “open for business” to dozens of potential investors. The event was organized by the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), led by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, jointly with KPMG International, DLA Piper and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC). The final program can be accessed here.

On the evening of December 9th, KPMG hosted a special reception for over 130 investors and delegates from the six Millennium Cities. London Investment Day on December 10th was attended by over 70 business representatives from the UK and delegates from the six Millennium Cities. The event was opened by Nigel Knowles, Joint CEO, DLA Piper and featured speeches by Lord Michael Hastings, Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity at KPMG International and Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institue. Kandeh K. Yumkella, the Director-General of UNIDO, was the keynote speaker at lunch on December 10th.

The special event benefited from the participation of the Governor of the State of Ondo, (Nigeria), Olesugun Agagu; the Governor of the State of Kaduna (Nigeria), Mohamed Namadi Sambo; the President of the State of Tigray (Ethiopia), Tsegay Berhe; the Mayor of Kisumu (Kenya), Samuel Okello; the Mayor of Mekelle (Ethiopia), Feseha Zerihun; as well as the Kenyan Minister of Planning, Wylciff Ambetsa Oparanya and the Malawian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Francis Moto.

The events showcased commercially viable investment opportunities in the participating cities identified by the MCI, KPMG and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Presentations made by the various delegations can be found here:

• “Investment Opportunities in Blantyre;” by Suzana Mjuweni, Manager at Malawi Investment Promotion Agency;
• “Attracting Investment into the Millennium City of Kaduna, Nigeria, part 1, part 2, part 3;” by Baba Jibrin Adamu, Special Advisor on ICT to the Governor of Kaduna State;
• “Investment in Kisumu – Opportunities and Challenges,” by Wycliff Ambetsa Oparanya, Minister of Planning for Kenya;
• “Kisumu: The Investment Location,” by Samuel Okello, Mayor of Kisumu;
• “Kisumu – Mayfair Holdings,” by Munira Gilani, Director of Mayfair Holdings;
• “Investing in Kumasi,” Abenaa Akuamoa-Boateng, MCI Project Manager in Kumasi;
• “Investing in Akure, Ondo State,” by Olusegun Agagu, Governor of Ondo State;
• “Millennium Promise – Millennium City: A Pathway to Sustainable Development,” by Rustom Masalawala, Director of Business Development at Millennium Promise.

Several materials were made available at the conference, including:

• “Investment Opportunities for Development,” a UNIDO report on investment opportunities in four Millennium Cities: Akure, Blantyre, Kisumu, and Kumasi.

• “Ondo State, Nigeria: Market feasibility study for sustainable development,” a KPMG report.

For more information on the event or MCI?s investment-related activities more generally, please visit the MCI website here or the VCC website at www.vcc.columbia.edu. For queries please contact Karl P. Sauvant (tel. +1-212-854-0689; karlsauvant@gmail.com) or Joerg Simon (tel. +49-711-604294; jks2149@columbia.edu).

MCI RELEASES FIRST SOCIAL SECTOR WORKING PAPER, DECEMBER 2008

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University is pleased to announce the release of the first in a series of Social Sector Working Papers to measure progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in each of the Millennium Cities.

The paper, entitled, “Education Needs Assessment for Kisumu City, Kenya” (Working Paper No. 01/2008), was researched and written by Moumie Maoulidi, now MCI’s Social Sector Research Manager. The paper can be accessed in pdf format. The model itself can be accessed as a separate, read-only Excel document.

This working paper series marks the first application at the municipal level of the MDG-based needs assessment instruments now administered by the United Nations Development Programme and created by the UN Millennium Project, under then-Secretary General Kofi Annan and Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs. This initial report will be followed by working papers focused on the education MDGs in other Millennium Cities, affording researchers insights into some of the notable accomplishments of and challenges faced by midsized metropolises across sub-Saharan Africa, as they strive to deliver quality education to their respective populations.

The MCI has also carried out MDG-based needs assessments in the areas of public health, gender and water and sanitation, to provide guidance to Millennium City stakeholders as they determine their top development priorities and generate integrated urban development strategies to realize these. Through its field-based research, careful policy analysis and recommendations, the MCI Social Sector Working Paper Series is intended as well to outline challenges and opportunities for host and donor governments, in their efforts to achieve the MDGs in each of these vital areas. More MCI needs assessments will be published as part of this series in the months to come.

A separate MCI Working Paper Series on Investment can be accessed at the MCI website: http://www.earth.columbia.edu/mci.

For further information, please contact Editor-in-Chief Susan M. Blaustein, at sblaustein@ei.columbia.edu; Managing Editor Paulo Cunha, at pmc2105@columbia.edu, or Principal Investigator Moumie Maoulidi, at mm973@columbia.edu.

MCI PARTNERSHIP WITH GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL BENEFITS MILLENNIUM CITIES

The Millennium City of Kumasi, Ghana, is the site of three professional trainings taking place over the next four weeks in the areas of public health, strategic planning and early childhood education, all sponsored by the Israeli Office of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MASHAV) in close collaboration with the Kumasi Metropolitan Authority and the MCI.

The first of these, "How can a health team make a difference? Prevention and Management of Lifestyle Related Diseases through Cultural Adaptation,” is led by Dr. Elliot Berry of Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the World Health Organization; the second, "Strengthening Strategic Planning Capacities for Local Development,” is designed and facilitated by Weitz Institute experts in integrative planning and community development, and the third, a workshop in creative activity for 30 pre-school teachers-in-training, will be led by early childhood education experts from Mount Carmel Training Center in Haifa. This week Ghana’s Minister of Health and Kumasi’s mayor will receive medical equipment donated by another MCI partner, the American NGO Doc to Dock, to support the first Africa-model, Special Care Neo-natal Nursery, conceived and executed by Israeli neo-natalogists at Ben Gurion University, where the Nursery staff were also trained. A second Special Care Nursery built by the same Israeli team is slated to open before year’s end.

MASHAV is currently expanding its cooperation with MCI to Kisumu, Kenya, where a multi-sectoral delegation will embark on a fact-finding mission in January, and to Mekelle, Ethiopia, where a series of Israeli-led medical trainings has already begun.

ANNOUNCING NEW ARTICLE BY MCI CO-DIRECTOR SUSAN BLAUSTEIN, PUBLISHED IN GLOBAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University would like to bring to your attention an article about the MCI just published in a special issue of Global Urban Development Magazine, produced in association with Ashoka, the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs.

The article, written by MCI Co-Director Susan Blaustein, and accessible on-line, explains the integrated social sector strategy adopted by the MCI, as its staff and researchers strive to help selected mid-sized sub-Saharan cities achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date of 2015. This effort, currently ongoing in eight Millennium Cities across sub-Saharan Africa, will produce a wealth of data regarding the status of public health, education, gender, water and sanitation in each locality, as well as valuable mappings in each municipal setting of the particular confluence of underserved sectors trapping ordinary urban dwellers in poverty there. This information, together with the investment-related research by the MCI, will help urban stakeholders determine their own development priorities and generate holistic development strategies to reflect these.

It is this comprehensive approach to sustainable development that distinguishes the MCI from more sectorally focused urban initiatives; even the most sophisticated attempts to achieve the MDGs in education, for instance, cannot be fully realized unless related issues involving public health, water and sanitation, gender and economic development are also addressed.

For more information about MCI, write to mci@ei.columbia.edu.

 

MCI AND VCC ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF THE FOURTH AND FIFTH WORKING PAPERS ON ASSESSING INFRASTRCUTURE CONSTRAINTS AND SUGAR PRODUCTION IN KISUMU, KENYA, NOVEMBER 2008

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) - a joint center of Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute - are pleased to announce the release of the fourth and fifth working papers in the MCC and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment in the Millennium Cities.

Working paper No. 05/2008 is entitled “Assessing Infrastructure Constraints on Business Activity in Kisumu, Kenya.” The paper analyzes current infrastructure constraints faced by businesses in the Kisumu region and identifies key opportunities for investment.

The fifth working paper in the series (No. 06/2008), entitled “Sugar in Kisumu,” analyzes foreign investment opportunities in the sugar industry in Kisumu, specifically during the production stage, and assesses the relevant costs and risks associated with the identified opportunities. The paper was produced in partnership with KPMG.

The following papers have already been published:

• “Kumasi Marketing Strategy: Tourism,” (Working Paper No. 02/2008);

• “Assessing Infrastructure Constraints on Business Activity in Kumasi, Ghana,” (Working Paper No. 03/2008);

• (3) “Bamboo Bicycles in Kumasi, Ghana,” (Working Paper No. 04/2008).

All papers can also be accessed on the VCC website. For more information on the working papers series, please contact Editor-in Chief Dr. Karl P. Sauvant at karl.sauvant@law.columbia.edu, Editor Joerg Simon at jks2149@columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha at +646-884-7422, pmc2105@columbia.edu.

MCI UPDATE: OCTOBER 2008

Please click here to find an October 2008 update on MCI's investment-related activities, as well as a shorter 1-page overview. (Click here for a version in Chinese.)  You can also find an updated 2-page general description of MCI.

MCI SHORT-LISTED FOR THE AFRICAN INVESTOR INVESTMENT AWARDS

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University is pleased to announce that it has been shortlisted for the 2008 African Investor Investment Awards in the category of "Best Initiative in Support of MDGs.”

The annual awards are dedicated to recognizing and rewarding the achievements of the private sector across a wide range of disciplines and are internationally know for their “pioneering and unique pan-African investment focus.”

The awards are the longest running and most established international investment awards in Africa. Previous winners have included Standard Bank, BHP Billiton, Nedbank, Shell, Microsoft, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Nigerian Stock Exchange, and Zenith Bank, among others.

Commenting on this year’s nominees, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, Chairman of the Africa Investor Group, said, “it is clear that all of the constituents of the 2008 shortlist are the drivers behind Africa's current record growth and will be the ones to watch in 2009." The awards ceremony will take place in Durban, South Africa on October 27th.

We thank and congratulate everyone associated with MCI's unwavering efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and promote sustainable urban development in all of the Millennium Cities.

MCI and VCC ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF THIRD WORKING PAPER ON ASSESSING FEASIBILITY OF BAMBOO BIKE PRODUCTION IN KUMASI, GHANA

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) - a joint center of Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute - are pleased to announce the release of the third working papers in the MCC and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment in the Millennium Cities.

KUMASI DECLARED "OPEN FOR BUSINESS" AT INVESTMENT DAY NORTH AMERICA

New York, September 30, 2008 – The Mayor of Kumasi, Ghana, Mme. Patricia Appiagyei, declared her city “open for business” to a packed room of potential investors during  Kumasi Investment Day North America. The event took place at Columbia University on September 29, 2008, and was organized by The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) in collaboration with the Kumasi Development Foundation (KDF), Asanteman Council of North America (ACONA), Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Corporte Council on Africa (CCA) and Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC). It was co-sponsored by the law firm Alston & Bird.

Several high-level government and business representatives from Ghana were among the participants. The keynote address at the event was given by Professor Jeffery D. Sachs. “Ghana has every reason to succeed in attracting investment,” stated Professor Sachs during his address. “It has great leadership under President John Kufuor, a stable democracy, very fertile land where everything will grow, a great cultural heritage, and recent improvements in infrastructure. I am confident investment in Ghana will take-off,” said Sachs.  Millennium Promise Executive Director John McArthur also spoke about opportunities in Ghana.  

Investors learned about a number of commercially viable investment opportunities identified by the MCI and its partners. The opportunities included cocoa and cocoa processing, mining, tourism, construction, light manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. KPMG Netherlands presented some specific investment opportunities, including a 4 or 5 star hotel with 160 rooms, a 3,000 m² shopping mall, a fruit juice processing plant with an annual capacity of 3 million liters, and a pharmaceutical plant with an annual production capacity of 2 billion tablets and capsules. Other interesting investment projects presented included a student housing at Kwame Nkrumah University in Kumasi and a palm oil processing plant.  KPMG analyzed the commercial viability of producing bamboo bicycles in a report is found here. The report is No. 04/2008 in the MCC and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment in the Millennium Cities.

Please see here for a final event program. For Alston & Bird's press release on the event, please see here.

MCI and VCC ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF WORKING PAPER ON ASSESSING BUSINESS CONSTRAINTS ON BUSINESS ACTIVITY IN KUMASI

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) - a joint center of Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute - are pleased to announce the release of the second working paper in the MCC and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment in the Millennium Cities.

The paper is entitled “Assessing Infrastructure Constraints on Business Activity in Kumasi, Ghana,” (Working Paper No. 03/2008). It analyzes the state of infrastructure for business activities and identifies key opportunities for infrastructure investment in the city of Kumasi.  It can be also be accessed on the VCC website at: http://www.vcc.columbia.edu/.

The first working paper in the series, “Kumasi Marketing Strategy: Tourism,” (Working Paper No. 02/2008) was released last week. (A separate MCI working papers series on the social sector will be available.)

The MCC and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment is intended to provide policy analysis and outline challenges and opportunities for investment across the Millennium Cities.  For more information, please contact Editor-in Chief Dr. Karl P. Sauvant at karl.sauvant@law.columbia.edu, Editor Joerg Simon at jks2149@columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha at +646-884-7422, pmc2105@columbia.edu.

MCI AND VCC ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF WORKING PAPERS SERIES ON INVESTMENT IN THE MILLENNIUM CITIES

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) - a joint center of Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute - are pleased to announce the launch of the MCC and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment in the Millennium Cities. (A separate MCI working papers series on the social sector will be available.)

The first working paper in the series is entitled “Kumasi Marketing Strategy: Tourism” (Working Paper No. 02/2008). It presents a strategy for how the Millennium City of Kumasi, Ghana, can capitalize on the growth of tourism in Ghana, market itself more effectively as a tourist destination, and differentiate itself from other locations. It can be also accessed on the VCC website at: http://www.vcc.columbia.edu/.

The MCC and VCC Working Papers Series on Investment is intended to provide policy analysis and outline challenges and opportunities for investment across the Millennium Cities

For more information, please contact Editor-in Chief Dr. Karl P. Sauvant at karl.sauvant@law.columbia.edu, Editor Joerg Simon at jks2149@columbia.edu, or Managing Editor Paulo Cunha at +646-884-7422, pmc2105@columbia.edu.

TIDES FOUNDATION AWARDS $1.9 MILLION MATCHING CHALLENGE GIFT TO MCI TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND MDGS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

In a landmark contribution to the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Tides Foundation has awarded MCI with a challenge gift of up to $1.9 million. The gift will support the project’s work to assist selected mid-sized cities across sub-Saharan Africa to promote sustainable development and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight internationally-endorsed benchmarks designed to end extreme poverty.

In order to catalyze additional support of the MCI, the Tides Foundation will match new gifts or grants to the MCI at a 1:1 ratio up to $1.9 million in new funding, between now and December 31, 2009. New gifts or grants from individual donors, foundations or corporations must be made in increments of $100,000 in order to be eligible for the match. In this way, the MCI stands to raise $3.8 million if all challenge funds are leveraged. Challenge gifts like this one have proven to be powerful fundraising tools for non-profit organizations and their supporters.

For more information, please click here. To donate to MCI, please go here.

KUMASI INVESTMENT DAY NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) in collaboration with the Kumasi Development Foundation (KDF), Asanteman Council of North America (ACONA), Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC), will organize the Kumasi Investment Day North America. The event is sponsored by Alston & Bird, New York. It is scheduled to take place at Room 555, Alfred J. Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway, Columbia University in the City of New York, on September 29, 2008. Its purpose is to present commercially viable investment opportunities in the Millennium City of Kumasi, in particular, and in the Ashanti region, in general, with a view toward mobilizing investment, especially from the Ghanaian expatriate communities in the United Sates and Canada.

Potential investors from the communities of Ghanaian expatriates living in the United States and Canada, a large number of whom originate from the Ashanti region, and investors from the United States and Canada, are invited to attend, as are representatives of business and international organizations.

Click here for the program and the logistical note. For further information, please contact Joerg Simon, Senior Investment Advisor, MCI (e-mail address: jks2149@Columbia.edu), or Paulo Cunha, Project Coordinator, MCI (phone: +646-884-7422; e-mail address: pmc2105@columbia.edu).

MCI KISUMU INVESTMENT DAY AND WORKSHOP: JULY 2008

Kisumu Investment Day

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), together with the Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), organized a Kisumu Investment Day in Kisumu on 10th July 2008 [click here for report on Kisumu Investment Day].  The event was attended by more than 150 representatives of the private sector (mainly from Kisumu and Nairobi), foreign investors as well as local, provincial and national Government officials.  In addition, a number of representatives from local NGOs participated in the event.

The objective of the Investment Day was to showcase investment opportunities in and around Kisumu to investors established in Kenya.  It was opened by H.E. Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, Minister for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030.  Mr. Robert Onyango, Regional Manager, KPMG Kenya, used the occasion to launch the KPMG report Kisumu: Potential Opportunities for Investors.

SHEA BUTTER INVESTMENT FORUM: JUNE 2008

Bamako Mali, 26 June 2008. Columbia University's Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) held a Mali Shea Butter Investment Forum bringing together foreign investors focusing on the viable business opportunities for Shea butter investment and local stakeholders. See the program here. In addition to the market opportunity, the challenges faced in linking the supply from the villages to investment opportunities in or near the urban centers were presented to the 120 participants at the event. 

As the second largest exporter of Shea kernels in the world market, Mali offers substantial growth opportunities in broader coordination of Shea butter production.  The event was initiated by Amadou Abdoulaye Daillo, Minister of Economics, Commerce and Industry in Mali; Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University; Joseph Byll Cataria, UNDP Resident Representative for Mali and chaired by Karl P. Sauvant, Co-Director, Millennium Cities Initiative, and Executive Director, Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment.  The focus on a single commodity, Shea kernels, allowed the forum’s participants to discuss required elements within the value chain. 

As a follow-up to the Investment Forum, the MCI is undertaking, along with the MDG Centre for West Africa in Bamako, a supply chain analysis for Shea butter in Mali.  Further, a business plan aimed at attracting investors will be prepared for Shea butter production in the city of Segou.  

MCI PARTICIPATES IN MILLENNIUM VILLAGES RETREAT, BAMAKO, MALI, JUNE 23-28

Karl P. Sauvant, Joerg Simon, Jim Geisel, Mamadou Diarrah, Aminata Camara, Abdoulaye Sidibé, Rachel Hoy, Bridget McElroy, and Mary Okpe participated in this year’s Retreat of the Millennium Villages Project in Bamako, Mali, which took place from 23-28 June 2008. The retreat was attended by 175 Millennium Village Project staff members. (See the Millennium Villages Project, www.earth.columbia.edu/mvp.)

Karl P. Sauvant presented the objectives, strategy and some of the accomplishments of the MCI. (For some of the investment-related accomplishments, please see the June 2008 Progress Report). The cooperation between the MVP and MCI will become even more important in the future as the villages embark on enterprise development. (See in this context the conceptual note on the Strategic Relationship between Millennium Cities and Millennium Villages.)

The Retreat offered an excellent opportunity to be brought up to date about, and discuss, the various challenges faced by implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within the concrete context of clusters of poor villages in sub-Saharan Africa. It was also a great opportunity to network with Project staff across the various Millennium Village sites.

During the Retreat, MCI held a Shea Butter Forum to assist in the development of this industry in Mali and link it to the international market. (Click here for link to news item on Forum.)

KPMG INVESTMENT REPORT: KISUMU, KENYA

Click here for a new KPMG Investment Report on Kisumu, Kenya

MCI UPDATE: JUNE 2008

Click here to find a June 2008 progress report on MCI's investment-related activities as well as a conceptual note indicating how MCI envisions the cooperation with the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) in the area of investment.

MCI SUMMER 2008 RESEARCHERS

During the summer 2008 term, the Millennium Cities Initiative has 16 researchers carrying out needs assessments in the areas of public health, education, gender and water and sanitation, in six Millennium Cities: Blantyre, Malawi; Mekelle, Ethiopia; Kaduna, Nigeria; Bamako and Segou, Mali, and Louga, Senegal. This year's researchers - who hail from Columbia's own SIPA, Teachers College and the Mailman School, as well as from the Harvard and Yale Schools of Public Health and Humboldt State College - were trained by UN Development Programme experts in the use of these assessment instruments, which  were first designed by the UN Millennium Project, under Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs, to measure the achievement gap for each of the Millennium Development Goals in a wide array of developing countries so as to facilitate strategic planning for realizing the MDGs by the countries themselves and by the official donor community. The findings of the MCI researchers will help inform municipal stakeholders in each Millennium City of the relative costs of realizing the MDGs in each sector, thereby assisting stakeholders in determining their own top development priorities and devising focused strategies to achieve them. This work by the MCI represents the first sub-national applications of these assessment and costing tools, thereby extending the reach of the UNDP instruments to assist under-resourced urban centers, many of which will require significant infusions of investment in order to achieve the MDGs by the target date of 2015.

MCI CELEBRATES AND EXPANDS PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL

On June 1-2 the MCI was a lead participant in the 50th celebration of the Government of Israel’s Agency for International Cooperation, MASHAV, in a conference in Jerusalem entitled, “Israel and Africa’s Green Revolution.”  Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs gave the keynote address , and MCI Co-Director Susan Blaustein led two workshops to organize and expanded portfolio of professional  Israeli interventions in the Millennium Cities, in the areas of health, community development and education. Thought leaders in the Millennium Villages Project were also represented, by MDC Centre for West Africa Director Amadou Niang and water specialist Dr. Stephen Ngigi, and Gilbert Houngbo, United Nations Development Program Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa, participated on several panels as well.

The MCI’s partnership with MASHAV, an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first began 18 months ago, in the Millennium City of Kumasi, where doctors and nurses offered a series of trainings at the federal teaching hospital there, in such sub-specialties as infectious diseases, neonatal emergencies, HIV/AIDS and nutrition and emergency and trauma care. Because of the identified and urgent need to better address infant care in the city and its environs, Israeli neonatologists  from Ben Gurion University and Israeli engineers then designed and built a low-cost, low-tech Special-Care Nursery and have trained its initial staff; a second unit will be built this summer, with both expected to open soon.  MASHAV’s focus in Kumasi will continue to be on maternal and child health, through a greatly expanded set of activities. In Kisumu, Kenya, in contrast, activities will focus on education and community development, while in Mekelle, Ethiopia, in addition to introducing a series of medical trainings at the new federal teaching hospital, the Israeli agricultural training institute, CINADCO, plans to establish, in collaboration with local partners, an Agribusiness Centre that can help small and medium-sized enterprises from start-up to export-quality production.

Drs. Blaustein, Sachs and Houngbo also met with numerous Israeli government and civic leaders, and representatives of Israel’s thriving private sector, who are already doing business in sub-Saharan Africa and/or who are interested in exploring business opportunities in and around some of the Millennium Cities and Villages.

KUMASI INVESTMENT GUIDE: APRIL 2008

Click here to download Invest in Ghana: Focus Kumasi.

Click here to read the press release announcing the publication of Invest in Ghana: Focus Kumasi.  

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Columbia Program on International Investment (CPII) are pleased to announce the release of Invest in Ghana: Focus Kumasi.  It is the first city investment guide in West Africa.

Kumasi is Ghana's second largest city and capital of the Ashanti region.  It is an important commercial center. Its location, climate and safety, combined with Ghana's increasing access to foreign markets, make Kumasi attractive to investment in a number of areas. One sector of great potential discussed in the Guide is in the area of cocoa and its processing.  Another concrete opportunity is the production of fruit juice made from different fruit growing in the region.  Furthermore, opportunities were identified in the hotel sector and in retail.  The production of pharmaceuticals also has great potential.  Other areas with potential include agriculture and agro-processing as well as manufacturing.  The Guide outlines these opportunities as well as relevant matters such as tax and regulatory conditions in Ghana.

The Guide was developed with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre
(GIPC).  The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) and the European Business Council for Africa and the Mediterranean (EBCAM) have lent their support to this effort.
 
The Guide was  launched in Kumasi on April 18, 2008.

EIGHTH MILLENNIUM CITY OPENS IN MEKELLE, ETHIOPIA

 

^{Drs. Teklehaimanot, Sachs, Blaustein, Israeli Ambassador Yaacov Amitai and Israeli agronomist Simon Afriat meet with Mekelle and Tigrayan officials to discuss priorities for MCI Mekelle.}

 

In mid-January, MCI Co-Director Susan M. Blaustein, Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs and Ethiopia MDG Country Director Dr. Awash Teklehaimanot
announced the opening of a new Millennium Cities Initiative in Mekelle, Ethiopia, the capital of the northern region of Tigray, where the Millennium Villages are
operating.

Activities will lead off with a series of visits by Columbia experts in a wide range of fields: in early February Columbia University graduate student in environmental and urban studies Bryant Cannon will come to assist the City in managing some of its pressing environmental issues; in late February MCI Senior Investment Advisor Joerg Simon and KPMG secondee Jim Geisel, Jr. will come to scope out potential investment opportunities in Mekelle and the region; and in early March three MPH students from Mailman School of Public Health, Genessa Giorgi, Kripa Krishnan and Lucy Kong, will carry out MDG-based needs assessments and costings for public health and gender in the City. The Government of Israel will be MCI's full partner in the Mekelle Initiative and in Tigray, offering agri-business expertise to farmers and urban dwellers and helping to scale the production of such export-quality products as honey, which Israeli experts believe has the potential to rank among the world's finest.

MCI MEETINGS IN BAMAKO AND SEGOU, MALI

 

 

^{Drs. Sachs, Blaustein, Niang, and Bamako government officials discuss the economic and investment potential for the City.}

 

 

BAMAKO:

On January 16, the MCI held a meeting in Bamako, attended by many of the City's gubernatorial and mayoral representatives as well as some of Mali's leading
entrepreneurs. Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs spoke about Mali's and Bamako's economic potential, and the group was addressed as well by UN Resident
Representative Joseph Byll-Cataria, Amadou Niang, Director of the MDG Centre for West Africa, MCI Co-Director Susan M. Blaustein and new MCI Bamako staff
members Maiga Aminata Camara and Mamadou Diarrah. In the ensuing discussion, many ideas for investment were advanced, including the possibilities for
agro-production and concentrated solar thermal energy generation.

SEGOU:
Dr. Blaustein and the MCI team also went to the Millennium City of Segou, and discussed the economic and investment opportunities there with the Mayor,
the Governor's economic advisor and representatives of key business sectors. The needs assessments in education are currently being finalized, and the needs
assessments in public health, gender and water/sanitation will be undertaken over the next several months.

 

HAPPENINGS: MCI at the World Bank International Business Forum

In October MCI Co-Director Susan Blaustein organized a workshop at the World Bank as part of the 12th International Business Forum 2007, a project of the World Bank Institute together with ImWent - Capacity Building International, Germany, focused on the topic, "Business and the MDGs." Key partners of the MCI and the Millennium Villages Project (MVP), KPMG and Sumitomo Chemical (UK) Plc, participated on a voluntary basis to share their own experiences in the field and to attest to the efficacy of the private sector in furthering economic and social development in some of the world's poorest nations. Together with Mr. Timothy A. Stiles, Partner-in-Charge of KPMG's Global Grants Program, and Mr. Robin Slatter, Business Development Manager for Global Vector Control of Sumitomo Chemical (UK) Plc, Dr. Blaustein discussed the modalities and motivations for meaningful corporate sector involvement in expediting attainment of the Millennium Development Goals as a burgeoning trend in international development.  Entitled, “Hand-in-hand: Tapping Expertise to Achieve the MDGs," the panel spurred a lively discussion with participants about the necessary factors to insure a constructive engagement on the ground between the public and private sectors that can forward the MDG agenda while strengthening local capacity.

MILLENNIUM CITIES DEVELOPMENTS

NEEDS ASSESSMENT WORK BEGINNING IN BLANTYRE, KISUMU, KUMASI, LOUGA, BAMAKO AND SEGOU

    This summer a group of Columbia and Yale University graduate students are conducting MDG-based needs assessments in public health and education in many of the Millennium Cities. The students, who hail from the Mailman School of Public Health, Yale School of Public Health and  Columbia Teachers’ College, will be working in Blantyre, Malawi, Kisumu, Kenya, Kumasi, Ghana, Louga, Senegal, and, in the early fall, in Bamako and Segou, Mali.

    The needs assessments and costings will help the respective city governments and residents to more readily evaluate the current status and challenges in public health and education in their municipalities and to set their own priorities for development in these areas. The students will be using the MDG-based needs assessment instruments developed and meticulously refined by the former United Nations Millennium Project, now being administered at the national level in many countries by the MDG Support Group within the Poverty Unit of the UN Development Program, as part of the large-scale effort to help sub-Saharan and other poor nations to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015.

    These assessment instruments have effected a quiet revolution in both the conceptualization and implementation of development assistance, by shifting the driving force from decisions made in remote capitals by the official donor community to informed requests made by the beneficiary nations themselves -- requests which are coherent with their own medium- and long-term development strategies and focused on meeting real, carefully measured and budgeted needs on the ground.

    A June 13 training session for the students carrying out the MCI assessments, conducted by the UNDP MDG Support Group, was led by Gonzalo Pizarro, Senior Policy Advisor for Water Resources, and Research Associates Brian Lutz and Emily Bosch, all of whom have had extensive experience in using and training others in the use of these thorough needs assessment and costing tools. With the help of MCI and UNDP staff and Millennium City leadership, the students will meet with government officials and staff in the areas of public health and education to gather detailed information regarding the specific costs of improved infrastructure, as well as the requisite materials, equipment and human resources essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

    Similar assessments regarding access to safe housing, clean water and sanitation, waste disposal, energy, transport and ICT will be carried out in all Millennium Cities in the months to come, enabling stakeholders ultimately to devise City Development Strategies embodying their own development priorities. Such urban strategies will serve to “localize the MDGs,” thereby extending the work of the former UN Millennium Project and the current UNDP team by empowering local stakeholders with the concrete information they need to make responsible choices about how best to insure an economically and socially viable future for their own cities.

HAPPENINGS: Millennium Village Retreat in Nairobi, June 1st-4th

 

KUMASI, GHANA:

Through the MCI, the Government of Israel's aid agency, MASHAV, is sponsoring the third of four medical trainings at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, this one in emergency medecine and trauma care.(Click here to read an article on the training.)

 All four trainings are taught by dedicated Israeli practitioners and are facilitated through the MCI. The previous two trainings were in the areas of infectious diseases and neo-natal emergency care; the final training will be on HIV/AIDS and nutrition.

Columbia University Graduate Workshop in Louga

Six graduate students from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) recently completed a six-month practicum with the MCI, for the purpose of investigating opportunities and constraints for investment in the city of Louga, Senegal - the smallest of the Earth Institute's Millennium Cities. Under the guidance of MCI Co-Director Dr. Susan Blaustein and Professor Scott Martin, the SIPA team conducted two fact-finding missions to Senegal to interview key stakeholders and experts and collect pertinent data. The team also collaborated closely with the EI's Millennium Villages Project team in Potou, the Millennium Research village anchoring a cluster of coastal fishing and farming villages located near Louga. The students' work for the MCI was supported in part through the generosity of Mr. Douglas Durst.

Basing its findings on more than a month of on-site interviews and a thorough literature review, the SIPA team identified a number of promising sub-sectors for the city of Louga, including dairy products, groundnuts, horticultural products and industrial textiles and apparel. The team's final report includes suggestions on how best to channel investment into these sub-sectors. The graduate students also outlined significant challenges related to Louga's business infrastructure and offered recommendations to local government officials and to MCI itself as to how the city might overcome these challenges. The MCI will now follow up on the SIPA team's findings,  both with further feasibility studies regarding specific areas for possible investment, and by sharing the SIPA team's findings and recommendations with a wide array of city stakeholders, as well as with local, regional and national officials.

Columbia University Graduate Workshop in Kisumu

As the first Millennium City to be declared, Kisumu City embodies a number of characteristics common to many cities of the developing world – collapsed industries, political marginalization, and low socio-economic development indicators (employment, health, etc.). Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city, borders Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world, and is surrounded by the nation’s rice, sugar, and cotton belts. Kisumu, then, represents not only development challenges, but also a host of opportunities.

From November 2006 to May 2007, a team of six graduate students from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) conducted in-depth research on the challenges and opportunities for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Kisumu for the Millennium Cities Initiative.

The students were able to travel to Kisumu on two occasions for the purpose of this research, first in January 2007 and again in March. Over the span of the nearly four weeks spent in Kenya, the team conducted 73 interviews with political leaders, ministry representatives, members of the business community, and other local Kenyans. Additionally, the team conducted site visits to industries of interest such as fish processing plants, sugar processing plants, and aquaculture and dairy farms.  Combined with research conducted in New York, these visits helped the students narrow the 17 sub-sectors surveyed to just four in which they conducted in-depth feasibility and impact assessments on. These industries include: sugar, dairy, peanuts, and aquaculture.

As participants in SIPA’s Applied Workshop in Economic and Political Development, the students presented their final findings in a public presentation on the 26th of April at Columbia University. Detailed in their final report “Attracting Investment to Kisumu: Opportunities and Challenges,” the team’s final recommendations to the MCI included the following:

 

• Pursuing political support for passing of an E-10 ethanol blend mandate that would encourage the production of sugar-based ethanol and prevent the implosion of the current sugar industry following the expiration of Kenya’s COMESA agreement on sugar.
• Pursuing investment for the creation of a peanut butter factory so as to utilize the high supply of peanuts in the region to meet increasing national demand.
• Encouraging the commercialization of aquaculture as a response to the declining lake-based fishing industry and increasing demand for fish locally and internationally.
• Creating an Investment Promotion Office in Kisumu whose purpose is to market Kisumu as an attractive location for investment, to facilitate the licensing and tax procedure for investors and to serve as a general point of contact for investor.

International Investment Roundtable in Abuja features Nigeria’s Millennium City

Akure Panel at the Third International        

Business Roundtable for Nigeria.               

On January 15-16, 2007, the MCI and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) organized a panel for Akure, the capital of the State of Ondo, at the EIU’s Third Investment Roundtable for Nigeria. This was the first of what will be a series of Investment Roundtables in the countries that contain Millennium Cities,  and they will be organized jointly by the MCI in association with the EIU.

MCI Co-director Dr. Susan Blaustein and MCI Senior Investment Analyst Joerg Simon participated in the two-day forum, which was well-attended by a varied array of international investors keenly interested in knowing whether they can expect stability and continuity after this year’s hotly contested presidential elections.

The prognosis, according to the EIU’s lead analyst on Nigeria, David Cowan, is that continued political stability and progress with Nigeria’s ongoing reform process are likely. In his speech, President Olesegun Obasanjo, who initiated the wide-ranging anti-corruption  campaign and reform process, was also very optimistic about Nigeria’s reform agenda and the prospects for business and investment this year and in the years to come.

The Akure panel, chaired by the EIU’s Prathiba Thaker, featured a video-taped speech by Earth Institute Director Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs and a discussion of the MCI by Dr. Blaustein, followed by presentations on Akure and the State of Ondo by Chief Abraham Olabode Dada Sunmonu, the State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, and Chief Ralph Alabi, CEO of Guinness Nigeria LTD, who also hails from Akure. The panel presentations were completed by MCI consultant Umesh Menon, who went to Akure, in close cooperation with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Authority, to analyze investment opportunities through the MCI’s partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The governor of Ondo State, Olesegun Agagu, is bullish on investment in Ondo State, which is building a free economic zone with a deep container port and has tremendous agricultural potential, as well as vast untapped resources in bitumen, kaolin, granite and other valuable minerals. Following Mr. Menon’s presentation, the panel entertained questions from the audience, which seemed gratified that a Nigerian city was being showcased at this important international meeting.

A delegation of senior chiefs and leaders of Ondo State, including Governor Agagu and several of Akure’s most talented entrepreneurs, attended the session in search of international technical and/or financial partners.

Going forward, the international firm KPMG will follow up on the UNIDO analyses to carry out commercial due diligence on the identified investment areas and opportunities. An MCI investment promotion specialist will be based in Akure to help facilitate this work, to explore potential farm-to-market linkages and to spur business enterprise development both in Akure and throughout Ondo State.

Mali hosts first Investment Forum

Dr. Susan M. Blaustein, Co-Director of the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), attended the Mali government's first Investment Forum in Bamako in November, 2006, held in association with the Africa Business Roundtable Annual Meetings. Some 600 investors and entrepreneurs came, from as far away as Australia and Malaysia, to hear of promising opportunities for investment in Mali in sectors ranging from handicrafts to gold. **Photo: Susan Blaustein, Ibrahim Tounkara, Mamou Daffe and Mayor Brema Thiero at a Forum of Entrepreneurs in Segou, Mali, November, 2006. ** While in Bamako, Dr. Blaustein met with leading entrepreneurs, the city's seven mayors, the Minister of Investment Promotion, the UNDP and the Millennium Challenge Corporation Resident Country Director for Mali. The discussion encompassed investment possibilities, how best to address certain obstacles to investment, and how to capitalize on the $461m development agreement with the US government, signed on November 13, 2006. The funding is provided over five years to upgrade Bamako's airport, build an attached export processing zone and develop a vast irrigation project on the River Niger, in the area of Segou, the MCI's other Malian Millennium City. The MCI is working closely in Bamako with the Dutch aid agency, SNV, whose staffers strategized with Dr. Blaustein on how best to help the city's neighborhoods develop plans to upgrade their central markets, which are at the center of daily life and serve as an excellent entry point for initiatives in health, sanitation, water, energy and IT. Dr. Blaustein also visited the Millennium City of Segou, where she met with the Governor and Mayor of Segou to talk about urban development plans for the city. In addition, she had a dialogue with several dozen Segou entrepreneurs regarding their aspirations to expand their businesses and the challenges they face to do so. A forum for investment is now planned for February 2, 2007, in association with the MCI and the Festival sur le Niger, an international cultural event that brings thousands of tourists and music lovers to Segou to sample Malian talent and wares.

OECD Global Forum on International Investment, Istanbul

Dr. Karl P. Sauvant, Co-Director of the Millennium Cities Initiative, participated in the OECD Global Forum on International Investment, Istanbul, November 6-7, 2006, speaking about global FDI trends to 2010 and the implications of these trends for host countries. The Global Forum consisted of the OECD/Turkey Investment Roundtable; the presentation by countries of their investment climate and policies; steps to apply the OECD Policy Framework for Investment; and experiences regarding international investor participation in infrastructure projects.

Executive Forum of the International Trade Centre, Berlin, September 27-30, 2006: A number of private entrepreneurs from Millennium Cities, together with MCI's Senior Investment Advisor, Joerg Simon, participated in the annual Executive Forum organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC) with the support of the German Ministry of Economics' Cooperation. The event was aimed at increasing awareness about the participation of the poor in the export process and meeting targets set by the Millennium Development Goals. The Forum identified export-led successes involving the poor in countries such as Brazil and Cambodia, but noted that there is still the important challenge of creating a critical mass capable of making a big dent in nationwide poverty throughout the developing world. The entrepreneurs from the Millennium Cities made presentations on how MCI can contribute to foster economic and social development. They used the Executive Forum as a platform to exchange experiences among themselves and to establish business relations with other participants in the Forum.

NEPAD Bending the Arc Summit, New York, September 18, 2006

Dr. Karl P. Sauvant presented the MCI goal to attract more foreign direct investment to Africa's Millennium Cities to the 2nd annual summit of the Bending-the-Arc Project, part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Attendees of the Bending-the-Arc summit discussed MDG priorities and identified areas that require greater resources and better coordination to achieve success. Delegates singled out business as the key to improving the living standards in Africa. The summit agreed to the necessity of effective development partnerships and the importance of venture capital and private equity to development in Africa.

UNCTAD/ICC Investment Advisory Council, New York, September 18, 2006

Corporate executives, senior Government officials (among them the President of the Republic of Tanzania) and high-level representatives from international institutions joined in the latest meeting of the UNCTAD/ICC Investment Advisory Council (IAC), an informal public-private dialogue on the success factors for attracting FDI to Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The meeting discussed strategies for strengthening LDC competitiveness, removing business impediments and identifying investment opportunities in LDCs. Attendees also addressed challenges to investment, such as infrastructure deficits, bureaucratic inefficiencies and complex regulations. It was recommended that LDC governments partner with the private sector to strategize about the removal of impediments to enterprise development and to improve their country's attractiveness to foreign investors. IAC agreed to team up with the Millennium Cities Initiative, which was represented by its Co-Director, Dr. Karl P. Sauvant, and Senior Investment Advisor, Joerg Simon, as one of IAC�s new initiatives to bring foreign direct investment to LDCs.