Africa

Matabeleland consists of three western provinces of Zimbabwe, namely Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo. This region, stereotyped as marginalised and underdeveloped, and also as a hotbed of political opposition both historically and currently, is once more poised to play a strategic role in the forthcoming elections.

Whoever wins in Zimbabwe's presidential elections on March 29, 2008 has his work cut out for them. The task is to restore this beautiful country to the “little Switzerland” it used to be before being engulfed in the current political and economic quagmire.

Perspectives is a publication series of the Africa offices of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. With this series, we intend to let experts from Africa express their views about current political issues in their region. Here you find PDFs of all issues published between 2008 and mid-2012.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation has been active in Southern Africa since 1989 and for many years has focused on supporting civil society actors in the region. Since 2007, the Foundation has acted more at the interface between civil society and parliaments.

The Regional Office for East Africa manages the regional program with the components "Environment", "Gender" and "Peacebuilding". In particular, it supports the networking of civil society organizations in the region in the fields of environmental policy, peace work and women's rights.

The Abuja office works with activists, thinkers and networkers in civil society, business and politics to stimulate public debate and action for a socially just and sustainable Nigeria.

A contribution of the Heinrich Böll Foundation on "avoided deforestation" for the UN climate summit in Bali 2007.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation’s work in Africa is concentrated in the regions Southern Africa, Eastern Africa/Horn of Africa, and Nigeria. Our main mission is the support of civil society articipation in political decision-making processes.

Africa is the continent that will be hit hardest by climate change. Unpredictable rains and floods, prolonged droughts, subsequent crop failures, and rapid desertification have already begun to change the face of our continent. Africa’s poor will be particularly hit by rising temperatures.

Interview with Negusu Aklilu, co-ordinator of the Ethiopian Forum for Environment, editor-in-chief of “AKIRMA: a Magazine on Environment and Development“, and one of the primary signatories of the appeal Africa Speaks up on Climate Change.