Human Development Essay

Taking a look at the Human increment Index map of Africa, which throw out be seen on (http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_ exploitation_Index) on the meshwork it shows that m some(prenominal) of Africas countries ar real underdeveloped.7 One of the obvious reasons for wherefore countries is Africa are underachieving is because of how poor is the strength of their thriftiness compared to other(a)s. As it is well k straight offn, Africa is very rich in mineral resources as many other states commit upon their, possessing most of the known minerals types of the serviceman. Africas economy is more reliant on agriculture than that of any other continent, with almost 60% of Africans work in the agricultural sector.Secondly, the frugal maturement of virtu ally all African nations has been hindered by inadequate have a bun in the ovenation systems. Most countries rely on road networks that are composed largely of dirt roads, which become impassable during the rainy seasons. way networks tend to link the interior of a country to the coast hardly a(prenominal) road systems link adjacent countries.9 To show how poor and how bad economy crisis is in Africa, one ought to take a look at their nutriment for thought crisis and the growing volume of food imports. Whereas Africa imported an average volume of 1.96 one thousand thousand metric tons of agricultural products in the years 1961-63, by 1980-82 this recruit had risen to 11.2 million metric tons at an annual tax of over $6.8 billion (over one-seventh of the total value of Africas imports in 1982).Owing to foreign exchange constraints, most African countries have had to rely increasingly on food aid to meet their imported food bespeakments.10The technical sectors of most African states rely heavily on one or a few export commodities. The bulk of change over occurs with industrialized nations, which require raw materials and sell industrial and consumer goods. Trade between African states is check by the competitive, rather than complementary, nature of their products and by barter bulwarks, such as tariffs, and the diversity of currencies.Looking at the economy of atomic number 63, a sharp agate line in strength and influence can visibly be seen. atomic number 63 has long been a world leader in economic activities. As the birthplace of modern science and of the Industrial Revolution, Europe acquired technological transcendence over the rest of the world, which gave it unquestioned dominance in the 19th Century. An valuable impetus for growth since the mid-20th Century has been the formation of supranational organisations such as the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. different Africa, Europe has highly developed transport systems, which are densest in the cardinal part of the continent. Many countries in Europe use well kept up(p) transportation systems to transport important goods such as w ater transport which plays a major role in the European economy. Almost all European countries maintain national airlines, and several, such as Air France, British Airship canal, Swissair, Germany, and Netherlands are major worldwide carriers.13 Looking at both economies and trade, it is by all odds obvious that Europe conducts substantial international trade compared to Africa. For Europe, much of its trade is intra-continental, especially among members of the European Union, but also engages in large-scale trade with countries of other continents. Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and the Netherlands are among the worlds greatest vocation nations. A large portion of European inter-continental trade involves the exporting of make goods and the importing of raw materials.Europes agricultural sector is generally highly developed, especially in Western Europe. The agricultural sector in Europe is helped by the Common Agricultural Policy, which provides farmers with a minimal m onetary value for their products and subsidized their exports, which increases competitiveness for their products. This policy is highly controversial as it hampers drop by the wayside trade worldwide (protectionism sparks protectionism from other countries and trade blocs the design of trade wars) and is violating the concept of fair trade.15 Africas economy is more reliant on primary products (i.e, agricultural and mineral) than that of any other continent, with around 60% of Africans working in the agricultural sector.About three fifths of African farmers are subsistence farmers till small pots of land to feed their families, with only a minimal waste that can be sold for other goods.16 However, there are earthshaking number of large farms that grow cash crop such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, and rubber these farms, normally operated by large corporations, cover tens of square kilometres and hire large number of labourers.Africas geography is unsuited to trade and hence hamper s its economy. The centre of the continent, at to the lowest degree on the western side, is an almost enceinte rainforest that greatly impedes the transit of people of goods. Some of the wealthiest parts of southwesterly Africa are blocked from the rest of Africa by the Kalahari Desert, while the Sahara creates an obvious barrier to trade. While Africa has a number of great river systems such as those of the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi, it is not nearly as well-linked rivers as are other areas such as Europe. Moreover, many of the rivers are blocked by rapids and cataracts that require vast development projects if they are to be bypassed.The wetness of the roads and tracks makes transport difficult and hazardous. In humanitarian Africa is cut off from the sea to a greater extent than any other continent. To enforce even more problems to Africa there is an increasing number of desertification occurring in Africa where the deserts, especially the Sahara are becoming larger, e nveloping area around them, leaving less space for land. This process is partly due to the deforestation of areas of forest with no roots to hold soil in place, it blows away(p) leaving an infertile desert.Europe has a well developed financial sector. Many European cities are financial centres with the City of London being the largest.19 The European financial sector is helped by the introduction of the euro as super C currency. This has made it easier for European households and firms to invest in companies and deposit on banks in other European countries as exchange rate fluctuations are now non-existent in Europe. As mentioned above, Europes economy is superior to that of Africa, so what can Africa do to better its economy or maybe what can it take from the Europe economy as a model. professor J A. van Ginkel held a conference on the Knowledge and Development in Africa here he talked about ways to improve Africas economy however not only by getting the economic policies rig ht.20 Prof van Ginkel mentions that there is now substantial evidence that institutional weakness in many African countries is a critical bulwark to economic performance.21 From the surveys he conducted on the obstacles to business in Africa it highlights the damage caused by the unpredictability of changes in laws and policies, the unreliability of law enforcement, and the impact of corrupt bureaucracies.22 Unless governments winnow out these kinds of obstacles then it is unlikely that the economy whether it is just locally in trustworthy parts of Africa or on a national front exit flourish.An aspect of the Europe model that Africa can learn from is the aspect of intimacy. No commodity is more expensive than knowledge. An Africa without a sustainable, strong knowledge sector of its own will always remain in a dangerously dependent position. Research and training institutions on the continent can make a critical contribution in at least three ways by qualification the most of existing indigenous knowledge by accessing the vast reservoir of existing global knowledge, as well as the ongoing advances in understanding, and adapting them to suit specific local conditions and by helping to find innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.23 In terms of human resources, it was highlighted in the Seminars of Anticipation that African developments suffers from a sad paradox on the one hand, elites trained in Western world are too many (and most of them stay in the US or in the EU because they cannot find well-paid qualified positions in Africa, or because their skills do not correspond to African needs) while on the other hand the well-trained intermediate executives required to manage a modern economy are cruelly missing in Africa (higher technical experts, management executives, obliging administrators).To conclude, this essay has looked the economies of both Europe and Africa and compared and contrast both of them. It has also provided study ab out both economies in terms of trade and finance. A draft history was provided which looked at the relationship between Europe and Africa and to the days of liquidation. Reasons as to why both regions are on different levels economically were provided to show how predominant and rich Europe was and how poor and underdeveloped Africa was. The Africa food crisis was mentioned to give an account of how poor Africa was against other regions. In addition ways that Africa can improve their economy so bringing it more business office and strength so that it can compete with other regions was provided, for example making sure Africa had the aqeduate education so that it learn.Many Africans move to the west so that they can have higher education which is not available in Africa and tend to stay there once they have completed their studies. This is prejudicious to Africas development and thus a solution to the problem would be to support the creation of a complete curriculum. This would lead to a enormous contribution to the development of vocational and technical education in Africa thus improving Africas economy. So as it can seen, the economies for both Europe and Africa are at this present time in contrast to distributively other but there is hope for Africa to become more dominant and influential in world affairs if the correct adjustments and policies are introduced to improve them.ReferencesFawcett, L., & Hurrell, A., Regionalism in World Politics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995, pg 43 Ravenhill. J, Africa in economic crisis, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1986, pg 9 www.ciaonet.org/isa/rajo