The African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) is a high high-level training programme in development economics targeting policy-makers, researchers, academics and civil society representatives from Africa and other developing countries. The programme has been running since 2007 and is a joint initiative between the South African Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) and Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS).
As part of APORDE’s agenda of influencing, educating and reaching a wider audience, it has introduced an APORDE podcast series. This series draws on the community of those that have participated directly in both the international and national APORDE network of heterodox development economists and social scientists.
INTRODUCTION
This, the first podcast series, is being hosted by well-known development economist, radio host, columnist and author, Ayabonga Cawe. He brings many years of experience and a deep understanding of the political economy, industrial and labour market policy issues. He authored a book entitled “The Economy on your Doorstep” and is a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
EPISODE 01: Who Counts?
This first in a six part series will focus on Who Counts? Ayabonga Cawe will explore with his guests what countries measure and what they do not. This, Ayabonga explains, is crucial to any analysis of social change. His guests in this first podcast include, Alex Cobham, Chief Executive Tax Justice Network, Basani Baloyi, a development economist with the Institute for Economic Justice and Dr Penelope Hawkins, senior economic affairs officer, UNCTAD.
EPISODE 02: Understanding the role of conflict on the African continent from a political economy perspective
This second in a six part APORDE series will focus on exploring the role of conflict on the African continent by consideration whether political economy considerations help in understanding what informs the key conflicts in Africa. Ayabonga Cawe will explore with his guests Thomas Selemane, an independent economic and governance consultant based in Mozambique and Dr Grieve Chelwa, director of Research Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at the New School in the US.
EPISODE 03: What options do African countries have in financing their investment in infrastructure?
This third in a six-part APORDE series focuses on exploring how African countries can finance their investment in infrastructure. Should they be relying on some of the new private financing models such as private equity, venture capital or blended financial models to name but a few or should they be looking at building their own development banks and developing their own domestic capital markets to issue bonds for infrastructure and reindustrialisation? Development economist Ayabonga Cawe will explore this and other difficult questions around the impact of these new instruments for developing economies within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as well as within the imperatives of a just energy transition and overcoming energy apartheid. He explores these issues together with his guests Sonia Phalatse, a Researcher at the Institute for Economic Justice and Dr Penelope Hawkins, a senior economist in UNCTAD’s debt and development finance branch.
EPISODE 04: Exploring the impact of increased digitalisation (4IR) on households, workplaces, finance and capital markets and the broader continental economy
This fourth podcast in a six-part African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) series focuses on exploring how technology change as encapsulated in the term – the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) – will impact on finance and capital markets. Within that how finance functions and the distributional consequences of how it does so and how this will impact on who gets what and who does not get access to resources. Development economist Ayabonga Cawe will explore this by unpacking what 4IR is, its impact on all aspects of our lives such as how we live, produce, what we need to survive and how we interact with each other as well as the opportunities and threats of the technologies associated with 4IR such as digitalisation. He explores these issues together with his guests Rashmi Banga, senior economic affairs officer based at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Dr Milford Bateman, an economics professor whose main research areas have included local economic development, local financial institutions, and cooperatives.
EPISODE 05: Exploring the impact of increased digitalisation on data sovereignty and data processing capacity for Africa.
This fifth podcast in a six-part African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) series focuses on the conversation to data sovereignty and data storage with the emergence of digital technology. The various ways that African economies can advance their digital technologies, develop their capacity for data localisation and the importance of industrial policy to progress the digital potential of African countries. Host development economist, Ayabonga Cawe explores these issues together with his guest Rashmi Banga, senior economic affairs officer based at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).