Africa
Devising and implementing a comprehensive transatlantic approach to developing countries in Africa is of critical importance to North America and Europe for economic, security, and moral reasons. While most African countries in the years before the global recession enjoyed impressive economic growth with an annual average of 6 percent, the food crisis and the world economic crisis brought this period of growth to a standstill and pushed approximately 200 million people back into poverty. In addition, illiteracy, malnutrition, and poor health still affect large parts of the population in Africa. The domestic challenges in the developing world and the inability of some governments to provide for their citizens can have international ramifications, including refugee migration, pandemics, or proliferation of criminal networks, wars, and terrorism. North America and Europe still account for over 93 percent of total bilateral aid to Africa and leaders on both sides of the Atlantic have made commitments to address food security and climate change in the developing world. In addition, both the United States and Europe are in the process of reviewing their trade and development policies toward African countries in order to increase their effectiveness.
GMF addresses the opportunities and challenges facing countries in Africa through grantmaking, convening, networking, and research efforts around aid, trade, agriculture, and food security to promote conditions for sustainable and market-led development.
GMF News & Analysis
Transforming poor people's food and nutrition security is proving to be, as expected, a massive challenge.
Ahead of G-8 Summit, Development Experts Outline Roadmap to Better Food Security in AfricaApril 18, 2012
A new GMF report addresses the gap between political commitments to food security and their implementation as G-8 leaders prepare to address the situation in Africa.
Programs & Projects more
Wider AtlanticGMF’s Wider Atlantic Program, led by Dr. Ian O. Lesser, the executive director of GMF’s Transatlantic Center in Brussels, builds on the experience of the past three years, and will promote a more comprehensive approach to Atlanticism, with north-south and south-south relations at the core. The GMF-OCP Foundation partnership looks to move beyond the traditional northerly axis that has driven contemporary transatlantic relations. The new initiative underscores the growing importance of Africa and Latin America as actors in the Atlantic space. It also focuses on the shared policy challenges shaping the future of four continents around the Atlantic basin. From the rise of Brazil to the growing role of China, the Atlantic equation is evolving rapidly, and so is the need for a wider conversation about Atlantic futures.
Urban and Regional Policy ProgramGMF’s Climate & Energy Program aims to advance transatlantic leadership on scalable policy and business solutions to reduce the risks of climate change and achieve a low-carbon, secure, and affordable energy future, while conserving natural resources. The Program works to support transatlantic cooperation on U.S. and EU domestic climate and energy policies and international climate and energy cooperation more broadly. GMF believes that transatlantic cooperation on these issues is both mutually beneficial and essential for global leadership to avoid dangerous climate change. GMF seeks to inform the debate with objective data and the best examples of successful policies that could be shared across the Atlantic or more widely. Finally, GMF believes that international progress on climate and energy policy depends on the broadening of the debate away from a narrow focus on environmental policy to something that informs all social, economic, and foreign policy.
Events More
Conversation on the Wider AtlanticMay 11, 2012
GMF’s Brussels office hosted a lunch discussion on the Atlantic Dialogues and GMF’s Wider Atlantic ProgramMediterranean Strategy Group Focuses on Future of Finance in MENA regionMarch 07, 2012
On February 29-March 2, GMF held its sixth meeting of the Mediterranean Strategy Group on "The Future of Mediterranean Finance" in Naples, Italy. The conference brought together a select group of 60 participants from the U.S., the EU, Turkey, the Gulf, and the MENA region to discuss the role that finance will play in the development of the Middle East and North Africa in the wake of the recent uprisings.
Index measures countries’ vulnerability to climate changeSeptember 23, 2011No executive summary for this postAfter the King’s Speech — Constitutional Reform and the Outlook for Change in MoroccoJuly 11, 2011On July 11, the German Marshall Fund’s Washington DC office hosted a conversation on political reform in Morocco in Washington DC, which focused primarily on the new Moroccan Constitution - as recently approved by popular referendum on July 1 2011.
Publications More
Transatlantic Mining Corporations in the Age of Resource NationalismMay 18, 2012 / David Humphreys
This paper examines trends in mining and considers their implications for transatlantic mining companies and for the availability of mineral supplies in Europe and North America.
Excess, Access, and the Emerging Geopolitics of FoodMay 15, 2012 / Kathryn Thulin, Mark Allegrini
This policy brief identifies some of the major factors that contribute to food insecurity.
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