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The paper analyzes China's public diplomacy in Africa, noting a transition from risk-averse protocols to the use of social media and 'humanized' diplomats. While the pandemic provided opportunities for 'vaccine diplomacy' and PPE donations, the mass eviction of African migrants in Guangzhou in 2020 triggered a significant backlash. The authors argue that despite experimenting with digital tools, China retreated to traditional, elite-focused diplomatic methods to mitigate the Guangzhou crisis, revealing a persistent preference for high-level engagement over genuine dialogue with African publics.

The document examines the impacts of Cyclone Idai, Tropical Storm Chalane, and Cyclone Eloise on Mozambique, specifically the city of Beira. It analyzes the role of green and grey infrastructure in disaster mitigation, evaluates the 'Building Beira Back Better' (BBBB) strategy, and highlights the critical need for improved early warning systems and sustainable waste management to maintain urban drainage functionality.

The document details a partnership between the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and Jasoro Consulting to integrate youth voices into South Africa's APRM review. Using Hart's 'Ladder of Participation', the project moved beyond tokenism to treat youth as equal partners in decision-making. The process involved nearly 200 young people nationwide who identified key governance issues, including climate change and land rights. The authors derive five key lessons for policy actors: early consultation, recognizing youth as experts in their own experience, ensuring diverse representation, centering youth voices, and providing learning opportunities.

The document examines South Africa's service sector, which contributes approximately 61% to national GDP and employs over 5.5 million workers. While the sector is large, the authors argue that growth must shift toward exports, particularly within Africa, as the domestic market is overdeveloped. The brief concludes that the AfCFTA is unlikely to provide a short-term boost due to a lack of specific service sector commitments and persistent regulatory hurdles, such as visa restrictions and inadequate ICT infrastructure. It recommends establishing a unified coalition of service providers and updating digital infrastructure to enhance South Africa's role as a regional gateway.

The report assesses the impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on African infrastructure, economic growth, trade, and debt sustainability. While finding that Chinese investment helps close the infrastructure gap and can boost GDP, the authors note risks including debt distress in specific countries, environmental degradation, and the crowding out of local manufacturing by Chinese imports. Case studies in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria demonstrate positive outcomes in transport and energy, though the failure of Nigeria's NIGCOM satellite highlights risks of using the continent as a testing ground. The report concludes that benefits generally outweigh costs, provided African nations improve project management and negotiate more symmetrical trade and loan terms.

The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and Jasoro Consulting launched the South African APRM Youth Submission on 26 May 2021. The submission resulted from a process starting in August 2020 involving over 100 youth volunteers across all provinces who identified nine key governance issues. The South African APRM National Governing Council (NGC) indicated that these inputs will form the basis of a dedicated youth section in the NGC's Country Self-Assessment Report.

A youth-led submission to South Africa's second APRM review identifies nine critical governance gaps, including youth political exclusion, extreme economic inequality, and the tension between economic growth and climate action. The report calls for systemic reforms in land distribution, education quality, and the implementation of social protection and health schemes.

The document examines the disparity in green finance between developed and developing nations, noting that while the EU and other developed markets have integrated substantial green recovery measures into their COVID-19 stimulus packages, developing countries often lack explicit green budgets and remain heavily dependent on North-South financial flows. It highlights challenges in the global South, including infrastructure deficits, governance issues, and a 'dependency syndrome' regarding international aid. The brief recommends institutional reforms to enhance capital markets, increased South-South cooperation, and globally coordinated efforts to improve the design and monitoring of green projects.

The document examines the state of agricultural value chains in the SADC region, noting that while the sector was minimally affected by COVID-19 compared to others, the pandemic exacerbated existing vulnerabilities. Key challenges identified include a heavy reliance on subsistence farming, food insecurity, and the impact of climate change. The brief argues for a 'dual approach' that supports both small-scale and large-scale commercial farming, the adoption of climate-smart technologies, digitalization of value chains, and the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to enhance regional trade and food security.

The paper analyzes how international lending influences African countries' integration into global value chains. It finds that Chinese lending, which focuses heavily on transport and communication infrastructure, increases the overall intensity of GVC participation. In contrast, World Bank lending, which prioritizes social sectors like education and health, helps countries move toward higher value-added, upstream positions in production networks. The study emphasizes that reducing trade costs through infrastructure is key to initial GVC access, while human capital investments support economic upgrading.

The paper analyzes how COVID-19 has disrupted climate finance, noting a tension between the need for economic recovery and the fulfillment of the $100 billion annual climate finance pledge. It highlights that while the pandemic created opportunities for 'green recoveries' through stimulus packages, early funding often favored carbon-intensive sectors. The authors emphasize a growing need for adaptation finance and the mobilization of private capital to support a sustainable transition in Africa.

The document analyzes the gap between the digital goals of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the actual capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Zambia. It argues that while paperless trade and 'single window' systems aim to increase efficiency, low literacy rates and language barriers (reliance on English) create 'SPS-Plus' burdens that exclude many small-scale traders. The author recommends integrating digital skills training and AI-powered translation of trade requirements into local languages to ensure SMEs can benefit from the energy and economic transition toward a digital economy.

The document examines nuclear developments in Algeria, Egypt, and Libya, noting that while all three operate research reactors for medical and industrial use, their ambitions for nuclear power plants vary. Egypt is the most advanced, currently constructing four reactors at Al Dabaa with Russian support. Algeria and Libya have expressed long-term interests in nuclear energy, though these remain largely discursive or stalled by political instability and cost. The author argues that these pursuits are often driven by 'techno-nationalist' prestige rather than purely economic or environmental needs, especially given the viability of solar energy and the region's water scarcity.

The report argues that SADC's current reactive, bureaucratic, and state-centric approach to security is insufficient for the region's complex threat landscape. It proposes the adoption of anticipatory governance—a non-predictive approach using foresight and multi-stakeholder engagement—to move from reactive crisis management to proactive strategic planning. The author highlights the Cabo Delgado insurgency as a primary example of SADC's failure to act timeously and recommends a comprehensive regional security sector review and the establishment of a P/CVE unit to build adaptive capacities.

The document assesses the global and regional shortfall in biodiversity finance, noting that the world failed to meet any Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020. It argues that conservation should be viewed as an investment with a financial return on investment (ROI) rather than a cost. The author explores several 'green' financial instruments—including debt-for-nature swaps, green bonds, 'blue' financing, payment for ecosystem services (PES), and biocredits—as viable options for Africa. It specifically highlights the opportunity provided by COVID-19 recovery packages to implement a 'build forward better' approach, urging African governments and the African Development Bank to lead in mobilising these resources and realigning harmful subsidies toward nature-positive outcomes.

The document analyzes the vulnerability of sub-Saharan African food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting a heavy reliance on global imports and a lack of fiscal capacity for social protection. It details how governments primarily used interventionist market, trade, and production policies, while highlighting severe disruptions in input supply, labor, and logistics. The authors argue for a shift toward more agile governance, investment in infrastructure, and the effective implementation of regional trade agreements to build future resilience.

The report analyzes the DRC's strategic use of its relationship with China to gain leverage over Western donors and the IMF, specifically during the 2007-2009 Sicomines agreement period. It argues that while the DRC successfully used China to accelerate debt relief and secure infrastructure funding, this agency was limited and ceased after 2010 as China shifted toward a more cautious, risk-averse, and 'responsible' international diplomatic strategy.

The document outlines systemic governance failures in South Africa from a youth perspective, highlighting exclusion from political decision-making, extreme economic inequality, and poor infrastructure in education and health. It argues that while progressive policies often exist on paper, implementation is slow and unsystematic, particularly regarding land reform, climate change transition, and youth employment. The submission recommends institutionalising youth quotas, expanding social protection through a basic income grant, and reforming the electoral system to allow independent candidates.

The authors argue that while the T20 has grown in diversity and productivity, it suffers from limited policy impact, a lack of continuity across presidencies, and an over-reliance on the production of policy briefs over substantive dialogue. To address these, they propose establishing a permanent steering committee based on a troika system, decoupling the T20 timeline from the G20 calendar to allow for earlier agenda-setting, and reducing the volume of policy briefs in favor of higher-quality, joint recommendations. The goal is to transform the T20 into a more continuous process that engages both current and incoming G20 presidencies and mid-level government officials.

The author argues that South Africa's foreign policy for twenty-five years has often contradicted its own constitutional human rights principles, frequently shielding rights-abusing regimes to maintain an 'anti-imperialist' stance against the West. This is evidenced by its voting records on the UN Human Rights Council, where it historically supported authoritarian states and opposed investigations into human rights violations. However, the document notes a shift starting in 2019, with South Africa supporting investigations into Myanmar and Yemen, and showing renewed support for LGBTI rights reporting.