[someperson]

> 1.2bn people escaped penury in those 25 years, bringing the global poverty rate down from 43% to 13% (using today’s poverty line). Economic growth did nearly all the work. A booming China accounted for about two-thirds of the decline; red-hot India and Indonesia did much of the rest. It looked as though growth miracles might consign poverty to the past.

> poverty is now concentrated in places where growth is harder to achieve, and population size is rising fast. Around seven in ten of the world’s poor are in sub-Saharan Africa; the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria alone account for a quarter of the total. If current poverty rates persist, rapid population growth means that these three could be home to more than two-fifths of the world’s poorest by 2050.

The world permanently funding cash handouts in highly corrupt countries sounds like a terrible idea.

Sounds much better to investing in infrastructure and improved governance to make the growing issues in sub-Saharan Africa more like the success stories in Asia and other parts of Africa.

Harder to steal infrastructure. But obviously still possible especially before and during construction, and after during maintenance contracts.

[999900000999]

Just give China a bit.

They're going to replace USAID in the poorest nations, offer more free Chinese education.

In time they'll unseat English as the global language.

The best colleges, by some metrics are already Chinese. Give a few hundred thousand Africans tier 1 free Chinese education and see how global perspectives shift in a few decades.

Next the Yuan will become the world reserve currency.

Edit: Sources are always better than opinions.

https://globalchinapulse.net/confucius-institutes-and-the-sp...

[andsoitis]

> In time they'll unseat English as the global language.

The data strongly suggest otherwise.

English’s dominance is growing, with over 80% of online content in English.

There are 1.5 billion English speakers vs 1.1 billion Mandarin speakers. In third place is Hindi at 600 million, followed by Spanish at 560 million and French at 280 million.

86% of Mandarin speakers are native speakers while only 25% of English speakers are native speakers. The ratio for Mandarin has been holding steady while for English more and more non-native speakers are learning it.

Not only is Mandarin mostly spoken by native speakers as the ratios above illustrate, the Chinese birth rate is dropping.

So no, not only is English the world’s true lingua franca, it is extending its lead.

[999900000999]

I'm always open to being wrong.

A smart African student might decide to learn Chinese as well as English.

A smart Chinese student may learn English, French among others.

We'll see what happens in the next 30 years.

[hagbard_c]

Ah yes, the Chinese will be the benevolent overlords of the world, of course. They'll be so much more benevolent than the previous benevolent overlords, or the ones before them, let alone the ones after the Chinese hegemony has finally been broken after decades of abuse and corruption. History does not repeat but it certainly rhymes.

[999900000999]

We've thrown out 80 years of soft power in 8 months.

Someone will fill in the gap.

Free college in Chinese seems like a great deal vs paying over 100k for Western college.

[pstuart]

It's heartbreaking. There's plenty of US History to be ashamed of, but lots of accomplishments too.

We've not just thrown it away, but but set fire to it so that if it ever is possible to wrest control away from these vandals, it could take generations to repair.

Likewise, there's plenty about China to be wary of, but the way that they have collectively invested in the country to move it from a backwater to a premiere superpower (without the shortcut that WWII gave the US), must be recognized as a triumph.

We could be living in prosperity for all, but no, we have to argue over pronouns and bathrooms. FFS, we can do better than that!

[zingar]

Parent is not making a claim about benevolence, merely about a soft power incumbent that is about to be replaced.

[codeforafrica]

I moved to East Africa with my children a few years ago, and I have the same impression. Investments in infrastructure and education seem like the best way to improve everyone's life here.

Here in Tanzania they are building a rail line across the country. That will reduce the travel time by half. Near Mwanza they built a large bridge crossing a bay that replaces an unreliable ferry service. (whenever the ferry was down, people used small boats which occasionally capsized and killed people)

Rural areas need better access to water, and even in cities many people still don't have water on tap. Electricity is mostly there but often breaks down. I brought a desktop computer with me and I am afraid to run it because it would crash to often. In Uganda we once had to wait three days until electricity came back.

Education could use a lot of improvement. There are usually 50 kids or more per class. Corporal punishment is still being used, and although there is ambition to teach modern subjects (including IT, programming, etc) schools lack the resources and the teachers, especially in rural areas, but also in cities. Private schools are not much better than public schools.

The real question is how to get the investments into the country. I just learned that Kenya is seeking funding to complete their rail line. There is your investment opportunity.

On a smaller scale, you can fund schools. Or hire local developers. (Contact me if you are interested in that. I collaborate with local developers on software projects and I volunteer teaching IT/programming in schools. Your support would be appreciated.)

[inetknght]

> Sounds much better to investing in infrastructure and improved governance

When I think of funding Africa, I think of Andrew Millison's video blogs about building a green belt.

https://www.youtube.com/@amillison

[CincinnatiMan]

Can you give a summary of his videos?

[inetknght]

tl;dr: teach people how to regenerate soil health, even in the Sahara (or other inhospitable places); teach people how to grow food while regenerating soil to help fight food insecurity which helps prevent violence

[smarm52]

> The world permanently funding cash handouts in highly corrupt countries sounds like a terrible idea.

It's how much of international politics works. Paying off governments is a good way to get what you want.

McGillivray, F., & Smith, A. (2008). Punishing the prince: a theory of interstate relations, political institutions, and leader change. Princeton University Press.

[tcdent]

Exactly this. It’s counterintuitive for most people, but the more complexity you add to the systems (the more organic they are), the more sustainably successful they become.

Everyone is looking for a simple solution, but simple solutions don't take into account human social dynamics.