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Africa's emerging powerhouse
ONE Blog -- There was a quiet victory last week for an emerging powerhouse in Africa’s development. The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is a critical resource for the continent. It’s funded by—and for—Africa with additional assistance from outside donors and it has been playing an increasingly important role financing some of Africa’s most critical needs both for poverty reduction and for economic growth such as infrastructure, the private sector and governance...

Cell phones cut maternal deaths
IRIN Africa -- Cell phones have cut dramatically the number of women dying during childbirth in Amensie village in south-central Ghana, according to local health officials. Health and aid workers say while other improvements in primary healthcare in Amensie - as part of the Millennium Villages project - have contributed to the drop, the availability of cell phones has been pivotal...

Yes Africa Can: Success stories from a dynamic continent
World Bank -- The economic landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa has changed dramatically since the mid-1990s, with stagnation giving way to dynamism in a broad swath of countries. Aggregate GDP growth climbed from less than 2.5 percent in the 1990s to around six percent in 2003–07. The region has also begun to make headway on poverty reduction and on achieving the Millennium Development Goals...

Ex-Mentor: Sharpton is Obama's link to the streets
NY Times -- The Rev. Al Sharpton is a ''lightning rod'' for President Barack Obama on inner city streets, Obama's former Harvard mentor and friend said Saturday at a forum in Harlem. But Sharpton, who led the event, told The Associated Press that America's first black president "has to work both for us and for others," and that if Obama were to push a race-based agenda, "that would only organize the right against him"...