Ideas change everything

Aid for Africa? No thanks.

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Andrew Mwenda |

TEDGlobal 2007

• June 2007

In this provocative talk, journalist Andrew Mwenda asks us to reframe the "African question" -- to look beyond the media's stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

In this provocative talk, journalist Andrew Mwenda asks us to reframe the "African question" -- to look beyond the media's stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

About the speaker

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Journalist Andrew Mwenda has spent his career fighting for free speech and economic empowerment throughout Africa. He argues that aid makes objects of the poor -- they become passive recipients of charity rather than active participants in their own economic betterment.

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Since the Talk: Africa's success stories

Six years after speaking at TED, the journalist shares his latest thinking on foreign aid and sheds light on his fight for free speech in Uganda.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.