The writer and director, Ousmane Sembène, uses a then newly independent Senegal, hungry for political and social alternatives, as the backdrop for this widely acclaimed film. Through the film’s main character, Diouana Sembène makes a powerful argument about Senegal’s independence and the impact of colonialism in Africa. It was one of the first African films to receive international acclaim. The short one-hour film, released in 1966, is a simple yet powerful story of a Senegalese nanny, who hopes and dreams of a better future, but is tied down by the French couple who hire her. Sembene presents a powerful critique of black aspiration to be in a France, or more broadly, in a colonizer’s country. Though people are now free in Senegal, they will in many ways still be seen as colonial objects. At a time where issues of race and class are resonating more than ever, and countries are struggling to come to terms with their colonial legacies, Black Girl remains a powerful story about personal and political freedom—one that stills hits just as hard.
Useful Resources
“Is South Africa’s rainbow nation a myth? What is race in 2016?” These are the questions explored in a powerful new documentary film from South Africa. The People versus the Rainbow Nation investigates what drove the country’s students towards mass action in 2015, between the successful #RhodesMustFall campaign to the nationwide #FeesMustFall protests. Filmmaker Lebogang Rasethaba (Future Sound of Mzansi) and producer Allison Swank follow the lives of students across four South African universities as they explore the notion that more than two decades since South Africa’s first democratic elections, the struggle is far from over. “I think it’s about to get really intense in South Africa,” says one student. “I don’t believe in the Rainbow Nation. The Rainbow Nation is a fallacy,” says another.
The HST Conference 2016 programme included 90 oral and poster presentations from a wide range of presenters in the South African public health policy, research and implementation field. Presentations range from health governance and health financing to health counselling and electronic medical records. The presentations are available at this site..
The KEYSTONE open access teaching and learning materials on Health Policy and Systems Research (38 videos and 43 slide presentations across 13 modules) are now live online. These teaching and learning resources were developed for the inaugural KEYSTONE India short course on Health Policy and Systems Research. They include 38 videos and 43 slide presentations organized across 13 modules and cover a range of foundational concepts and common approaches used in HPSR. This suite of teaching and learning materials was developed in the process of delivering the inaugural KEYSTONE course, and is being made available as an open access resource under the Creative Commons license.
The South African-based Mail & Guardian newspaper has launched an Africa wide health journalism centre, Bhekisisa. Bhekisisa means "to scrutinise" in Zulu. It has its own website. is mentoring reporters in African countries to file solutions-based health features for the website and is working with health policymakers, activists and researchers to write opinion pieces for the website.
This toolkit contains tools and resources relating to different categories of participatory governance practices, including for (1) public information, for citizens to access relevant information about government policies, decisions and actions; (2) education and deliberation; (3) public dialogue for communication between citizens and state; (4) design and implementation of public policies and plans that respond effectively to citizens’ priorities and needs; (5) public budgets and expenditures to help citizens understand and influence decisions about the allocation of public resources, monitor public spending and hold government actors accountable for their management of public financial resources (6) monitoring and evaluating the accessibility, quality and efficiency of public services and (7) monitoring and overseeing public action and seeking retribution for injustices or misdeeds.
April 7 was World Health Day and the European Day of Action against commercialisation of Health Care. For this occasion, Third World Health Aid launched its new video that compares the health system of Cuba with the privatized system in the Philippines and its impact on the population. It spreads a strong message of the necessity of free and accessible health care, and community involvement. In this video, Third World Health Aid compare the situation in two developing countries. Cuba is famous for its excellent health care, which is free of charge for its citizens. In the Philippines, access to health care is not so evident. Third World Health Aid see a big inequality. What explains this big difference.? The video shows a walk together with local health workers in the neighbourhoods of Havana and Manilla, the capitals of these two countries. It shows the different experiences of the broad range of factors affecting health, including health care.
Health Financing Africa host a cartoon showing a satirical response to the global development agendas. This cartoon draws on the "Sape" movement (The Society of Ambiance-Makers and Elegant People) in Brazzaville and Kinshasa. Universal Health Coverage figures into the new Sustainable Development Goals and, with a wink, Michel Muvudi (Democratic Republic of the Congo) warns us not to be overly optimistic about the impact of such international objectives at the country level.
The Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI) is a new partnership that brings together country policymakers, health system managers, practitioners, advocates and other development partners to catalyse improvements in primary health care (PHC) in low- and middle-income countries through better measurement and knowledge-sharing. PHCPI aims to help countries to track key performance indicators for their PHC systems, identifying which parts of the system are working well and which ones aren’t. It aims to enhance accountability and provide decision-makers with essential information, to provide a platform for countries to share lessons and best practices an advocacy toolkit, and a compare tool which allows users to simultaneously compare multiple countries across multiple indicators.
In this online interview with Edward Paice, Director of Africa Research Institute, Zhong Jianhua, China’s Special Representative on African Affairs, responds to common criticisms of China’s policy and conduct in Africa. He rejects any analogy between China-Africa trade patterns and those of the colonial era but agrees that Africa must regard China as a competitor pursuing its own interests. Ambassador Zhong observes many similarities between the policy choices facing African governments in the 2000s and those confronted by China during the 1980s and 1990s. He emphasises that China itself is still a developing country – and one which has a great deal to learn about Africa. He insists that it is China’s responsibility to help African nations compete in the global economy. While acknowledging the imperative shared by all developing economies to maximise agricultural potential, attract capital, create a more skilled workforce and industrialise, he concludes that “finally the chance has come” to Africa.