The current Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo is met by a healthcare system that has already been pushed to its limits. A total of $ 518 million is needed to support Africa’s affected countries. 👉 spkl.io/633287zQkp
“If you look at all the media investments China has made in Africa, the aim is to promote positive media coverage for China,” says Admire Mare from the University of Johannesburg. Alphonce Shiundu on how China expands its media influence in Africa – from traditional media to social media. 👇
How China is expanding its media influence in Africa
Chinese state-affiliated companies are increasingly investing in Africa’s media infrastructure. The country has widened its partnerships in the field of content production, for example, by sponsoring trips to major Chinese cities for African journalists and influencers. This carries the risk of “diluted” journalism, particularly given the precarious state of the continent’s media industry. As geopolitical competition intensifies, China’s influence in Africa will continue to grow.
dandc.eu
🇨🇳 How has China become so successful? Does its political system play a role? What does China's role mean for African countries and their aspirations? Find the answers to these and many more questions in our Monthly: 🇬🇧: spkl.io/633217zZ6P 🇩🇪: spkl.io/633217zZ6P
Military solutions keep failing in the Sahel. Lasting peace in the Sahel depends less on foreign military partners and more on other factors, argues Olayinka Ajala in D+C. 👇
Why military solutions keep failing in the Sahel
Lasting peace in the Sahel depends less on foreign military partners than on addressing Tuareg grievances, climate pressures and failing governance. Armed groups continue to exploit these conditions, especially where states lack legitimacy and public trust.
dandc.eu
Speed matters above all for the fight against epidemics, but other factors matter too. 👉 spkl.io/633247KA4q
🌍 Start-ups in the Global South are no longer just developing products or providing individual services – increasingly, they’re also building the underlying infrastructure. "It’s a model that could also be exported to markets around the world," writes Wolfgang Krieger in D+C.
How start-ups are plugging infrastructure gaps in the Global South
From smart cold chains to telemedicine: start-ups in the Global South are no longer just manufacturing products or providing services – they’re also building the necessary infrastructure. This profound transformation requires suitable funding models.
dandc.eu
From Ukraine and Sudan to Gaza: why have hospitals become a target of war?
From Ukraine and Sudan to Gaza: why have hospitals become a target of war?
International law states only military sites can be targeted during conflicts, but this is routinely being ignored
theguardian.com
🇨🇳 China plays a key part in Africa’s development story. Can African countries shape this role in line with their own visions? 🌍 Ronald Ssegujja Ssekandi takes a closer look at China's role in Africa. 👇
China is a main character, but Africa needs to write the script
China has undeniably come to play a key part in Africa’s development story. The crucial question now is whether African countries can shape this role in line with their own visions.
dandc.eu
Containing oligarchs is the central challenge of our time, argue David Lingelbach and Valentina Rodríguez Guerra from The Center for the Study of Oligarchs in D+C. 👉 spkl.io/633227KGwy What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
🇩🇪📈 Support for development aid is growing again in Germany. That's a finding of the most recent DEval Opinion Monitor. In D+C, Helge Zille explains the main results. 👉 spkl.io/633227JfKE
💰 How did China rise to a higher-middle income country? 🔑 One key seems to lie in observation and correct anticipation of global demand. Economist Stefan Dercon told us more. 👉 spkl.io/633297J0wW
⚔️ What does it take to successfully fight Ebola? It will take more than fighting a virus, argue Jasmin Behrends and Stephanie Johanssen from Doctors Without Borders Germany. 👇
Ebola is not the only emergency
The current Ebola outbreak should not be viewed in isolation. It is being met by a healthcare system that has already been pushed to its limits by years of conflict, forced displacement and chronic underfinancing. In order to successfully contain Ebola, we will have to fight much more than a virus.
dandc.eu
Global hunger declined in 2025, demonstrating that improvement is possible, but 645 million people are still hungry & 1 in 3 people cannot afford #HealthyDiets. @fao.org Chief Economist @maximotorero.bsky.social explains the main findings of #SOFI2026. Report: https://doi.org/10.4060/cd8306en
🇪🇬 For many journalists in Egypt, reporting means living in fear. One of them told us in more detail what it's like. 👉 spkl.io/633217JREc
🇧🇷 In Brazil, women can buy pepper spray for self-defence in pharmacies. The fact that such measures are necessary means that the political system has failed, writes journalist Thuany Rodrigues ⬇️
Femicide in Brazil: If women must arm themselves the state has failed
In Brazil, record numbers of femicides, violence in intimate relationships and gaps in the protection system show that the urgency of tackling violence against women goes far beyond symbolic gestures and formal laws.
dandc.eu
🇨🇳 What's behind China's rise to a higher-middle income country? How did they do it? ❌ One should not draw the wrong conclusions: Dictatorship is not the clue, says economist Stefan Dercon from Oxford University. So what is it? In this D+C interview, he explains China's rise. 👇
China’s rise from a very poor to a higher-middle income country
Since the early 1980s, China has risen from a very poor, low-income country to a higher-middle income country which leads the world in terms of exports. That was neither brought about by Communist dogmatism nor by free-market orthodoxy, but by the regime’s pragmatism, as Stefan Dercon of Oxford University argues.
dandc.eu
💰 Not for every start-up is venture capital the right fit, says Jennifer Ho from Integra Partners, a Singapore-based venture capital fund. 🤝 What advice would she give to founders looking to raise funding? Find her answer here. 👉 spkl.io/633277y2vZ
💌 In need of some good news? We've got you covered! Just click the link below. 👇
Bhutan’s successful climate action and Vietnam’s new AI law
The two pieces of good news this month are about Bhutan’s way to become the first country in the world that is carbon negative, and about Vietnam’s new comprehensive AI law.
spkl.io
Heartwarming to see the success of our 2nd Palestine Donor Group meeting today, with 65 participating countries and institutions. We have raised almost €900 million for early recovery in Gaza. The Team Gaza initiative is supported by 🇪🇺🇪🇸 🇩🇰 🇬🇧 🇩🇪 🇳🇴 🇫🇮 🇮🇹 🇳🇱 🇫🇷 🇯🇵 🇨🇭 🇸🇪 🇧🇪 & the World Bank Group
⏱️We took the elevator pitch literally! Our editor-in-chief, Eva-Maria Verfürth, accepted the challenge to pitch our issue on start-ups to our student assistant Isah Shafiq in less than a minute. 💰 So here's why this issue is worth your time. 👇 Get it here: spkl.io/633297yVzz
💌 Did you know that Bhutan has achieved what other countries are still far from achieving? If you'd like more good news, sign up for our newsletter here. 👉 spkl.io/633227y1mO
The UN has recognised the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as humanity’s gravest crime. Leading politicians from Africa and the Caribbean made it clear that the next step must be tangible action.
Humanity’s gravest crime: “Recognition creates responsibility”
The United Nations’ recognition of the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as humanity’s gravest crime has reshaped the global debate on reparations. Leading politicians from Africa and the Caribbean made it clear that the next step must be to translate this recognition into tangible action for justice, development and international cooperation.
dandc.eu
♻️ "Fair" and more resource-efficient smartphones should become the new standard, argues Viktor Schödwell, senior expert in Circular Economy. 💡 He names inspiring examples that show how this can be done. 👉 spkl.io/633257HItV
Russia and China are seeking the capability to disable and eventually destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network. www.semafor.com/article/07/0...
Russia-China effort targets Starlink
Russia and China are seeking the capability to disable and eventually destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network, an investigation found, as the allies deepen their clandestine military…
semafor.com
📆 The deadline set for the SDGs is 2030. But what will happen to them beyond that? 4️⃣ Johannes Kummerow and Jörn Geißelmann from the German development agency GIZ outline four possible scenarios.
Four future scenarios for the 2030 Agenda
What will happen to the UN Sustainable Development Goals beyond 2030? Given how increasingly fragmented and geopolitically fraught the world is just now, negotiations at next year’s SDG Summit are likely to be difficult – and various outcomes are conceivable. Research conducted by GIZ sheds ligh...
dandc.eu
⚽🚺 The German sports scientist and football coach Carolin Braun was most likely the first woman ever to be on the coaching staff of a men’s national team – in Botswana. We spoke to her about the experience. 👉 spkl.io/633257Hpu7
🇮🇱 🇩🇪 When justifying its support for Israel, Germany’s Federal Government often speaks of our country’s “special responsibility”. As a new book by law professor Kai Ambos points out, it misunderstands this responsibility.
A distorted idea of the “reason of state”
When justifying its support for Israel, Germany’s Federal Government often speaks of our country’s “special responsibility”. As a new book by law professor Kai Ambos points out, it misunderstands this responsibility.
dandc.eu
🇸🇾 There's movement in Syria when it comes to innovation. 👇
🇸🇾 Necessity is the mother of invention: In post-war Syria, start-ups have learned to work around several challenges. 💪 What they have built shows what can be done when it has to be done. ⬇️
Syria’s start-ups: building innovation from the rubble
In post-war Syria, start-ups have learned to work around power outages, low bandwidth and fuel shortages rather than wait for normality to return. That makes them not just businesses but part of the country’s reconstruction.
dandc.eu