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Africa: No Opportunities, Continent of Crises or Renaissance

Africa’s image largely depends on the extent to which news and background are covered in the media in a diligent and differentiated manner. Africa mainly continues to be perceived as a continent ravaged by disasters, crises and failing states, including extremes such as genocide, civil war and escalating violence (also in every day life), increasing poverty, widespread hunger and malnutrition and exploitation of resources and destruction of nature. The economic deprivation of many Africans has motivated people – among them many celebrities – in the rich industrialised nations to support and donate for development and charitable projects. At the same time, the African “welfare cases” and neo-patrimonial systems have deterred foreign investors. These conditions are not suitable for a partnership based on equality.
Recently, however, a surprising change of perspective has been offered by development experts: “Africa on the rise”. It has been welcomed that most of the civil wars have been brought to an end, that a growing number of countries are now governed democratically and by the rule of law, that governance is improving and that the economic conditions in most African countries have become more favourable – from macroeconomic policies to increased efforts in the fields of education, health and utilities (e.g. water supply). African projects such as the "New Partnership for Africa's Development" (NEPAD) and the Peer Reviews are being acknowledged and appreciated. There has also been a fundamental shift in the conditions for private business activities in Africa. China is not the only new country increasingly investing in Africa. India, Korea and Malaysia are in the process of starting and expanding their activities. This, in turn, has challenged Western governments to strengthen their efforts in order not to be left behind by the emerging powers. In Africa, this has given rise to a new self-confidence.
The cartoon contest under the title “Africa: No Opportunities, Continent of Crises or Renaissance” is meant to contribute to a critical discussion of these ambiguous images which partly date back as far as the early years of colonialism and the times of the slave trade. We therefore invite you to contribute your highly appreciated creative ideas to overcome prejudices and clichés about the African continent.
It is safe to assume that many of the cartoons sent in will find their way into the print media, especially into daily newspapers, since Africa is increasingly being covered. The image of Africa is also an important subject in development education.

We would like to ask you to kindly submit cartoons for the contest by 26th August to:

info@cartoon-competition.org and dwjn@cartoon-competition.org

The cartoon contest is being supported by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development (Switzerland), the protestant development agencies Bread For All (Switzerland) and German Church Development Service, the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund and Misereor (Germany) as well as Dritte Welt Journalist/innen Netz (Third World Journalists’ Network, Germany). We are seeking cooperation with one of the influential daily newspapers. The contest builds on the experiences from previous contests in 2000, 2003 and 2005.


If you participate in the contest…
After 26th August 2007 (deadline for submissions), the cartoons will be screened by an international jury.

We are happy to welcome prominent members to our expert jury this year, such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai (Kenya) and Erich Stather, Minister of State, German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The awards are to be handed over to the winners of the contest at a ceremony planned as highlight of an event to be organised in Berlin.

The organisers of the contest will encourage the reprinting of cartoons in print and online media. We will bring out a special publication and will present the cartoons in the contest website www.cartoon-competition.org and other relevant websites.