Description
In the next few years, the world’s affluent nations hope to reduce world poverty by half. But unless world trade becomes fairer, unless part of the foreign debt of poor countries is cancelled, unless aid increases, it will be impossible to reach that goal. In this film we examine the struggle of two African nations – Burkina Faso & Ghana – to improve life for their people. Burkina Faso is the third poorest country in the world and Ghana is one of the few sub-Saharan countries to have achieved economic growth in the last 30 years. Despite its political stability and many years of peace, Burkina Faso’s situation is precarious. With one of the highest foreign debt rates in the world, it has no natural resources to earn hard currency to meet its financial obligations. 40 years ago, Ghana’s situation was in dire straits, but since then the country has enjoyed years of economic growth. But despite this growth, critics say that it’s all a mirage, and that very few have benefited from this growth. We explain the complex reasons for the situation in both of these countries – which is symptomatic of many countries in the region.