Ideas worth spreading

1,389,408 views | Andrew Mwenda • TEDGlobal 2007

Aid for Africa? No thanks.

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.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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.

William Easterly | Penguin Books, 2007 | Book

The White Man's Burden

William Easterly | MIT Press, 2002 | Book

The Elusive Quest for Growth

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The Independent (Uganda)

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Andrew Mwenda's blog

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