Dear newsletter subscriber,
Have you heard of Jessica Foster? Until recently, this AI influencer promoted life as a US soldier online. She could be seen in photos with prominent politicians, in front of military aircraft or with her female comrades. While voices from Iran, where the US military has been carrying out attacks for weeks, barely reach us, Jessica Foster’s propaganda reached over a million people on Instagram alone. In India, meanwhile, political parties are using avatars for personalised telephone campaigning, while in Germany, the issue of digital abuse involving pornographic deepfakes is being discussed.
Of course, not every AI development is problematic. In fact, AI helps people worldwide in their daily lives, advances research, improves healthcare services, and provides crisis relief. However, one thing is clear: technology is putting our values and rules to the test. Information integrity, data protection and privacy – what is ethically acceptable and what should be permitted? We are hurtling towards an AI future at breakneck speed, yet we still have no answers to many of these questions.
It is high time we addressed them. Instead of leaving it to a handful of tech oligarchs to shape the future, we should take control and establish clear rules. Basically, it’s all about asking ourselves: what kind of world do we want to live in?
Our April issue is all about how AI is changing our lives, demanding new resources, transforming the media landscape, as well as how it can be used to create a more democratic, inclusive world that benefits people and the planet.
Please feel free to share your opinions, criticisms and suggestions by emailing us at euz.editor@dandc.eu. |
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Kind regards,
Eva-Maria Verfürth
editor-in-chief at D+C |
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Our latest Digital Monthly:
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| AI is here. Are we ready? |
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How will Africa make use of AI?
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Why the Global South can’t afford tech pessimism
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Payal Arora is a digital anthropologist. In our interview, she calls for the potential of AI to be harnessed for the benefit of people and the planet – particularly in the Global South, rather than in Silicon Valley. But for that to happen, she says, the former must first be better represented in these tools.
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How Indonesia’s media landscape is dealing with AI
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is what a 4G-capable smartphone is expected to cost in future. This emerges from a pilot project initiated by the Handset Affordability Coalition, part of the global mobile industry association GSMA, which aims to reduce the cost of internet-capable devices. In collaboration with local stakeholders, the project will test in six African pilot markets – DRC, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda – whether lowering prices alone can increase usage.
The goal is to narrow the significant digital divide in Africa and expand access to mobile internet. Millions of people live in areas with broadband coverage but still do not use the internet. The main challenge for the project lies in rising prices for chips and other components. The GSMA also emphasizes that scaling the initiative will be difficult without political support, such as tax reductions and the removal of import duties.
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A comprehensive approach to strengthening healthcare has helped India reduce under-five mortality from 48 to 28 per 1000 live births between 2015 and 2023, according to a report by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. During the same period, neonatal mortality declined from 28 to 17 per 1000 live births.
This development aligns with the broader picture outlined by a widely cited Lancet study on global mortality trends, which shows a steady decline in under-five mortality since 1970, although progress has slowed since 2010. The study also finds that overall life expectancy has recovered to pre-COVID levels.
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| What has also caught our interest |
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Two articles at Semafor show why China’s “green push” is more than just a PR stunt – and why it does not automatically mean the salvation of the climate. Tim McDonnell describes China’s energy transition as a narrative riddled with contradictions: on the one hand, Chinese firms are pushing hard into new markets with solar and other renewable technologies (including major investments in the Global South); on the other, coal remains a central part of the system. His point: those who focus solely on emissions targets miss the real dynamics at play – it is about energy security, affordable electricity and control over supply chains.
Xiaoying You adds to this: China’s investments in foreign infrastructure are becoming significantly “greener” under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) because China’s industrial strengths are shifting – solar, batteries and electric cars (“the new three”) are now being exported not only as goods, but increasingly as factories and projects. At the same time, fossil fuels remain part of the BRI mix. By the way: the August issue of D+C will focus on China.
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| Austerity eats away at chalk and medicines |
School classes with 200 children, clinics without staff – Madalitso Wills Kateta describes in Devex how the debt crisis and austerity measures are eroding basic public services in several countries. The starting point is an ActionAid report on Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and Nigeria: household budgets are being squeezed to service debt, whilst ‘social spending floors’ do exist but, according to the report, fail to prevent the cuts. Kateta gathers hard figures and voices from the field: teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, declining education funding – and in the health sector, staff shortages, fees, and a lack of vaccines. The conclusion is uncomfortable: austerity feels like a policy import from the 1980s – except that it is not abstract indicators but human rights and future prospects that are being cut back.
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| Africa as the last bastion of neoliberalism? |
This article is a little dated, but it remains highly relevant to debates on (Africa’s) economic policy: Sa’eed Husaini asks in “Africa Is a Country” why a model that is becoming increasingly controversial globally remains so stable in many parts of Africa, of all places. His thesis: in quite a few countries, it is still considered “sensible” for private investors to drive development – neoliberalism – whilst the state primarily provides the “framework conditions”. This is particularly characteristic of multi-party systems such as those in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa or Kenya, where election campaigns are often vociferous but offer surprisingly little choice in terms of economic policy (“choice-less democracies”). The key question is: why – unlike in Latin America, for example – is there hardly any lasting, electable anti-neoliberal movement emerging?
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The Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship by the International Women’s Media Foundation is a six-month, fully funded program for women and nonbinary journalists focused on human rights and social justice reporting, offering academic study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and hands-on newsroom experience. It aims to strengthen reporting skills and international expertise, selecting one journalist annually to advance high-quality, impactful journalism and continue the legacy of Elizabeth Neuffer, who died in 2003 while reporting in Iraq.
Application deadline: 20 April
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The Change! Fellowships by the Volkswagen Foundation fund researchers from all disciplines who work on societal transformation processes in collaboration with partners outside academia. The program supports transdisciplinary projects that not only analyze change but actively help shape it, with funding of around €1.5–1.8 million over four to five years. Applicants must integrate stakeholders such as NGOs, public institutions or businesses, aiming to develop practical solutions to societal challenges and translate research into real-world impact.
Application deadline: 16 April
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Imprint
Publisher information: ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL gGmbH Service für Entwicklungsinitiativen
Publisher: Fazit Communication GmbH, Pariser Straße 1, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Telephone: +49 (0)69 7591-3110 | Email: euz.editor@dandc.eu
Webseite: www.fazit.de | Managing Directors: Jonas Grashey, Hannes Ludwig |
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