Statistics on development as you’ve never seen them before
admin October 16th, 2009
If you haven’t yet spent any time with TED, then you really should. It is a fascinating and fantastic repository of 20 minute talks about great ideas. And many of them are beautifully presented.
Here, for example, is Hans Rosling from 2006. He has the most extraordinary way of presenting statistics that show the way that the world has developed over the past forty years.
Of most relevance and importance to us at Advance Aid is the clear correlation that is shown between wealth generation and reduced infant mortality, wealth generation and improved health.
Note throughout his presentation how sub-Saharan Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world. And note also how Asian countries have succeeded over this forty year period in pulling themselves up and lifting hundreds of millions of their people out of poverty.
His use of statistics is impressive, his presentation of these statistics is simply breathtaking. And it reinforces our belief that the way forward for Africa is to ensure that jobs are created there and, through jobs, that the continent becomes richer, something that aid on its own has signally failed to deliver.
A word or two about TED – the site says about itself that “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.”
TED is a global treasure, so go enjoy it and learn as you go!
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