After President Lula made South-South cooperation a priority, Brazil began to enhance its relationships with African countries using a variety of channels. Brazil opened 35 new embassies across Africa during his tenure, with ambassadors taking a proactive role in developing ties. Comb

Despite working on agricultural issues for the last 20 years, Professor Bernardo Mueller was still surprised at the scale of transformation in Brazil when he took a step back to look at the long-term picture. This transformation has helped to drive Brazil’s development, and a similar

Over the last few years, African economies have been some of the fastest-growing in the world. But significant doubts remain: why aren’t the proceeds of growth doing more to help those at the bottom of the pile? And in any case, is the boom sustainable? An important report from the Ac

There’s a consensus that Brazil’s development progress has been underpinned by sound macroeconomic management. The introduction of the Real Plan in the mid-90s, which ended regular, destructive outbreaks of hyperinflation is widely regarded as the starting point, but is it the whole s

Last week I met up with the amazing researchers on the IRIBA project at a workshop in Rio. All 12 research papers were presented and scrutinised in depth, and there was much debate about how and where the key points might be useful for African countries. While there’s some more work t

Next week we’re running a workshop in Rio to help finalise the 12 research papers spanning the Brazilian development experience. I’m really looking forward to hearing all the authors present their work, and thinking about the opportunities to translate the research into an African con

Professor Werner Baer of the University of Illinois is one of the leading international experts on the Brazilian economy. His classic book The Brazilian Economy is now in its 7th edition and he’s studied Brazil for decades. We’re lucky enough to have Prof. Baer onboard with the

Professor Armando Barrientos, IRIBA co-research director Last month, the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) in Brazil launched Mundo sem Miséria (World Without Poverty), a new platform to share lessons among low and middle income countries. Mundo sem Miséria forms part of the curren

The following article by IRIBA research directors Professor Armando Barrientos and Dr Ed Amann was recently featured in The Guardian:   Brazil isn’t getting the best press at the moment, with ongoing problems with the construction of the World Cup stadiums and protests abou