Financial inclusion: Policies and practices

As a key enabler for development, financial inclusion is firmly placed on the agenda of most governments as a key policy priority. Against this background, this round table provides a global and regional perspective on the policies and practices of financial inclusion. Using macro data, the collection reveals the diversity in the efforts towards achieving financial inclusion and the need for a progressive approach in financial inclusion. Further to this, the round table provides the regional perspectives on the policies and practices of financial inclusion in India, South Africa, and Australia

The limits of media democratization in South Africa: politics, privatization, and regulation

This paper critically examines the processes that have limited the development of a democratic media system in post-apartheid South Africa. After a brief overview of the formation of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, the evolution of the ANC’s economic policies and approach to privatization is discussed. This provides the context in which the transformation of the broadcasting system since 1994 Africa can be understood. The privatization of radio stations in 1996 indicates the political tensions that shape media reform. It is argued that the progress of democratic broadcasting reform is increasingly being dictated by the state’s programme for restructuring the telecommunications sector. In conclusion, it is suggested that the post-1994 period has witnessed a diminution in the influence of independent civil society organizations over media policies, consequent upon an increasingly centralized and bureaucratic emphasis in policy formulation and implementation