The development community is increasingly demanding statistics to backup requests for funding and as proof of progress. It is increasingly difficult to receive funding or garner confidence in a project without the numbers to back it up. Not only does this create implications for development issues and progress that are difficult to quantify, but also for communities that lack the ability to gather data and the sophisticated knowledge to properly manipulate the data into usable statistics.

South Africa is doing what has eluded the United States for years -- moving towards universal healthcare aiming to make access to healthcare for the poorest communities possible.

South Africa launches a new institute to promote African leadership and highlight work done by great African thinkers and personalities.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation started the Ibrahim Index in 2007 to measure African governance. The index was designed to monitor African governance according to the african perspective, foster greater dialogue within african civil society, and a homegrown monitoring system for governments, citizens, and different organizations to track progress. Using 88 indicators The Ibrahim Index is the most robust indicator of African governance.

National development agencies are being increasingly recognized as an integral part of international relations and a necessary investment for an global player who wants to be taken seriously on the global stage. South Africa following other BRIC countries has begun to open their own.

GDP has, for better or worse, been the main indicator of economic and societal health for most of the world since the beginning of development work.. A strong and growing GDP signals hope for citizenry that the outlook for job and business opportunities as well as increased social safety nets looks good. For foreign governments and companies, a growing GDP signals investment potential and security . As such, having a sustaining a strong rate of GDP growth is the holy grail of development.

The Yuan is increasing its accessibility in Africa in another move to ensure the long-term business and investment partnership between Africa and China.

Financial markets have been taking an increasingly larger portion of the global GDP, and is moving across borders and faster and smoother rates than before. Electronic financing through the internet opened an entire new world to investors and financiers who are now able to move money from one bank or company to the next in milliseconds.

South Africa has set to raise admission requirements for some of its public universities in an attempt to decrease the alarming dropout rate (up to 35% in some schools).

"An increasing proportion of Africans have grown disenchanted with the poor track record of Western development cooperation - of the tendency to give aid with one hand and to retrieve it with the other through unfair trade practices and debt structures. Africa’s response to development
assistance is thus changing. North-South relations are being superseded by South-East relations, with major implications for Africa’s development.