How can you change Africa?

The DfID wants to know how the UK can better help Africans such as these mothers and children queueing for food and medicine at a food distribution centre in Barmon, Niger. Photograph: Dan Chung
You went to the Live8 concert, you went on the march, you feel strongly about the impact of globalisation and poverty in the developing world, but you feel your voice doesn't get heard. Now here's an opportunity to add your opinions to the debate.

The international development secretary, Hilary Benn, who will this evening deliver a speech in which he criticises some of the work done by the Make Poverty History campaign for concentrating on aid rather than trade, is launching a consultation period ahead of an international development white paper this summer.

Departing from tradition, whereby government departments outline proposals in green papers and then ask for responses, Mr Benn has instead posed a series of 15 questions to which he wants the general public to respond.

The consultation paper (which can be read here, contains the full list of questions, which include:

* What can donors do to help build more effective states?

* How can the UK government make sure that development is led by developing countries themselves?

* What further action against corruption - such as bribery, money laundering, tax havens, trafficking and organised crime - should be taken?

* How can international migration be managed better - so that migrants can safely pursue opportunities in a way which benefits both their own countries and those to which they move?

* What should the UK government be doing differently within the international system to make it more effective at delivering development?

So, if you feel strongly about the arms trade, climate change, migration, trade, poverty, education, conflict issues or corruption, here's an opportunity to have your say.

Post your thoughts below, or visit the Department for International Development's website, where you can send them your thoughts directly. Whether your ideas can be best summed up in a sentence, a question, or an essay, Guardian Unlimited and DFID would like to hear about them.

We will be covering the development of this consultation period and white paper in partnership with DFID, and hope to put as many of your questions as possible to Mr Benn in a second interview in the coming weeks.