Policy Africa

11/17/2016

11/17/2016

Sustainable development goals: all you need to know from the UN

11/17/2016

With the UN summit on the sustainable development goals looming, find out more about the 17 initiatives that could transform the world by 2030. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a new, universal set of goals, targets, and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies over the next 15 years.
The SDGs follow and expand on the millennium development goals (MDGs), which were agreed by governments in 2001 and was due to expire by 2015.
There is broad agreement that, while the MDGs provided a focal point for governments – a framework around which they could develop policies and overseas aid programs designed to end poverty and improve the lives of poor people – as well as a rallying point for NGOs to hold them to account, they were too narrow.
The eight MDGs – reduce poverty and hunger; achieve universal education; promote gender equality; reduce child and maternal deaths; combat HIV, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; develop global partnerships – failed to consider the root causes of poverty and overlooked gender inequality as well as the holistic nature of development. The goals made no mention of human rights and did not specifically address economic development. While the MDGs, in theory, applied to all countries, in reality they were considered targets for poor countries to achieve, with finance from wealthy states. Conversely, every country will be expected to work towards achieving the SDGs.
The FF are the set of goals....

08/25/2016

In 2004, the Government of Ghana came out with a White Paper on Education Reform. The White Paper outlined series of reform measures and objectives spanning the entire sector of education. The implementation process was to take effect from 2007 and had major targets identified between 2015 and 2020. Key objectives of the White Paper were twofold. First and foremost was to
ensure that all children are provided with the foundations of high quality free basic education. The second measure was to ensure that second cycle education is more inclusive and appropriate to the needs of young people and the Ghanaian economy.

The first proposition of this reform measure was that, basic education would be expanded to include 2 years of Kindergarten as well as the existing 6 years of primary and 3 years of Junior High Schools (JHS). The entire basic cycle
will be free and compulsory and will receive the highest priority of all sub-sectors. Overall funding for this sector will be supported in full by government. The overarching target is 100% completion rates for male and female students at all basic levels by 2015.

We are one year over the intended threshold for implementation and in 2016, the intent and purposes of the whole White paper is yet to be fully realized and chunks of the policy mandate is still in limbo.

08/01/2016

Telecommunications

Telecommunications shape connectivity within countries and with the global economy, for both families and businesses;
As of 2015, Sub-Saharan African countries had the highest final prices for mobile broadband services in the world and internet use is 2nd lowest among regions;
African mobile and wireless markets are highly concentrated. In 27 countries, one player has more than 50 percent market share.
Monopolies are still present in Africa: 11 in international gateway services and six in wireless internet services.
Fostering non-distortive state participation and regulating access to key inputs to provide telecom services will benefit African economies.
Regional cooperation is another way authorities can boost competition. Supply chains and business arrangements often cross borders, so the greater reach of regional organizations could

help them address issues that go beyond the powers of national authorities.

“There is scope for national and regional competition authorities to increase their impact by taking a regional perspective. This report brings home the importance of strong cooperation between agencies involved in implementing competition policy, says Klaus Tilmes, Director of the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank Group. “We hope this analysis will raise awareness of the achievements made in Africa, stimulate debate on how to address the remaining challenges, and reinforce the case for strengthening competition policy across the region.”

08/01/2016

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2016— African countries have much to gain by encouraging open and competitive markets, particularly as a means to spur sustainable economic growth and alleviate poverty. Yet in reality, many markets have low levels of competition. More than 70% of African countries rank in the bottom half of countries globally on the perceived intensity of local competition and on the existence of fundamentals for market-based competition. Monopolies, duopolies, and oligopolies are relatively prevalent compared to other regions. In more than 40% of African countries, a single operator holds over half the market share in telecommunications and transport sectors.

This lack of competition has drastic costs. Retail prices for 10 key consumer goods – white rice, white flour, butter and milk among them -- are at least 24% higher in African cities than in other main cities around the world. While these higher prices affect all consumers, the poor are hit the hardest.

A new report from the World Bank Group and the African Competition Forum, Breaking Down Barriers, estimates the gains from tackling anticompetitive practices and reforming policies to enable competition. For instance, reducing the prices of food staples by just 10%, by tackling cartels and improving regulations that limit competition in food markets could lift 500,000 people in Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia out of poverty and save consumers more than $700 million a year.

Cartels - agreements among competitors to fix prices, limit production or rig bids - are a serious cause of low competition levels in African countries and have been found to affect products in a variety of sectors, including fertilizers, food, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, and construction services. Evidence reveals that consumers pay 49 percent more on average when firms enter into these agreements.

“There have been a notable number of countries adopting competition laws in Africa, and this bodes well for growth and development. However, while the benefits of competition are already clearly observable in Africa, there is still considerable effort required to ensure effective implementation of competition laws and policies across the continent,” notes Tembinkosi Bonakele, Chairperson of the African Competition Forum headquartered in South Africa.

In addition to explaining the costs of low levels of competition, Breaking Down Barriers highlights the important progress many African countries are making in improving competition policies. For instance, the number of countries and economic communities like EAC, COMESA and ECOWAS with competition laws has nearly tripled in 15 years. There are now 25 functional competition authorities in Africa and budgets for those authorities increased by 39% between 2009 and 2014.

“In the past few years, several countries have stepped up their enforcement capacity and implementation of competition laws. For example, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia have taken recent actions to block uncompetitive agreements in a variety of sectors,” explains Martha Martinez Licetti, the report’s co-author and Lead Economist for the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank Group. “Looking to the future, there is a need to prioritize resources and use the powers and tools available to competition authorities more effectively in order to continue raising the relevance of competition policy within the broader development agenda.”

" We hope this analysis will raise awareness of the achievements made in Africa, stimulate debate on how to address the remaining challenges, and reinforce the case for strengthening competition policy across the region. "
Klaus Tilmes
Director of the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank Group

08/01/2016

World gross domestic product (world population approximately 6.5 billion) in 2006 was $48.2 trillion in 2006.

The world’s wealthiest countries (approximately 1 billion people) accounted for $36.6 trillion dollars (76%).
The world’s billionaires — just 497 people (approximately 0.000008% of the world’s population) — were worth $3.5 trillion (over 7% of world GDP).
Low income countries (2.4 billion people) accounted for just $1.6 trillion of GDP (3.3%)
Middle income countries (3 billion people) made up the rest of GDP at just over $10 trillion (20.7%).Source 19
The world’s low income countries (2.4 billion people) account for just 2.4% of world exportsSource 20

The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world “rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world’s financial assets.”

In other words, about 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s financial assets in 2004.

A conservative estimate for 2010 finds that at least a third of all private financial wealth, and nearly half of all offshore wealth, is now owned by world’s richest 91,000 people – just 0.001% of the world’s population.

The next 51 percent of all wealth is owned by the next 8.4 million — just 0.14% of the world’s population. Almost all of it has managed to avoid all income and estate taxes, either by the countries where it has been invested and or where it comes fromSource 21

For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.Source 22

51 percent of the world’s 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations.Source 23

The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.Source 24

The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.Source 25

In 1960, the 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% — in 1997, 74 times as much.Source 26

An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:

3 to 1 in 1820
11 to 1 in 1913
35 to 1 in 1950
44 to 1 in 1973
72 to 1 in 1992Source 27
“Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”Source 28

For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings:

Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries.
Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years).
Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades.
Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization.Source 29
A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.Source 30

Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998

Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Cosmetics in the United States 8
Ice cream in Europe 11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Ci******es in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780
And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:

Global Priority $U.S. Billions
Basic education for all 6
Water and sanitation for all 9
Reproductive health for all women 12
Basic health and nutrition 13

The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty, World Bank, August 2008
For the 95% on $10 a day, see Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen and Prem Sangraula, Dollar a day revisited, World Bank, May 2008. They note that 95% of developing country population lived on less than $10 a day. Using 2005 population numbers, this is equivalent to just under 79.7% of world population, and does not include populations living on less than $10 a day from industrialized nations.
This figure is based on purchasing power parity (PPP), which basically suggests that prices of goods in countries tend to equate under floating exchange rates and therefore people would be able to purchase the same quantity of goods in any country for a given sum of money. That is, the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Hence if a poor person in a poor country living on a dollar a day moved to the U.S. with no changes to their income, they would still be living on a dollar a day.

The new poverty line of $1.25 a day was recently announced by the World Bank (in 2008). For many years before that it had been $1 a day. But the $1 a day used then would be $1.45 a day now if just inflation was accounted for.

The new figures from the World Bank therefore confirm concerns that poverty has not been reduced by as much as was hoped, although it certainly has dropped since 1981.

However, it appears that much of the poverty reduction in the last couple of decades almost exclusively comes from China:

China’s poverty rate fell from 85% to 15.9%, or by over 600 million people China accounts for nearly all the world’s reduction in poverty
Excluding China, poverty fell only by around 10%

08/01/2016

The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.Source 3

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”Source 4

Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.Source 5

Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.Source 6

Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.Source 7

Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.Source 8

Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.Source 9

Water problems affect half of humanity:

Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.

1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)
Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea
The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness.

Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.To these human costs can be added the massive economic waste associated with the water and sanitation deficit.… The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions … are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003

08/01/2016

Education – an enabler to the fulfilment of rights
Education is not only a good in itself, but also an enabling right that permits the exercise of other fundamental rights. Education empowers communities socio-economically, permitting them to better exercise other fundamental rights. The first aspiration of the AU Agenda 2063 envisions a ‘prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development.’ To accomplish this noble aspiration, the AU Agenda 2063 underscores education and a skills revolution as paramount.
While learning to read and write is a fundamental step to empowerment, 38% of African adults, or 153 million people, are illiterate. Africa is the only continent where over 50% of parents are not able to help their children with homework due to illiteracy. Electricity access in primary schools is at 35% and in some countries, 80% of primary schools have no electricity. This hinders learning for most pupils as they are denied light to study. This not only affects their performance in school but also hampers their chances later in life, perpetuating the vicious cycle of denied rights. UNESCO estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will need to invest up to US$26 billion annually to achieve universal education by 2020. This excludes critical investments to electrify marginalised rural areas and achieve universal access to electricity. For this, the region needs to invest up to US$55 billion annually until 2030.
Bridging the resource gap – contribution of environmental assets
Despite the high cost of universal education, Africa has the necessary resources to meet the challenge. Sustainably harnessing the continent’s environmental assets, its natural capital, could potentially unlock resources towards financing education, energy access and other crucial enablers of fundamental human rights – the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainably harnessing Africa’s natural capital was in fact the key agenda at the sixth special session of the Africa Ministerial Conference of the Environment (AMCEN).
Among other things, AMCEN recognised sustainable agro-industrialisation as capable of unlocking billions of dollars which, in turn, could be plowed into financing education and the achievement of other priority rights such as health care and the right to food. Africa holds 65% of the world’s arable land and 10% of internal renewable fresh-water sources. If it is optimised, the agricultural sector – worth an estimated US$1 trillion by 2030 – has the potential to create as many as 17 million jobs annually.
Beyond financing – an education tailored for rights in Africa
Africa’s education policies need to be reformed and centered on solving the continent’s challenges, while technically benchmarking against global best practices. Education should target the solving of developmental challenges and curriculums should equip students to do so.
There is also a need to invest in compulsory quality universal education through the following measures:
Staff rationalisation policies: In promoting greater equity, there is a need to ensure all institutions of learning are equally staffed with adequately trained manpower. Policies entrenching rationalisation practices such as scheduled periodic country wide staff audits will go a long way in correcting staffing imbalances and ensuring that students are served equitably. Lessons from South Africa indicate that a critical success factor of rationalisation programmes is the budgetary allocation for the hiring of new staff whenever deficits are revealed by the exercise.

06/21/2016

Ghana: Filmmaker Adoma Akosua Owusu to adapt Chimamanda Adichie’s story into film
By This Is Africa on June 17, 2016 — Meeting of great minds: Ghanaian filmmaker Adoma Akosua Owusu has acquired the adaptation rights of, “On Monday of Last Week” a short story in Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s collection, The Thing Around Your Neck. Through Kickstarter campaign, Owusu is raising funds to support the film project.

Meeting of great minds. Adoma Akosua Owusu (L) Photo: Owusu/Heinrich Völkel and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Photo: av-magazine
Meeting of great minds. Adoma Akosua Owusu (L) Photo: Owusu/Heinrich Völkel and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Photo: av-magazine

Ghanaian filmmaker and director Adoma Akosua Owusu and her production company, Obibini Pictures have acquired the adaptation rights of, “On Monday of Last Week” a short story in a collection, The Thing Around Your Neck by renowned Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The short story deals with numerous complex issues and themes which include marriage, race, motherhood, liberalism, alienation and sexuality.

Announcing the acquisition of the rights, Owusu said, “I am excited to announce that my company, Obibini Pictures, LLC recently optioned the exclusive film adaptation rights for ‘On Monday of Last Week’,”

“This film is being created with support from the and supporters of On Monday of Last Week’s production Kickstarter campaign. Please celebrate with me by sharing this exciting news! I look forward to embarking on this new journey in film direction and, thank you so much for your support!” she added.

Read: Five African novels adapted into movies

The renowned filmmaker has numerous short films to her credit, which include the award winning ‘Kwaku Ananse’, that received the 2013 African Movie Academy Award, ‘Me Broni Ba’ (My White Baby) and ‘Bus Nut’.

Read: Akosua Adoma Owusu: From ‘Kwaku Ananse’ to ‘Bus Nut’

Owusu’s films have been screened across the world in prestigious film festivals, museums, galleries, universities and microcinemas. The filmmaker is currently a fellow at the Guggenheim Foundation, and the foundation is also supporting her project.

Through Kickstarter campaign, Owusu is raising funds to finance the film project.

You can support Akosua Adoma Owusu and help raise funds to create the film adaptation for “On Monday of Last Week” by donating through Kickstarter.

06/21/2016

With oil revenues declining, Africa will have to turn to the agricultural sector to safeguard its future, argue Richard Munang and Robert Mgendi.

Africa holds 65% of the world’s arable land and investing in agriculture will guarantee sustainable economic growth

Since 2014, oil prices have been on a steep downward curve, with a decline of over 40% resulting in a loss of between US$63 – $88.2 billion in revenue for the African continent. This has led to rising inflation, thousands of job losses, currency depreciations and slashed development budgets, which has severely curtailed Africa’s growth in other areas.

The 2014 Africa Progress Panel report presents the two faces of the continent: robust economic growth and continuing poverty. However, the report suggests that Africa could change this duality by posing the following question: What is the best way to utilise resources to positively impact growth and development? One answer is to diversify sources of growth to include a strengthened agriculture sector that works with nature and not against it. Considering that the sector currently employs about 60% of Africa’s labour force, most of it rural, this will go a long way to improving livelihoods. The message in all this is clear: the continent needs to diversify beyond oil, to inclusive, sustainable economic sectors aligned with contemporary opportunities.

Transforming the oil curse into a blessing for Africa

Agriculture employs an average of 64% of the continent’s workforce. Enhanced earnings in this sector will therefore have the highest poverty-reducing impact. Moreover, Africa holds 65% of the world’s arable land and 10% of internal renewable fresh water sources. If it is optimised, the agricultural sector – worth an estimated US$1 trillion by 2030 – has the potential to create as many as 17 million jobs annually. It goes without saying, then, that Africa should reinvest current oil revenues into inclusive sectors like agriculture. Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EBA) agro-industrialisation, powered by clean energy, is a sure bet. Increased global interest and investment in clean energy provides further impetus for Africa to capitalise on clean energy-based agro-industrialisation.

Considering that existing oil and mineral reserves will surely run out, but that Africa’s soil and its ecosystems, including rivers and forests, will remain, agriculture could well be the continent’s new frontier in the near future. So, while oil is a crucial resource for the continent, policies encouraging the reinvestment of oil incomes into agriculture should be championed to ensure sustainable food production and employment creation.

Agriculture employs an average of 64% of the continent’s workforce. Enhanced earnings in this sector will therefore have the highest poverty-reducing impact.
The potential of investing in soil and working with nature

That said, a key question to consider is the impact of intensified conventional agriculture that focuses on expanding production only without much care being given to the environment. Conventional approaches to food production impact negatively on the ecosystem through deforestation, the overuse of fertilisers and other chemicals that pollute the soil, water and air and kill off the insect pollinators. To safeguard future food security it is necessary to implement approaches that are less damaging to the environment.

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) approaches, an alternative to conventional approaches, aim not only to maintain but also to improve the fertility and productivity of ecosystems. As an example, maize crops rotated with soybean crops yield 5% to 20% more than a continuous maize monoculture. Rotating peas with wheat increases soil nitrogen levels by 6–14 kg/ha, and with this comes an 8% increase in wheat yields. Sustainable farming approaches are also easily adaptable in most rural communities, since they involve agricultural practices that have been used traditionally. Considering that 60% of African farmers are rural and small holders, this fact constitutes a big plus.

A recently released publication on adaptation actions in Africa details the cases of eight countries that have invested in ecosystem-based adaptation and secured climate resilience. Also, work done by some NGOs like Futures Agriculture and Canadian Foodgrains Bank provide classic examples of EBA-driven agriculture in Africa.

Charting the next new frontier

Some practical steps, as evidenced by the Maputo and Malabo declarations, have already been taken to actualise this at a regional level. At a national level, governments should put in place policies that incentivise increased private sector involvement in EBA-driven agriculture in order to bring in capital and enhance competitiveness. Key policy areas to consider are land tenure, asset ownership and tax incentives – rebates, for example – among other things. As an additional long-term measure, governments should invest in educational programmes aimed at changing the mindsets of the youth so as to effect a generational mindset change of the potential held in EBA-driven agriculture to transform countries economically.

A paradigm shift towards increased investment from oil earnings back into the earth’s ecosystems that feed us is needed. Reinvesting natural resource revenues into EBA-driven agriculture is the next step in unlocking Africa’s potential. The time has come for us to put aside our fine words, pick up our tools and start to make the future we so desperately want. Let’s get to work!