The author argues that Africa has not benefited substantially from its mineral wealth and that it is essential for resource-rich African countries to tailor their economic policies to harness and utilise mineral revenues to improve the productivity of non-mineral sectors to break out of the extractive enclave. The article observes that the remarkable extractives-driven economic growth of the last decade across Africa failed to trickle down. It was jobless, benefited foreign corporates and the local elite, and it widened the gap between the rich and the poor. If Africa is to avoid the failures of the previous decades and successfully transition from its present state to that foreseen by Agenda 2030 then the author proposes that it must better harness the potential benefits of its vast mineral wealth. African countries must institute fiscal reforms that will ensure that they are better positioned to derive maximum benefit from the next commodity price super cycle; they must plug loopholes that continue to facilitate the bleeding of much needed development revenues via illicit flows; countries must align all relevant local frameworks to the African Mining Vision, thereby putting the needs of citizens at the centre of their natural resource management agenda; and Africa must unite in a broad and strong push for long overdue global tax reforms.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
The Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Results Framework is an essential component in facilitating CAADP implementation. The AU Malabo Declaration in June 2014 sent the goals for African countries, including a 10% public spending target for agriculture, a commitment to zero hunger by 2025, reducing stunting to 10%, halving poverty, by 2025, and providing preferential and participation for women and youth in gainful and attractive agribusiness This document presents the critical actions required to achieve agricultural development agenda targets. The indicators are accompanied by baseline data and targets that can be achieved within the next 10 years. The framework provides standardised tools which can be used by CAADP stakeholders at country, REC (Regional Economic Community) and continental level to measure agricultural performance and progress. It intends to be used in improving planning processes and strengthening existing monitoring and evaluation systems to achieve CAADP targets within the next 10 years.
Africa’s 'Blue world' is made of vast lakes and rivers and an extensive ocean resource base. The Blue Economy can play a major role in Africa’s structural transformation, sustainable economic progress, and social development. The largest sectors of the current African aquatic and ocean based economy are fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, transport, ports, coastal mining, and energy. This Policy Handbook, offers a step by step guide to help African member States to better mainstream the Blue Economy into their national development plans, strategies, policies and laws. The Blue Economy approach is premised in the sustainable use, management and conservation of aquatic and marine ecosystems and associated resources.
The Government of Kenya (GoK) in partnership with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at the sidelines of the 60th Session of the UN Commission of Women in New York launched the report on the ‘Assessment of the UNFPA Campaign to End Preventable Maternal and New-born Mortality in support of the Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa’ The report captures the important strides the country has made to significantly address disparities in advancing maternal and new-born health at all levels, as part GoK's commitment to address inequalities, as a key principle of Agenda 2030, to ensure that no one is left behind. This video records the event.
The first plenary meeting of the Africa Global Partnership Platform (AGPP/the Platform) was held in Dakar, Senegal on 22 October 2015. The meeting re-affirmed the strong commitment of African countries and partners to achieving food security for the continent, through agricultural growth and transformation to create agricultural commodity value chains for smallholder farmers, create job opportunities for the youth in food and agricultural value chains, and support entry and participation of women and youth in agricultural and agri-food SMEs, in line with SDG 8. This was also seen as the most viable entry point for sustainable industrialization on the continent. The meeting also underlined the need to promote further regional integration, particularly through the development of intra-African trade of food and agricultural commodities. The signing of the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Agreement and the fast-tracking of negotiations for the Continental Free Trade Area was seen as important to contribute to more stable food and agricultural markets at regional and country levels in Africa. The meeting highlighted the gaps in implementation of the CAADP goal of allocating at least 10% of public expenditure to the agricultural sector.
This synthesis paper offers a broad framing of the issues to consider in implementing the proposed African Agenda 2063. In doing so, it re-interprets the African historical experience to underscore the point that the core pillar and contribution of Agenda 2063 must be to help translate centuries of efforts to regain freedom, and to rebuild the self-reliance and dignity of Africans. The paper also identifies some of the possible challenges to which the Agenda must respond if it is to be effective and relevant, the existing policy and institutional pillars into which it fits and on which it must build, and a broad menu of issues which would need to be further reflected upon towards its full-fledged articulation. A set of background papers annexed to the synthesis offer a more in-depth assessment of some of these issues, as a foretaste of the kind of additional technical work required in the course of articulating a robust 2063 Agenda for the continent.
This Africa Progress panel Report argues that African policy makers have critical choices to make. They can either invest their natural resource revenue in people to generate jobs and opportunities for millions in present and future generations, or they can squander this opportunity, allowing jobless growth and inequality to take root. In many African countries, natural resource revenues are widening the gap between rich and poor. Although much has been achieved, a decade of highly impressive growth has not brought comparable improvements in health, education and nutrition. The Africa Progress Panel is convinced that Africa can better manage its vast natural resource wealth to improve the lives of the region’s people by setting out bold national agendas for strengthening transparency and accountability. The Panel consists of ten distinguished individuals from the private and public sector who advocate for equitable and sustainable development for Africa.
This paper examines the evidence for a 'resource curse' at subnational level. Natural resource extraction can have positive effects, generating profits, tax revenue for government, and economic linkages to other sectors. It can also have negative economic, environmental and social consequences, including changes in local relative prices that might crowd out other productive activities; deforestation; pollution and degradation; and the potential for social dislocation and displacement. This paper evaluates the evidence for how these effects accrue specifically to the subnational economy and whether government policy can lead to positive development impacts, while avoiding the challenge of unbalanced costs borne locally.
Sphiwe Mazibuko's 9 minute documentary exposes the intimidation and violence facing anti-mining activists on the Wild Coast and Zululand, in South Africa. Xolobeni residents have fought for 10 years to prevent an Australian company from mining their titanium rich dunes. The film documents how an unwavering response of the Pondo people to protect their traditional Wild Coast lands, where they have lived for over 1500 years, has been met by increasing intimidation and violence with activist lives threatened and attacked.
Southern African states are being alerted to the concessions on intellectual property rights that they can take advantage of within the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) by the Southern African Regional Programme of Access to Medicines and Diagnostics (SARPAM). SARPAM is communicating the flexibilities within the TRIPS to protect public health, including compulsory licensing and parallel importation, as they note that many of these concessions are not yet being used by African countries to access essential medicines. They article reports ways that states and activists have advanced use of these flexibilities. For example in 2002, Zimbabwe used of one of them after declaring a period of emergency to override anti-retroviral medicine patents to import generic medicines for HIV. The article notes that the issue still demands activism. In March 2016, for example, activists marched to the Johannesburg offices of the multinational pharmaceutical company Roche to put pressure on the company to lower the extremely high cost of a life-saving cancer drug.