What are governments and policy makers across the globe doing to implement and fulfill the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by 2030? Who is moving forward and who is lagging behind?
This week’s focus is on the African region, discussing what – politically – thrusts the region towards a sustainable future, hereby giving businesses and business leaders a clear view of where the new market opportunities are.
By Helena Kerr & Amanda Juvik
The Sustainable Development Goals are opening a gate to an estimated annual US$ 12 trillion new market opportunities for businesses across the globe by 2030. To open and accelerate these sustainable market opportunities, local and regional governments must play a key role. They must set the strategic direction, create the necessary institutional frameworks and ensure that the right partnerships are in place to push the 2030 Agenda forward. But are the regional and local governments truly living up to their responsibilities? Are they ensuring the right political frameworks for innovation, business, and new markets?
The Sustainian has closely examined the state of the institutional climate across 21 subregions, spanning the 193 countries that signed up for the 2030 Agenda back in 2015. This week we will deep dive into Africa and its following five subregions:
- Southern Africa
- East Africa
- West Africa
- North Africa
- Central Africa
You can read about what each of these five subregions focuses on in terms of SDGs, and what they have and have not done to ensure political stability and leadership in the transition to a more sustainable region.
Based on a meta-review of several reports and available Voluntary National Reviews of the SDGs, we mapped the progress on the SDGs in 21 regions since their adoption 1,000 days ago.
We ranked each region by following colors: green, yellow and red.
Subregion has taken full ownership of the SDGs and is on track to achieve Agenda 2030.
Subregion has taken concrete steps towards ownership of the SDGs, but must do more.
Subregion set to either backtrack or fall short of Agenda 2030.
Not on the right (SDG) track
Africa has great potential for sustainable growth and for turning the SDGs into new market opportunities. But the potential remains massively untapped. However, with the region experiencing an exploding population, burgeoning middle class, and containing up to 50% of the world’s raw material, Africa is creating significant new global goal-related market opportunities for business leaders. Better Business Better World estimates that the SDGs could open up market hotspots worth an estimated US$ 1.1 trillion and create over 85 million new jobs by 2030 in Africa alone.
Based on the overall assessment of Africa’s progress towards meeting the SDGs, Africa as a whole is falling far behind. Not one country in the region is anywhere near meeting the targets for more than just a few SDGs, and within the limited timeframe of 15 years this may prove impossible.
The political state of affairs in terms of the SDGs therefore has to be seen in connection with the African Union’s strategic framework Agenda 2063, of which most of the African countries have committed to. African Agenda 2063 was agreed upon by African leaders in 2013, and adopted by the African Union (AU) in 2015. Agenda 2063 aims at creating inclusive growth and sustainable development for Africa over the next 50 years and shares similar priorities with the SDGs: infrastructural development; environment and natural resource management; agriculture and food security; gender equality and equity; education and good governance, and the rule of law.
AU Member states are expected to focus on the Agenda 2063 priorities and timeframes, whose contents will have been incorporated into national plans and budgets. However, in July 2016, African leaders established The Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa (SDGC/A) to support SDG implementation in line with African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063. Despite this, the continent still has a long way to go when it comes to meeting the targets of the SDGs. None of the featured subregions or countries currently have sufficient political alignment and frameworks to ensure this. A major challenge faced by the region however, is the limited availability of data when trying to measure countries progress towards these aims – as approximately three out of every five SDG indicators cannot be tracked in Africa due to severe data limitations.
Sources:
Agenda 2063-SDGs, The African Union Commision
Agenda 2063: The Africa we want, The African Union Commision (2015)
SDGs Center for African Establishes West African Center, SDG Knowledge Hub, IISD
Sustainable Development Goasl (The global goals in Africa), UNDP in Africa (2018)
2017 Africa Sustainable Development Report: Tracking Progress on Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, AfDB-AU-ECA-UNDP (2017)
1. SOUTHERN AFRICA
Countries: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome & Principe, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia & Zimbabwe.
Regional rating:
The aggregated picture for Southern Africa masks wide differences across individual country performances, as the sub region displays a considerable diversity comprising a mix of middle-income and low-income countries, where some are ranked among the highest Human Development Index (HDI) rank in Africa, whereas others are the lowest-ranked countries. Also the subregion is ranked within the bottom third of the SDG Dashboards and Index.
All countries in Southern Africa are member states of the African Union (AU), and are therefore part of the African Agenda 2063. Overall Southern African countries are lacking mention and integration of the SDGs in their national policy frameworks and priorities to address key pressures that lead to unsustainable development, and guide cooperation. Only a handful of countries have actually taken steps to ensure that governments and citizens are aware of the SDGs, as well as committed to align with and implement them into national policy. For instance, Angola and South Africa are currently working with UN Country Teams, to raise awareness about the SDGs.
Furthermore, only a few have signed up to conduct their progress through Voluntary National Reviews (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa & Zimbabwe), and some are not included due to insufficient availability of data.
Lessons from Zimbabwe
Based on an independent assessment of the voluntary national review report published by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation in 2018, Zimbabwe was highlighted for its innovative and interesting ways to raise awareness of the 2030 Agenda. Zimbabwe have been using social media – television and radio – to engage the general public. This was for example done by Zimbabwe’s Poverty Reduction Forum Trust which carried out an awareness-raising campaign on the SDGs through radio programmes and by working with local journalists. In addition, a reference group on the SDGs was established and is helping to improve coordination of civil society organizations contributions.
Sources:
Sustainable development goals for the Southern Africa subregion: Summary report, ECA (2015)
Agenda 2063-SDGs, The African Union Commission
SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017, Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2017)
2. WEST AFRICA
Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’lvoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guînea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo.
Regional rating:
The West African countries all have development strategies (such as poverty reduction) in place, as well as three-to-five year national plans aligned with the African Agenda 2063. However, only a few national governments across the subregion have made an effort to align the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in their national policies.,Alongside this, only a handful of countries within the region have volunteered to conduct national reviews of their implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and worse still only a few countries of these countries, such as Togo and Nigeria, have developed full reports. Despite the fact that some countries are lacking the ability to measure their progress towards the SDGs, Liberia and Cabo Verde governments have received support from UNDP to develop a roadmap for the domestication of the 2030 Agenda and the AU Agenda 2063 into their national development plans.
Moreover, The Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa (SDGC/A) which was established by African leaders in 2016, signed a host country agreement with the Government of Liberia to establish the West African SDGC/A Sub-regional Center in Liberia. The newly established center, will work to accelerate implementation of the SDGS in Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone (Mano River Union Countries).
Finally all countries within the West African region, but Cabo Verde, ranks within the lowest 20% of the SDG Dashboards & Index.
Lessons from Benin
Based on an independent assessment of the voluntary national review report published by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation this year, Benin was highlighted as a case study in best practice for how the country conducted a rapid integrated analysis to assess the degree of alignment between 47 policy and strategy documents and the SDGs. The analysis revealed that approximately 70% of its policies and strategies are already aligned with Agenda 2030 and the global SDG indicators. Benin have further looked into the existence of monitoring and evaluation indicators similar to the SDGs. However, data is only available for 46% of the 145 SDG indicators considered a priority for the country.
Sources:
SDGs Center for African Establishes West African Center, SDG Knowledge Hub, IISD (2018)
Sustainable Development Goasl (The global goals in Africa), UNDP in Africa (2018)
SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017, Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2017)
Report on Sustainable Sevelopment Goals for the West Africa subregion, ECA (2015)
Sustainable development goals for the West Africa subregion, summary report, ECA (2015)
Projecting progress: The SDGs in sub-Saharan Africa, Overseas Development Institute (2016)
3. CENTRAL AFRICA
Countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Madagascar
Regional Rating:
The Central African region ranks within the lowest 20% of the SDG Dashboards & Index, classifying it as one of the poorest subregions in Africa. Despite all countries being members of the African Union, and therefore committed to the 2063 regional agenda, a shared framework for inclusive growth and sustainable development aligning with the SDGs, Central African governments lag behind economically, socially and environmentally. For instance, few governments in the region have explicitly laid out their commitments to the SDGs or sustainable development as a whole, or have significant national policy aligned to them. Out of the entire subregion, only Madagascar has submitted a report for the United Nations Voluntary National Review, and Cameroon was the only other country to have signed up for the review, although are yet to have made one.
Despite this, the Central African subregion are members of the ‘Economic Community of Central African States’ which aims to “achieve collective autonomy, raise the standard of living of its populations and maintain economic stability through harmonious cooperation”. This reflects a desire of governments in the sub-region to promote regional economic cooperation for development.
Lessons from Madagascar:
Madagascar reports that their Prime Minister launched an SDG-aligned institutional framework in July 2015. The government of Madagascar volunteered to conduct a national review of their implementation of the 2030 Agenda. They received support from UNDP for preparing their report, which was presented at the UN High-level Political Forum, held on 11–20 July 2016 in New York. The Forum is the United Nations global platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs; it provides policy guidance to countries for the implementation of the goals.
Sources:
Sustainable Development Goals (The global goals in Africa), UNDP in Africa (2018)
SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017, Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2017)
Madagascar, Togo. Report on SDG Implementation, SDG Knowledge Hub, IISD (2016)
Sustainable development goals for the Central Africa subregion: Summary report, UNECA (2015)
Africa 2030: How Africa can achieve the sustainable development goals, SDGC/A (2017)
World Development Indicators, Sustainable Developmet Goals, The World Bank
Better Business, Better World: Sustainable Business Opportunities in Africa, Business and Sustainable Development Commission (2017)
4. EAST AFRICA
Countries: Burundi, Comoros, Dijbouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.
Regional Rating:
East Africa comprised 15% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP in 2015. However, out of the East African region only Rwanda is on target for fulfilling one SDG by 2030. Half of the countries in the region are not on target to meet any SDGs at all and all countries in this region however remain at the bottom 20% of the SDG Index & Dashboard report.
Several countries in the region have however explicitly developed Agenda 2030-aligned development strategies. For instance, Ethiopia have a comprehensive 52-page national review for the UN Voluntary National Review project, which includes survey and census data outlining their implementation of and preparation for the SDGs, showing integration of the SDGs into national policy and development frameworks, a strong move from the Ethiopian government. Alongside this, Kenya has drawn out a roadmap to guide the country’s transition to the 2030 agenda. Sudan submitted a three-page commitment, outlining a vague commitment to the SDGs. Finally, Uganda was one of the first countries to develop its 2015/16–2019/20 national development plan in line with the SDGs. The Government estimates that 76% of the SDGs targets are reflected in the plan and adapted to the national context.
Lessons from Kenya
Kenya has taken steps to incorporate the SDGs into national policy and developed a roadmap for implementation. Kenya’s efforts to mainstream the SDGs in policy and planning includes integration through Performance Contracts and Strategic Plans for ministries, departments and agencies. Kenya has also developed an SDG Roadmap to guide the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (the eight UN development goals for the year 2015 that had been established in 2000) to the SDGs in consultation with national and local government, civil society and development partners. T the roadmap focuses on, amongst other things: stakeholder mapping and establishing partnerships, mainstreaming and accelerating implementation, resource mobilization, tracking and reporting, and capacity building.
Sources:
Steps 2018: Ethiopia, ECA (2018)
Sustainable development goals for the Eastern Africa subregion, UNECA (2015)
2017 Africa Sustainable Development Report: Tracking Progress on Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, AfDB-AU-ECA-UNDP (2017)
Africa 2030: How Africa can achieve the sustainable development goals, SDGC/A (2017)
SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017, Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2017)
World Development Indicators, Sustainable Developmet Goals, The World Bank
5. NORTH AFRICA
Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco & Tunisia.
Regional Rating:
North Africa, also known as the Maghreb region, is technically the most developed subregion on the African Continent and the only fully industrialized one, yet comprises just 16% of the continent’s population. The region has unfortunately been mired in conflict over the last 7 years, since the 2011 Arab Spring began in Tunisia, causing weak and collapsed governments across the subregion, leading to stagnant economies, and declining quality of life for many citizens.
With only Libya excluded from the SDG Index, countries within the region rank, on average, in the middle of the index, with the Mauritania ranking 132nd out of 149 way below the rest, and the highest being Tunisia at 53rd. Tunisia is also the only country on target to meet SDGs 1 and 4. Unfortunately, the region as a whole is lagging behind the UN Voluntary National Review initiative, with only Egypt and Morocco having submitted reviews, of which were short and vague.
All countries in the region are however members of the African Union and are therefore committed to the Africa 2063 agenda, which committed to all countries integrating it into their national policy frameworks. Ultimately however, it is clear the region has failed to show much commitment or integration of the SDGs into their national policy frameworks, with their lack of involvement in the UN Voluntary National Review symptomatic of this.
Lessons from Egypt
Through Egypt’s Strategy for Sustainable Development, or Vision 2030, launched in 2016 the country has taken steps to incorporate the SDGs into national policies. Egypts Vision 2030 reflects the government’s commitment to ‘investing the ingenuity of place and humans to achieve sustainable development and to improve Egyptians’ life quality’ according to their website. The agenda is going to serve as a roadmap that sets out an inclusive vision of the future of Egypt. The strategy incorporates three strategic pillars: the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, which is consistent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and with the African Agenda 2063.