PROGRAMME OF ACTION: THE STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development differs in its approach and strategy from all previous plans and initiatives in support of Africa’s development, although the problems to be addressed remain largely the same. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development is envisaged as a long-term vision of an African-owned and African-led development programme.
The Action Programme includes the top priorities structured in the same way as the strategy outlined, and these priorities may be revised from time to time by the Heads of State Implementation Committee. The Programme covers what needs to be done in the short term, despite the wide scope of the actions to be taken.
Although long-term funding is envisaged under this initiative, the projects can be expedited to help eradicate poverty in Africa and place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development and thus halt the marginalization of Africa in the globalization process.
Although there are other urgent priorities, those selected here would serve as a catalyst for intervention in other priority areas in the future. While growth rates are important, they are not by themselves sufficient to enable African countries to achieve the goal of poverty reduction. The challenge for Africa, therefore, is to develop the capacity to sustain growth at levels required to achieve poverty reduction and sustainable development. This, in turn, depends on other factors such as infrastructure, capital accumulation, human capital, institutions, structural diversification, competitiveness, health, and good stewardship of the environment.
The objective of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development is to give impetus to Africa’s development by bridging existing gaps in priority sectors in order to enable the continent to catch up with developed parts of the world.
The new long-term vision will require massive, heavy investment to bridge existing gaps. The challenge ahead for Africa is to be able to raise the required funding under thebest conditions possible. We therefore call on our development partners to assist us in this endeavour.
Long-term objectives
. To eradicate poverty in Africa and to place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development and thus halt the marginalization of Africa in the globalization process;
. To promote the role of women in all activities.
Goals
. To achieve and sustain an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of over 7 per cent per annum for the next 15 years;
. To ensure that the continent achieves the agreed International Development Goals (IDGs), which are:
. To reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015;
. To enroll all children of school age in primary schools by 2015;
. To make progress towards gender equality and empowering women by eliminating gender disparities in the enrolment in primary and secondary education by 2005;
. To reduce infant and child mortality ratios by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015;
. To reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015;
. To provide access for all who need reproductive health services by 2015;
. To implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2005, so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015.
The strategy has the following expected outcomes:
. Economic growth and development and increased employment;
. Reduction in poverty and inequality; Diversification of productive activities, enhanced international competitiveness and increased exports;
. Increased African integration.
Realizing that unless something new and radical is done, Africa will not achieve the IDGs and the 7 per cent annual GDP growth rate, the African heads of state proposethe programme described below. The programme is anchored on key themes and is supported by detailed programmes of action.
A. CONDITIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
A1. THE PEACE, SECURITY, DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE
INITIATIVES
African leaders have learned from their own experiences that peace, security, democracy, good governance, human rights and sound economic management are conditions for sustainable development. They are making a pledge to work, both individually and collectively, to promote these principles in their countries and sub-regions and on the continent.
(i) Peace and Security Initiative The Peace and Security Initiative consists of three elements:
. Promoting long-term conditions for development and security;
. Building the capacity of African institutions for early warning, as well as enhancingtheir capacity to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts;
. Institutionalizing commitment to the core values of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development through the leadership.
Long-term conditions for ensuring peace and security in Africa require policy measures for addressing the political and social vulnerabilities on which conflict is premised. These are dealt with by the Political and Economic Governance Initiatives, the Capital Flows and Market Access Initiatives, and the Human Development Initiative.
Efforts to build Africa’s capacity to manage all aspects of conflict must focus on the means necessary to strengthen existing regional and sub regional institutions, especially in four key areas:
. Prevention, management and resolution of conflict;
. Peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace enforcement;
. Post-conflict reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction;
. Combating the illicit proliferation of small arms, light weapons and landmines.
The leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will consider, within six months of its establishment, setting out detailed and costly measures required in each of the four areas above. The exercise will also include the actions required of partners, and the nature and sources of financing such activities.
The envisaged Heads of State Forum will serve as a platform for the leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development to seek to enhance the capacity of African institutions to promote peace and security on the continent, to share experience and to mobilize collective action. The Forum will ensure that the principles and commitments implicit in this initiative are fulfilled.
Aware of that requirement, Africans must make all efforts to find a lasting solution to existing conflicts, to strengthen their internal security and to promote peace among the countries.
At the Lusaka Summit, the AU decided to take drastic measures in reviving the organs responsible for conflict prevention and resolution.
(ii) Democracy and Political Governance Initiative
It is generally acknowledged that development is impossible in the absence of true democracy, respect for human rights, peace and good governance. With the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Africa undertakes to respect the global standards of democracy, the core components of which include political pluralism, allowing for the existence of several political parties and workers. unions, and fair, open and democratic elections periodically organized to enable people to choose their leaders freely.
The purpose of the Democracy and Political Governance Initiative is to contribute to strengthening the political and administrative framework of participating countries, in line with the principles of democracy, transparency, accountability, integrity, respect for human rights and promotion of the rule of law. It is strengthened by and supports the Economic Governance Initiative, with which it shares key features. Taken together, these initiatives will contribute to harnessing the energies of the continent towards development and the eradication of poverty.
The Initiative consists of the following elements:
. A series of commitments by participating countries to create or consolidate basic governance processes and practices;
An undertaking by participating countries to take the lead in supporting initiatives that foster good governance;
. The institutionalization of commitments through the leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development to ensure that the core values of the initiative are abided by.
The states involved in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will also undertake a series of commitments towards meeting basic standards of good governance and democratic behaviour while, at the same time, giving support to each other. Participating states will be supported in undertaking such desired institutional reforms where required. Within six months of its institutionalisation, the leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will identify recommendations on appropriate diagnostic and assessment tools, in support of compliance with the shared goals of good governance, as well as identify institutional weaknesses and seek resources and expertise for addressing these weaknesses.
In order to strengthen political governance and build capacity to meet these commitments, the leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will undertake a process of targeted capacity-building initiatives. These institutional reforms will focus on:
. Administrative and civil services;
. Strengthening parliamentary oversight;
. Promoting participatory decision-making;
. Adopting effective measures to combat corruption and embezzlement;
. Undertaking judicial reforms.
Countries participating in the initiative will take the lead in supporting and building institutions and initiatives that protect these commitments. They will dedicate their efforts towards creating and strengthening national, subregional and continental structures that support good governance.
The Heads of State Forum on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will serve as a mechanism through which the leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will periodically monitor and assess the progress made by African countries in meeting their commitment towards achieving good governance and social reforms. The Forum will also provide a platform for countries to share experiences with a view to fostering good governance and democratic practices.
A2. THE ECONOMIC AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE
State capacity-building is a critical aspect of creating conditions for development. The state has a major role to play in promoting economic growth and development, and in implementing poverty reduction programmes. However, the reality is that many governments lack the capacity to fulfil this role. As a consequence, many countries lack the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks for private sector-led growth. They also lack the capacity to implement programmes, even when funding is available.
It is for this reason that targeted capacity-building should be given high priority. Programmes in every area should be preceded by an assessment of capacity, followed by the provision of appropriate support.
Objective
To promote throughout the participating countries a set of concrete and timebound programmes aimed at enhancing the quality of economic and public financial management, as well as corporate governance.
. Actions
. A Task Force from the Ministries of Finance and Central Banks will be commissioned to review economic and corporate governance practices in the various countries and regions, and to make recommendations on appropriate standards and codes of good practice for consideration by the Heads of State Implementation Committee within six months;
. The Implementation Committee will refer its recommendations to African states for implementation;
. The Implementation Committee will give high priority to public financial management. Countries will develop a programme for improving public financial management and targets, and assessment mechanisms will also be set in place;
. The Heads of State Implementation Committee will mobilise resources for capacity-building to enable all countries to comply with the mutually agreed minimum standards and codes of conduct.
Subregional and Regional Approaches to Development
Most African countries are small, both in terms of population and per capita incomes. Owing to limited markets, they do not offer attractive returns to potential investors, while progress in diversifying production and exports is retarded. This limits investment in essential infrastructure that depends on economies of scale for viability.
These economic conditions point to the need for African countries to pool their resources and enhance regional development and economic integration on the continent, in order to improve international competitiveness. The five subregional economic groupings of the continent must, therefore, be strengthened.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development focuses on the provision of essential regional public goods (such as transport, energy, water, ICT, disease eradication, environmental preservation, and provision of regional research capacity), as well as the promotion of intra-African trade and investments. The focus will be on rationalizing the institutional framework for economic integration, by identifying common projects compatible with integrated country and regional development programmes, and on the harmonization of economic and investment policies and practices. There needs to be coordination of national sector policies and effective monitoring of regional decisions.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development will give priority to capacity-building in order to enhance the effectiveness of existing regional structures and the rationalization of existing regional organizations. The African Development Bank must play a leading role in financing regional studies, programmes and projects.
The sectors covered by the current Programme include the following priority areas:
. Infrastructure, especially ICT and energy;
. Human resources, including education, skills development and reversing the brain drain;
. Health;
. Agriculture;
. Access to the markets of developed countries for African exports.
For each sector, however, the objective is to bridge existing gaps between Africa and the developed countries so as to improve the continent’s international competitiveness and enable it to participate in the globalization process. The special circumstances of African island and landlocked states will also be addressed in this context.
B. SECTORAL PRIORITIES
B1. BRIDGING THE INFRASTRUCTURE GAP
(i) All Infrastructure Sectors
The infrastructures considered include roads, highways, airports, seaports, railways, waterways, and telecommunications facilities. However, only subregional or continental infrastructures will be the focus of the Plan.
Infrastructure is one of the major parameters of economic growth, and solutions should be found to permit Africa to rise to the level of developed countries in terms of the accumulation of material and human capital.
If Africa had the same basic infrastructure as developed countries, it would be in a more favourable position to focus on production and on improving productivity for international competition. The structural gap in infrastructure constitutes a very serious handicap to economic growth and poverty reduction. Improved infrastructure, including the cost and reliability of services, would benefit both Africa and the international community, which would be able to obtain African goods and services more cheaply.
In many African countries, the colonial powers built the infrastructure to facilitate the exportation of raw materials from Africa and the importation of industrial goods into Africa.
We also recognize that, if infrastructure is to improve in Africa, private foreign finance is essential to complement the two major funding methods, namely credit and aid.
The Infrastructure Initiative comprises elements common to all the infrastructure sectors. It also includes elements that are sector specific.
Objectives
. To improve access to, and affordability and reliability of, infrastructure services for both firms and households;
. To enhance regional cooperation and trade through expanded cross-border development of infrastructure;
. To increase financial investments in infrastructure by lowering risks facing private investors, especially in the area of policy and regulatory frameworks;
. To build adequate knowledge and skills in technology and engineering with a view to installing, operating and maintaining .hard. infrastructure networks in Africa.
Actions
. With the assistance of sector-specialized agencies, put in place policy and legislative frameworks to encourage competition. At the same time, introduce new regulatory frameworks and build capacity for regulators, so as to promote policy and regulatory harmonization in order to facilitate cross-border interaction and market enlargement;
. Increase investment in infrastructure, especially refurbishment, and improve system maintenance practices that will sustain infrastructure;
. Initiate the development of training institutions and networks that can develop andproduce highly skilled technicians and engineers in all infrastructure sectors;
. Promote community and user involvement in infrastructure construction, maintenance and management, especially in poor urban and rural areas, in collaboration with the governance initiatives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development;
. Work with the African Development Bank and other development finance institutions on the continent to mobilise sustainable financing, especially through multilateral processes, institutions and donor governments, with a view to securing grant and concessional finance to mitigate medium-term risks;
. Promote public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a promising vehicle for attracting private investors, and focus public funding on the pressing needs of the poor, by building capacity to implement and monitor such agreements;
. In addition to these common issues, the following are sector-specific strategies for the different types of infrastructure.
(ii) Bridging the Digital Divide: Investing in Information and Communication Technologies
Information and communication technologies (ICTs), driven by the convergence of computers, telecommunications and traditional media, are crucial for the knowledgebased economy of the future. Rapid advances in technology and the diminishing cost of acquiring the new ICT tools have opened new windows of opportunity for African countries to accelerate their economic growth and development. The goals of achieving a Common Market and an African Union can benefit immensely from the revolution in information technology. In addition to fostering intra-regional trade, the use of ICTs could also accelerate Africa’s integration into the global economy.
Intensive use of ICTs can bring unprecedented comparative advantages to the continent:
. It can give impetus to the democratization process and good governance;
. It can facilitate the integration of Africa into the new information society, using its cultural diversity as a leverage;
. ICTs can be helpful tools in a wide range of applications, such as remote sensing and environmental, agricultural and infrastructural planning;
. The existing complementarities can be better utilized to provide training that would allow for the production of a critical mass of professionals in the use of ICTs;
. In the research sector, we can establish African programmes as well as technological exchange programmes capable of meeting the continent’s specific needs, with particular regard to the fight against illiteracy;
. ICTs can be used to identify and exploit opportunities for trade, investment and finance;
. They can be used to establish regional distance learning and health education programmes to improve the situation in the health and education sectors;
. In conflict management and the control of pandemic diseases, ICTs will help towards the organization of an efficient early warning mechanism by providing the tools for constant monitoring of tension spots.
In Africa, poor ICT infrastructure, combined with weak policy and regulatory frameworks and limited human resources, has resulted in inadequate access to affordable telephones, broadcasting, computers and the Internet. African teledensity remains below one line per 100 people. Service costs are also high: the connection cost in Africa averages 20 per cent of GDP per capita, compared with the world average of 9 per cent, and 1 per cent for high-income countries. Africa has been unable to capitalize on ICT as a tool in enhancing livelihoods and creating new business opportunities, and cross-border linkages within the continent and with global markets have been constrained. Although many countries in Africa have started ICT policy reforms, service penetration, quality and tariffs have not yet improved.
Objectives
. To double teledensity to two lines per 100 people by 2005, with an adequate level of access for households;
. To lower the cost and improve reliability of service;
. To achieve e-readiness for all countries in Africa;
. To develop and produce a pool of ICT-proficient youth and students from which Africa can draw trainee ICT engineers, programmers and software developers;
. To develop local-content software, based especially on Africa’s cultural legacy.
Actions
. Work with regional agencies such as the African Telecommunications Union and Africa Connection to design model policy and legislation for telecommunications reform, and protocols and templates for e-readiness assessments;
. Work with the regional agencies to build regulatory capacity;
. Establish a network of training and research institutions to build high-level manpower;
. Promote and accelerate existing projects to connect schools and youth centres;
. Work with development finance institutions in Africa, multilateral initiatives (G-8 DotForce, UN Task Force) and bilateral donors to establish financial mechanisms for mitigating and reducing sector risks.
(iii) Energy
Objectives
. Energy plays a critical role in the development process, first as a domestic necessity but also as a factor of production whose cost directly affects prices of other goods and services, and the competitiveness of enterprises. Given the uneven distribution of these resources on the African continent, it is recommended that the search for abundant and cheap energy should focus on rationalizing the territorial distribution of existing but unevenly allocated energy resources. Furthermore, Africa should strive to develop its abundant solar energy resources;
. To increase Africans. access to reliable and affordable commercial energy supply from 10 to 35 per cent or more within 20 years;
. To improve the reliability and lower the cost of energy supply to productive activities in order to enable economic growth of 6 per cent per annum;
. To reverse environmental degradation that is associated with the use of traditional fuels in rural areas;
. To exploit and develop the hydropower potential of the river basins of Africa;
. To integrate transmission grids and gas pipelines so as to facilitate cross-border energy flows;
. To reform and harmonize petroleum regulations and legislation on the continent.
Actions
. Establish an African Forum for Utility Regulation and establish regional regulatory associations;
. Establish a task force to recommend priorities and implementation strategies for regional projects, including hydropower generation, transmission grids and gas pipelines;
. Establish a task team to accelerate the development of energy supply to low-income housing;
. Broaden the scope of the programme for biomass energy conservation from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to the rest of the continent.
(iv) Transport
Objectives
. To reduce delays in cross-border movement of people, goods and services;
. To reduce waiting time in ports;
. To promote economic activity and cross-border trade through improved land transport linkages;
. To increase air passenger and freight linkages across Africa’s sub regions.
Actions
. Establish customs and immigration task teams to harmonize border crossing and
visa procedures;
. Establish and nurture PPPs as well as grant concessions towards the construction,
development and maintenance of ports, roads, railways and maritime
transportation;
. Promote harmonization of transport modal standards and regulations, and the
increased use of multimodal transport facilities;
. Work with regional organizations to develop transport development corridors;
. Promote PPPs in the rationalization of the airline industry and build capacity for air
traffic control.
(v) Water and Sanitation
Objectives
. To ensure sustainable access to safe and adequate clean water supply and
sanitation, especially for the poor;
. To plan and manage water resources to become a basis for national and regional
cooperation and development;
. To systematically address and sustain ecosystems, biodiversity and wildlife;
. To cooperate on shared rivers among member states;
. To effectively address the threat of climate change;
. To ensure enhanced irrigation and rain-fed agriculture to improve agricultural
production and food security.
Actions
. Accelerate work on multipurpose water resource projects, e.g. the SADC Water
Secretariat’s investigation of the utilization of the Congo River, and the Nile Basin
Initiative;
. Establish a task team to make plans for mitigating the negative impact of climate
change in Africa;
. Collaborate with the Global Environmental Sanitation Initiative (GESI) in
promoting sanitary waste disposal methods and projects;
. Support the UN Habitat programme on water conservation in African cities.
B2. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE, INCLUDING
REVERSING THE BRAIN DRAIN
(i) Poverty Reduction
Objectives
. To provide focused leadership by prioritizing poverty reduction in all the
programmes and priorities of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, as
well as national macroeconomic and sectoral policies;
. To give special attention to the reduction of poverty among women;
. To ensure empowerment of the poor in poverty reduction strategies;
. To support existing poverty reduction initiatives at the multilateral level, such as
the Comprehensive Development Framework of the World Bank and the Poverty
Reduction Strategy approach linked to the debt relief initiative for Highly Indebted
Poor Countries (HIPCs).
Actions
. Require that country plans prepared for initiatives in this programme of action
assess their poverty reduction impact, both before and after implementation;
. Work with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the African
Development Bank, and the United Nations (UN) agencies to accelerate the
implementation and adoption of the Comprehensive Development Framework, the
Poverty Reduction Strategy and related approaches;
. Establish a gender task team to ensure that the specific issues faced by poor women
are addressed in the poverty reduction strategies of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development;
. Establish a task team to accelerate the adoption of participatory and decentralized
processes for the provision of infrastructural and social services.
(ii) Bridging the Education Gap
Objectives
. To work with donors and multilateral institutions to ensure that the IDG of
achieving universal primary education by 2015 is realized;
. To work for improvements in curriculum development, quality improvements and
access to ICT;
. To expand access to secondary education and improve its relevance to Africa’s
development;
. To promote networks of specialized research and higher education institutions.
Actions
. Review current initiatives jointly with the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other major international donors;
. Review levels of expenditure on education by African countries, and lead the
process of developing norms and standards for government expenditure on
education;
. Set up a task force to accelerate the introduction of ICT in primary schools;
. Set up a task force to review and put forward proposals for the research capacity
needed in each region of the continent.
The key problems in education in Africa are the poor facilities and inadequate
systems under which the vast majority of Africans receive their training. Africans
who have had the opportunity of obtaining training elsewhere in the world have
demonstrated their ability to compete successfully.
The plan supports the immediate strengthening of the university system across Africa,
including the creation of specialized universities where needed, building on available
African teaching staff. The need to establish and strengthen institutes of technology is
especially emphasized.
(iii) Reversing the Brain Drain
Objectives
. To reverse the brain drain and turn it into a .brain gain. for Africa;
. To build and retain within the continent critical human capacities for Africa’s
development;
. To develop strategies for utilizing the scientific and technological know-how and
skills of Africans in the diaspora for the development of Africa.
Actions
. Create the necessary political, social and economic conditions in Africa that would
serve as incentives to curb the brain drain and attract much-needed investment;
. Establish a reliable database on the brain drain, both to determine the magnitude of
the problem, and to promote networking and collaboration between experts in the
country of origin and those in the diaspora;
. Develop scientific and technical networks to channel the repatriation of scientific
knowledge to the home country, and establish cooperation between those abroad
and at home;
. Ensure that the expertise of Africans living in the developed countries is utilized in
the execution of some of the projects envisaged under the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development.
(iv) Health
Objectives
. To strengthen programmes for containing communicable diseases, so that they do
not fall short of the scale required in order to reduce the burden of disease;
. To have a secure health system that meets needs and supports disease control
effectively;
. To ensure the necessary support capacity for the sustainable development of an
effective health care delivery system;
. To empower the people of Africa to act to improve their own health and to achieve
health literacy;
. To successfully reduce the burden of disease on the poorest people in Africa;
. To encourage cooperation between medical doctors and traditional practitioners.
Actions
. Strengthen Africa’s participation in processes aimed at procuring affordable drugs,
including those involving the international pharmaceutical companies and the
international civil society, and explore the use of alternative delivery systems for
essential drugs and supplies;
. Mobilise the resources required to build effective disease interventions and secure
health systems;
. Lead the campaign for increased international financial support for the struggle
against HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases;
. Join forces with other international agencies such as the World Health Organization
(WHO) and donors to ensure that support for the continent is increased by at least
US $10 billion per annum;
. Encourage African countries to give higher priority to health in their own budgets
and to phase in such increases in expenditure to a level to be mutually
determined;
. Jointly mobilise resources for capacity-building in order to enable all African
countries to improve their health infrastructures and management.
Africa is home to major endemic diseases. Bacteria and parasites carried by insects,
the movement of people and other carriers thrive, favoured as they are by weak
environmental policies and poor living conditions. One of the major impediments
facing African development efforts is the widespread incidence of communicable
diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Unless these epidemics
are brought under control, real gains in human development will remain an
impossible hope.
In the health sector, Africa compares very poorly with the rest of the world. In 1997,
child and juvenile death rates were 105 and 169 per 1000, as against 6 and 7 per 1000
respectively in developed countries. Life expectancy is 48.9 years, as against 77.7
years in developed countries. Only 16 doctors are available per 100 000 inhabitants,
as against 253 in industrialized countries. Poverty, reflected in very low per capita
incomes, is one of the major factors limiting the populations. capacity to address their
health problems.
Nutrition is an important ingredient of good health. The average daily intake of
calories varies from 2384 in low-income countries to 2846 in middle-income
countries, to 3390 in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).
Health, defined by the WHO as a state of complete physical and mental well-being,
contributes to increase in productivity and, consequently, to economic growth. The
most obvious effects of health improvement on the working population are the
reduction in lost working days due to sick leave, the increase in productivity and the
chance to secure better-paid jobs. Eventually, improvement in health and nutrition
directly contributes to improved well-being as the spread of diseases is controlled,
infant mortality rates are reduced and life expectancy is higher. The link with poverty
reduction is clearly established.
B3. AGRICULTURE
The majority of Africa’s people live in rural areas. However, the agrarian systems are
generally weak and unproductive. Coupled with external setbacks such as climatic
uncertainty, biases in economic policy and instability in world commodity prices,
these systems have held back agricultural supply and incomes in the rural areas,
leading to poverty.
The urgent need to achieve food security in African countries requires that the
problem of inadequate agricultural systems be addressed, so that food production can
be increased and nutritional standards raised.
Improvement in agricultural performance is a prerequisite of economic development
on the continent. The resulting increase in rural peoples. purchasing power will also
lead to higher effective demand for African industrial goods. The induced dynamics
would constitute a significant source of economic growth.
Productivity improvement in agriculture rests on the removal of a number of
structural constraints affecting the sector. A key constraint is climatic uncertainty,
which raises the risk factor facing intensive agriculture based on the significant inflow
of private investment. Consequently, governments have to support the provision of
irrigation equipment and develop arable lands when private agents are unwilling to do
so. The improvement of other rural infrastructure (roads, rural electrification, etc.) is
also essential.
The institutional environment for agriculture also significantly affects the sector’s
productivity and performance. Institutional support in the form of research centres
and institutes, the provision of extension and support services, and agricultural trade
fairs will further boost the production of marketable surpluses. The regulatory
framework for agriculture must also be taken into account, including the
encouragement of local community leadership in rural areas, and the involvement of
these communities in policy and the provision of services.
Bilateral donors and multilateral institutions have paid too little attention to the
agricultural sector and rural development, where more than 70 per cent of the poor
people in Africa reside. For example, in the World Bank lending portfolio, credits to
agriculture amounted to 39 per cent in 1978, but dropped to 12 per cent in 1996 and
even further to 7 per cent in 2000. The entire donor community must reverse such
negative trends.
B4. THE ENVIRONMENT INITIATIVE
It has been recognized that a healthy and productive environment is a prerequisite for
the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. It is further recognized that the range
of issues necessary to nurture this environmental base is vast and complex, and that a
systematic combination of initiatives is necessary to develop a coherent
environmental programme. This will necessitate that choices be made and particular
issues be prioritized for initial intervention.
It is also recognized that a core objective of the Environment Initiative must be to
combat poverty and contribute to socio-economic development in Africa. It has been
demonstrated in other parts of the world that measures taken to achieve a healthy
environmental base can contribute greatly to employment, social and economic
empowerment, and reduction of poverty.
It should be mentioned here that Africa will host the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in September 2002, and that environmental management forms the
basis of the Summit. In this regard, we propose that the event put particular emphasis
on the deliberations on this theme in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
The Environment Initiative has targeted eight subthemes for priority interventions:
. Combating Desertification. Initial interventions are envisaged to rehabilitate
degraded land and to address the factors that led to such degradation. Many of
these steps will need to be labour intensive, along the lines of .public works
programmes., thereby contributing to the social development needs of the
continent. The initial interventions will serve as best practices or prototypes for
future interventions in this area;
. Wetland Conservation. This involves the implementation of African best
practices on wetland conservation, where social and ecological benefits are derived
from private sector investment in this area;
. Invasive Alien Species. Partnerships are sought to prevent and control invasive
alien species. These partnerships are critical for both the preservation of the
ecosystems and for economic well-being. Major labour-intensive initiatives are
possible;
. Coastal Management. In protecting and utilizing coastal resources to optimal
effect, best practices are again suggested from which a broader programme can be
drawn up;
. Global Warming. The initial focus will be on monitoring and regulating the
impact of climate change. Labour-intensive work is essential and critical to
integrated fire management projects;
. Cross-border Conservation Areas. This subtheme seeks to build on the emerging
initiatives, seeking partnerships across countries to boost conservation and tourism
and thus create jobs;
. Environmental Governance. This relates to securing institutional, legal, planning,
training and capacity-building requirements that underpin all of the above;
. Financing. A carefully structured and fair system for financing is required.
The Environment Initiative has a distinct advantage in that many of the projects can
start within relatively short time-frames, and they also offer exceptionally good
returns on investment in terms of creating the social and ecological base on which the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development can thrive.
B5. CULTURE
Culture is an integral part of development efforts on the continent. Consequently, it is
essential to protect and effectively utilize indigenous knowledge that represents a
major dimension of the continent’s culture, and to share this knowledge for the
benefit of humankind. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development will give
special attention to the protection and nurturing of indigenous knowledge, which
includes tradition-based literacy, artistic and scientific works, inventions, scientific
discoveries, designs, marks, names and symbols, undisclosed information and all
other tradition-based innovations and creations resulting from intellectual activity in
the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields. The term also includes genetic
resources and associated knowledge.
The leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will take urgent
steps to ensure that indigenous knowledge in Africa is protected through appropriate
legislation. They will also promote its protection at the international level, by working
closely with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
B6. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS
Objectives
. To promote cross-border cooperation and connectivity by utilizing the knowledge
currently available in existing centres of excellence on the continent;
. To develop and adapt information collection and analysis capacity to support
productive as well as export activities;
. To generate a critical mass of technological expertise in targeted areas that offer
high growth potential, especially in biotechnology and natural sciences;
. To assimilate and adapt existing technologies to diversify manufacturing
production.
Actions
. Establish regional cooperation on product standards development and
dissemination, and on geographic information systems (GIS);
. Develop networks among existing centres of excellence, especially through the
Internet, for cross-border staff exchanges and training programmes, and develop
schemes to assist displaced African scientists and researchers;
. Work with UNESCO, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other
international organizations to harness biotechnology in order to develop Africa’s
rich biodiversity and indigenous knowledge base by improving agricultural
productivity and developing pharmaceutical products;
. Expand geosciences research to enhance the exploitation of the mineral wealth of
the African continent;
. Establish and develop skills-based product engineering and quality control to
support diversification in manufacturing.
C. MOBILISING RESOURCES
C1. THE CAPITAL FLOWS INITIATIVE
To achieve the estimated 7 per cent annual growth rate needed to meet the IDGs .
particularly, the goal of reducing by half the proportion of Africans living in poverty
by the year 2015 . Africa needs to fill an annual resource gap of 12 per cent of its
GDP, or US $64 billion. This will require increased domestic savings, as well as
improvements in the public revenue collection systems. However, the bulk of the
needed resources will have to be obtained from outside the continent. The New
Partnership for Africa’s Development focuses on debt reduction and overseas
development assistance (ODA) as complementary external resources required in the
short to medium term, and addresses private capital flows as a longer-term concern. A
basic principle of the Capital Flows Initiative is that improved governance is a
necessary requirement for increased capital flows, so that participation in the
Economic and Political Governance Initiatives is a prerequisite for participation in the
Capital Flows Initiative.
(i) Increasing Domestic Resource Mobilization
To achieve higher levels of growth and more effective poverty reduction, Africa
needs to mobilise additional resources, both domestic and foreign. Domestic
resources include national savings by firms and households, which need to be
substantially increased. In addition, more effective tax collection is needed to increase
public resources, as well as the rationalizing of government expenditures. A
significant proportion of their domestic savings is lost to African countries as a result
of capital flight. This situation can only be reversed if African economies become
attractive locations for residents to hold their wealth. Therefore, there is also an
urgent need to create conditions conducive to private sector investments by both
domestic and foreign investors. Furthermore, there are other resources that can be
mobilized within Africa while, at the same time, requesting the developed countries to
pledge their Treasury Bills to finance the Plan. In so doing, they would not directly
commit their liquid assets. Finally, we suggest the establishment of Special Drawing
Rights for Africa.
(ii) Debt Relief
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development seeks the extension of debt relief
beyond its current levels (based on debt .sustainability.), which still require debt
service payments amounting to a significant portion of the resource gap. The long-term
objective of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development is to link debt relief
with costly poverty reduction outcomes. In the interim, debt service ceilings should
be fixed as a proportion of fiscal revenue, with different ceilings for international
development assistance (IDA) and non-IDA countries. To secure the full commitment
of concessional resources . debt relief plus ODA . that Africa requires, the leadership
of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will negotiate these arrangements
with creditor governments. Countries would engage with existing debt relief
mechanisms . the HIPC and the Paris Club . before seeking recourse through the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development. The Debt Initiative will require agreed
poverty reduction strategies, debt strategies and participation in the Economic
Governance Initiative to ensure that countries are able to absorb the extra resources.
In addition to seeking further debt relief through the interim debt strategy set out
above, the leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will establish
a forum in which African countries will share experience and mobilise for the
improvement of debt relief strategies.
Actions
. The heads of state of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will secure an
agreement, negotiated with the international community, to provide further debt
relief for countries participating in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development,
based on the principles outlined above;
. The leadership of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development will establish a
forum in which African countries may share experiences and mobilise for the
improvement of debt relief strategies. They will exchange ideas that may end the
process of reform and qualification in the HIPC process.
(iii) ODA Reforms
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development seeks increased ODA flows in the
medium term, as well as reform of the ODA delivery system, to ensure that flows are
more effectively utilized by recipient African countries. The New Partnership for
Africa’s Development will establish a forum of African countries so as to develop a
common African position on ODA reform, and to engage with the Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD and other donors in developing a charter
underpinning the development partnership. This charter will identify the Economic
Governance Initiative as a prerequisite for enhancing the capacity of African
countries to utilize increased ODA flows, and will propose a complementary,
independent assessment mechanism for monitoring donor performance. The New
Partnership for Africa’s Development will support a PRSP Learning Group to engage
in the PRSP process, together with the IMF and the World Bank.
Actions
. Constitute an ODA forum for developing a common African position on ODA
reform, as a counterpart to the OECD/DAC structure;
. Engage, through the ODA forum, with donor agencies to establish a charter for the
development partnership, which would embody the principles outlined above;
. Support efforts of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to establish a PRSP
Learning Group;
. Establish an independent mechanism for assessing donor and recipient country
performance.
(iv) Private Capital Flows
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development seeks to increase private capital flows
to Africa, as an essential component of a sustainable long-term approach to filling the
resource gap.
The first priority is to address investors. perception of Africa as a .high-risk.
continent, especially with regard to security of property rights, regulatory
frameworks and markets. Several key elements of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development will help to lower these risks gradually, and include initiatives
relating to peace and security, political and economic governance, infrastructure
and poverty reduction. Interim measures for risk mitigation will be put in place,
including credit guarantee schemes and strong regulatory and legislative
frameworks.
. The next priority is the implementation of a PPP capacity-building programme
through the African Development Bank and other regional development
institutions, to assist national and sub-national governments in structuring and
regulating transactions in the provision of infrastructural and social services.
. The third priority is to promote the deepening of financial markets within
countries, as well as cross-border harmonization and integration, via a Financial
Market Integration Task Force. Initially, this will focus on the legislative and
regulatory environment for the financial system.
Actions
. Establish a task team to carry out audits of investment-related legislation and
regulation, with a view to risk reduction and harmonization within Africa;
. Carry out a needs assessment of, and feasibility study on, financial instruments to
mitigate risks associated with doing business in Africa;
. Establish an initiative to enhance the capacity of countries to implement PPPs;
. Establish a Financial Market Integration Task Force that will speed up financial
market integration through establishing an international standard legislative and
regulatory framework and creating a single African trading platform;
. Equally important, however, especially in the short to medium term, is the need for
additional ODA and debt reduction. Additional ODA is required to enable least
developed countries to achieve the IDGs, especially in the areas of primary
education, health, and poverty eradication. Further debt reduction is also crucial.
The enhanced HIPC debt relief initiative still leaves many countries within its
scope with very high debt burdens; hence the need to direct more resources
towards poverty reduction. In addition, some countries not included in the HIPC
initiative also require debt relief to release resources for poverty reduction.
C2. THE MARKET ACCESS INITIATIVE
(i) Diversification of Production
African economies are vulnerable because of their dependence on primary production
and resource-based sectors, and their narrow export bases. There is an urgent need to
diversify production and the logical starting point is to harness Africa’s natural
resource base. Value added in agro-processing and mineral beneficiation must be
increased and a broader capital goods sector developed through a strategy of
economic diversification based on intersectoral linkages. Private enterprise must be
supported, both micro-enterprises in the informal sector and small and medium
enterprises in the manufacturing sector, which are principal engines of growth and
development. Governments should remove constraints on business activity and
encourage the creative talents of African entrepreneurs.
(ii) Agriculture
Objectives
. To improve the productivity of agriculture, with particular attention to small-scale
and women farmers;
. To ensure food security for all people and increase the access of the poor to
adequate food and nutrition;
. To promote measures against natural resource degradation and encourage
production methods that are environmentally sustainable;
. To integrate the rural poor into the market economy and provide them with better
access to export markets;
. To develop Africa into a net exporter of agricultural products;
. To become a strategic player in the development of agricultural science and
technology.
Actions
At the African level:
. Increase the security of water supply for agriculture by establishing small-scale
irrigation facilities, improving local water management, and increasing the
exchange of information and technical know-how with the international
community;
. Improve land tenure security under traditional and modern forms of tenure, and
promote the necessary land reform;
. Foster regional, subregional, national and household food security through the
development and management of increased production, transport, storage and
marketing of food crops, livestock and fisheries. Particular attention must also be
given to the needs of the poor, as well as the establishment of early warning
systems to monitor droughts and crop production;
. Enhance agricultural credit and financing schemes, and improve access to credit by
small-scale and women farmers;
. Reduce the heavy urban bias of public spending in Africa by transferring resources
from urban to rural activities.
At the international level:
. Develop new partnership schemes to address donor fatigue for individual, high profile
agricultural projects;
. Developing countries should assist Africa in carrying out and developing its
research and development capabilities in agriculture;
. Promote access to international markets by improving the quality of African
produce and agricultural products, particularly processed products, to meet the
standards required by those markets;
. Support African networking with external partners in the areas of agricultural
technology and know-how, extension services and rural infrastructure;
. Support investment in research in the areas of high-yield crops and durable
preservation and storage methods;
. Provide support for building national and regional capacity for multilateral trade
negotiations, including food sanitation and other agricultural trade regulations.
(iii) Mining
Objectives
. To improve the quality of mineral resource information;
. To create a regulatory framework that is conducive to the development of the
mining sector;
. To establish best practices that will ensure efficient extraction of natural resources
and minerals of high quality.
Actions
At the African level:
. Harmonize policies and regulations to ensure compliance with minimum levels of
operational practices;
. Harmonize commitments to reduce the perceived investment risk in Africa;
. Harmonize information sources on business opportunities for investments;
. Enhance collaboration with a view to knowledge-sharing and value addition to
natural resources;
. Enforce principles of value addition (beneficiation) for investments in the African
mining sector;
. Establish an African School of Mining System for the development and production
of education, skills and training at all levels. This could be achieved through
collaboration among existing schools.
(iv) Manufacturing
Objectives
. To increase the production and improve the competitiveness and diversification of
the domestic private sector, especially in the agro-industrial, mining and
manufacturing subsectors, with potential for exports and employment creation;
. To establish organizations on national standards in African countries;
. To harmonize the technical regulatory frameworks of African countries.
Actions
At the African level:
. Develop new industries or upgrade existing ones, where African countries have
comparative advantages, including agro-based industries, energy and mineral
resource-based industries;
. Acquire membership of the relevant international standards organizations. Active
membership would give Africa a stronger voice in these bodies, and would enable
African industry to participate meaningfully in the development of international
standards. Membership would also result in the transfer copyright of international
standards to the national associations;
. Establish national measurement institutions to ensure harmonization with the
international metrology system. Such activities will always remain the
responsibility of government;
. Ensure that testing laboratories and certification organizations are set up to support
the relevant national technical regulations. Where they do not exist, such
organizations should be established as soon as possible;
. Establish an accreditation infrastructure, such as the International Standards
Organization (ISO) system, which is acceptable internationally. Such an
accreditation infrastructure can be nationally based where the industry is strong
enough to maintain it, otherwise regional structures should be contemplated.
Appropriate funding to ensure membership of international structures such as the
International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Electro-technical
Commission (IEC) should be made available;
. Pursue mutual recognition of test and certification results with Africa’s major
trading partners. Generally, this will only be possible if the framework for
standards, technical regulations, measurement, tractability and accreditation are in
place and can be shown to meet international requirements.
At the international level:
. Facilitate partnership through the development of mechanisms, such as joint
business councils, for information-sharing between non-African and African firms
and for working towards the establishment of joint ventures and subcontracting
arrangements;
. Assist in strengthening African training institutions for industrial development,
particularly through the promotion of networking with international partners;
. Promote the transfer of new and appropriate technologies to African countries;
. Develop and accept a best-practice framework for technical regulations that meet
both the requirements of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the needs of Africa. The technical
regulation frameworks of the developed countries may be too complex for many
African countries;
. Establish standards bureaux, which would provide the industry and government
with the necessary information on international, regional and national standards,
thereby facilitating market access. These centres should be linked to the relevant
international, regional and national standards information centres so that the latter
can act as the national WTO/TBT enquiry points;
. Ensure the development of appropriate regional and national standards through the
establishment of appropriate technical committee structures representing the
stakeholders of the countries, as well as managing such committees in line with
ISO/IEC directives and WTO/TBT requirements.
(v) Tourism
Objectives
. To identify key .anchor. projects at the national and subregional levels, which will
generate significant spin-offs and assist in promoting interregional economic
integration;
. To develop a regional marketing strategy;
. To develop research capacity in tourism;
. To promote partnerships such as those formed via subregional bodies. Examples
include the Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA), the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the SADC.
Actions
At the African level:
. Forge cooperative partnerships to capture the benefits of shared knowledge, as well
as providing a base for other countries for entering into tourist-related activities;
. Provide the African people with the capacity to be actively involved in sustainable
tourism projects at the community level;
. Prioritize consumer safety and security issues;
. Market African tourism products, especially in adventure tourism, ecotourism and
cultural tourism;
. Increase regional coordination of tourism initiatives in Africa for the expansion and
increased diversity of products;
. Maximize the benefits from the strong interregional demand for tourism activities,
by developing specialized consumer-targeted marketing campaigns.
(vi) Services
Services can constitute very important activities for African countries, in particular
those that are well equipped in the field of ICTs (teleservices).
(vii) Promoting the Private Sector
Objectives
. To ensure a sound and conducive environment for private sector activities, with
particular emphasis on domestic entrepreneurs;
. To promote foreign direct investment and trade, with special emphasis on exports;
. To develop micro-, small and medium enterprises, including the informal sector.
Actions
At the African level:
. Undertake measures for enhancing the entrepreneurial, managerial and technical
capacities of the private sector by supporting technology acquisition, production
improvements, and training and skills development;
. Strengthen chambers of commerce, trade and professional associations and their
regional networks;
. Organize dialogue between the government and the private sector to develop a
shared vision of economic development strategy and remove constraints on private
sector development;
. Strengthen and encourage the growth of micro-, small and medium-scale industries
through appropriate technical support from service institutions and civil society,
and improve access to capital by strengthening micro-financing schemes, with
particular attention to women entrepreneurs.
At the international level:
. Promote entrepreneurial development programmes for training managers of
African firms;
. Provide technical assistance for developing an appropriate regulatory environment,
promoting small, medium and micro-enterprises and establishing micro-financing
schemes for the African private sector.
(viii) Promoting African Exports
Objectives
. To improve procedures for customs and drawback/rebate schemes;
. To tackle trade barriers in international trade through the improvement of
standards;
. To increase intra-regional trade through promoting cross-border interaction among
African firms;
. To counter Africa’s negative image through conflict resolution and marketing;
. To deal with shortages of short-term skills through appropriate incentives and
training at firm level.
Actions
At the African level:
. Promote intra-African trade with the aim of sourcing within Africa imports
formerly sourced from other parts of the world;
. Create marketing mechanisms and institutions to develop marketing strategies for
African products;
. Publicize African exporting and importing companies and their products through
trade fairs;
. Reduce the cost of transactions and operations;
. Promote and improve regional trade agreements, foster interregional trade
liberalization and harmonize rules of origin, tariffs and product standards;
. Reduce export taxes.
At the international level:
. Negotiate measures and agreements to facilitate access to the world market by
African products;
. Encourage foreign direct investment;
. Assist in capacity-building in the private sector, as well as strengthening country
and subregional capacity in trade negotiations, implementing the rules and
regulations of the WTO, and identifying and exploiting new trading opportunities
that emerge from the evolving multilateral trading system;
. The African heads of state must ensure active participation in the world trading
system, which has been managed under the auspices of the WTO since 1995. If a
new round of multilateral trade negotiations is started, it must recognize and
provide for the African continent’s special concerns, needs and interests in future
WTO rules.
Participation in the world trading system must enhance:
. Open, predictable and geographically diversified market access for exports from
Africa;
. The provision of a forum in which developing countries can collectively call for
structural adjustment by developed countries in those industries in which the
natural competitive advantage now lies with the developing world;
. Transparency and predictability as preconditions for increased investment, in
return for boosting supply capacity and enhancing the gains from existing market
access;
. Technical assistance and support to enhance the institutional capacity of African
states to use the WTO and to engage in multilateral trade negotiations.
In addition to broad-based support for the WTO, African heads of state must identify
strategic areas of intervention and, together with the international community,
strengthen the contribution of trade to the continent’s recovery. The strategic areas
include:
. Identifying key areas in export production in which supply-side impediments exist;
. Diversifying production and exports, especially in existing and potential areas of
competitive advantage, and bearing in mind the need to move towards higher
value-added production;
. Assessing the scope for further liberalization in manufacturing, given the
concentration of access in low value-added sectors and its restrictiveness in high
value-added activities with the greatest economic and growth potential;
. Renewed political action by African countries to intensify and deepen the various
integration initiatives on the continent. To this end, consideration needs to be given
to:
. A discretionary preferential trade system for intra-African trade;
. The alignment of domestic and regional trade and industrial policy objectives,
thereby increasing the potential for intra-regional trade critical to the
sustainability of regional economic arrangements.
Heads of state must act to:
. Secure and stabilize preferential treatment by key developed country partners, e.g.
the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Cotonou Agreement, the
.Everything But Arms. (EBA) initiative and the Africa Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA);
. Ensure that further multilateral liberalization does not erode the preferential gains
of these arrangements;
. Identify and address deficiencies in their design and application.
(ix) Removal of Non-tariff Barriers
African leaders believe that improved access to the markets of industrialized countries
for products in which Africa has a comparative advantage is crucial. Although there
have been significant improvements in terms of lowered tariffs in recent years, there
remain significant exceptions on tariffs while non-tariff barriers also constitute major
impediments. Progress on this issue would greatly enhance the economic growth and
diversification of African production and exports. Dependence on ODA would
decline and infrastructure projects would become more viable as a result of increased
economic activity.
|