Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa

1. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa Presented on behalf of ECA, AUC, AfDb & undp By Emmanuel nnadozie Director, Economic Development and NEPAD Division, ECA

2. Outline of the presentation • Context • Progress Report • Possible Explanations of Success • Challenges • Some Recommendations • Conclusion

3. Context

4. Commitment remains high • Only 5 years left to target date of 2015 to achieve MDGs. • African common position • High level political commitment not eroded by recent global crises • African governments, development partners, pan-African institutions and UN family • African countries adopted a broad range of policy instruments to minimize impacts of financial and economic crises.

5. Brief Progress Report based on “Assessing Progress in Africa toward the MDGs, 2010” a joint report of the UNECA, AUC, AfDB, and UNDP

6. Overall progress is mixed • Progress towards MDGs in Africa is mixed across countries ten years since the adoption of Millennium Declaration. • But there is unequivocal progress on practically all MDGs. • A number of targets will not be met, not because there is no progress but because the rate of progress is slower than required. • Africa should take pride in meeting some of the targets especially in areas of education and gender. • But concerned about rate of progress in health-related MDGs and in poverty reduction.

7. MDG 1: Poverty Reduction remains problematic • MDG 1 is the most problematic area • Inadequate and incomplete data make assessment of progress on poverty reduction difficult. • Nonetheless, notable progress has been made towards poverty reduction and extreme hunger, and most of health related MDGs. • The proportion of people in Africa living in poverty is decreasing according to latest figures • However, in absolute terms, the number of Africans living below poverty line is projected to increase by 2015

8. MDG 1: Poverty Reduction remains problematic Growth rate of GDP per person employed by Africa sub-region (1992-2008) • 1992-2008: GDP per person employed grew in all sub-regions, denoting an increase in labour productivity. This has been growing in over 84% of the 48 countries with data • Employment to population ratio has stagnated over the period under review and employment creation remains a major challenge

9. MDG 2 Education - Most countries are making progress towards meeting the goal of universal primary education.

10. MDG3: Empowerment of Women: Dramatic increase in parliamentary seats The percentage of seats of women in national parliament dramatically increased in 2009 compared to 1990 • Women’s representation in national parliaments has significantly increased from 1990 to 2009 • Four leading countries on this indicator emerged from civil conflict indicating that gender mainstreaming is part of the peace building process • Women’s participation in executive, judicial, traditional and other public spheres visibly low across most countries

11. Health MDGs (4,5&6) registered significant progress • The continent has made significant progress in some of indicators on health. • For example, • HIV prevalence and mortality rates among population of aged 15-24 have been falling. Prevalence dropped to around 5%. • In most countries, percentage of immunized children against measles is above the 73% regional average in 2008. • Countries & partners have increased investments in health

12. MDG4 Under-5 Mortality: Current rate of progress remains insufficient to reach the target of under-five mortality rate. Deaths/1000 live births

13. MDG5: Improving Maternal Health remains a key challenge Percentage of birth attended by skilled health personnel • Maternal mortality remains key challenge for health systems worldwide. • Latest available data showed that there is an overall decline in maternal mortality between 1980 and 2008. • Birth attendance by health personnel remains low • Key issue discussed in the African Union Summit in July this year and a reinvigorated emphasis was endorsed.

14. MDG6: Combat HIV, TB & other diseases—some success • Prevalence of HIV/AIDs is decreasing • More people are living with HIV which has resource implications • Malaria continues to be major cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa. • However, there has been significant reduction in malaria deaths in few African countries. • Use of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) has increased. • Arteminisin combination therapies are also widely used.

15. MDG7 – Environmental sustainability—mixed result • Another notable achievement is in area of basic sanitation and safe drinking water. • In 2008, nine African countries reached over 90% coverage for access to safe drinking water. This improvement is urban based to a large extent. • The slow progress toward Health MDGs is attributed partly to inadequate hygienic condition including inadequate access to safe water and sanitation.

16. MDG8: Partnership for Development—strong, but many commitments remain unfulfilled • International cooperation and global partnership are crucial for achieving the MDGs and partnership remains strong. • Net official development assistance (ODA) to Africa rose in 2008 despite the global financial and economic crisis. • However, this fell far below the commitment of 0.7% of GNI of OECD countries.

17. Success Factors

18. Three broad set of success factors • Political support remain strong in many countries • Increasing role of policy innovations: • broad-based institutional innovations and • goal-specific • Commitments to the MDGs by Africa’s Development Partners remain strong

19. Broad-based Policy Interventions • Social protection • MDG-based planning • Decentralization: Cascading the MDGs to lower tiers of government • Better policy and program coordination

20. Goal-specific interventions • Virtual Poverty Fund • Non-traditional models of delivering primary education • Legislation of equal inheritance for widows • Decentralized Service Provision

21. Strong commitment by the Partners • Partnership ECA-AfDB-AUC-UNDP to monitor the MDGs and provide assistance to member states • Support to the African Union and RECs on the implementation of regional agricultural value chains to transform agricultural production and contribute to improved food security • Action plan of MDG Africa Steering Group and implementation of the Africa Regional Working Group • Strengthened analytical work to support MDG policy making in Africa, resource mobilization and knowledge sharing

22. Risks and challenges

23. Risks still remain • Unstable global economic environment • Inequality and inequity in service delivery • Global partnership, short of promise • Resource mobilization • Climate change

24. Unstable Global economic environment—constitutes a significant threat • The rising deficits in advanced industrialized countries and Euro-zone debt crisis of 2010 threaten economic recovery and aid flows to Africa in 2010 and beyond.

25. Inequality and inequity remain a key constraint to progress • Reducing inequality in access to social services and thus in outcomes. The inequality partly explains why achieving MDGs in health are slow.

26. Global Partnership for development, a promise still unfulfilled • The Doha round of trade negotiations remain stalled • Economic Partnership Agreement – many African countries signed EPA for protecting EU markets • However, contentious issues still remain. • Aid for Trade: • Access to aid for trade is difficult due to mainstreaming trade into national and regional development strategy. • Moreover, countries need to develop a bankable project.

27. Resource Mobilization remains a key challenge • Some key interventions need additional external resources • Various international commitments, e.g. Monterrey and Gleneagles, are yet to be fulfilled • There is need for mobilizing additional domestic resources to finance MDG targets

28. Threat of Climate Change still looms large • Climate change is a critical issue for Africa; and indeed its greatest challenge in the 21st century • Africa is likely to experience higher temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more extreme weather events • Estimates show that the external financing needed to achieve the MDGs in a hostile climate is 40 per cent higher than the external financing for the MDGs alone

29. Towards an agenda for action

30. Specific Government agenda for Action • Maintain sound and stable macroeconomic policies; • Improve national capacity to monitor and report on the MDGs. • Strengthen MDG-based planning at all levels (tiers) of government; • Scale up public sector investments to achieve the MDGs; • Promote active private sector, CSO and NGO involvement in efforts to achieve the MDGs; • Promote a unified planning framework that provides a strong framework – economic, political, and for achieving the MDGs; and • Harness the potential of regional integration, including South-South regional integration.

31. Conclusion • Africa is unequivocally making progress on all the targets of the MDG • Rate of progress is however mixed • rapid in some slow in others but all pointing in the same direction; • With commitment, all the targets are within reach • Challenge is not to relent in the efforts or panic in the face of momentary adverse shocks but to harness all the resources and all the talents of the continent to achieve the goals

32. Thank you ECA, AUC, AfDB, UNDP Visit us at www.uneca.org