The foreword to the Africa Progress Report 2011, by the former United Nations Secretary-General:
The last year has been particularly eventful for the continent, and the world as a whole.
A growing debt mountain in the United States, uncertainty around Europe’s common currency and the consequences of the earthquake in Japan are reordering the industrialized world’s priorities. This and the lingering repercussions of the global financial crisis, accelerating shifts in the balance of economic and political power, high food and fuel prices, and political change in North Africa have transformed the policy space in which African leaders and their partners operate. By compounding existing challenges, but also by creating new opportunities, these dynamics are transforming prospects for ordinary Africans across the continent.
The events of the last year have also accelerated changes in how Africa is perceived – and perceives itself. The broader aftershocks of the financial crisis, including currency and price volatility, fiscal crises and asset-price collapse, have proved that no region, for better or worse, can be seen as exogenous to the world economy. They have also highlighted the need for new growth poles and markets to sustain the economic order in the developed world. As a result, countries and companies are increasingly shifting their attention from Africa’s problems to its vast potential and abundant opportunities. In the process, they are redefining the continent’s image.
On the continent, these shifts in perception are accompanied by a heightened appreciation of the need for African self-reliance in an uncertain world, and by a palpable spirit of optimism despite some high-profile setbacks. The fast recovery and strong growth rates of many economies, plus numerous examples of social and political progress, are feeding a remarkable “can-do” spirit. This is reinforced by events such as the Football World Cup in South Africa, the peaceful referendum in South Sudan, the adoption of new constitutions in Kenya and Niger, and unforeseen political change in Egypt and Tunisia.
What was termed “the hopeless continent” ten years ago has now unquestionably become the continent of hope. Hope that strong growth rates will translate into jobs, incomes and irreversible human-development gains; that the continent’s enormous wealth will be used to foster equitable and inclusive growth and generate opportunities for all; that economic transformation and social progress will drive further improvements in democratic governance and accountability as the middle classes grow and demand more of their politicians and service providers; and hope that rulers who abuse their power to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor and of democratic processes are, at last, seeing the writing on the wall.
That many of these hopes actually seem attainable shows how far the continent has come. Hope, however, is not enough. Positive trends are being offset in too many countries by structural governance deficits.
Violence, political turmoil, and uncertainty still scar too many parts of the continent and add to the challenges already at hand. The slow progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the difficult task of providing productive employment for rapidly growing numbers of young people, increasing inequalities and food insecurity, the risk of contagion through increasingly interconnected systems and the effects of climate change all threaten past and future gains.
Despite repeated promises of reform by the world’s most powerful countries and institutions, Africans also remain heavily marginalized in world affairs, with little say in and control over how decisions affecting their countries are taken. The continent’s enormous potential remains constrained by unfair global rules and the ambivalent behaviour of many partners, particularly with respect to tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, distorting quotas and bloated subsidy regimes.
Given these obstacles and challenges, it is all the more remarkable that some countries in Africa have shown such solid progress towards sustainable growth and development. They offer clear proof that, with the right combination of leadership, focused development plans, and international support, enormous advances are possible in even the most difficult circumstances.
However, all African countries face the increasingly difficult task of mobilizing resources in an age of austerity. As pressures on aid budgets increase, and climate change adds new financing demands, African leaders and international donors are realizing that they cannot drive development on their own. Official development cooperation remains vitally important to build capacity, leverage other flows and achieve specific results. Yet, there is also a growing need for partnerships harnessing a broader range of actors and their energy, creativity and resources to fill the gaps.
Such partnerships have already proven their transformative power.
Collaboration between the private sector and international philanthropists has led to significant reductions in malaria deaths. Partnerships between mobile-phone providers and governments have resulted in greater access to credit in rural areas and transformed business across entire regions.
Partnerships between civil society and intergovernmental organizations have led to vastly improved agricultural methods and inputs for smallholder farmers. By mobilizing resources, improving efficiencies, or extending services, access and opportunities to previously marginalized segments of the population, partnerships can clearly complement, expand and improve government-led development efforts. If scaled up, they can even affect sustainable structural change.
Current dynamics are highly favourable for strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration. Over the last years, new spaces have opened up for engaging actors around their comparative advantages and respective interests as the benefits of partnering have become more obvious. The private sector understands that it needs the access and knowledge of local partners and national governments to grasp the enormous commercial opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid. Governments and civil society organisations are recognizing the value of the resources, capacities, and expertise the private sector can bring to their development efforts. As the interests of the various sectors continue to converge and improvements in regulatory environments make cooperating easier and safer, opportunities for partnerships continue to grow.
The core elements of effective partnerships are well established, even though their combination may vary: political leadership and vision from governments, along with a supportive regulatory, legal and fiscal environment; a private sector incentivized to invest capital and ideas not just for immediate returns but for longer-term change that will strengthen markets, value chains and social stability; civil society afforded the space by business and government to keep both accountable for socially and environmentally responsible behaviour; and international organizations, African or otherwise, able to advocate global standards and share best practices, especially from other parts of the global South.
The idea of partnerships for development is hardly new. For over a decade, MDG 8 has been calling for stronger partnerships as a basis for achieving all other goals. Despite the existence of many encouraging examples, and valuable lessons learned, we are still not seeing enough success stories replicated or brought to scale to effect lasting structural change. Too many actors still see the risks of engaging in partnerships rather than the opportunities, and too many states still fail to harness the developmental potential of their civil society organizations or to provide the enabling environment and incentive structures to make partnerships attractive for private-sector actors. This results in missed opportunities to tackle problems and drive progress. Given the transformative power of partnerships, it will be crucial to overcome these blockages and convince all sides of the inherent benefits of partnering for progress. This is the main purpose of this report.
Kofi A. Annan
Chair of the Africa Progress Panel
