International organizations in Africa, a comprehensive vision to promote sustainable development
Shawgie Salah Ahmed
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa released its 2020 edition on innovative financing for private sector development, and the commission estimated the cost of achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030 in Africa at about $ 1.3 trillion annually and determined that this cost will increase significantly due to the expected population growth of 45% During the period 2020-2030, the new edition of the Economic Commission report highlighted the importance of increasing the role of the private sector in these challenges among the options, especially given the low levels of investment by governments and the donor community.
There is an additional problem, as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an additional economic crisis for Africa, with severe social consequences. After 25 years of continuous growth, Africa has been hit hard and experienced a recession in 2020. The International Monetary Fund estimates that its countries need additional financing of up to $285 billion over the period 2021-2025, nearly half of which is directed to low-income African countries, to strengthen the response to the epidemic. Middle-income countries also require special attention. Without collective action, the financing and goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 will be jeopardized.
This bleak picture pushes decision-makers to search for more partnerships and investments in the field of technology transfer and infrastructure financing, especially in the economic, social, and environmental fields.
International Organizations in Africa, Top Coordination Priorities
The most important priority is to provide food and promote activities related to agriculture, and in this area, the FAO stands out, as its strategy is focused in this area such as (Help end hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition: FAO contributes to ending hunger by facilitating the development of policies and political commitments to support food security, and by ensuring that the most up-to-date information on hunger, nutrition, challenges, and solutions is available and easily accessible. Making agriculture, forestry, and fisheries more productive and sustainable: FAO is promoting evidence-based policies and practices to support high-productivity agricultural sectors (crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries) while ensuring that the natural resource base is not affected by this process. Reducing rural poverty: FAO helps poor rural people access the resources and services they need – including rural employment opportunities and social protection – to find their way out of poverty. Enabling inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems: FAO works to build safe and efficient food systems that support smallholder agriculture and reduce poverty and hunger in a rural area).
African decision-makers need more coordination at the national level to enhance the role of the organization and help it achieve its goals consistent with the national goals of African countries to support joint activities.
In the field of infrastructure and the prevention of disasters and crises, organizations such as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency TIKA stand out, where the value of the relief projects carried out by the Turkish organization in 2012 amounted to about 3.5 billion dollars, in which 46% aid was provided to the Middle East, and 30% to African countries. And 10% for Asian countries, through projects within the development and cooperation plans agreed upon with those countries and the Republic of Turkey, through which TIKA has been able to build hundreds of schools, hospitals, Turkish language teaching centers, and medical centers in more than 54 countries around the world.
The African continent needs more coordination and cooperation in the field of infrastructure modernization, especially in the field of health and education, with strong organizations capable of developing these sectors. The important point in this regard is the possibility of transferring technologies from Turkey to Africa without bureaucratic complications.
International aid is needed, but Africa needs self-reliance, some successes in promoting sustainable development in Africa
There is progress in the implementation and implementation of this strategy for sustainable development has not been equal in all countries, as well as about the goals; According to the 2019 Africa Sustainable Development Index; The best-ranked country is Mauritius, which has an average output of 66.19, meaning it has only achieved 66% of its targets and is on track to achieve the best possible output across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Among the best performers: Botswana, Ghana, and Rwanda, but 18 countries (out of a total of 46) in sub-Saharan countries were on average less than 50% of their achievement of the goals of the plan in terms of the best results that can be achieved in that period, and in total, these countries are outside The path to achieving the goals in most parts of the sustainable development plan, which confirms the speed of these countries with their international partners to work together to accelerate performance and implementation.
The primary school enrollment rate in sub-Saharan Africa increased slightly from 77.4 percent in 2015 to 77.6 percent in 2017. The primary school enrollment rate in more than half of the countries in Africa is more than 90 percent, and those countries are likely to achieve the goal of reaching 100 percent by 2030; if current efforts continue.
In the end, more effort must be made by decision-makers in Africa to engineer strategic plans at the short and long levels, to lay solid foundations that will be built upon over time by future generations. If these rules are wrong, it will cost Africa a lot of money. Effort and money, and to avoid this, strategies must be given as many reviews, evaluation, and evaluation as possible for the sake of enhanced sustainable development in the African continent.
