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Cape Town — Introducing this year's report of the Africa Progress Panel, which he chairs, Kofi Annansays Africa's leaders are primarily responsible for leading the continent out of the current economic crisis:
Last year, our Africa Progress Panel report was dominated by concern about the impact of the food and fuel crises and of climate change on Africa's people. These concerns persist, but they have been overshadowed by yet another, potentially more perilous, threat. The global economic downturn is likely to hit Africa particularly hard, not only through the direct effects of decreases in trade, foreign direct investment, remittances and possibly aid levels, but also as a result of the response measures put together by the developed world, which encourage capital to flee from the economic periphery to perceived safety in the West.
This new setback is coming at a time when many African countries have been recording remarkable economic, social and political progress. There are numerous success stories, including double-digit economic growth, private sector development, innovative banking, use of mobile telephony, free and fair elections, roll-back of malaria, increased school enrolment rates, as well as civil society and women being more engaged in decision making.
There is plentiful and compelling evidence that rapid improvement in human development is possible in even the most difficult and resource constrained environments. But these success stories beg the question as to why hundreds of millions of Africans still lack access to the opportunities and basic means that would allow them to lead healthy and productive lives.
Africa faces hurdles unique to her circumstances, including political fragmentation, infrastructure and communication deficits, and vulnerability to infectious and other diseases. The continent's countries are least responsible for, yet most affected by, many of the problems that the world confronts, including climate change, financial instability and economic contraction. Responsibility for progress in Africa must therefore be shared. Africa's leaders and her international partners, whether industrialized countries or the emerging economies, donors or corporations, have each a role to play in contributing to the continent's economic, social and political progress. Strong partnerships will enable Africa to contribute solutions to global problems, including models for low carbon economic growth and investment opportunities to stimulate the global economy.
At a time when other financial flows are dropping, G8 and donor countries have an even greater responsibility to honour their international aid commitments and to ensure that global deals, whether on trade, climate change, intellectual property, illicit drugs, crime or migration, are supportive of Africa's development needs. Aid, effectively used, can leverage other financial flows, strengthen capacities and meet urgent social and humanitarian needs.
At the same time, primary responsibility for Africa's progress rests with her political leaders. They face the challenge of articulating and asserting Africa's needs and agenda on the global stage, drawing upon the values and standards enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and other landmark agreements as the basis for partnership and support from both the global South and OECD countries. This is also the basis for attracting investment and ensuring that urgently needed aid resources are used as effectively as possible.
Africa's leaders face additional challenges. The success stories show that the quality of people's lives, the opportunities available to them, and their economic security can be rapidly improved with the right combination of leadership, resources and accountability. The problem is that these successes are not being replicated enough or taken to scale.
Resource wealth or availability is not alone sufficient for advancing human development whether at the national or project level. More important is the determination of national and local leaders to use these resources to achieve results and address what citizens want and deserve; security, jobs, food, access to health care and education.
Engaging people in decisions as to how resources are used is an effective way to generate trust and the optimum use of funds.
As the barriers to progress multiply, the quality of political leadership has become ever more relevant, and Africa is no exception.
The primary responsibility of leaders is to set and drive a national development agenda that is responsive to peoples' needs and aspirations, and for which leaders are then accountable. The quality of dialogue between citizens and their leaders is a critical condition for progress and also the best form of managing tensions, and therefore of conflict prevention.
Accountability of those in authority is a tradition and practice that has long roots in Africa's culture. But in many parts of the continent, it is frayed. There are too many instances of elite capture of resources, growing inequality in wealth and opportunity, and the abuse of electoral processes to legitimize exclusive deals among the most powerful.
Africa Progress Panel Reports
- Africa: Climate Change Threatens Instability in 37 Nations, Says Report
- Africa: Continent Makes Unsteady But Remarkable Progress, Says Report
- Africa: Key Findings and Recommendations of the Africa Progress Panel
- Document: An Agenda for Progress at a Time of Global Crisis: A Call for African Leadership
- Africa: Global Crisis Set to Drive Millions Into Poverty, Predicts Report
Much more can and needs to be done to engage Africa's people in growth and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, whether in towns or rural communities, in schools and health centres, in district assemblies and legislatures. Accountability to people, including to Africa's greatest resource, her women, is the soundest basis for leadership, and for ensuring that precious financial resources, whether from domestic sources or donors, are best used to deliver tangible results.
Kofi A. Annan is chair of the African Progress Panel, which was formed to maintain a focus on the commitments to Africa made by the international community in the wake of the Gleneagles G8 Summit and of the Africa Commission report in 2007
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