tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/un-millennium-development-goals-761/articlesUN millennium development goals – The Conversation2022-04-20T14:06:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1815212022-04-20T14:06:46Z2022-04-20T14:06:46ZThree priorities Africa’s newbie on the World Bank board should focus on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458902/original/file-20220420-14894-yiqzbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images</span> </figcaption></figure><p>President Cyril Ramaphosa recently <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/press-statements/president-appoints-acting-minister-public-service-and-administration">appointed</a> a senior South African politician, Ayanda Dlodlo, to serve a two-year term as a member of the World Bank’s 25-person Board of executive directors. She will represent a constituency consisting of Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. </p>
<p>Dlodlo has previously held two cabinet positions – as minister of public service and administration and state security. </p>
<p>The appointment of such a senior politician to executive director position offers South Africa an opportunity to influence the World Bank’s relations with Africa. </p>
<p>The 25 executive directors of the bank fulfil a dual function. Firstly, they operate as the governing board of the World Bank. Their second function is to represent the interests of their countries at the bank. </p>
<p>Given these two remits we propose three issues that Dlodlo should prioritise in her term as executive director.</p>
<h2>The role</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/directors/eds25">Executive directors must</a> approve all World Bank loans and guarantees, country assistance strategies, the administrative budget of the Bank, and the Bank’s key operational policies and procedures. They also monitor the management and staff of the Bank compliance with these policies. </p>
<p>In all these activities, the board has a <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/directors/eds25">fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of the World Bank</a>.</p>
<p>Their <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/directors/eds25">second function</a> is to represent the interests of the countries in their constituency. This inevitably means that the Board is a more political board than the board of most banks. </p>
<p>In an effort to mitigate its politicisation, the board has developed the custom of operating largely by consensus. Formal votes by the board are unusual. This is significant for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, World Bank member states have weighted votes, with their votes being weighted according to a formula based on their economic size and role in the global economy. Each executive director has a vote equal to the sum of the votes of the states in their constituency. Thus, a minority of powerful executive directors, with large weighted votes, can outvote the majority of the board. </p>
<p>China, France, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the US are each represented by their own executive director. These seven executive directors have over 50% of the total vote in the Bank. The remaining 182 World Bank member states belong to constituencies each of which is represented by one executive director.</p>
<p>Second, the practice of consensus means that any executive director that earns the respect of their colleagues can become an influential voice in the board’s decision-making process regardless of their constituency’s vote.</p>
<p>The constituency that Dlodlo will represent is particularly small. It was created in 2010 when the World Bank approved a resolution increasing the number of elected executive directors <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/directors/eds25">from 24 to 25</a>. This decision followed a concerted campaign by African states and their allies, in which South Africa played a leading role, to improve the voice of African states in the governance of the Bank. </p>
<p>This reform demonstrates the role that South Africa can play in advancing the interests of African countries at the bank.</p>
<h2>Priorities</h2>
<p>Dlodlo’s first priority should be to advocate for improved support for Africa. World Bank support is a matter of both the quantity of funds and its quality. </p>
<p>Dlodlo and her fellow African executive directors therefore need to take a pronged approach.</p>
<p>Firstly, they should argue, that the Bank should increase the level of financial support that it provides to Africa so that it can deal with the adverse economic effects of the war in Ukraine. The war is leading to increased prices in goods like <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-ukraine-conflict-could-influence-africas-food-supplies-177843">food and fertiliser for which certain African countries are heavily dependent on Russia and Ukraine.</a></p>
<p>Second, they should advocate that the financing should be provided in a form that allows African countries the maximum possible flexibility in how they can use the funds. In particular, the terms of the financing should help countries promote their own agenda for dealing with the challenges that they face in promoting sustainable and inclusive development. </p>
<p>This means that the support should be focused on helping governments and communities use the funds consistently with the international norms and standards they’ve signed up to. These include the sustainable development goals, the declaration on the right to development and the core human rights treaties.</p>
<p>Secondly, Africa’s representatives on the World Bank board should advocate for a more creative and sustainable approach to Africa’s looming debt crisis.</p>
<p>Currently, <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/Pubs/ft/dsa/DSAlist.pdf">22 low-income African countries</a> are either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress. The international community’s response has been tepid. The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/debt/brief/covid-19-debt-service-suspension-initiative">Debt Service Suspension Initiative</a> which provided temporary debt repayment standstills has ended. While many eligible African countries took advantage of it, they received limited support. It is also becoming evident – as acknowledged by the World Bank President – that <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2021/12/02/the-g20-common-framework-for-debt-treatments-must-be-stepped-up/">the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the initiative</a> has serious shortcomings.</p>
<p>This suggests that there is a need for new approaches. The World Bank is one forum in which to organise more creative and sustainable avenues to dealing with African debtors in distress. For example, Africa’s executive directors could advocate that the World Bank support efforts to hold all Africa’s creditors, including its bondholders, to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/vultures-doves-and-african-debt-heres-a-way-out-137643">applicable international norms and standards.</a></p>
<p>The third area in which Africa’s executive directors can play a role is in promoting a more accountable and responsive bank.</p>
<p>Over the last three decades the World Bank has been a leader in promoting more transparent and accountable development finance. But there are still shortcomings in its approach to it’s own accountability for compliance with its operational policies. </p>
<p>A substantial cause of these problems is the failure of the Bank management and staff to treat accountability as part of the learning process at the Bank rather than as a means for assigning blame. This is unfortunate because development projects are inherently complex and uncertain. Even the best and most committed development practitioners are likely to make mistakes. They therefore need to have a means of identifying and learning from these mistakes. They also need to learn about these mistakes expeditiously so that they can take action before their unintended mistakes have irreversible adverse social and environmental impacts.</p>
<p>Communities are both an important source of information on these problems and the unfortunate victims of their effects. Consequently, an independent mechanism that allows these actors to raise their concerns and get them addressed in a timely and effective manner is a necessary element in the development process. It also offers the World Bank a unique and essential perspective on the impacts of its operations. </p>
<p>The Bank created the Inspection Panel, its own <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/accountability/brief/the-inspection-panel?cq_ck=1632342539765.html">independent accountability mechanism</a> in 1993. In 2020 the executive directors created an expanded mechanism, the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/accountability/brief/about-us">Accountability Mechanism</a> to investigate complaints from external stakeholders that they have been harmed by the management and staff’s failure to comply with these policies. </p>
<p>Dlodlo should use her position to help change the Bank’s general approach to accountability so that it is more open to admitting its mistakes, correcting them and learning from them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danny Bradlow's SARCHI Chair is funded by the National Reseach Foundation. He has also received funding for research projects from the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and Oxfam South Africa</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Magalie Masamba receives funding from Danny Bradlow's SARCHI Chair and works on research projects funded by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and Oxfam South Africa.
Magalie Masamba is a Senior Fellow of the African Sovereign Debt Justice Network. </span></em></p>The World Bank board operates on the basis of reaching decisions by consensus. This means that any executive director must earn the respect of their colleagues to affect change.Danny Bradlow, SARCHI Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations, University of PretoriaMagalie Masamba, Post-doctoral Fellow, Centre for Human Rights, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1778552022-03-14T13:53:14Z2022-03-14T13:53:14ZNigeria will have to dig deep to overcome entrenched patterns of poverty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450358/original/file-20220307-84357-7y659j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People loot bags of food from a COVID-19 palliative warehouse in Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>India has just recently overtaken Nigeria as the country with the <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/nigeria-is-no-longer-the-poverty-capital-of-the-world-but-still-has-over-70-million/2txm7g3">largest number</a> of people living in extreme poverty. </p>
<p>It’s estimated that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-economy-poverty-idUSKBN22G19A">almost half </a> of Nigeria’s population of about 200 million lives below the threshold of US$1.90 (792 Naira) daily. </p>
<p>Nigeria accounts for about 14% of the world’s poor. The African continent as a whole accounts for about <a href="https://www.thecable.ng/report-nigeria-overtakes-india-worlds-poverty-capital">two-thirds</a> of the world’s poor and the figure is projected to rise.</p>
<p>Calls have been growing for the urgent need to tackle extreme global poverty and boost shared prosperity. The continued attention isn’t solely linked to altruistic motives. Poverty has implications for global growth, peace and development.</p>
<p>The crucial question is how can poverty be reduced? </p>
<p>Evidence is clear that fast-paced inclusive growth driven by value-added productivity and strong institutions ensure a decent level of wealth re-distribution.</p>
<p>In his paper <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/3466">“From Flying Geese to Leading Dragons”</a>, Justin Yifu Lin points out new opportunities and strategies for structural transformation in developing economies. </p>
<p>In this article, I corroborate his arguments based on my research, teaching and policy experiences on economic growth and development in developing countries, particularly in the sub-Saharan Africa region. </p>
<p>I posit that while technology has meant that countries can leap in advancement, through imitation, there is no alternative evidence to sequential structural change for poverty reduction. This requires changes to both the structure of the economy and labour moving in tandem, especially in high population countries like Nigeria.</p>
<p>I draw insights from three of my recent studies: (i) <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-78843-2_7">Capital Flows and Economic Growth: Does the Role of State Fragility Really Matter</a> (ii) <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-49348-6_2">Interrogating the Political Economy of Africa Rising</a> (iii) <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-49348-6_19">From the Narrative of “Africa Rising” to “How Africa Can Arise”</a>.</p>
<h2>Changing face of global poverty</h2>
<p>The aim of the first Millennium Development Goal – to see a halving of the world population living in extreme poverty by 2015 – was met <a href="https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf">five years early</a>. The rate fell to an estimated 21% in 2010, from 43% in 1990. </p>
<p>A huge chunk of this success can be attributed to China, and to a lesser extent India. Between them they were responsible for three-quarters of the reduction in the world’s poor witnessed over the period 2005 - 2015. </p>
<p>These trends contributed to the changing face of global poverty. Asia’s share of global poverty fell from about two-thirds to one-third. For its part Africa’s share more than doubled from <a href="https://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/poverty/33EF03BB-9722-4AE2-ABC7-AA2972D68AFE/Global_POVEQ_SSA.pdf">28% to 60%</a>.</p>
<p>Poverty has gradually become an African problem, despite the rapid growth in the continent over the last decade. In addition, poverty is no longer concentrated in low-income countries. Large chunks of the world’s poor are now located in the recently upgraded middle income countries with significant clusters in the fragile ones. Nigeria is one of them. </p>
<p>This dire situation calls for urgent concern. But accelerating economic growth without increased effort at sharing prosperity and wealth redistribution is not enough to end poverty.</p>
<p>In 2014, the International Monetary Fund presented new evidence on a global scale supporting the arguments of the Nobel economist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/26/imf-inequality-economic-growth">Joseph Stiglitz </a>that inequality can also make growth more volatile and create the unstable conditions for abrupt slowdown in GDP growth.</p>
<p>In essence, inequality can be a drag within national contexts. </p>
<h2>Structural transformation for Inclusive Growth</h2>
<p>There is broad recognition that continuous structural transformation prompted by industrialisation, technological innovation, and diversification are essential features of rapid and sustained growth. </p>
<p>Structural transformation is the reallocation of economic activity away from the least productive sectors of the economy to more productive ones. </p>
<p>As at 2015, <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/half-world-s-poor-live-just-5-countries">about half</a> of the world’s 736 million extreme poor lived in just five countries. </p>
<p>The five countries with the highest number of extreme poor are (in descending order): India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh. They also happen to be some of the most populous countries of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the <a href="https://eurasiantimes.com/india-nigeria-bangladesh-home-to-worlds-poorest-people-world-bank/">two regions</a> that together account for 85% (629 million) of the world’s poor. </p>
<p>Both Nigeria and India have over the years experienced some form of structural transformation. For example in both the service sector now contributes significantly to gross domestic product. But unemployment persists, hence, their high poverty numbers. </p>
<p>Nigeria <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2015/03/03/are-african-countries-rebasing-gdp-in-2014-finding-evidence-of-structural-transformation/">re-based</a> its GDP in 2013/2014, to account for new sectors. The re-basing exercise saw an almost doubling effect on Nigeria’s GDP. </p>
<p>The exercise was carried out largely to find evidence of structural transformation. The review showed changes in the sectoral composition of the economy, but this shift doesn’t mean that citizen’s welfare suddenly improved.</p>
<p>A noticeable trend was that the services sector had become the single largest component of the economy (accounting for over 50% percent of total GDP). For their parts the agriculture and manufacturing sectors had not improved significantly. </p>
<p>As at 2011 almost 40% of the GDP was contributed by the agricultural sector. <a href="https://www.nipc.gov.ng/opportunities/services/">Current figures</a> suggest that almost 53% of GDP is accounted for by services, 26% by agriculture and 21% by industry.</p>
<p>Indeed, the basic starting point for structural transformation is a gradual progression out of crude agriculture to more sophisticated sectors of value addition. But the change in the sectoral contribution to GDP needs to be accompanied by changes in the allocation of labour.</p>
<p>There are significant implications for sustaining growth, and for reducing poverty, if this doesn’t happen. </p>
<p>In Nigeria there was no corresponding movement in the sectoral share of the labour force on the back of the rise in the service sector’s share of GDP and a shrinkage in the shares of industry and agriculture. Agriculture still accounts for between <a href="https://www.fao.org/nigeria/fao-in-nigeria/nigeria-at-a-glance/en/">60% to 70% </a>of labour in Nigeria.</p>
<p>There are those who argue against sequential structural transformation. But I think the evidence supporting this remains scanty, particularly for countries with large population, high unemployment and poverty. </p>
<p>Manufacturing exports have been an important source of growth for the ‘miracle’ economies of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. </p>
<p>In addition, the export promotion ideologies of countries such as the Asian Tigers, and more recently China, corroborates the need to industrialise along the lines of a country’s endowment. </p>
<h2>New challenges</h2>
<p>Nigeria needs to achieve and sustain fast-paced economic growth driven by productivity and an export-oriented policy of industrialisation. It also needs to decompose its growth structure in a way that creates jobs and adds value to its factor endowments. </p>
<p>Nigeria has enormous areas of arable land with different climatic conditions. These can support the cultivation of various cash crops. Other endowments include natural resources such as crude oil, and various other solid minerals.</p>
<p>The ability to harness and add value to these before trading would therefore create jobs and reduce poverty. </p>
<p>It also needs to realign its labour force. To achieve this will require a shift from crude agriculture to a mechanised one that frees up labour as a factor of production to work in value chain that transforms primary products to intermediate or finished products. This will reduce the skewness of labour away from the agriculture sector towards industries and services. </p>
<p>Also, its high youth population would imply availability of cheap labour as an endowment that can work in factories at low wages and produce for competitive export.</p>
<p>To achieve this will require skills acquisition and capacity development to work in industries and services, away from the crude agricultural skills. This can be done by reviewing the education curriculum at compulsory levels to significantly reflect technological skills needed in the 21st century. </p>
<p>It will also require concerted efforts aimed at institutional strengthening, to attract and encourage both domestic and foreign investors. </p>
<p>Institutional strengthening will include improved level of enforcement of court orders, improved ease of doing business, increased supply of accountability by the political class and government officials and an efficient and progressive taxation regime, to facilitate wealth re-distribution. </p>
<p>A combination of these factors will help Nigeria achieve a more sustainable growth and equitable redistribution of wealth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177855/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Temitope J. Laniran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nigeria has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty in Africa. Turning the tide requires inclusive growth, value added productivity and strong institutions.Temitope J. Laniran, Research associate, John and Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies, University of BradfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1681052021-11-22T15:29:53Z2021-11-22T15:29:53ZKiswahili books: the independent Tanzanian publisher who has championed the language<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431676/original/file-20211112-23-pv9hx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Walter Bgoya's passion for reading goes back to the 1950s. But his worldview was shaped in the 1960s.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A number of African countries boast notable independent publishing landscapes. These include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. However, this fragile industry has long been characterised by a host of <a href="https://www.readafricanbooks.com/opinion/publishing-in-africa-where-are-we-now/">threats</a>.</p>
<p>Top of these is weak copyright law enforcement which undermines potential growth. Copyright infringements reduce earnings from legal sales. They also reduce the ability of independent publishers to break even and venture into issuing new titles. </p>
<p>For sure, school textbooks guarantee stable earnings for these publishers. But this tends to crowd out scholarly publishing and fiction. Another common problem is represented by underfunded and understaffed public libraries. This leads to failure to acquire new books and equipment, poor cataloguing and processing, and poor upkeep of existing books. This, combined with Africans’ dwindling purchasing powers, in turn causes decreased access to books and less interest in reading.</p>
<p>These challenges are well encapsulated by the trajectory of one independent Tanzanian publishing house: Mkuki na Nyota. I first encountered books by this publisher in 1996 as an undergraduate student of Swahili language and literature. But my <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/dreams-and-constraints-of-an-african-publisher-walter-bgoya-tanzania-publishing-house-and-mkuki-na-nyota-19722020/4CCDCBA8CE690DD61FE2CD2E6B983DAF">research</a> on the history of this publishing house only took shape in 2014 when I met Walter Bgoya, its managing director.</p>
<p>Bgoya’s passion for reading goes back to the 1950s. But his worldview was shaped in the 1960s. This was an exhilarating period of decolonisation, Pan-Africanism and – in his country – the ideals of President Julius Nyerere’s flagship ideology, <a href="http://pdfproc.lib.msu.edu/?file=/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/political%20science/volume8n1/ajps008001004.pdf">Ujamaa</a>, or African Socialism. </p>
<p>After a relatively brief but promising diplomatic career, Bgoya first joined the thriving parastatal Tanzania Publishing House in 1972. Soon afterwards he became its general manager.</p>
<p>Ground-breaking anti-imperialist books like Walter Rodney’s <em>How Europe Underdeveloped Africa</em> and Issa Shivji’s <em>Class Struggles in Tanzania</em> were released under his watch. Rodney was then <a href="https://roape.net/2020/08/31/walter-rodneys-legacy/">based</a> in Dar es Salaam.</p>
<p>But by the early 1980s, <em>Ujamaa</em> was in decline and the country was facing a serious <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Tanzania/Economy">economic crisis</a>. Amid government austerity measures <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23548555_Structural_Adjustment_Economic_Performance_and_Aid_Dependency_in_Tanzania">imposed</a> by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the publishing industry was not spared. Parastatals, the university press and independent companies faced under-capitalisation, escalating printing costs, and lack of basic materials like ink and paper. </p>
<p>This crisis was worsened by high taxes, weak distribution systems and the decline of public libraries. And so Bgoya slowly disentangled himself from the struggling state-owned publisher to establish Mkuki na Nyota.</p>
<p>What followed for Bgoya and his new business was a tumultuous journey through numerous financial, political and operational constraints. It is a testimony of his vision and tenacity that he eventually gained a footing by the 1990s, and went on to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/publisher/mkukinanyota">thrive</a>. </p>
<h2>The early days</h2>
<p>Bgoya’s focus in the early days was on Kiswahili fiction, art, scholarly and children’s books. Thanks to partnerships with western donors, he successfully launched a children’s book project which put out nearly 80 children’s books in five years, both in Kiswahili and English. However, the unstable local currency caused high printing costs and limited print runs. Resources to strengthen the distribution networks were scant from the onset.</p>
<p>By the mid-1990s Bgoya was able to capitalise on lower printing costs in India, and later China. While he chose to edit Kiswahili fiction personally, he had to outsource freelance external editors for his English titles. Though in conflict with his cherished ideology of self-reliance, these choices enabled the publication of higher quality and cheaper books.</p>
<p>The growing visibility and global distribution of his output were facilitated by the establishment of the <a href="https://www.africanbookscollective.com/">African Book Collective</a>. This is a platform for African publishers funded primarily by the <a href="https://www.sida.se/en">Swedish</a> and the <a href="https://www.norad.no/en/front/">Norwegian</a> agencies which would only become self-financing in 2007. Foreign donors provided funding, facilitated regional training courses, and sponsored international book fairs, through which independent African publishers grew their networks and expanded their markets.</p>
<p>Accepting donor patronage did not, however, extinguish Bgoya’s progressive and anti-colonial intellectual project that drew him into publishing. He held the view that donors interfered with publishers’ final decisions and with the needs of local readers.</p>
<p>To support new publications and curb donors’ interventions, he sought new sources of revenue that would sustain publishing. These included freelance editing, commissioned writing, consultancies on media and book publishing, and allowances from his membership of various boards of directors.</p>
<h2>Millennium Declaration</h2>
<p>New challenges for independent publishers came in 2000. Donors suddenly withdrew after the adoption of the United Nations’ [Millennium Declaration](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/millennium-development-goals-(mdgs), which listed universal access to primary education among its eight development goals. The declaration excluded publishing, higher education and teacher training. This so-called poverty reduction strategy caused the decline of key platforms for networking and marketing African books such as the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.</p>
<p>Another potential blow came in 2014, with the restoration of state monopoly on the lucrative textbooks market in Tanzania. Since 1991, private sector publishers had replaced the state monopoly enjoyed between 1966 and 1985. The renewed monopoly represented a major setback for independent publishers who relied heavily on the income generated from school texts. However, Bgoya’s Mkuki na Nyota was able to overcome this challenge thanks to a diversification strategy.</p>
<p>On the list of innovations was his investment in a print-on-demand equipment. With this machine, he could produce commercially sustainable books and avoid the vicious circle of high printing costs, unsold books and warehousing costs. Still, importing spare parts was expensive and local personnel was not trained to operate the machine, which became inoperative for some time.</p>
<h2>Lessons for publishing</h2>
<p>Although Tanzanians do read for pleasure, books remain expensive in comparison to their disposable income. Authors tend to privilege English, the language of the learned minority, over Kiswahili, the language of the overwhelming majority. Thus English-language publications further shrink the already limited local reading public.</p>
<p>Despite a succession of different challenges, Bgoya’s approach has been consistent. Central to this is a commitment to progressive and quality books, participation in the publishing process through close interactions with authors, and the overall ability to keep producing what he set out to. The growing local and international prestige of his publishing house has afforded him new bargaining power through which he pursued his intellectual autonomy.</p>
<p>But the efforts of independent publishers should be accompanied by long-term practical interventions. Governments need to create conditions for writers to thrive. These include enforcing copyright laws, training of writers and publishers and streamlining language policies. </p>
<p>The funding of public libraries is vital too. It is the role of librarians and archivists to integrate print books with online services, e-books and multi-media activities. Well-stocked libraries have the potential to set a virtuous circle in motion: increased use of libraries can develop people’s appetite for reading. The result is more readers patronising and willing to read or buy books. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding the present challenges, independent publishing should maintain quality, innovation, and reasonable prices according to Bgoya. Books should influence public opinion, contribute to nationwide debates, stimulate an appreciation of reading and writing, and answer the needs of a liberating education and culture.</p>
<p>For more than thirty years, Bgoya has endeavoured to do just that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Suriano has previously received funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF).</span></em></p>Despite a succession of different challenges, Bgoya’s approach has been consistent.Maria Suriano, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1461692020-10-06T09:36:18Z2020-10-06T09:36:18ZSouth Asia: how to ensure progress on reducing poverty isn’t reversed by coronavirus<p>South Asia <a href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/publications/UNESCAP%20-%20SRO-SSWA%20SDG%20Report_Sep2018.pdf">accounted for</a> nearly two-fifths of the world’s poor, nearly half of the world’s malnourished children and was home to the largest number of stunted children in 2015. Despite this, the region had made significant progress in lifting people out of poverty – and between 1990 and 2015 its poverty rate <a href="https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/backgrounders/MDG%202015%20PR%20Bg%20Asia.pdf">sharply declined from 52% to 17%</a>. </p>
<p>Sustaining such progress in the region is key to achieving the global targets of the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs) before 2030. But this trend could be reversed due to COVID-19. Globally, <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/precarity-and-pandemic">as many as 400 million</a> people could be pushed into poverty by the pandemic. Restoring the pre-pandemic trend in poverty reduction in South Asia will be challenging, but not impossible.</p>
<p>During the era of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) between 1990 and 2015, South Asia’s achievements in reducing poverty and improving human development masked an uneven pattern of progress. There were significant differences in child mortality and income poverty reduction across the region – for example Bangladesh experienced exceptional improvements, while progress was limited in Pakistan and India. Yet there are important lessons from this era that can help accelerate future progress in post-pandemic South Asia.</p>
<h2>50 more years?</h2>
<p>In recently <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-020-02423-7">published</a> research, we revisited South Asia’s development progress during the MDGs period. Our evidence confirms that, while South Asia caught up with richer regions in many important social indicators by 2015, progress was lacking in governance and state effectiveness. Given this shortfall, the past trends in human development are not sufficient to meet the 2030 development targets. </p>
<p>Our projections indicate that important milestones such as eradicating income poverty will not be achieved in South Asia by 2030. With a business as usual approach, it could take the region at least another 50 years from 2020 to eliminate poverty, meaning nobody in the region would be living on less than US$1.90 a day. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing estimated years needed in various countries in South Asia until nobody is living on less than US$1.90 per day." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361369/original/file-20201002-14-1fgu4pi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>There are two key reasons behind these poor prospects. First, countries aren’t spending enough state resources on social development. In both education and health spending as a percentage of GDP, South Asia ranked even below Sub-Saharan Africa in 2015.</p>
<p>Second is the state’s limited effectiveness in delivering public services, such as health, education or administering policies aimed at reducing poverty. Both are important dimensions of state capacity – the ability of states to get things done – a measure on which South Asia lags behind other developing regions.</p>
<p>When thinking about how to reduce poverty, countries around the world typically rely on growing GDP – and, with it, people’s income. But the slowdown in macroeconomic growth caused by the pandemic limits the scope of this avenue for development. </p>
<p>Instead, governments in South Asia must spend money themselves to improve the delivery of services. Yet, the region not only suffers from large gaps in basic social infrastructure, South Asia’s tax-to-GDP ratio is also one of the lowest in the world. Not only are countries in the region poor at collecting tax, they’re also not well-equipped to spend what <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sdg-tax-collection-developing-countries-by-tania-masi-et-al-2019-07?barrier=accesspaylog">income they do raise effectively</a>. </p>
<h2>Getting things done</h2>
<p>Our simulation confirms there would be a significant return on investment if South Asian governments spent money on improving the functioning of public services – for example making their tax systems more efficient, making sure there were more textbooks in local schools and vaccines available in local health services. </p>
<p>If government spending on education and health were to be raised alongside improvements in state capacity to levels witnessed in other developing regions <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-020-02423-7/figures/6">such as Latin America or East Asia</a>, South Asia would make significant progress in achieving the SDGs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three schoolgirls sitting at desks with textbooks open." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361100/original/file-20201001-13-1rhn4yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361100/original/file-20201001-13-1rhn4yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361100/original/file-20201001-13-1rhn4yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361100/original/file-20201001-13-1rhn4yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361100/original/file-20201001-13-1rhn4yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361100/original/file-20201001-13-1rhn4yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361100/original/file-20201001-13-1rhn4yh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Make sure schools have the textbooks their children need.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rinku Dua via Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The crucial role of state capacity in achieving development has been brought into sharp relief by the way different countries have fared during the pandemic. Countries with high levels of state capacity have done <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2020-06-09/pandemic-and-political-order">relatively better</a> in controlling the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as well as reducing the mortality rate. In both South Korea and Taiwan, for example, previous experience in addressing similar virus outbreaks, <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/will-covid19-remake-the-world-by-dani-rodrik-2020-04">were important in controlling the spread of the disease</a> and keeping fatality rates low. </p>
<p>In South Asia, the Indian state of Kerala has had relatively high success in controlling the spread of the virus among Indian states. This has been credited to <a href="https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/09/24/lessons-from-keralas-covid-19-response/">extensive past state investment</a> in public health and a cadre of committed local government officials who were swiftly able to put in place World Health Organization protocols of test, trace, isolate and support.</p>
<p>Our hope is that the emergency of the pandemic itself could help create the conditions to develop effective state institutions or to improve existing ones in South Asia. This could be more likely as the interest of both ruling elites and citizens are likely to be aligned when there is a common threat to prosperity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>M Niaz Asadullah is the Southeast Asia lead for the Global Labor Organisation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Antonio Savoia and Kunal Sen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After the pandemic, South Asian governments must spend money on making public services work, rather than relying on GDP growth to pull people out of poverty.Antonio Savoia, Senior Lecturer in Development Economics, University of ManchesterKunal Sen, Professor and Director, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityM Niaz Asadullah, Professor of Development Economics, University of MalayaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263822019-11-28T14:12:33Z2019-11-28T14:12:33ZThe city of Akure is developing fast. But citizens aren’t having their say<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303464/original/file-20191125-74580-2k1oae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Akure's infrastructure development projects have yet to create space for community participation</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Akure, the medium-sized capital of Ondo State in Southwest Nigeria, has seen its population increase by more than 54% in 13 years. Akure’s population growth is explained by two factors. Ondo State is a part of the Niger Delta, the oil-producing region of Nigeria. In 2006, Akure was classified as a <a href="https://www.uclg.org/en/issues/millennium-development-goals">Millennium Development City</a>, as part of its commitment to the eight <a href="https://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/about/en/">development goals</a> UN member states agreed to achieve by 2015. </p>
<p>Akure’s population was 360,268 in 2006, according to that year’s National Population and Housing Census. Using a yearly percentage increase of 3.2%, the population of the city in 2019 would be 559,940 people.</p>
<p>As a result, several infrastructure projects have been carried out in the city in a bid to improve the lives of the people who live there. But these developments have been done mainly in a top-down way. This flies in the face of a growing global trend which has seen community participation take root. Examples include projects in South Africa, Botswana, Japan, Canada, and the UK. </p>
<p>This practice is growing globally because people directly affected by developments are increasingly being recognised as an essential part of the process. It ensures that the infrastructure projects truly meet the needs of the beneficiaries. Providing housing and other infrastructure that doesn’t consider the actual needs of the users usually leads to outcomes that don’t suit people’s needs. </p>
<p>To understand community participation in Akure’s development, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2018.1437013?needAccess=true">we studied</a> the socio-economic characteristics of residents in the city viz-a-viz their influence on decisions about infrastructure development. The study shows that the government provided some facilities, such as asphalted roads, drainage and water supply, to some communities, but not to all. </p>
<p>We observed during our study two ways in which government neglected the people of Akure. The first was that government neglected some communities in the city by not providing them with infrastructure, forcing them to resort to self-help. The second is that in the communities where government provided infrastructure, it did not involve the beneficiaries in the process of planning and developing. This meant that facilities were provided based on assumptions being made by government officials. </p>
<p>Our findings show that 92.2% of the residents of Akure were not involved in the process of providing government-led infrastructure in their communities. This is a very high percentage and it has negative implications for satisfying the needs of the communities. Since communities are always at the receiving end of the results of projects, it’s only logical that they should be at the centre of the decision-making processes about what’s going to be built. </p>
<h2>Involvement</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2018.1437013?needAccess=true">Our study</a> found that a number of factors influenced whether people were consulted or not. Among the factors that affected this were marital status, gender, education, employment status, income level, tenure status, household size and sources of finance.</p>
<p>We found that people were more likely to participate in infrastructure provision when they were homeowners than if they were renters. People who had higher levels of education were also more involved, as were people with jobs and who earned an income. In addition, married people were more likely to participate.</p>
<p>So how can Akure attempt to ensure that specific community needs are met for infrastructure provision? </p>
<p>One of the first things the city should be doing is to understand that the current paternalistic approach is flawed and needs to be changed. It should also be noted that for appropriate community participation, one size does not fit all, and what applies to one community does not necessarily apply to another. This is true even if they are in the same city. </p>
<p>However, one thing that should be common to all is that government authorities must always make the effort to seek out the beneficiary communities. Government must also seek to understand their needs and their characteristics. Both parties can in the process iron out the details of the proposed projects as well as their respective levels of involvement in the projects. A thorough understanding of the communities, their specific needs and their uniqueness will improve the chances of making the correct decision and meeting the identified needs.</p>
<p>Akure needs to change the current flawed approach to infrastructure provision.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Communities are always at the receiving end of infrastructure projects. They must also be at the centre of the decision making processes.Fakere Alexander Adeyemi, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Federal University of Technology, AkureAyoola Hezekiah Adedayo, Senior lecturer, Federal University of Technology, AkureLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1253662019-10-28T14:57:24Z2019-10-28T14:57:24ZAfrican countries are behind on progress towards poverty reduction goals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298096/original/file-20191022-117981-ggwaej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African countries have an opportunity to reduce poverty with new policies</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In their annual meeting at the United Nations in 2005, world leaders agreed on a common economic <a href="http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/OfficialList.htm">agenda</a>. This was to halve – between 1990 and 2015 – the proportion of the world’s population living on less than one dollar a day. It’s been nearly 15 years since this resolution. </p>
<p>The world has certainly seen economic progress but it is not even. And countries in Africa lag behind the global average.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/corporate/en/research/research-institute/global-wealth-report.html">Global wealth</a> has more than doubled from US$170 trillion in 2000 to $360 trillion in 2019. Global wealth per adult is at a record high of $70,850. </p>
<p>Mean wealth per adult in Africa is $6,488. In Mozambique it is as low as $352.</p>
<p>The proportion of the world’s people living on less than two dollars a day (an updated measure of extreme poverty) has more than <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/poverty-decline-without-china?time=1981..2015">halved</a> from 35.9% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. But in sub-Saharan Africa the figure still stands at 41%, according to the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/09/19/decline-of-global-extreme-poverty-continues-but-has-slowed-world-bank">World Bank</a>. The bank <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-shared-prosperity">estimates</a> that 87% of the world’s poorest people will live in the region by 2030 if the trends continue.</p>
<p>Life expectancy has been <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN">growing</a> by 16 weeks a year so that those born today are likely to live 20 years longer than a child born in 1960. In Africa, average life expectancy remained at a level that the rest of the world passed in 1974 and is <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=ZG">rising</a> at a snail’s pace. </p>
<p>The continent still <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48674909">pays</a> up to 30 times more than the rest of the world for generic medicine, despite a world-wide <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/prescription-drug-prices-arent-rising-theyre-falling-for-the-first-time-in-47-years-2019-03-12">decline</a> in drug prices. And energy prices in Africa are more than three times <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/perspectives/africa-affordable-electricity/index.html">higher</a> than in the United States. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297634/original/file-20191018-56198-1ua5b0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297634/original/file-20191018-56198-1ua5b0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297634/original/file-20191018-56198-1ua5b0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297634/original/file-20191018-56198-1ua5b0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297634/original/file-20191018-56198-1ua5b0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297634/original/file-20191018-56198-1ua5b0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297634/original/file-20191018-56198-1ua5b0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graph global poverty rate, 1981 - 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Our World in Data</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>African countries have missed important opportunities in the past two decades that could have ensured these graphs looked different.</p>
<h2>Interlocking problems: debt and aid</h2>
<p>In 2004 UK Prime Minister Tony Blair <a href="http://www.commissionforafrica.info/wp-content/uploads/2005-report/11-03-05_cr_report.pdf">initiated</a> the Commission for Africa, to “carefully study all the evidence available to find out what is working and what is not.” </p>
<p>The Commission’s main findings were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The problems… are interlocking. They are vicious circles which reinforce one another. …Africa will never break out of the deadlock with piecemeal solutions and policy incoherence. They must be tackled together. To do that Africa requires a comprehensive ‘big push’ on many fronts at once; which requires a partnership between Africa and the developed world…. Africa is very unlikely to achieve the rapid growth in finance and human development necessary to halt or reverse its relative decline without a strong expansion in aid.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Blair then called for two simultaneous actions: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/07/hearafrica05.development">forgiving</a> the continent’s debt, and doubling development assistance. This call was partly heeded. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/october-2005/industrial-countries-write-africas-debt">Fourteen</a> African countries <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jun/11/uk.g8">benefited</a> from the 2005 multilateral debt relief initiative. That relief <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jul/01/uk.g8">saved</a> Nigeria – the region’s largest economy – $31 billion. A host of other countries benefited too, <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTDEBTDEPT/Resources/mdri_eng.pdf">ranging</a> from Benin ($690 million) to Ghana ($2.938 billion).</p>
<p>But these countries didn’t make the most of the relief they’d been given. <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/chart-of-the-week-new-african-debt-crisis">Debt</a> in many African countries is on the rise again. What’s more concerning is that debt isn’t being incurred for useful purposes, such as plugging the infrastructure gap. Instead, according to an IMF <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2018/03/22/pp021518macroeconomic-developments-and-prospects-in-lidcs">report</a>, the rise is being driven by corruption and mismanagement.</p>
<p>As for aid, since 2005 the flow to Africa has risen by 50%, reaching $49.27 billion in 2017. African countries <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ODAT.CD?locations=ZG">received</a> more than half a trillion dollars ($0.62 trillion) in aid in the decade and a half after Blair’s appeal.</p>
<p>However, the continent now <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ODAT.CD?locations=ZG">gets</a> less donor aid per recipient than most regions in the world: an average of 14 cents per person per day. This is because its rapidly <a href="https://www.prb.org/2018-world-population-data-sheet-with-focus-on-changing-age-structures/">rising</a> population size in recent decades is not being matched by the size of aid inflows.</p>
<p>Added to this is the fact that many African countries have failed to stem the flow of illicit money from the continent. An <a href="https://gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/gfi_afdb_iffs_and_the_problem_of_net_resource_transfers_from_africa_1980-2009-highres.pdf">estimated</a> $30.4 billion was transferred from African countries between 2000 to 2009.</p>
<p>Such outflows strip countries of desperately needed financial resources for investment in hospitals, schools and roads.</p>
<p>To stop this trend, Africa needs the help of advanced countries, because some of these countries have been and still serve as havens for illicit funds originating from repressive African regimes and despots. </p>
<p>In “Overcoming the Shadow Economy,” Joseph Stiglitz and Mark Pieth forcefully <a href="https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/sites/jstiglitz/files/Overcoming%20the%20Shadow%20Economy.pdf">argue</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In a globalised world, if there is any pocket of secrecy, funds will flow through that pocket. That is why the system of transparency has to be global. The US and EU are key in tipping the balance toward transparency, but this will only be the starting point: each country must play its role as a global citizen in order to shut down the shadow economy—and it is especially important that there emerge from the current secrecy havens some leaders to demonstrate that there are alternative models for growth and development.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125366/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zuhumnan Dapel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If trends continue, 87% of the world’s poorest people will live in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.Zuhumnan Dapel, Consultant @ODIdev. Priors: IDRC Fellow at the Center for Global Development; Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center Washington DC. Twitter: @dapelzg, Scottish Institute for Research in EconomicsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1215262019-08-14T13:38:36Z2019-08-14T13:38:36ZGhana needs more efficient spending to fix gaps in education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287535/original/file-20190809-144862-d5yq17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students like these only stand a chance with proper resource allocation</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Millennium Development Goals were <a href="https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/mdg_goals.html">announced</a> to the world in the year 2000. They marked a significant milestone in instituting a goal-based approach towards development. In terms of policies, they have arguably been the most successful in driving the world’s agenda towards global development. </p>
<p>But when it comes to education, the extent to which they made a difference after 15 years remains inconclusive. In 2015 the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development Goals</a> replaced the Millennium Development Goals. <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/">Goal number 4</a> is dedicated to education. It seeks to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. </p>
<p>This goal is guided by <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000246300">seven outcome targets</a>. Among these are achieving universal primary and secondary education; providing equal access to technical or vocational and higher education; providing relevant skills for decent work; and ensuring universal youth literacy. </p>
<p>Setting global goals and targets alone might not be enough. It is important to understand how much it will cost to realise the education goal. Implementation lies mainly with member states – but do member states have a full picture of what they have signed up for? How much will be needed to achieve the goals? Can it be afforded? What will be the sources of finance? </p>
<p>In a study I co-authored with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/obaa-akua-konadu-706841b6/">Obaa Akua Konadu</a>, a development policy analyst, we addressed these questions with <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18146627.2018.1557532">a focus on Ghana</a>. The study quantified what Ghana needs to achieve the goal on education. We did this by estimating an education performance gap and the fiscal capacity needed to address that gap. </p>
<p>The results suggested that Ghana faces more of an allocation and efficiency challenge rather than a resource challenge to attain Sustainable Development Goal 4. While the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS">top-performing countries</a> are, on average, spending less of their gross domestic product (GDP) on education and achieving more, Ghana is spending more but achieving less. </p>
<p>Our findings give an indication of what Ghana has to do to achieve the Sustainable Development goal on education.</p>
<h2>What we measured</h2>
<p>We estimated an education performance gap by taking the difference between the current state of education indicators in Ghana and the targets that goal 4 seeks to achieve.</p>
<p>The indicators we included covered access to education, quality of education, and the state of equitable and inclusive education. The indicators make up the main governance targets for education in SDG 4, and are measured by primary and secondary completion rate (access), teacher pupil ratio (quality) and gender parity (inclusiveness). </p>
<p>We used World Bank data from 2014 – that is, prior to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. The selected indicators are measured in different ways so, to have a comparable index to estimate an education performance gap, the indices of the respective indicators were standardised to a common measure ranging from 0 – 100. These were then aggregated to represent the overall education scores. </p>
<p>Ghana had a score of 76.60. For comparison, a benchmark (90.58 performance points) representing the average score of the top five performing countries – Georgia, Indonesia, Moldova, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam – within the low and lower-middle income countries categorisation was used. The difference between the average score of the top five performing countries and Ghana’s score gives an idea of the nation’s education performance gap with respect to attaining the SDG 4.</p>
<p>To estimate the amount of money needed to achieve the benchmarked education performance level, we placed a monetary value on these scores. We did so by simply matching the performance scores with the respective expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP. To compare, we adopted a 4.18% average expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP by the top performing countries. This, all else been equal, represents the average investment required to achieve SDG 4 in all countries within the low and lower-middle income categorisation. </p>
<p>We found that Ghana <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18146627.2018.1557532">spends</a> 1.98% more of its GDP on education compared to the top five performing countries (4.18%) as well as 0.16% more than the recommended standard of investment set by <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000137333">UNESCO</a> to ensure quality education. </p>
<p>So Ghana’s problem is not that it is not spending enough. Rather, it faces an allocation and efficiency challenge if it’s to meet SDG 4.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18146627.2018.1557532">study</a> revealed that the major causes of Ghana’s comparatively lower education performance score included low completion rates recorded at 68.70% for males and 63.69% for females at the secondary level. </p>
<p>There were also gender imbalances especially at the tertiary level where there is a low parity of 0.67 in favour of males. Another issue is the teacher-pupil ratio. While the top performing countries in education recorded an average teacher-pupil ratio of 1:13 at the primary school level, Ghana’s teacher-pupil teacher ratio stands at 1:30. </p>
<p>These shortfalls seriously affect the measure of quality education. Our recommendation is that it would be prudent for the government to pay attention to these specific shortfalls and work persistently to rectify them. </p>
<p>It is specifically recommended that education investment in Ghana should consider addressing dropout rates at the lower secondary level and promote female enrolment at higher levels of education. Also, an increased number of good quality teachers at the primary level is critical to improve pupils’ access to their teachers. </p>
<p><em>This article was co-authored with Obaa Akua Konadu. Obaa Akua holds an Msc in Development Administration and Planning from University College, London.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Osei Kwadwo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Achieving the sustainable development goals on education in Ghana requires efficient resource allocation, not necessarily more money.Victor Osei Kwadwo, PHD Candidate, Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1173372019-05-21T10:01:20Z2019-05-21T10:01:20ZA global survey sheds new light on how bad events affect young people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275613/original/file-20190521-23820-c080bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Burnt shacks after a fire in a Mumbai slums. Adolescents are deeply affected by traumatic events in their lives.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The percentage of the world’s population that’s aged between 10 and 24 is growing exponentially. It currently <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/publications/state-world-population-2013">makes up a quarter</a> of the world’s population: that’s 1.8 billion people. So it’s increasingly important to understand how people in this age group are affected by events. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54431bbee4b0ba652295db6e/t/5ce2b9b53fdc1e0001552ec8/1558362550220/ACEs+Paper.pdf">major new study</a> based on surveys done in multiple countries – ranging from Vietnam, China, Bolivia, Egypt, India and Kenya to the UK and the US – across five continents provides groundbreaking insights into the impact that adverse events have on children. The study catalogued the adverse childhood experiences suffered by 1,284 adolescents aged 10 to 14 in “low-income urban settings” around the world. These adverse events include physical and emotional neglect, violence, and sexual abuse. </p>
<p>This is the first global study to investigate how a cluster of adverse childhood experiences work together to cause specific health issues in early adolescence – and have terrible, life-long consequences. </p>
<p>The research found remarkably common experiences with trauma, and very similar impacts, regardless of where the children lived. It found that there was a strong association with both adolescent depression and violence perpetrated by young people. </p>
<p>Other findings included that young girls often suffer significantly. But, contrary to common belief, boys reported even greater exposure to violence and neglect. This makes them more likely to be violent in return.</p>
<p>The study was a major collaboration between the World Health Organisation and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. It aimed to understand more about the development of gender stereotypes in early adolescence and their impact on adolescent health around the world. </p>
<p>The findings buttress a <a href="https://www.geastudy.org/new-blog/bellagioreport">soon to be released report</a> reflecting the assessment of 22 experts from 15 countries. They argue that the world will never achieve gender equality by focusing on girls and women alone and excluding boys and men. This has major implications for both international and national policies.</p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>Overall, the study found that 46% of young adolescents reported experiencing violence, 38% suffered emotional neglect and 29% experienced physical neglect. </p>
<p>Consistent with the <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/207725">literature</a>, we observed that girls tend to exhibit greater internalising behaviours. These include depression and contemplation. Boys tend to show greater externalising behaviours, such as poor behaviour regulation and aggression.</p>
<p>Boys stood out in several categories. They were more likely to report physical neglect, sexual abuse and violence victimisation. </p>
<p>For both boys and girls, the more adversity they experienced, the more likely they were to engage in violent behaviour. This included bullying, threatening or hitting someone. </p>
<p>But the effect of the adversity was more pronounced for boys than girls: boys were 11 times more likely to be engaged in violence, while girls were four times more likely to be violent. The study also found that, in general, the cumulative effect of their traumas tended to produce higher levels of depressive symptoms among girls than boys. Boys, meanwhile, tended to show more external aggression than girls.</p>
<p>In many countries, adolescent boys are <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136321">more likely to smoke and drink</a>. They are also more prone to both unintentional and intentional injury and death in the second decade of life than their female counterparts. </p>
<p>Conversely, one quarter of adolescent girls worldwide are married by age 18 years. And two million births annually are to girls aged younger than 15 years, while girls’ secondary school education still lags behind boys (56%-63%). Also, social and vocational opportunities are frequently more constrained for girls.</p>
<h2>The whole story</h2>
<p>But these statistics tell only part of the story. </p>
<p>While the data are cast in terms of gender disadvantage, that disadvantage is not equally distributed across the socioeconomic spectrum. In low- and high-income countries alike, those at the bottom of the ladder are more likely to leave school earlier, have children earlier, and marry earlier. </p>
<p>Poverty and gender inequality together conspire to disadvantage large segments of the adolescent population. To achieve gender equality, we need to redefine the problem as a “gender”, not women’s and girls’, issue. And, as we point out in the report, the evidence is strong that the </p>
<blockquote>
<p>links between gender equality and life satisfaction among adults suggest that men as well as women benefit from high levels of societal gender equality. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Our study offers a unique multinational examination of adverse childhood experiences in early adolescence. Its findings show high rates of exposure experienced by young adolescents in resource poor neighbourhoods in low and middle-income countries. Similarly, it shows strong associations between adverse childhood experiences and both depressive symptoms and violence perpetration. </p>
<p>Interventions are often focused on behaviours (such as violence) or clinical symptoms (such as depression). But this new research suggests there’s a need to understand childhood exposure to adversity. We conclude that adverse childhood experiences should be included routinely in behavioural research of adolescents. </p>
<p>The study also suggests that research, practice, and policy efforts to address adverse childhood experiences in early adolescence may be critical to reducing adolescent morbidities and to achieving the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals and the <a href="https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/framework-accelerated-action/en/">World Health Organisation’s Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert W. Blum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The data suggest that boys experience as much disadvantage as girls.Robert W. Blum, Director, Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1116712019-02-17T09:25:49Z2019-02-17T09:25:49ZWhat mapping Kenya’s child deaths for 50 years revealed – and why it matters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258683/original/file-20190213-90497-10qs9qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 50 years, Kenya has experienced an overall decline in under 5 mortality.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of children who die before reaching their fifth birthday is closely monitored as a marker of social well-being and <a href="http://www.childmortality.org/">national development</a>. It best summarises the social, economic, environmental and health care systems that children are born into and thus used as the basis of planning health strategies, programmes and interventions. It’s also an important tool for evaluating the success of a country’s child health policies. </p>
<p>There has been <a href="http://www.childmortality.org/">remarkable progress</a> in improving child survival over the last three decades. But there’s a long way to go: globally, <a href="https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/under-five-mortality/">5.4 million</a> children died before reaching their fifth birthday in 2017. This is equivalent to 15,000 child deaths per day. And the burden is unevenly distributed: sub-Saharan Africa region recorded 14 times more of these deaths compared to high-income countries. The region is home to all six countries in the world that recorded child mortality rates above 100 deaths per 1000 live births. </p>
<p>Kenya performed well above average, with a rate of 46 deaths per 1,000 live births compared to an average of 76 across sub-Saharan Africa region. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6474-1">Kenyan study</a> set out to estimate child mortality rates in each of the country’s 47 counties every year since 1965. This allowed us to explore changes over time, disparities in child survival by county and progress and gaps towards achieving global targets of <a href="https://www.unicef.org/wsc/goals.htm#Child">2000</a> and <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">2015</a> at different times over the last 30 years. We achieved this by assembling all mortality related data in Kenya and applied a range of techniques to generate child mortality rates.</p>
<p>The findings suggest that, while national trends may be useful for regional and global policy advocacy, they can also be misleading. This is because within-country differences are masked by the national aggregate levels of child mortality. </p>
<p>Identifying counties where mortality remains higher than the national average is valuable for at least two important reasons. It can lead to governments properly directing suitable interventions that are most likely to bring down child mortality rates. It can also ensure effective and equitable resource allocation to reduce inequalities. This is specifically relevant to Kenya where health is now managed by county governments. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>Our findings showed that, shortly after independence in 1963, one in every seven Kenyan children born alive, died before the age of five. More than five decades later, mortality has declined significantly. But it remains high, with one in every 19 children not reaching their fifth birthday. The overall decline over this period was 62% but it was uneven over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258510/original/file-20190212-174873-15k5c6g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258510/original/file-20190212-174873-15k5c6g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258510/original/file-20190212-174873-15k5c6g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258510/original/file-20190212-174873-15k5c6g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258510/original/file-20190212-174873-15k5c6g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258510/original/file-20190212-174873-15k5c6g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258510/original/file-20190212-174873-15k5c6g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Source: Author provided.</span>
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<p>We found that the rate declined steadily from the early 1970s to late 1980s and again from early 2000 to 2013. But there was stagnation or reversal between these declines during the 1990s. More alarming is that Kenya fell short of the 2000 milestones set during the world summit for children aimed at reducing child mortality by a third (1990-2000) or to 70 deaths per 1000 live births by 2000 and only managed a 48% reduction against a target of 67% in the millennium development goal 4 monitoring period (1990 to 2015).</p>
<p>County-level results showed that in 1965, 11 counties – mainly in coastal or arid and semi-arid areas – had mortality rates over 200 per 1000 live births. During this time only four counties had rates below 75 deaths per 1000 live births.</p>
<p>Over 50 years, there have been significant reductions. But the success has been variable, with reductions ranging between 19% and 80%. Counties with high mortality in 1965 witnessed massive declines compared to counties that had lower starting rates, but these same high mortality counties still had the highest rates of mortality in 2013. By 2013 there was a 3.8 times difference between high mortality and low mortality counties, a reduction from five-fold in 1965.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258511/original/file-20190212-174890-8ynd61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258511/original/file-20190212-174890-8ynd61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258511/original/file-20190212-174890-8ynd61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258511/original/file-20190212-174890-8ynd61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258511/original/file-20190212-174890-8ynd61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258511/original/file-20190212-174890-8ynd61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258511/original/file-20190212-174890-8ynd61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Source: Author provided.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, the results showed that at the county level, Kenya performed sub-optimally in meeting the goals set during the world summit for children for the period 1990 to 2000. Only 25, or half of all counties, achieved the 2000 goals by reducing child mortality to a rate less than 70 or by a third. </p>
<p>More worrying is that no county achieved the goals under millennium development goal 4 by 2015. </p>
<h2>Set local targets</h2>
<p>These findings come at a time when Kenya has launched further initiatives to improve child survival and populations well being. Most notable is the <a href="http://www.president.go.ke/">universal health care programme</a>. It aims to provide individuals and communities with access to health services they need without suffering financial hardship. This is expected to reduce inequalities and will need to be monitored.</p>
<p>In the current decentralised form of governance, all the 47 county governments have been keen to set local targets to monitor and reduce child mortality through county integrated development plans and statistical plans. Our results are invaluable for setting informed baselines and tracking local county specific goals as well as the 2015 sustainable development goals framework. Goal 3.2 of this framework partly aims to reduce child mortality to at most 25 deaths per 1000 live births by 2030. </p>
<p>At the national level, the allocation and distribution of health related resources could be better informed through these findings. </p>
<p>Counties need to focus on rolling out targeted packages of intervention tailored to individual contexts, alongside existing interventions, if they are to record further declines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Macharia receives funding from the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders as a PhD student (# 107769). The authors also acknowledge the support of the Wellcome Trust for the Kenya Major Overseas Programme (# 203077)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emelda Okiro receives funding from the Wellcome Trust as an intermediate research fellow (# 201866).
</span></em></p>Only half of Kenya’s 47 counties achieved the 2000 goal on reducing child mortalityPeter Macharia, PhD Candidate: The Open University UK and, Kenya Medical Research InstituteEmelda Okiro, Head, Population Health Unit, KEMRI, Kenya Medical Research InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1017792018-08-19T17:00:44Z2018-08-19T17:00:44ZKofi Annan: his legacy is not perfect, but he helped improve millions of lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232572/original/file-20180819-165940-b5iavn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kofi Annan in 2009.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Kofi_Annan%2C_World_Economic_Forum_2009_Annual_Meeting.jpg">World Economic Forum via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The passing of Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been met with tributes from all around the world. His home country, Ghana, declared a week of national mourning.</p>
<p>Annan rose through the ranks of the UN to become the first black African to head the organisation, and his many achievements are rightly being celebrated. Under his tenure, human rights and development were put at the forefront of all UN work, ensuring that the organisation focused on all people in all parts of our global society. Courageously, he was also the first UN Secretary-General to recognise and condemn the UN’s disproportionate focus on <a href="https://forward.com/opinion/9702/annan-made-the-nations-a-little-less-united-agains/">Israel</a> as a human rights violator compared to many other similar or worse offenders.</p>
<p>It is also right to remember that on his watch, the UN’s reputation was tarnished by two of its worst stains. He was head of UN peacekeeping at the time when genocides were perpetrated in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/kofi-annan-rwanda/567865/">Rwanda</a> and the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/09/the-shame-of-srebrenica-bosnia-iraq-war-libya-syria/">Former Republic of Yugoslavia</a> while UN peacekeepers stood by and did nothing, and he was in charge of the UN during the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq.</p>
<p>But as a whole, Annan’s life and work will nonetheless be celebrated for a long time to come.</p>
<h2>A life well lived</h2>
<p>Kofi Annan was born on April 8 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana, which was, at the time, part of the British Empire and known as the Gold Coast. His family were traditional rulers and his father a provincial governor. Ghana’s independence was secured when Annan was in his final year of secondary school. He attended a national university, followed by studying in the United States on a Ford Foundation scholarship. After his studies, Annan took a job at the World Heath Organization and began his lifelong career at the UN. </p>
<p>There are many ways in which he changed and improved the world through his work at the UN, and indeed in the positions he took after his retirement. During his tenure as Secretary-General he reformed <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2005/04/134122-without-reform-human-rights-body-un-credibility-stake-annan-says">the UN’s human rights system</a>, in particular by establishing the modern <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-us-left-the-un-human-rights-council-and-why-it-matters-98644">Human Rights Council</a>. His commitment to ensuring development around the world and to establish the principle that no-one be left behind culminated in the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">Millennium Development Goals</a>, the forerunner of today’s <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">Sustainable Development Goals</a>.</p>
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<p>Annan focused intensely on peace and security, ensuring that UN member states accepted the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/about-responsibility-to-protect.html">Responsibility to Protect</a> doctrine. This political mandate emphasises that the UN, and particularly its peacekeeping personnel, must prioritise protecting civilians in conflict and crisis zones. Its creation was a direct response to the UN’s failure to protect civilians in Rwanda and the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, where genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity were perpetrated while peacekeepers stood and watched. At that time, Annan was Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping, and it raised eyebrows when he was appointed Secretary-General immediately afterwards. He replaced <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35590039">Boutros Boutros-Ghali</a>, who was not reappointed for a second term – in no small part because of the terrible failures under his leadership.</p>
<p>Annan further strengthened the role of the UN Secretary-General’s role in <a href="https://peaceoperationsreview.org/interviews/good-offices-means-taking-risks/">peacefully settling disputes</a> and came close to securing a settlement in Cyprus. He spoke out against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. But as Secretary-General, he also oversaw the staff members at the heart of the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, a scheme intended to get food and vital supplies to Iraqi citizens but which also fell prey to corruption on a grand scale. While he was cleared of direct involvement, questions continue to be asked as to what he knew and when, and whether he could and should have done more. </p>
<h2>The good and the bad</h2>
<p>All in all, this makes for a complicated biography. While his appointment as the first black African Secretary-General was undeniably a breakthrough moment for representation at the UN’s top echelons, he failed just as his predecessors did to bring about the long-promised parity of gender, ethnicity and class that the UN structure badly needs. And those failures – particularly to appoint more than a few women to senior roles – undermine the UN’s claim to uphold the obligation under its own Charter to represent “we the peoples”. Still, he did more than his predecessors or immediate successor, for example appointing Mary Robinson as High Commissioner for Human Rights and Edward Mortimer to assist with his UN reform agenda – an agenda far more wide-reaching than any before or since.</p>
<p>After retirement, Annan continued his work for the UN, including as Special Envoy on the Syrian crisis and Chair of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, Myanmar. This body played a major part in keeping the peace there in ways that seem tragically elusive today. He was also a member of the <a href="https://theelders.org/kofi-annan">Elders</a>, a group of senior people from around the world that has included Mary Robinson, Nelson Mandela, Ela Bhatt and Jimmy Carter, all of whom use their reputations to attempt to bring peace to troubled parts of the world.</p>
<p>Tributes are being paid to Annan from within the UN and from leaders and peoples around the world. As Secretary-General he used his platform to effect meaningful change for billions of people across the world. His was a life well lived, and his legacy will live on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosa Freedman has received funding from the British Academy and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aoife O'Donoghue receives funding from the AHRC.</span></em></p>While his appointment as UN Secretary-General was a huge breakthrough, Kofi Annan also led the organisation through some of its ugliest moments.Rosa Freedman, Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development, University of ReadingAoife O'Donoghue, Professor, Durham Law School, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/863552017-11-22T12:17:49Z2017-11-22T12:17:49ZHow drones are being used in Zanzibar’s fight against malaria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195789/original/file-20171122-6013-yq6uu8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Makame Makame from the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme holds one of the drones used to map malaria vectors.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andy Hardy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On a typically hot and humid July day in Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, a gaggle of children, teenagers and the odd parents watched our small drone take flight. My colleagues Makame Makame, Khamis Haji and I had finally found the perfect launch spot.</p>
<p>With a high-pitched humming, the drone took to the air. It sounded like a big mosquito – appropriate, since we were testing the use of drones for mapping aquatic malaria habitats. These shallow sunlit water bodies teem with mosquito larvae. In a matter of days, the larvae will emerge as adult mosquitoes in search of a blood meal. If one of those mosquitoes bites a human infected with malaria, it will become a vector for the disease and continue its deadly transmission cycle.</p>
<p>Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. Both it and mainland Tanzania have fought a long, well documented battle with malaria. <a href="http://www.who.int/gho/malaria/epidemic/deaths/en/">Globally</a>, the disease infects over 200 million people annually and is responsible for killing approximately 500,000 people each year.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/diseases/en/">Millennium Development Goals</a> prompted a number of large scale campaigns across sub-Saharan Africa to combat malaria. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/reduction/itn.html">Millions of bed nets</a> were distributed. Insecticide was supplied to spray in homes across communities. The aim was to stop people getting bitten, interrupting the transmission cycle. </p>
<p>It’s been a real success story, leading to a notable decrease in the disease’s prevalence. Some areas of Zanzibar have seen <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3639098/">prevalence levels drop</a> from 40% of the population having malaria to less than 1%.</p>
<p>Now epidemiologists and public health managers are looking to complement indoor-based nets and spraying with outdoor based solutions. In effect, they’re taking the battle to mosquitoes. And drones are a crucial part of their armoury. One of the main challenges to disease managers is finding small water bodies that mosquitoes use to breed. This is where drones come in – for the first time, drone imagery can be captured over large areas which can be used to create precise and accurate maps of potential habitats.</p>
<h2>Tracking mosquitoes</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/mosquitoes/">know</a> that once an adult mosquito has fed and rested, it will typically go in search of a mate. Then it moves on to a suitable location – an aquatic habitat like the fringes of river channels, roadside culverts and irrigated rice paddies – to lay its eggs.</p>
<p>Public health authorities need to be able to locate and map these water bodies so they can be treated using a larvicide like DDT. This process is known as larval source management, and was successfully used in Brazil and Italy many decades ago. There, the DDT killed mosquito larvae – but could also be <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169475899016051">devastating</a> for local ecology as well as having adverse effects on human health.</p>
<p>Today much safer, low toxicity replacements have been developed. The problem is that they come at a cost. Resources are also needed to disseminate the larvicide and to locate the water bodies that host the mosquito eggs and larvae. Some of these hideaways are tough to find on foot, and if water bodies are accurately mapped a larvicide campaign could end up being a waste of time.</p>
<p>My institution, <a href="https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dges/staff-profiles/listing/profile/ajh13">Aberystwyth University</a> in Wales, is working with the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme to fly drones over known malaria hot spots. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192794/original/file-20171101-19858-1muno94.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rice paddy in Mwera, Zanzibar. These and other watery sites are perfect spots for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image collected by Andy Hardy using a DJI Phantom 3 drone.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 20 minutes, a single drone is able to survey a 30 hectare rice paddy. This imagery can be processed and analysed on the same afternoon to locate and map water bodies. This has proved to be highly accurate and efficient. This is all using one of the most popular off-the-shelf drones, the Phantom 3 made by DJI. These are about the size of a shoebox, weighing a little more than a bag of sugar (1.2 kg) and are used throughout the world for both leisure and commercial photography.</p>
<p>We started off working in test locations across Zanzibar but now, with the support of the <a href="http://www.ivcc.com/">Innovative Vector Control Consortium</a> – a non-for-profit partnership aiming to create novel solutions for preventing disease transmission – we’re widening our range to explore how this technology can be incorporated into operational malaria eliminating activities.</p>
<p>It doesn’t stop there. We plan to incorporate the drone imagery into smartphone technology to help guide larvicide spraying teams to water bodies on the ground, and to track their progress and coverage. There’s also an exciting drive towards automatically disseminating larvicide from the drones themselves.</p>
<h2>Getting people involved</h2>
<p>Despite these exciting advances, operators need to be mindful of the negative side of drones: invasion of privacy; collisions with aircraft and birdlife; their association with warfare. These are very real concerns for the public.</p>
<p>In Zanzibar, we worked alongside village elders to show them the drones and explain exactly what we plan to use them for. We also encouraged people to gather around when we were looking at live-feed footage from the drone’s onboard camera. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-pkmgpcNXFg?wmode=transparent&start=59" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Collation of drone imagery recorded using a DJI Phantom 3 over a range of sites across Zanzibar.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This introduced people to our work and gave them a chance to see how drones and similar technologies, used alongside traditional indoor-based interventions, can really help to make malaria elimination in their community a reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Hardy receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the UK Space Agency and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium. </span></em></p>Epidemiologists and public health managers are looking to complement indoor-based malaria solutions with those that focus on the outdoors. Drones are a crucial part of their armoury.Andy Hardy, Lecturer in Remote Sensing and GIS, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/849992017-10-03T23:26:32Z2017-10-03T23:26:32ZConflict and climate change lead to a rise in global hunger<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188417/original/file-20171002-3124-162g3ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C29%2C850%2C888&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">122 million of 155 million stunted children live in conflict countries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Piyaset/Shutterstock.com)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year about 11 per cent of the total human population (approximately 850 million people on the planet) suffered from daily hunger, according to a recent United Nations report on the state <a href="https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000022419/download/?_ga=2.115693254.1950129342.1505767014-570970425.1505767014">of food security and nutrition in the world</a>. </p>
<p>This is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. The numbers show a 4.5 per cent increase — or 38 million more hungry people — from the previous year. This rise in hunger is especially significant because it is the first rise in global hunger we have seen in more than a decade. </p>
<p>Though global hunger was at 14 per cent of the world’s population in 2005, each year since then, between 2005 and 2016, the number of hungry people on the planet dropped. Development officials were cautiously optimistic that we were on our way to eradicating hunger. </p>
<p>Conflict and climate change are the culprits behind this year’s rise in numbers.</p>
<p>According to the United Nations, food security worsened across major parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Western Asia. For instance, <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=57353#.WcEQIahSzcs">South Sudan</a> is mired in conflict and experienced a major famine earlier this year. </p>
<h2>Bad weather can lead to conflict</h2>
<p>If you overlay a map of the world’s conflicts with a map of the world’s worst food security problems, there is a clear connection. The UN notes 20 million people are at risk of dying of hunger not only in South Sudan but also Somalia, Yemen and the northeast tip of Nigeria. All of these areas are affected by conflicts that undermine people’s ability to feed themselves. </p>
<p>Similarly, deteriorating environmental conditions have ravaged many of these areas. The UN report notes that Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Yemen all experienced bad floods in 2016 while Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria all suffered bad droughts.</p>
<p>What we are probably witnessing is an interaction between deteriorating environmental conditions that help exacerbate already existing social tensions and undermine the livelihoods of millions.</p>
<p>We’ve been here before; history shows us that there are often links between conflict and bad weather.</p>
<p>For instance, there is a complex but well-established <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/is-a-lack-of-water-to-blame-for-the-conflict-in-syria-72513729/">connection between droughts and the start of the Syrian Civil War</a>. It seems that faltering rainfall in the early 2000s upended Syria’s rural communities and brought people into cities where they began protesting political corruption in the Assad government. </p>
<p>Similarly, there is a link between <a href="https://atlismta.org/online-journals/0607-journal-development-challenges/the-environment-and-conflict-in-the-rwandan-genocide/">droughts and the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s</a>. And if we look further back in time, it is well-recognized by historians that the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-food-changed-history-the-french-revolution-93598442/">French Revolution</a> began as protests over food prices after harvest failures sent waves of penniless refugees into the streets of Paris.</p>
<h2>Possible solution: drought-tolerant crops</h2>
<p>Luckily, there are potential solutions — even right here in Canada. For example, at the University of Guelph we are breeding more drought-tolerant varieties of our important crops. We can promote agricultural practices that build up the soil’s organic matter. The extra organic matter acts like a sponge by trapping rainfall and holding onto it for when it is needed. </p>
<p>In addition, we can support international development projects focusing in particular on female-headed households, to help small-scale farmers access markets and become more efficient. Focusing on women is critical because <a href="http://www.wfo-oma.org/women-in-agriculture/articles/the-role-of-rural-women-in-agriculture.html">in Africa, as much as 80 per cent of food is produced by small farmers who are mostly rural women</a>.</p>
<p>For years, academics and activists have been trying to raise alarm bells that population growth and climate change will make it increasingly hard to maintain food security over the next generation, and that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/104/49/19214.short">conflict is almost inevitable</a> as a result. </p>
<p>But until this year, there didn’t seem to be much data, outside of historic antecedents, to confirm these worries. With hunger decreasing every year, what was the big deal? But the uptick in hunger signalled in this most recent UN report should focus our attention. </p>
<p>In the future, will we remember 2017 as the year when we started to lose the battle to ensure the future is well fed? Or will we heed this warning and take the actions necessary to help communities everywhere build more resilient food systems?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evan Fraser receives funding from SSHRC, NSERC, Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation, Canada First Research Excellence Fund, Canada Research Chair Program, the McConnell Foundation, the Belmont Forum, and the Arrell Family Foundation. Evan Fraser is a fellow of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation, on the board of the Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security, a scientific advisor for George Weston Ltd.'s Seeding Food Innovation Fund, a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, and a Member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars.</span></em></p>Development officials have been cautiously optimistic that we were on our way to eradicating hunger. But a recent report by the UN shows a surge in global hunger due to conflict and climate change.Evan Fraser, Director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph; Professor; Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/770482017-05-16T00:13:11Z2017-05-16T00:13:11ZWhy businesses in Nigeria need to take sustainable finance seriously<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169001/original/file-20170511-32596-1euonuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stocks displayed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Joe Penney</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people will have heard of the UN <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. But less well known is the concept of sustainability at the root of these goals. Sustainability has recently become a mantra, a philosophy of sorts. </p>
<p>The contemporary interest in sustainability can be traced to the 1987 Brundtland Commission report, <a href="http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf">Our Common Future</a>. The commission had been set up to find ways for countries to meet their present economic objectives with less negative impact on the physical environment, society, and the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It first gave rise to the <a href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/">Millennium Development Goals</a>, which have now been replaced by the global sustainable goals. </p>
<p>The literary meaning of sustainability simply suggests longevity or the ability to survive under counteracting pressures. While longevity or resilience are integral, they tend to project a somewhat narrow and limited view of sustainability.</p>
<p>The broader view underlines the value of environmental, social, and economic considerations in decision making. It’s directly linked to a quest for development that doesn’t inhibit or harm future generations. It recognises the nested inter-dependency between the economy, society and the environment. </p>
<p>In other words, the success of the economy is dependent on the viability of society. The success of society on the other hand is also linked to the viability of the natural environment. As such, without the environment there will be no society, and without society, there will be no economy. The three are interwoven. </p>
<p><a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/the-measurement-of-sustainable-competitiveness/">Evidence</a> suggests a positive relationship between sustainability practice and the global competitiveness of a country. This is very much at the heart of the sustainable goals.</p>
<h2>Why sustainability is good for business</h2>
<p>There’s significant evidence that sustainability is good for business. A <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1984">recent study</a> by Harvard and London business schools found that corporations that voluntarily adopt sustainability policies have better organisational processes. They thus perform better when compared to a matched sample of companies that adopted almost none of these policies. </p>
<p>It has also been <a href="https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Why-to-integrate-sustainability-criteria-in-financial-regulation.pdf">found </a>that if financial institutions </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“integrate sustainability criteria in their risk assessment and decision making procedures, they will strengthen their financial soundness” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such institutions also</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“improve systemic financial stability and contribute to a more ecologically sustainable, just and peaceful world” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In sum, sustainability is a quest for effectiveness and efficiency. It’s first and foremost rooted in a commitment to reduce negative impacts and increase positive effects. Positive impacts include low carbon emission, fair employment practices, responsible product promotion and good corporate citizenship practices.</p>
<p>Corporate sustainability is therefore a form of <a href="http://annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053106.141706">self-regulation</a> driven by the values and philosophy of a business.</p>
<p>But for a long time, Nigerian businesses have treated sustainability as a dispensable <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/jcorpciti.24.83?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">philanthropic</a> option. The focus of most businesses has been on <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/a_new_economic_philosophy_for_africa">survival</a>. As such, the pursuit of sustainability is seen as not necessarily good for business.</p>
<h2>No longer an option for Nigeria</h2>
<p>Nigerian businesses need to go beyond the piece meal approach of corporate social responsibility. There’s at least one green shoot that suggests this process might be underway.</p>
<p>The Nigerian government is committed to implementing a national sustainability roadmap for the financial sector. Backed by the United Nations Environment Programme <a href="http://www.unepfi.org/about/">Finance Initiative</a>, it requires each member of Nigeria’s <a href="https://fsrcc.gov.ng/1/about-fsrcc/">Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee</a> to develop a sustainable development model. This model is for themselves - as organisations - and the industries they regulate. </p>
<p>The committee brings together all the regulatory agencies. These include banking, insurance, securities, pensions, commodities, taxation and fiscal policy sectors. These will be expected to address the integration of environmental and social risks in investment and lending decisions. </p>
<p>According to the UN programme, Nigeria is <a href="http://www.unepfi.org/events/regions-events/africa-middle-east-events/unep-fi-leads-the-way-on-sustainability-issues-among-nigeria-financial-sector/">arguably the first country</a> to adopt this approach to sustainable finance. </p>
<p>Nigeria, like most African countries, didn’t achieve many of the Millennium goals. This is due to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-nigeria-can-achieve-growth-thats-more-equitable-and-eco-friendly-50728">poor governance and the inability of many governments</a> to stimulate sustainable development. The sustainable goals present a new lease of life, which the government of <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nigerias-president-muhammadu-buhari-addresses-un-general-assembly-climate-change-full-speech-1521480">President Buhari has committed</a> to. </p>
<h2>What should businesses in Nigeria do?</h2>
<p>The full spectrum of the Nigerian financial regulatory community is on board. This means that all sources of finance in Nigeria – borrowings and investments – will soon be required to respect and reflect sustainability principles. </p>
<p>At the moment, the Central Bank of Nigeria expects <a href="https://www.cbn.gov.ng/out/2012/ccd/circular-nsbp.pdf">most large projects</a> to meet these requirements. Agriculture, power, and oil and gas are especially in focus. These projects will be required to demonstrate that they do not cause social and environmental harms, in addition to being profitable. </p>
<p>Banks have been mandated to develop robust social and environmental management systems to guide their lending and investment decisions. In practice, the banks are expected to adopt social and environmental management systems similar to those found in the <a href="http://www.greeninvestmentbank.com/green-impact/green-investment-handbook/">UK</a> and the <a href="http://www.gabv.org/about-us/our-principles">Global Alliance for Banking on Values</a>. </p>
<p>Very soon, the sustainable finance approach could be extended to all projects, no matter how small. Finance is the lifeblood of any business. There’s a global appetite to incorporate environmental, social and governance risks in <a href="http://www.equator-principles.com/">lending</a> and <a href="https://www.unpri.org/about">investment</a> decisions. </p>
<p>As long as Nigerian businesses want to thrive locally and globally, they cannot escape the current demands of sustainability. The earlier they understand and embrace it, the better for them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77048/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Amaeshi is currently a Scholar in Residence at the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Nigeria</span></em></p>Evidence suggests a strong relationship between sustainability and the global competitiveness of a country. Nigerian businesses need to embrace it in order to thrive.Kenneth Amaeshi, Professor of Business and Sustainable Development, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748842017-03-21T09:45:03Z2017-03-21T09:45:03ZSouth Africa is no longer the poster child for providing access to safe water<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161591/original/image-20170320-9108-1j347zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African children in Kwa-Zulu Natal walk to the last tap with running water after other communal taps were cut off due to drought.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Rogan Ward</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa was rightly proud of its water supply achievements in the first decade of democracy after the 1994 elections. </p>
<p>The country was cited as a global leader in the provision of water supply and sanitation. Way ahead of the 2015 deadline, it <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/MDG/MDG_Country%20Report_Final30Sep2015.pdf">proudly claimed</a> the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal for water. The number of people without access to safe water was more than halved. Even the more difficult sanitation target was reached. </p>
<p>But progress will now be measured by new standards in the future and the country will have to face up so some bad news. Not only is South Africa failing to meet the <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">new set of goals</a> set by the UN for 2030. It’s actually going backwards.</p>
<p>Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in water will be much more difficult. First, the goal is that water and sanitation will be available for everyone. But providing infrastructure will not be enough. The goal is not just availability but also <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/water-and-sanitation/">“sustainable management”</a>.</p>
<h2>Successful interventions</h2>
<p>In the first decade of democracy, infrastructure was built to provide safe water supplies to almost 20 million people. This was a relatively easy task. As an upper-middle income developing country, South Africa had the financial resources and the technical skills to achieve this. </p>
<p>What was missing before South Africa became a proper democracy in 1994 had been political will. Successive apartheid governments simply ignored poor black communities, particularly in rural areas. They were expected to meet their needs from their own resources, despite being systematically excluded from access to the mainstream economy.</p>
<p>Operating water infrastructure costs money. So the other important achievement was to put in place the necessary financial arrangements. These ensured that no one went without water because they could not afford it.</p>
<p>There were two legs to this. A financial framework was established in 2001 and <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng-13.pdf">put in place</a> for municipalities. The “equitable share of revenue”, which is guaranteed under the country’s constitution, was calculated to provide enough for operations in municipalities where many poor residents could not afford to pay. </p>
<p>At the same time a “free basic water policy” was <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1088723/Free_basic_water_a_sustainable_instrument_for_a_sustainable_future_in_South_Africa">established</a>. This obliged municipalities to provide a basic supply for free – they could choose whether it would be just for poor families or for all users.</p>
<p>The basic allowance was set at 6 000 litres per household per month. That was an equality measure. It was based on how much people who had to carry water in buckets from public taps were likely to use. People who used more were expected to pay. Tariffs <a href="http://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Norms-and-standards-in-respect-of-tariffs-for-water-services-in-terms-of-section-101-of-the-Water-Services-Act.pdf">were structured</a> to require that the more people used, the more they paid. So households that used a lot of water were subsidising those who used water sparingly.</p>
<p>This policy was challenged. Problems arose, particularly in cities where most households had waterborne sanitation. It was difficult to limit consumption to 6000 litres if water was also used to flush toilets. In response, some of the richer cities increased the “free basic” allowance. Many others, under political pressure, simply turned a blind eye. They did not meter household use. Not surprisingly, people who had easy access through a tap in the home started to use more.</p>
<p>While usage increased, the infrastructure often lagged behind. As a result, in many communities, particularly in the poorer rural areas, water stopped flowing out of the taps.</p>
<h2>The tide turns</h2>
<p>At global level, a <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/Official%20List%20of%20Proposed%20SDG%20Indicators.pdf">specific indicator</a> has been agreed to measure country performance on this goal. It is “the percentage of the population using safely managed drinking water services”.</p>
<p>On this measure, South Africa is doing poorly.</p>
<p>The Department of Water and Sanitation reports that many of its municipalities do not provide safe water. For two years it delayed release of its <a href="http://www.infrastructurene.ws/2017/01/26/2014-blue-drop-report-finally-released/#">“Blue Drop”</a> report for 2014, which showed an 8% drop in drinking water quality between 2012 and 2014. </p>
<p>Even worse, the reliability of those supplies is going down. In 2015 over 25% of households <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/03-18-07/03-18-072015.pdf">reported</a> that their supplies had been interrupted for longer than two days or for more than two weeks in the year, the standard that municipalities are required to meet. Data for interruptions during the recent drought have not yet been published.</p>
<p>The Department of Water and Sanitation has acknowledged that there <a href="http://www.gov.za/speeches/dws-acknowledges-findings-statssa-water-and-sanitation-provision-3-jun-2016-0000%5D(http://www.gov.za/speeches/dws-acknowledges-findings-statssa-water-and-sanitation-provision-3-jun-2016-0000">are problems</a>. But current criticisms of management failures and wasteful expenditure by both national and local government are <a href="https://www.agsa.co.za/Portals/0/AGSAReports/Water%20Infrastructure%20and%20Public%20Report.pdf">not encouraging</a>. The challenges are aggravated by a failure to appoint qualified personnel in municipalities. One consequence is that, despite massive expenditure, the proportion of people without safe water has remained more or less constant for the past three years.</p>
<h2>A mountain to climb</h2>
<p>So South Africa is no longer a poster-child for effective achievement of water supply and sanitation goals. Rather it has joined other countries on the continent which have a mountain to climb to achieve the world’s 2030 goals.</p>
<p>The first step is for government to acknowledge this challenge. Then national and local government must explain to the wider community what it intends to do to achieve the goals. And this cannot be just a public relations exercise to regain the country’s status as a leader in the sector. It must be a practical blueprint that explains how government is going to meet its constitutional commitment to ensure that all South Africans have access to safe and reliable water and sanitation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74884/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Muller is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of UN Water's Joint Monitoring Programme for water supply and sanitation. </span></em></p>South Africa did a brilliant job of increasing access to safe water for millions of people after the first democratic elections in 1994. But it hasn’t kept up the good work.Mike Muller, Visiting Adjunct Professor, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/710222017-01-18T10:38:58Z2017-01-18T10:38:58ZHow to make the United Nations fit for purpose in a new globalised era<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153107/original/image-20170117-21179-1pim72y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=475%2C186%2C2560%2C1598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/puisney/8170797233/in/photolist-ds2tmn-65BeKG-65vZen-ape9sk-65BMYj-65xjcR-ddL9LB-ddL4va-de5fW1-deQjfr-de5ggb-pqS1t8-de5moZ-p9E16b-de6UwC-demqJ1-demwPP-dempSN-demxzA-9GnGi3-ddLaWA-de5gZF-de6ToS-demBAY-65B71C-62vnGu-6NqmWT-65AEF1-65BA85-65vzjr-4gY3Me-65Ac3E-65A1RW-9Nr1XG-65xeoH-65xbAe-65BCXm-62r6Qe-65AEa1-65BBVy-65xjMk-65xKhv-65xLn8-65AUku-65BneE-ddL94t-65vUFH-65AMNd-65xbGR-62r75Z">Cédric Puisney/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United Nations gets a rough ride, and not just <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-united-nations-club-have-good-time-barack-obama-israel-settlements-a7496786.html">from Donald Trump</a>. The sheer magnitude of the problems the world faces, combined with the scale of activities the UN undertakes, means that there will always be failures even if those are vastly outweighed by successes. And failures make more exciting headlines. </p>
<p>The UN addresses global problems that might range from human rights to controlling diseases or implementing technology. In truth, however, if we could re-imagine the UN for our fragile, globalised world, it would look rather different to the organisation that stands before us now. It is no surprise that one of the themes of this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_AM17_Overview.pdf">asks participants to consider</a> how we might enable better systems for global cooperation.</p>
<p>In 1945, <a href="http://www.un.org/en/sections/history/history-united-nations/">the countries that created the UN</a> sought to prevent another world war. The main powers were <a href="http://www.un.org/en/sc/members/">given to the Security Council</a>, comprising the five countries deemed to be the victors in the Second World War. All have a veto on UN action which has caused paralysis on issues directly related to their political interests, as <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/04/end-security-council-veto-to-halt-aleppo-violence-un-human-right/">we have seen</a> in relation to Syria.</p>
<h2>Peace out</h2>
<p>Currently, the strongest weapons in the UN’s peace and security arsenal are coercive measures and peacekeeping, both of which are deployed regularly but which have deep flaws. </p>
<p>Sanctions and other coercive measures are problematic when trying to deal with threats to international peace and security. Leaders of rogue states, like Iran <a href="http://www.str.ulg.ac.be/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/7.-The-Impact-of-UN-Sanctions-on-the-DPRK.pdf">and North Korea</a>, are rarely affected; the suffering inflicted is on their subjugated populations.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/">UN Peacekeepers</a> may only be deployed if a country allows them to enter its land. In many conflicts, countries simply refuse to allow the UN access. The 1993 <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2013/10/the-lost-lessons-of-black-hawk-down/">“Black Hawk Down” incident in Somalia</a>, among others, dissuaded countries <a href="https://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/6AFE1B7F-9141-472A-95C1-52AA291AA679/0/60sGlobalNorthSouthDivide.pdf">in the global north</a> from committing their troops to peacekeeping missions. This has now become a rather lucrative business for states in the global south who <a href="http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/financing.shtml">get more than $1,000 per soldier</a> from the UN while paying out far less in salaries. There are too many stories of poor training or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/06/un-peacekeepers-refused-to-help-south-sudan-rebels-raped-aid-workers-report">failure to engage</a>. </p>
<p>Without a “standing army” (which the UN creators had envisaged), there is little more that the UN can do. Perhaps the best way forward would be to scrap the veto powers of Security Council permanent members, to expand membership to be more representative, and to create a global peacekeeping force that can enter any territory without requiring consent. But in reality those are pipe dreams. Any such proposals would be vetoed at the Council – <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1868619.stm">a Catch 22</a> if ever there was one.</p>
<h2>Rights and wrongs</h2>
<p>Beyond peace and security, the UN’s two other pillars – human rights and development have problems of their own. The great hope from the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948</a> was that states would no longer be able to oppress or subjugate their citizens. It was a great idea, but one that remains out of reach. While most countries have signed up to the human rights project, violations continue everywhere. UN human rights guidance and information is taken on board by states that want to comply. But without enforcement powers, countries that care little about human rights simply ignore those mechanisms. </p>
<p>The one intergovernmental human rights body – the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/AboutCouncil.aspx">Human Rights Council</a> – can do little more than shout from the sidelines given its status as a subsidiary body with no powers, and not even a direct reporting line to the Security Council or <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en">Secretary-General</a>.</p>
<h2>Development goals</h2>
<p>Development activities have similarly been based on strong ideals rather than concrete outcomes. With little oversight from member states, there is significant duplication between different UN activities. The <a href="http://www.undp.org/">UN Development Programme</a>, in particular, has become so bloated that it is difficult to justify its existence in its current form. The <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">Millennium Development Goals</a> fell rather flat, and the <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development Goals</a> are likely to go a similar way. </p>
<p>The themes are too broad, and there are too few concrete aims that can be implemented and monitored. The best work that <a href="https://undg.org/home/country-teams/unct-home/">country-teams</a> undertake is in supporting and strengthening local organisations, but there are too many situations like Haiti where the UN has been in the country for far too long, and with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/dec/01/haiti-cholera-outbreak-stain-on-reputation-un-says">far too little success</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153106/original/image-20170117-21172-3jh5d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kofi Annan pictured in 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/us-mission/7474208582/in/photolist-cotgPd-e4ZG4q-ejjagg-ejjah2-6mQNnZ-eGctZF-eRXVtD-ejpQmJ-eSamzN-ejpSNb-fQpKZS-fcbiZE-cvhAWm-cvhAB5-cvhASW-cvhAtA-ej6Hrx-cvhAxG-fQ8bFH-8vyqaS-fbTBHV-ej6Hhv-fbV3g8-8Dmx5x-f3ofzM-8rUGtj-fQpKam-71RFWK-8rUkmh-aSesF4-bnwUc6-4zMv79-4zMuWo-ei6oBy-3kxa-4zMAaJ-71RFTH-cosczC-coscvL-coscFC-ciJ1B1-ciJ1iN-coie7o-bDtmcZ-bDtkPk-bDtkHD-cJja4q-cJj9V7-cJj9Yb-coikYQ">United States Mission Geneva/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Redesigning a system that would give powers to external human rights bodies is something that was mooted and rejected a decade ago <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/formersg/annan.shtml">during Kofi Annan’s</a> reformist agenda. But a reformed UN, fit for purpose would have more streamlined and prominent human rights and development bodies. </p>
<p>We know that human rights and development contribute significantly to international security. And we know that UN activities have produced mid- and long-term results – <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/SREducation/Pages/SREducationIndex.aspx">education is a good example</a>. But too much money and time is wasted through grandiose ideas, duplicated work, and a bloated system that ends up creating dependencies in places like Haiti or Somalia. A review and improvement process would identify the gaps and duplications. It might upset those who want to hang onto their piece of the pie, but it would result in a leaner and fitter UN.</p>
<h2>Oversight</h2>
<p>Then, of course, we have the question of accountability when harm is caused, as we have seen in <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/03/04/un-stop-sexual-abuse-peacekeepers">sexual violence by peacekeepers</a> or when a UN peacekeeping operation caused <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-37126747">a cholera epidemic in Haiti</a>. The UN desperately requires mechanisms that enable individuals to seek redress and to hold accountable those who caused harm. </p>
<p>That extends to whether member states should be accountable. The relationship between members and the UN remains somewhat fuzzy, despite attempts to clarify the laws. Yet the credibility and legitimacy of the UN hinges upon accountability issues being handled in clear and systematic ways.</p>
<p>Some of this may be wishful thinking. And let’s face it, if nothing changes we still want and need the UN to exist, even in its current form. Ultimately, it has succeeded in preventing another world war, in advancing human rights, and in aiding development. But our world has changed and there are now clear reforms that would enable the UN to operate closer to its full potential.</p>
<p><em>This piece has been published in cooperation with the World Economic Forum to coincide with its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2017">You can read more here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosa Freedman receives funding from AHRC, BA, ESRC, Jacob Blaustein Institute, and Society of Legal Scholars.</span></em></p>Leaders in Davos are being asked to consider how global cooperation could be reinvigorated. They could do worse than start with UN reforms.Rosa Freedman, Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/695012016-12-05T14:14:19Z2016-12-05T14:14:19ZWhen men tackle mother and child health: lessons from Malawi<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148421/original/image-20161202-25682-14haql1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In rural Malawi traditional leaders have played an important role in persuading men to get involved in women's health.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Talk of <a href="http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/gender/newsite2002/about/defin.htm">gender mainstreaming</a> – the assessing of all policies, programmes, laws and interventions on the basis of their impact on both men and women at all levels – often attracts sceptical criticism.</p>
<p>One of the most significant challenges the concept has faced has been the absence of specific goals on gender equality in various areas of policy. But our recently completed <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sheryl_Hendriks/publications?pubType=technicalReport">study</a> in Malawi shows that <a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199560530.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199560530-e-32">participatory governance</a> – which emphasises citizen participation in governmental processes – could support the practical implementation of gender equality.</p>
<p>The participation of local community leaders, such as traditional authorities or opinion leaders, in policy development can facilitate the implementation of interventions to further gender equality. This is particularly the case where interventions aim to influence changes in men’s and women’s behaviour for gender equity.</p>
<p>Gender inequalities are exacerbated by the common misconception that the term “gender” means women. There is indeed a need to address women’s concerns to overcome socially ingrained barriers that prevent them from realising their human rights. But men have a particularly important partnership role to play in achieving gender equality.</p>
<p>The problem is that men are often depicted as perpetrators of inequality and <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw56/egm/Okali-EP-8-EGM-RW-Sep-2011.pdf">women the victims</a>. Typically, the shared interests of men and women are overlooked by policymakers and development practitioners. The result is that development agendas drive the two sexes further apart. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/survival_devlop_759.htm">Maternal and child health</a> is one such shared interest. Both men and women have a common desire to prevent <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/">maternal and child mortality</a>.</p>
<p>Our study of men’s involvement in maternal and child health in rural central Malawi in <a href="http://mapcarta.com/14195822">Ntcheu District</a> investigated what facilitates men’s involvement in maternal and child health.</p>
<h2>The importance of involving men</h2>
<p>Although Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, it is one of the few to achieve the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">Millennium Development Goal 4</a> of reducing child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015. </p>
<p>Among the initiatives that contributed to this achievement was the introduction of a <a href="http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/journal_archive/19957262/294.pdf">safe motherhood project</a> in 1998. The purpose was to improve service delivery to decrease infant and maternal mortality and morbidity. At the time maternal mortality was high: <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/responses/MALAWI-English.pdf">1,120 per 100,000 live births</a>.</p>
<p>Initially the programme focused on women. But it was soon recognised that men played a key role in decisions related to women’s sexual and reproductive health, including access to health facilities and resources. </p>
<p>It has been shown globally that <a href="http://www.igwg.org/igwg_media/involvingmenguide/ModuleIV.pdf">men’s involvement in maternal and child</a> health is a common feature for safe motherhood initiatives. Involving men in <a href="http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/publications/aonsectionIII_2.pdf">antenatal care</a> increases women’s uptake of antenatal care messages as well as their access to nutritious food. </p>
<p>Under the safe motherhood project women and men receive nutrition information and guidance at clinics. In addition, men receive advice on how to support their partners during pregnancy.</p>
<p>And inviting men to attend antenatal care clinics enabled testing of both partners for HIV. </p>
<h2>Overcoming barriers</h2>
<p>Several barriers have been identified to men’s involvement in maternal and child health. These include gender stereotyping, fear of testing for HIV, lack of a definitive role for men in maternal and child health, time constraints, facility environment and women’s reservations about men’s involvement.</p>
<p>But our study found that many of these barriers can be overcome by involving traditional authorities and community opinion leaders. The traditional leaders established bylaws to reinforce men’s attendance of antenatal care visits. Community opinion leaders encouraged men to participate in antenatal care. As cultural leaders and the custodians of culture, they helped to enforce change. </p>
<p>For example, imposing fines on men who did not attend antenatal care visits with their partners encouraged them to change their behaviour. Goats or chickens were payable for the fine, taking away a product of nutritional value. </p>
<p>In some communities, clinics gave priority to women who attended antenatal care consultations with their partners by serving them first. </p>
<p>But bylaws in some communities infringed women’s <a href="http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">human rights</a>. An example is a bylaw that states that a woman who attends antenatal care consultations without her husband won’t be attended to. </p>
<h2>Impact of study</h2>
<p>Traditional authorities are in a good position to advise policymakers on strategies for enlisting men’s involvement in maternal and child health and influence positive behaviour change. We found that these authorities and other opinion leaders influenced men’s behaviour when it comes to maternal and child care.</p>
<p>The findings suggest that traditional leaders need support to establish appropriate bylaws and regulations that promote men’s involvement in maternal and child health as well as gender equality.</p>
<p>This study suggests that gender mainstreaming isn’t just a myth. It is actually possible. Including men as partners is important for achieving gender equality. There are also immense possibilities for mainstreaming gender using bottom-up approaches and making use of existing structures to support implementation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheryl L Hendriks receives funding from the USAID Feed the Future Programme through the Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy in partnership with Michigan State University and the International Food Policy Research Institute. This research was funded by this USAID-funded project. She also receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation. She is affiliated with the University of Pretoria. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Mkandawire receives funding from the USAID Feed the Future Programme through the Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy in partnership with Michigan State University and the International Food Policy Research Institute. This research was funded by this USAID-funded project. She is affiliated with the University of Pretoria.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She consults for University of Pretoria </span></em></p>A study in Malawi shows how the participation of local community leaders in policy development can change men’s attitudes to maternal and child health for the better.Sheryl L Hendriks, Professor in Food Security; Director, Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being, University of PretoriaElizabeth Mkandawire, PhD candidate and Research Assistant, University of PretoriaLucy Mkandawire-Valhmu, Associate professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, College of NursingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/679962016-11-08T19:05:41Z2016-11-08T19:05:41ZSome good news from Mozambique: poverty levels have been reduced<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144919/original/image-20161107-4711-1v2fya6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mozambique has recorded significant poverty reduction in recent years. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Grant Lee Neuenburg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There has been a serious deficit of good news in Mozambique for quite some time. The recent release of <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/event/conference-poverty-and-well-being-mozambique">Mozambique’s Fourth Poverty Assessment</a>, based on a large nationally representative household survey conducted in 2014-15, provides a welcome shift. The report finds that, relative to the prior survey undertaken in 2008-09, significant gains have been made in Mozambique’s fight to reduce poverty and improve living conditions across an array of measures and approaches.</p>
<p>Over the last 25 years, Mozambique has nearly halved the share of its population consuming below a basic needs poverty line. Comparisons with other countries in Africa and elsewhere are also generally very favourable in terms of trends. Mozambique remains poor. But it is now approaching the living standard levels of other low income African countries, like Tanzania. </p>
<p>The report was released at the end of October in the midst of an unfolding macroeconomic <a href="http://www.mpd.gov.mz/images/Presentation_by_the_Ministry_of_Economy_and_Finance_-_25_October_2016.pdf">crisis</a> which was provoked by a number of factors.
These include the reemergence of <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/negotiations-between-frelimo-renamo-suspended-mozambique-war-escalates-1573691">open hostilities</a> between the ruling Frelimo party and its old foe, the opposition party Renamo. </p>
<p>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international partners stopped disbursing funds to Mozambique after revelations that the previous government of President Armando Guebuza <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2016/09/16/mozambique-president-to-cooperate-on-debt-audit-imf/">failed to disclose official backing of a series of large loans</a> to state owned companies. And, the much lower world prices for coal and natural gas has reduced private investor <a href="https://www.gfmag.com/magazine/february-2016/mozambique-commodity-prices-deal-another-blow">enthusiasm</a>.</p>
<p>Mozambique’s <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/mozambique/overview">GDP growth</a> in 2016 is expected to be about 3.6%. This will be its lowest by far since 2000. The currency has <a href="http://www.tradingeconomics.com/mozambique/currency">depreciated massively against the dollar</a>. More expensive imports have stoked inflation, which is currently running at about <a href="http://www.ine.gov.mz/">25%</a>. </p>
<p>The current crisis reflects a collapse in confidence across a series of key relationships including between Frelimo and Renamo. Relations between the Mozambican government and its international donor partners and investors have been unsettled. </p>
<p>Most importantly, it is difficult to imagine that all this has not eroded people’s faith in the state’s ability to deliver on broadly shared development objectives.</p>
<p>Yet the poverty assessment reveals that, prior to the crisis, the country had achieved significant improvements in living conditions across multiple indicators. These include monetary measures such as household consumption plus an array of non-monetary measures related to education, water, sanitation, roofing, electricity and possession of durable goods.</p>
<h2>Significant gains</h2>
<p>The assessment considers poverty and well-being using two principal approaches. The first approach focuses on household consumption by determining a basket of goods corresponding to a basic living standard. The cost of acquiring this basket of goods is the poverty line. Households whose real consumption per person falls below the line are considered absolutely poor in monetary terms. </p>
<p>The second approach assesses whether broad based improvements are being realised across a series of non-monetary measures using the now broadly employed <a href="http://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/OPHIWP084_Ch3.pdf">Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty index</a> as well as a complementary <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jid.3200/full">first order dominance approach (FOD)</a>. The FOD approach dispenses with the need for a weighting scheme across welfare measures by focusing on movement of the population towards unambiguously better living standards. </p>
<p>Across all approaches, a coherent story emerges. At the national level, welfare levels have improved compared with the prior survey undertaken in 2008/09. The share of the population living in monetary poverty (below the absolute poverty line) fell by about five percentage points. Even more rapid gains were realised for the non-monetary measures. Looking back to 1996/97, the gains in well-being, both monetary and non-monetary, have been substantial. These gains have been registered in rural and urban zones and in every province. </p>
<p>Data weaknesses, particularly undercounting of food consumption, militate against precise statements. Nevertheless, the monetary poverty rate in Mozambique likely falls in the range of 41% to 45% of the population. This is down from an estimated 80% in 1990. As such, Mozambique has come very close to achieving <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml">Millennium Development Goal 1</a>. This called for a halving of the share of the population living in absolute poverty between 1990 and 2015.</p>
<p>The conclusion that poor households are progressing is strongly reinforced by the multidimensional analysis. For example, taking six basic dimensions of non-monetary welfare, nearly half of the population was considered deprived in all six dimensions in 1996-97. This means that nearly half the population lived in households where no member possessed at least a fourth grade education. In these households water access was unsafe, sanitation was inadequate, the roof was made of grass, there was no electricity and there were very few durable goods.</p>
<p>Further, only 2% of the population was considered not deprived in all six dimensions. By 2014-15, the share of the population considered deprived in all six dimensions had fallen to about 14% while the share not deprived in any indicator had risen to about 16%.</p>
<p>The Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty index, shown in the figure below, comprehensively tracks the population considered deprived across multiple dimensions. Broad based improvements are evident.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144391/original/image-20161103-25346-r3vc0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty index. 1996/97-2014/15.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fourth National Assessment</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Much remains to be accomplished</h2>
<p>The findings of the most recent poverty assessment are not all positive. In particular, the gains realised have not contributed to a convergence in welfare levels. The gap between rural and urban zones is large and at best persistent, if not aggravating. Living conditions in the south are much better than those in the north and the centre across almost all welfare dimensions considered and all methods. </p>
<p>In addition, the fruits of the rapid economic growth experienced since 1996 have been tilted towards wealthier households. Inequality of consumption has been <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10888-015-9303-5">increasing since 1996/97</a> with a particular spike since 2008/09. One of the best known measures of inequality, the Gini coefficient on consumption, rose to 0.47 in 2014/15 compared with 0.40 in 1996/97. This is a large increase from an initially relatively high level. </p>
<p>In sum, governance weaknesses in the Mozambican state and its failure to deliver a more equitable growth pattern must be balanced against a real record of achievement in the fight against poverty. </p>
<p>The hope is that this record emboldens all parties to begin taking concrete steps towards rebuilding a workable level of mutual confidence. Reestablishing key working relationships is necessary to achieving inclusive growth – the core policy challenge facing Mozambique in its economic and social development over the next decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67996/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mozambique has made significant progress in its fight against poverty despite recent economic and political challengesChanning Arndt, Senior Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations UniversityFinn Tarp, UNU-WIDER Director, United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/674322016-10-25T06:12:47Z2016-10-25T06:12:47ZHabitat III is over, but will its New Urban Agenda transform the world’s cities?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143039/original/image-20161025-28420-ry8nwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Quito lights up for Habitat III. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexei Trundle</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www2.habitat3.org/file/535859/view/588897">New Urban Agenda</a> was officially adopted in Quito, Ecuador in the last plenary of the <a href="https://habitat3.org">Habitat III</a> conference.</p>
<p>The agenda provides a <a href="https://theconversation.com/habitat-iii-the-biggest-conference-youve-probably-never-heard-of-63499">20-year “roadmap”</a> to guide sustainable urban development globally. </p>
<p>The text of the New Urban Agenda itself was agreed well before Habitat III at the UN General Assembly <a href="http://sdg.iisd.org/events/informal-negotiations-on-habitat-iii-outcome-document/?rdr=sd.iisd.org">in September</a>, during an extraordinary informal negotiation session that lasted for <a href="http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/news/2016/09/final-burst-talks-results-consensus-draft-new-urban-agenda">more than 30 hours</a>.</p>
<p>This allowed the focus in Quito to shift towards commitment and action. Under the banner of the “<a href="https://habitat3.org/quito-implementation-plan">Quito Implementation Plan</a>”, commitments ranged from the development and enhancement of <a href="http://unhabitat.org/mayor-sally-lee-sorsogon-launches-addressing-climate-change-in-national-urban-policy-publication-at-habitat-iii/">national urban policies</a>, to integration between <a href="http://www.un.org/pga/71/2016/10/16/world-mayors-assembly-of-habitat-iii/">different levels of government</a>.</p>
<p>The conference also saw announcements of new sources of <a href="https://habitat3.org/programme/habitat-for-humanitys-launch-of-commitments-under-the-quito-implementation-plan/">international development assistance</a> for countries to provide better access to housing and shelter for millions more people worldwide.</p>
<h2>Sustainable urban development for all</h2>
<p><a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf">More than half</a> of the world’s population now lives in cities. So it makes sense that the New Urban Agenda will significantly shape the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld">UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development</a>.</p>
<p>The 2030 agenda is built around a series of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most relevant to the New Urban Agenda is <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/">SDG 11</a>, which aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. However, the New Urban Agenda has been <a href="http://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/Opportunities%20for%20the%20New%20Urban%20Agenda.pdf">criticised</a> for lacking direct links to the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg11">targets</a> set out within Goal 11.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"789534481464102912"}"></div></p>
<p>Unlike their predecessors the <a href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/">Millennium Development Goals</a>, the SDGs apply to all UN members states equally. </p>
<p>While most of the world’s rapid urban growth is in the Global South, challenges abound in the cities of Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and East Asia. In these regions, upgrading existing infrastructure and avoiding “<a href="https://www.sei-international.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2015-11-C40-Cities-carbon-lock-in.pdf">carbon lock-in</a>” - where old, carbon-intensive structures prevent the adopting of lower carbon alternatives – will require significant transformative efforts.</p>
<p>Much of Habitat III focused on the application of new technologies and the harvesting of big data, particularly in these established urban centres. Under the umbrella of <a href="http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/articles/data-driven-cities-a-key-to-the-habitat-iii-new-urban-agenda/85843">Smart Cities</a>, using open data networks for better urban planning provided an optimistic, technology-based future for cities. However, questions about the security, ethics, and oversight of large-scale information gathering remain largely <a href="http://cityminded.org/smart-technology-ethics-15967">unanswered</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142709/original/image-20161021-1763-oabs20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melbourne, Australia, is consistently rated as the world’s ‘most liveable city’, but it’s also very carbon intensive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexei Trundle</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also included in the New Urban Agenda are renewed efforts to help developing countries urbanise. These build on earlier work under the <a href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/">Millennium Development Goals</a> and <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/devagenda/habitat.shtml">Habitat II</a>. Related commitments focus on emerging concepts, such as <a href="http://www.iclei.org/details/article/iclei-launches-resilient-cities-report-2016.html">urban resilience</a> and <a href="http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/commentary/2016/10/placemaking-and-promise-new-urban-agenda">inclusive public spaces</a>.</p>
<p>Commitments from individual countries under the Quito Implementation Plan <a href="http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/news/2016/10/official-commitments-new-urban-agenda-slow-start?utm_source=Citiscope&utm_campaign=4901066977-Mailchimp_Quito_2016_10_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ce992dbfef-4901066977-118056697">were underwhelming</a>. Instead, civil society and academia led the way with a range of commitments to <a href="http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/news/2016/10/habitat-iii-ngo-makes-major-commitments-strengthen-access-housing">new initiatives</a>. This included a new $15 million <a href="https://habitat3.org/programme/habitat-for-humanitys-launch-of-commitments-under-the-quito-implementation-plan/">Terwilliger Centre for Innovation in Shelter</a> funded by Habitat for Humanity, and $2.3 million by the <a href="http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/news/2016/10/fund-seeks-strengthen-climate-action-cities">C40 Cities Finance Facility</a> to upscale urban climate action. A full list of commitments to the Quito Implementation Plan can be found on the <a href="https://habitat3.org/quito-implementation-plan">Habitat III website</a>. </p>
<p>Despite references to <a href="http://unctad.org/en/pages/aldc/Least%20Developed%20Countries/UN-list-of-Least-Developed-Countries.aspx">Least Developed Countries</a> and <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sids">Small Island Developing States</a> in the agenda, support for sustainable urbanisation in areas such as the Pacific was limited. As noted by one Pacific delegate: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are not enough people talking about the Pacific, and the Pacific’s problems with urbanisation. We don’t have the means, but we are the ones being heavily impacted by disasters and climate change.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The role of partnerships between city authorities and universities in the Global South and their more developed neighbours was also strongly emphasised. UN-Habitat is soon to release a Higher Education <a href="https://habitat3.org/programme/hesi-global-meeting-of-universities-action-plan-for-universities-to-maximize-impact-of-higher-education-in-the-sustainability-of-urbanization/">Action Plan</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142715/original/image-20161021-1763-n6gba7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142715/original/image-20161021-1763-n6gba7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142715/original/image-20161021-1763-n6gba7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142715/original/image-20161021-1763-n6gba7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142715/original/image-20161021-1763-n6gba7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142715/original/image-20161021-1763-n6gba7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142715/original/image-20161021-1763-n6gba7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participants in a training session on urban climate action planning in Small Island Developing States.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernhard Barth, UN-Habitat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Was Habitat III a success?</h2>
<p>Views on the success of the conference varied among Habitat III’s <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=55360">36,000</a> participants. This was perhaps inevitable given the contested nature of cities and urban space.</p>
<p>A clear highlight was the participation of countless young Quito residents. Many attended side events and UN-Habitat’s <a href="https://habitat3.org/programme/children-and-youth-assembly/">Youth Assembly</a>. The continued growth in the role of civil society, mayors and advocacy groups is a positive trend that should be supported.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142745/original/image-20161022-1773-nb4d93.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142745/original/image-20161022-1773-nb4d93.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142745/original/image-20161022-1773-nb4d93.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142745/original/image-20161022-1773-nb4d93.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142745/original/image-20161022-1773-nb4d93.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142745/original/image-20161022-1773-nb4d93.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142745/original/image-20161022-1773-nb4d93.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young Quiteñas and Quiteños participate in a UN-Habitat Training Session.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernhard Barth, UN-Habitat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The parallel <a href="http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/news/2016/10/alternative-forums-offer-urban-visions-outside-habitat-iii">Alternative Habitat</a> forums provided a platform for challenging some of the consensus-based narratives.</p>
<p>Bridging these official and unofficial events was the launch of <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/top-down-bottom-up-urban-design">the Quito Papers</a>. Authored by a trio of world-renowned urban experts, The Quito Papers provide an alternative vision for cities of the future. </p>
<p>Unlike the <a href="http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/research_resources/charters/charter04.html">Charter of Athens</a>, which likened cities to machines, the Quito Papers consider cities as adaptive and evolving open systems. These papers urge decision-makers to give cities back to the people that inhabit them, and promote equality and socially interactive spaces.</p>
<h2>Towards Habitat IV</h2>
<p>All countries will need to step up their commitments if the aspirations set out in Habitat III are to be achieved. Key concepts, such as integrated planning and models for local-national government cooperation, will need further work. </p>
<p>Although Habitat IV will not take place until 2036, a four-yearly review process has been agreed upon, building on the biannual <a href="http://unhabitat.org/wuf/">World Urban Forum</a>. </p>
<p>Also included in the New Urban Agenda is a review of UN-Habitat’s role in its implementation. It is not yet known whether a new “<a href="http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/news/2016/08/un-cities-rumoured-proposal-gains-steam">UN-Cities</a>” entity will emerge when the review concludes in 2017.</p>
<p>From a planning perspective, 20 years is a short space of time to change the trajectory of global cities. However, the unplanned changes in our cities over the next two decades are almost equally unimaginable. </p>
<p>With the New Urban Agenda as a road map, it is hoped that we can rise to the challenge of creating more liveable, resilient and sustainable cities. Because without global urban transformation, we cannot achieve sustainable development as a whole.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67432/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexei Trundle receives research funding from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and an APA scholarship from the Australian Government.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>André Stephan receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hayley Henderson receives an APA scholarship from the Australian Government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hesam Kamalipour receives IPRS and APA scholarships from the Australian Government. He is also a Doctoral Academy member at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute (MSEI).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Lowe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nation states, UN bodies and civil society gathered in Quito for Habitat III to adopt the New Urban Agenda. So how will the UN’s new global urban roadmap transform our cities over the next 20 years?Alexei Trundle, PhD Candidate, Australian-German Climate & Energy College, The University of MelbourneAndré Stephan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneHayley Henderson, PhD Candidate in Urban Planning, The University of MelbourneHesam Kamalipour, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant in Urban Design, The University of MelbourneMelanie Lowe, Research Fellow, McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/666902016-10-20T15:29:06Z2016-10-20T15:29:06ZEquitable access is key to meeting water, sanitation and hygiene targets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142318/original/image-20161019-20336-ip8sko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman carries water she has collected from the Turkwel River near Lodwar in Turkana County, north-west Kenya.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rob Hope/REACH</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UN’s millennium development goal target of halving the amount of people with access to safe drinking water has been met. The same is sadly not true of the sanitation target. And the transition to the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs">sustainable development goals</a> for water and sanitation has created even more ambitious targets. These will require real change within this sector to achieve them by the 2030 deadline.</p>
<p><a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg6">Goal 6</a> of the sustainable development goals, released in 2015, involves ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The indicators which will be used to track progress were only <a href="http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/47th-session/documents/2016-2-IAEG-SDGs-Rev1-E.pdf">agreed in March</a> 2016. It’s early days, so changes and shifts might not be visible to those outside the sector. </p>
<p>I’m happy to report that there are shifts towards greater equity in access – which is important because, as research has previously shown, progress in the provision of water and sanitation tends to benefit wealthier populations. The poor are left out in the cold.</p>
<p>The sustainable development goals aim to provide access to all. but to achieve this will take major changes in the sector. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140915/original/image-20161007-21433-14m7fbw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Targets for access to water, sanitation and hygiene: then and now.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Equality in access</h2>
<p>The millennium development goal focus of halving the number of people without access to water meant that the target could be achieved without helping the poorest. By 2012, <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/">the Joint Monitoring Programme, or JMP,</a> analysed progress toward the targets by wealth. This highlighted how progress was often greatest for the wealthiest, while there was little change <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/documents/?tx_displaycontroller%5btype%5d=wealth_quintiles">for the poorest</a>. </p>
<p>Senegal is an example how different progress can be for the richest and poorest in a country which met the MDG target on water. The progress the country made was unequal. In urban areas, access to improved water sources decreased for the poorest between 1995 and 2012. In rural areas, rapid progress for the second wealthiest group still left them 17 years behind that of the wealthiest.</p>
<p>Across the sector there is now a focus on how to extend access to water, sanitation and hygiene services to those who are most marginalised, but also to those who are least able to afford to pay. The target is to make water affordable for all. But this is the one area not currently captured in the SDG indicators. Extending sustainable services to all will require different financing models to address both construction and maintenance, and this remains a key topic under discussion.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142248/original/image-20161018-15137-13b2wnd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Senegal met the MDG target for water, but progress was unequal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A better level of access</h2>
<p>There are three key critical areas in which the bar for what is considered access is being raised: safer water quality, integration of hygiene, and safe management of sanitation.</p>
<p>By the end of the MDG period it was clear that <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/definitions-methods/watsan-categories/">improved water sources</a> did not equate to safe drinking water. A rapid assessment of <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/water-quality/">drinking-water quality</a> in five countries – Ethiopia, Jordan, Nicaragua, Nigeria and Tajikistan – demonstrated the gap between improved water sources and safe water. Over half of protected dug wells did not provide safe water and nor did around a third of protected <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/report_wash_low.pdf">springs and boreholes</a>. </p>
<p>These results <a href="http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862012000300015&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en">showed</a> that in Nigeria the proportion of the population with access to safe water was <a href="http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/90/3/11-094284/en/">15%, or 22 million people</a> lower than estimated based on the MDG indicator. Similar results were found for 4 of the 5 countries included in the study, with a 7-16% decrease in access when water quality was taken into consideration.</p>
<p>Going forward, the SDG indicator for safely managed drinking water services is <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP-WASH-Post-2015-Brochure.pdf">defined</a> as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a basic drinking water source which is located on premises, available when needed and free of faecal and priority chemical contamination.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A basic drinking water source is an improved drinking water source with a round trip collection time of no more than 30 minutes including queuing. Where existing data is available, there will be reports against this indicator in the coming year. </p>
<p>But data is not widely available. This will be one of the major outcomes from the SDG for water: millions more people across the globe will have their water sources monitored, with increasing pressure on those that provide water services to ensure water isn’t just available, that it is also safe to drink. The area is already seeing progress with the implementation of water quality testing being expanded in household <a href="http://mics.unicef.org/methodological_work/3/WATER-QUALITY">surveys</a>.</p>
<p>How this data will be made available to water users and decision makers at a local level is not yet clear. But it is essential that this is addressed in the coming years to help deliver safe accessible drinking water for all.</p>
<h2>The hygiene gap</h2>
<p>There is often limited attention given to hygiene. The inclusion of hygiene in target 6.2 is the result of sustained <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000367">advocacy and research work</a> within the sector.</p>
<p>About 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been included in <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP-Update-report-2015_English.pdf">surveys</a> demonstrating that, on average, only 13% of the population have access to a handwashing facility at home with soap and water. That is around half the population that had access to sanitation in those same countries, and about one fifth of those with access to water. The inclusion of hygiene in the sustainable development goals will ensure the sector continues to build on this important work. </p>
<h2>Safe sanitation</h2>
<p>The emphasis in the millennium development goals was on toilet infrastructure only. This has left what has been described as the <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/city/untreated-faecal-sludge-huge-threat-health-1225666">second generation sanitation challenge</a>: how to remove excreta building up in pit latrines and septic tanks and how to treat it?</p>
<p>Many toilets aren’t accessible to emptying trucks, or are at risk of collapse if they are emptied. Where equipment is available for desludging, waste is still commonly dumped into waterways as treatment works do not have the capacity. Raising awareness of these issues and communicating them through <a href="http://sfd.susana.org/about/the-sfd">shit flow diagrams</a> is crucial. The sector is changing how it works to address the whole faecal sludge management chain.</p>
<p>The sustainable development goals add new dimensions to evaluating access to drinking water and sanitation, and now hygiene. In the millennium development goals infrastructure was a focus, but with the sustainable development goals it will expand to include management and behaviour change. Progress against the SDG targets for water, sanitation and hygiene may appear slow as these are incorporated into such initiatives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katrina Charles receives funding from the UK Department of International Development.</span></em></p>Progress in terms of water and sanitation has traditionally favoured those with money. But the hope with the SDG’s is that this gap will be plugged in the future.Katrina Charles, Lecturer and course director in Water Science, Policy and Management, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/660792016-10-19T14:57:01Z2016-10-19T14:57:01ZOnly a bottom-up approach will deliver global health development targets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141982/original/image-20161017-4726-873kv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Frontline workers need to be engaged in the process of building responsive, interconnected health systems
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is an urgent need to put together a coherent goal-readiness plan to drive the <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">sustainable development goals</a> related to health. To succeed it needs to address three critical elements: how the goals will be financed, what health systems need to be established and how new skills, new thinking, and new ways of working together across systems can be developed.</p>
<p>Nine months after the United Nations’ sustainable development goals came into force implementation is still at the starting blocks. Most of the world still needs to learn about the goals and understand exactly <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54912#.V-BGWf5f1Gp">why they matter</a>. </p>
<p>The goals have been on the agenda of world leaders. At the recent Global Fund for Development meeting in Canada governments of both poor and wealthy countries committed to funding the fight against <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/">HIV, tuberculosis and malaria</a>. These are epidemics that the sustainable development goal for health seeks to eliminate.</p>
<p>But a much more comprehensive approach needs to be developed to achieve the sustainable development goals in totality and to meet the 2030 deadline. </p>
<p>aHe <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">millennium development goals</a> were laudable. But the top-down approach that was often taken to reach programmes did not result in the intended success it aimed for. For the sustainable development goals to be successful, they need to be owned by everyone. A hierarchical approach will not serve these ends. Global leaders need to take a different approach to the one taken with the millennium development goals. </p>
<h2>Learning from previous mistakes</h2>
<p>There were some notable successes in meeting the millennium development goals. These included increased gender parity in primary education enrolment. There were also some notable failures, such as winning the fight against HIV.</p>
<p>Overall the goals were criticised for being too focused on achieving specific measurable targets, without considering the context in which these needed to be achieved. Take for example the target to reduce the number of deaths of children younger than five. This target gave no consideration to the contexts and systems in countries that affect child mortality – such as conflict and insecurity. These conditions render children vulnerable despite frontline workers’ best efforts. </p>
<p>Focusing on disease specific measurable targets is considered a vertical approach. All resources are directed or funnelled towards fixing only one specific problem. </p>
<p>But this is problematic. It takes resources away from other needs. It does not strengthen the overall health system and does not address the context in which the problem occurs. </p>
<p>This approach may fix problems in the short term. But in the long term the broader contextual factors that remain in place are likely to result in the problem reoccurring.</p>
<p>Unlike the millennium development goals the sustainable development goals place greater emphasis on the relationship between individual health and its social determinants. </p>
<p>For example, the success of <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/health/">goal three</a> – which looks broadly at good health and well being – is dependent on the other 16 goals being achieved. And collectively the goals and their targets address the key social determinants underlying poor health. The goals realise that good health is dependent on food security, which in turn is affected if all the sustainable development goals are not achieved.</p>
<p>Put another way, the sustainable development goals are more integrated. This is an improvement on the limitations of the millennium development goals’ vertical approach. The clear shift from a disease or condition-specific focus to overall well-being is very important. </p>
<h2>Better health systems</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.wpro.who.int/health_services/health_systems_framework/en/">World Health Organisation</a> defines a health system as all organisations, people and actions whose primary interest is to promote, restore or maintain health. There are many components to this system and all need to work together. This includes:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>financing, </p></li>
<li><p>information systems, </p></li>
<li><p>supply mechanisms, </p></li>
<li><p>human resources, </p></li>
<li><p>physical infrastructure, </p></li>
<li><p>appropriate training, and governance. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>If one of these components is weak, all of the rest of the components are at risk. Establishing better health systems is therefore critical to ensure that all the components operate effectively. </p>
<p>The only way to enable better health systems is through policy and implementation. But policy needs to be more than a well-articulated wish list. Written policies mean nothing if they do not substantially and positively change everyday people’s lived reality. For this to happen, careful consideration is needed to translate decisions made at a macro-level to fit the reality at the coalface of implementation.</p>
<p>This means focusing on those at the frontline. Health workers, educators, engineers and an array of other development workers – and not only government leaders – will ultimately be responsible for delivering the sustainable development goals. </p>
<p>But how well are these workers being prepared to meet these goals? Do they know about the agenda? Have they heard of the goals, and do they understand their role in fulfilling them? </p>
<p>Frontline workers need to be engaged during this foundational phase to use the sustainable development goals to build resilient and responsive health systems that are interconnected with other service delivery systems. </p>
<p>And it means that policymakers and managers will need to have a more creative and innovative approach: less top-down, allowing greater discretion at local level. </p>
<p>It is important to invest in these workers’ buy-in. Their opinions on how to make the goals possible in their own contexts must be heard and considered. The diversity of their perspective and approach also needs to be embraced rather than controlled or dismissed.</p>
<h2>Changing the approach</h2>
<p>From our perspective the individual goals work together as part of a complex whole. The old system of control through vertical programme targets needs to be relinquished. A system of integration where the global goals are owned as part of the every day workings of communities and in government’s service delivery.</p>
<p>Unlike in the past governments, frontline workers and communities should not be expected to deliver on targets that are unrealistic because of constraints outside their control. This includes financial, material, human resource and time constraints as well as a constrained way of thinking. </p>
<p>Instead, the success of the sustainable development goals requires a vision for integration that includes a clear plan, and contingencies for the plan. This will ensure ownership and accountability to the people – not only within health systems but within all global systems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Daniels has recently been elected to the Board of Health Systems Global. She writes this article in her capacity as Board member. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aku Kwamie has recently been elected to the Board of Health Systems Global. She writes this article in her capacity as Board member.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fadi El-Jardali has recently been elected to the Board of Health Systems Global. He writes this article in his capacity as board member.</span></em></p>The millennium development goals were laudable but the approach to achieving them was flawed. An integrated, bottom-up approach is needed if the sustainable development goals are to be met by 2030.Karen Daniels, Specialist Scientist, Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research CouncilAku Kwamie, Health systems researcher, University of GhanaFadi El-Jardali, Professor of Health Policy and Systems, American University of BeirutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/661582016-10-02T19:38:43Z2016-10-02T19:38:43ZAccess to quality education in Africa: how to plug the gaps<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139917/original/image-20160930-9908-4uhwb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A child holds a pen as children play at a primary school in Burundi: access to education has improved but other challenges remain.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Thomas Mukoya</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In many countries too many children fail to complete a full cycle of basic education. There are also too many children and youth who do not make the progress expected due to various exclusions, some of which are silent. These include over-age entry and progression, poor attendance, low achievement, disability, under-nutrition, HIV/AIDS orphanhood and the impact of migration.</p>
<p>These problems are particularly acute in Africa. The United Nation’s <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development Goals</a> are intended to shape international development through to 2030. Goal number 4 focuses on education. It sets the goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. </p>
<p>Progress was made in working towards the earlier <a href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/">Millennium Development Goals</a>. But there’s still a need to accelerate movement towards providing universal access to education worldwide. </p>
<p>Why is this so challenging and why is it so challenging in Africa in particular? The problems are certainly very complex as reflected by the 10 targets associated with the education goal. How we advance further will be one of the main questions to be addressed by almost 200 delegates at an <a href="http://www.icerda-africa.org">international conference</a> in Ghana.</p>
<p>Major progress has indeed been made towards increasing access to education at all levels and increasing enrolment rates in schools. This is particularly true for women and girls. And basic literacy skills have improved tremendously.</p>
<p>But bolder efforts are necessary to make even greater strides for achieving universal education goals. For example, the world has achieved equality in primary education between girls and boys. But few countries have achieved this target at all levels of education.</p>
<h2>How far Africa has come, how far it has to go</h2>
<p>The top three <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4">targets</a> of the SDG education goal are that by 2030 countries must have introduced: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes for all girls and boys </p></li>
<li><p>access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education for all girls and boys, and </p></li>
<li><p>equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>It is necessary to learn from what has been achieved so far and also from what has not worked. This highlights the need for rigorous evaluation and for education research. The International Conference on Education Research for Development in Africa provides a space in which to address the question of what role education research can play. </p>
<p>Among its themes are critical discussions about education for development in Africa, innovative practices in education and access and equity. The list of themes also includes gender and education, education quality and assessment, inclusive education and teachers and alternative basic education.</p>
<p>The conference will consider innovative practices in education. Finding better ways of improving digital literacy on the part of teachers and technology integration in schools may well hold the keys to making greater strides.</p>
<p>Other topics on the agenda include: <a href="http://www.livescience.com/43296-what-is-stem-education.html">STEM education</a>, mathematics education, teacher training and development and donor roles and the politics of education in Africa. </p>
<h2>Educating the next generation</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ug.edu.gh/events/international-conference-education-research-development-africa-icerda-2015">first conference</a> was organised around the theme of “Harnessing Education Research for Evidence-Based Development”. It focussed mainly on Ghana but highlighted needs that must to be addressed more boldly across the continent. This included the wide attainment gap between high and low achievers. Also in focus was the urgent need to improve basic education for all and disparities between urban and rural areas. </p>
<p>This year’s conference marks the establishment of the first African Education Research Association outside South Africa. The latter will enable a focus for African scholars on the needs of the continent. The initiative is being linked to a new journal on education and development in Africa. This will provide a platform for nurturing the next generation of African scholars in this field.</p>
<p>This new platform responds to the need for an independent forum in which African voices, and scholars who work with African colleagues, can share evidence-based insights into educating the next generation. There is a need to find a new balance among stakeholders who shape public policy. Focus needs to shift to evidence and rational dialogue rather than sporadic responses to funding initiatives that have insufficient resources dedicated to research and evaluation. This is the only way in which long term impact can be achieved. </p>
<p>As the SDGs are adopted it is more important than ever that the locus of control of development is driven by African public intellectuals who can speak truth to power.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kwame Akyeampong receives funding from Geneva Global Inc. USA </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Hudson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is more important than ever that the locus of control of education development is driven by African public intellectuals who can speak truth to powerBrian Hudson, Professor of Education, University of SussexKwame Akyeampong, Professor of International Education and Development, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/658612016-09-25T14:51:20Z2016-09-25T14:51:20ZA novel global scoring system shows Africa falling behind on health goals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138963/original/image-20160923-29919-srqujg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women in Central African Republic wait for vaccinations. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pierre Holtz for UNICEF</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September 2015 the United Nations General Assembly set the global development agenda for the next 15 years. The adoption of the new <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs">sustainable development goals</a> included a range of targets to tackle the world’s health challenges. </p>
<p>As part of the <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/gbd/about">Global Burden of Disease Study collaborative network</a> we conducted <a href="http://bit.ly/2cWQ1YV">research</a> into what progress had been made towards the goals in 188 countries. To do this we developed an index built around the agreed goals and their targets. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that, with a few rare exceptions, Africa’s performance has been abysmal. Not a single African country featured among the top 10 countries that are making significant progress towards the sustainable development goals. And of the 10 countries at the bottom of the list, nine are on the African continent. </p>
<p>There are many lessons African countries will need to learn from countries that have performed well if they have any hope of attaining the sustainable development goal (SDG) targets by 2030. </p>
<p>And there is an urgent need to accelerate the pace of progress if the goals are to become a reality.</p>
<h2>Analysing the goals and measuring the targets</h2>
<p>A total of 17 sustainable development goals, along with their 169 targets and 230 indicators, were adopted at the United Nations summit on sustainable development with a deadline of <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld">2030</a>. </p>
<p>The goals replaced the <a href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/">millennium development goals</a> which expired in 2015.</p>
<p>Goal three specifically relates to health and tackles maternal and child mortality, non-communicable diseases, universal health coverage and mental health. Ambitious targets were also set to end the epidemics of HIV, TB and malaria by 2030. These three are Africa’s top infectious disease killers.</p>
<p>In addition to goal three, 10 of the other 16 sustainable development goals have health-related targets. This includes, for example, reducing poverty (goal one) and helping people to access clean water and sanitation (goal six). </p>
<p>Using the SDG targets as the baseline to analyse data from 188 countries we looked at how much progress each country had made to achieve the new targets. We used data collected between 2000 and 2015. Each country was allocated an overall SDG index score. </p>
<p>The index was created by scoring each of the 33 health-related SDG indicators and then combining them and giving a single value on a scale of zero to 100. The change in this score from year to year shows whether a country is progressing toward achieving SDG targets.</p>
<p>It is the first time the index is being used. Iceland scored the highest on the index, tallying 85. </p>
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<h2>More work is needed in Africa</h2>
<p>Of the ten countries at the bottom of the list that failed to make significant progress in achieving the health-related SDG targets, nine are African.</p>
<p>The Central African Republic scored the lowest, with 20, followed by Somalia and South Sudan with 22. South Africa is 10th on the continent with an SDG index score of 46. </p>
<p>The top performing African country in the full list was the Seychelles. It came in at number 40 in the world with a score of 71. </p>
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<p>The worst performing African countries have not managed to reduce maternal or child mortality or malaria. They have also failed to make advances in improving household air pollution or making more <a href="http://bit.ly/2cWQ1YV">safe water</a> available.</p>
<p>What was noticeable about the 10 worst performing nations was that all had experienced civil unrest, mostly because of political instability. Civil conflicts result in mass migration of people, low economic development, hunger and poor access to health services. </p>
<p>If these countries are to meet the sustainable development goals they will need to act decisively in reducing conflicts and implementing evidence-based interventions for improving the poor indicators. </p>
<p>But it’s not all doom and gloom. Some countries have made progress. </p>
<h2>Where there’s been progress</h2>
<p>Kenya and Ethiopia’s scores increased between 2000 and 2015.</p>
<p>Kenya moved from an SDG index score of 33 in 2000 to 40 in 2015.
What is significant for Kenya is that in this time the prevalence of childhood stunting reduced from 39% to 26% in <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/nations-face-challenges-overweight-children-and-adult-drinking-however-many-countries">2015</a>. This was driven by more than doubling access to health services. In 2000 <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/kenya">only 32%</a> of Kenyans who needed an essential health intervention could get it. This had increased to 70% by 2015.</p>
<p>In Ethiopia, the prevalence of childhood stunting dropped from 57% in 2000 to 41% in 2015. These improvements happened at a time when the country was able to increase funding for <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/ethiopia">child and newborn health services</a>, growing from US$ 13 million in 2000 to US$ 190 million in <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/nations-face-challenges-overweight-children-and-adult-drinking-however-many-countries">2013</a>. That’s a 14-fold increase.</p>
<p>In addition to the significant improvement in childhood stunting and increased access to health care services, many African countries also made progress in reducing <a href="http://bit.ly/2cWQ1YV">maternal and childhood mortality</a>.</p>
<h2>Changing the trajectory</h2>
<p>The analysis of these indicators suggests that substantial change is needed in the current trajectory. </p>
<p>It will require major technological leaps coupled with universal delivery, <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-will-take-more-than-36-billion-every-year-to-end-aids-62382">increased funding</a>. Most importantly it will take political will from governments. </p>
<p>In the words of <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/about/team">Professor Stephen Lim</a> of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have concrete examples of countries making important progress on a range of <a href="http://thelancet.com/infographics/sdg">health-related SDG indicators</a>. We now need to look to those countries that have seen strong progress to find out what they are doing right and how it can be applied more broadly.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65861/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An index developed to gauge progress towards the sustainable development goals and their targets shows that nine of the world’s worst performing countries are in Africa.Charles Shey Wiysonge, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch UniversityMuki Shey, Senior Research Officer, Clinical Infectious Disease Research Initiative (CIDRI), Department of Medicine, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/644672016-09-06T15:57:03Z2016-09-06T15:57:03ZThe world will have to wait until 2084 for universal secondary school education<p>Almost a year after a new set of <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda.html">Sustainable Development Goals</a> for 2030 were finalised, the first report tracking global progress towards its goal for education and lifelong learning shows just how far there is still to go to make sure nobody is left behind. </p>
<p>The SDGs replaced the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">Millennium Development Goals</a>, which reached the end of their 15-year focus in 2015. While the previous goal that <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml">focused on education</a> had only one target – to achieve universal primary education – <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda/goal-4.html">the equivalent SDG</a> has seven, including on expanding secondary and university education. </p>
<p>So UNESCO’s 2016 <a href="http://gem-report-2016.unesco.org/en/home/">Global Education Monitoring</a> report is the first in a new era, bringing us the inaugural set of evidence to track progress to achieve these new targets.</p>
<p>UNESCO draws on 2014-15 data to show conclusively what we already know: that the world has failed to achieve universal primary education. In fact on current trends, only 70% of children in low income countries will complete primary school in 2030, the year of the SDG deadline. The target to achieve universal primary education, which remains within the broader <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/">SDG on education</a>, won’t happen until 2042. On the same trajectory, the new target for universal lower secondary education will come about in 2059 and universal upper secondary in 2084. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136742/original/image-20160906-6086-1wtyupi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not even universal primary completion will be achieved by 2030 in low and lower middle income countries, on past trends.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://gem-report-2016.unesco.org/en/home/">UN GEM 2016</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Less than a year into the new agenda of “leave no-one behind”, the data already predicts that we will be half a century late for the first of the 2030 education targets.</p>
<h2>Reaching the most marginalised</h2>
<p>Leaving no-one behind means working extra hard to create meaningful access to education for those the report calls “disadvantaged subpopulations”, distinguished typically by income, gender, disability, ethnicity and location or migration status. </p>
<p>Among the world’s three to four-year-olds, the richest children are almost six times more likely to attend an early childhood education programme than the poorest. But while poverty continues to be the largest single root of educational deprivation, the widest disparities are found where multiple issues converge. </p>
<p>In Serbia, for example, the Roma population spends less than half the national average time in school. Nationally, Serbian women outperform men in educational attainment. Yet young Roma women achieve just two-thirds of the educational success of young Roma men. </p>
<h2>Demands on national curricula</h2>
<p>While efforts continue to get all children into school, <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda/goal-4.html">the education SDG (SDG4)</a> – ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all – is also targeting what they learn when they get there, and how. Effective teaching practices and the availability of good textbooks are obvious measures of quality, but the new targets place an additional emphasis on changing curricula at the national level. </p>
<p>The curriculum is recognised as the main route to delivering the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development and global citizenship. But a curriculum driven by national policy often contributes to marginalisation through its emphasis on the language, knowledge, history and culture of some groups and not others. </p>
<p>By one measure, around 40% of the global population have no access to education in a language that they understand. Where supportive policy does exist, the report highlights how realities on the ground can make it impossible to implement: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the Mopti region of Mali, only 1% of primary schools provided bilingual instruction in the appropriate language and by a trained teacher, despite national policy.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Lifelong learning</h2>
<p>SDG4 brings technical, vocational and tertiary education to the forefront of the global development agenda, and so they make their debut in the GEM report. Diversity of provision in adult education makes monitoring particularly difficult, so there is a natural weight given to the data around tertiary education.</p>
<p>What this tells us so far reflects just the same issues as primary and secondary education – that wealth has a massive impact on access to university education.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136749/original/image-20160906-6110-ely3mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are vast differences in tertiary education between the poor and the rich.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://gem-report-2016.unesco.org/en/home/">UNESCO GEM 2016</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The good news is that global enrolment in tertiary education doubled from 100m in 2000 to 207m in 2014, but disparity across and within countries still remains huge. For example in the Philippines in 2013, 52% of the richest 25 to 29-year-olds completed at least four years of tertiary education, but only 1% of the poorest did. </p>
<p>At the same time, there is much to be learned from the countries that are experimenting with different models of finance and access. In Chile, the report says that: “About 165,000 students began attending university for free when the new academic year began in March 2016. They represented about half the students from the poorest 50% of Chilean households.”</p>
<h2>Sense of urgency</h2>
<p>The need for a gear change in momentum towards all seven of the targets in SDG4 on education is stressed throughout the report. Our world leaders need to demonstrate their commitment to the 2030 agenda – to leave no-one behind – through political will, new policies, innovation and resources. Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, wrote in the introduction to the report:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If we are serious about SDG4, we must act with a sense of heightened urgency, and with long-term commitment. Failure to do so will not only adversely affect education but will hamper progress towards each and every development goal: poverty reduction, hunger eradication, improved health, gender equality and women’s empowerment, sustainable production and consumption, resilient cities, and more equal and inclusive societies. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It feels like I end every reflection on development issues with a sense of urgency, but the new report provides stark evidence that urgency is needed. Education must be at the forefront of every agenda.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Childs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A report tracking progress on new global education goals shows how far there is to go.Anna Childs, Academic Director of The International Development Office, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/640642016-08-18T20:46:38Z2016-08-18T20:46:38ZPoor data affects Africa’s ability to make the right policy decisions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134460/original/image-20160817-3592-1blae2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>African policy makers are increasingly called on to use evidence-based research to inform development decisions. But this requires the rigorous collection of data as well as a coordinated system to disseminate it. This is why Kenya-based <a href="http://aphrc.org/">African Population Health Research Center</a> is advocating for national policies to enable strong data systems. Donatien Beguy explains Africa’s challenges and opportunities.</em></p>
<p><strong>What is data driven decision making in the world of policy making?</strong></p>
<p>Data, and especially data of good quality, are essential for national governments and institutions to accurately plan, fund and evaluate development activities. </p>
<p>Basic development indicators are essential for an accurate picture of a country’s development status. This includes a country’s progress towards specific development goals and improving its citizens’ socio-economic conditions. In fact, solutions to social and economic problems are often inseparable from the statistics. </p>
<p>You cannot build schools without knowing how many children need to be enrolled. Private investors need to know what resources are available in a given country before putting in their money. A country needs to know what it grows and where to prevent famine. Donors can only know whether their aid is changing lives if they have data. </p>
<p><strong>Data is the first step – but then you need analysis?</strong></p>
<p>In general, development programmes entail measurable results. Development decisions should be informed by data. But more importantly this data must be turned into information that is easy to understand and useful to end users. You sometimes hear people say, “The data speak for themselves.” But they don’t. </p>
<p>Data is the first, crucial step. Then you need smart, objective analysis to make sense of the data and shape the narrative. Once the data supply side is up to par, the hope is that decision makers at all levels will increasingly demand relevant information to lay the foundation for policy making and budgeting. </p>
<p><strong>How good are African governments at making data-driven decisions?</strong></p>
<p>Like everyone else, African governments and their development partners need good data on basic development metrics. To be of value, such data must be accurate, timely, disaggregated and widely available. This is not the case in many African countries. </p>
<p>Given the circumstances, you can imagine how difficult it is for African governments to make data driven decisions. This situation is often compounded by the lack of an entrenched culture of data use. More often than not it is difficult to ascertain existing programmes’ effectiveness or whether available resources are being allocated to address the most urgent and serious development issues. </p>
<p><strong>What Nigeria’s rebasing tells us</strong></p>
<p>You probably heard how Nigeria became the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26913497">biggest economy</a> in Africa overnight in 2014. This happened simply on account of changing the method of calculating Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – the so-called rebasing. The review ought to have been carried out every three or five years. But in this case it wasn’t done for decades. </p>
<p>This suggests that for years, decisions in one of Africa’s largest economies were based on data that were not credible or accurate or timely. This is the story of many countries in Africa. In 2015, 65% of the <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/mdg/the-millennium-development-goals-report-2015.html">Millennium Development Goals’</a> indicators for countries in Central Africa were either estimated, derived from statistical models, or were last measured prior to 2010. </p>
<p>The truth is that data in Africa are not produced on time, are not frequently produced, are of poor quality and are <a href="http://www.cgdev.org/working-group/data-african-development">not accurate</a>. This makes it difficult to make data driven decisions. </p>
<p><strong>Where are the data gaps?</strong></p>
<p>A <a href="http://aphrc.org/our-work/pec/policy-outreach/working-groups/the-aphrc-cgd-data-for-african-development/">joint working group</a>, the Data for African Development Working Group, of which I was part, posed that very question a few years ago. Actually, the paucity of accurate, reliable and timely data has been a recurring issue. It continues to be a major constraint to the effective monitoring and evaluation of interventions and development programmes across countries in Africa. </p>
<p>Estimates on health and other socio-economic outcomes are often uncertain and are not systematically produced. This makes it difficult to generate evidence about the effectiveness of existing policy.</p>
<p>There have been gains in the frequency and quality of censuses and household surveys over the past 30 years or so. But the building blocks of national statistical systems on the continent remain weak. </p>
<p><strong>What are the essential building blocks?</strong></p>
<p>The building blocks fundamental to the calculation of almost any major economic or social welfare indicator include data on:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>births and deaths</p></li>
<li><p>growth and poverty</p></li>
<li><p>taxes and trade</p></li>
<li><p>land and the environment, and;</p></li>
<li><p>sickness, schooling, and safety. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>As of 2013, none of the 60 countries with complete vital registration is in Africa. This situation is brought about by four main issues that we can call political economy challenges: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>lack of autonomy and stable funding for national statistical systems</p></li>
<li><p>misaligned incentives contributing to inaccurate data</p></li>
<li><p>dominance of donor priorities over national priorities; and </p></li>
<li><p>limited access to and usability of data. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These are the issues that African countries should address to drastically improve data systems and quality of data needed for development. </p>
<p><strong>What can be done about these data gaps?</strong></p>
<p>The focus should be on the underlying challenges facing national statistical systems. The following actions would help improve the production, quality and use of data in Africa: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Fund more and fund differently. For example, increase domestic funding and allocate predictable budget, and experiment pay-for-performance agreements with donor funding </p></li>
<li><p>Build institutions that can produce accurate, unbiased data. For example, enhance national statistical offices autonomy or try out public-private partnerships</p></li>
<li><p>Prioritise the core attributes of data building blocks: accuracy, timeliness, relevance and availability. To achieve this, build quality control mechanism, open data, accountability for improving data quality. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These changes must be initiated and led by governments. But donors and local civil society groups also have a major role to play. This process can help modify the relationship between donors, governments and the producers of statistics to work in harmony with national statistical priorities. </p>
<p>We cannot afford to continue with business as usual. Fortunately, a number of national statistical offices across Africa are taking steps to improve the serious challenges facing their systems. More work and more investment needs to happen. And at an accelerated pace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author declares that there is no conflict of interest. </span></em></p>The truth is that data in Africa are not produced on time, not frequently enough, are of poor quality and aren’t accurate. This makes it difficult to make data driven decisions.Donatien Beguy, Head of Statistics and Surveys Unit (SSU), African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618172016-08-07T15:21:29Z2016-08-07T15:21:29ZWhen development becomes a curse: displacements and destroyed livelihoods<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133069/original/image-20160804-466-1tns42i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Juda Ngwenya</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/8833/Bogumil%20Terminski,%20development-Induced%20Displacement%20and%20Resettlement.%20Theoretical%20frameworks%20and%20current%20challenges.pdf?sequence=1">Development-induced displacement</a> of people is a common feature in discussions about big development projects around the world.</p>
<p>Attempts by governments to promote development often entail <a href="http://ndii-gh.blogspot.co.za/2010/07/so-why-development-induced.html">varying degrees of risk</a> for some sections of society. People are displaced and livelihoods disrupted. Often the victims are already impoverished, thus worsening their plight.</p>
<p>The impact is often harsher for people who live primarily off subsistence farming. Furthermore, destroyed livelihoods are often more difficult to restore. Other problems include disruption of children’s education and environmental destruction.</p>
<p>In the past two decades, a considerable number of projects were funded by different development organisations. Between 2004 and 2013, the World Bank and International Finance Corporation committed about <a href="http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/worldbank-evicted-abandoned">US$455 billion</a> to support some 7,200 projects. These were mostly in developing countries and focused on efforts to meet the <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">Millennium Development Goals</a>. These were <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/mdg_goals.html">globally agreed</a> development and poverty goals by United Nations (UN) member countries in 2000 to be attained by 2015.</p>
<p>Beyond 2015, UN member countries have agreed on a new set of goals – the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. Like their predecessors, these focus on development and promise to end global poverty and promote shared prosperity by 2030. Investments are expected to <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/mdgs/documents/FfD-MDB-Contributions-July-10-2015.pdf">increase</a> to support the attainment of these new goals. This means that the risk to people and their livelihoods could potentially become higher.</p>
<p>Many projects have had a positive impact on people. Nonetheless, they have also presented risks. About <a href="http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/worldbank-evicted-abandoned">3.4 million people</a> were “physically and economically displaced” between 2004 and 2013 by World Bank projects alone. This is according to estimates by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. </p>
<p>Consequently, the international development community’s commitment to ending poverty should be measured by how these risks are mitigated. </p>
<h2>Displacement and development goals</h2>
<p>Efforts to mitigate the negative effects of people being displaced should include providing a comprehensive resettlement package. A variety of interventions such as <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2014/11/24-safeguards-displacement-ferris">safeguard policies</a> have emerged. These call on governments to design comprehensive compensation schemes for those affected. Yet big development projects still expose people to a range of risks.</p>
<p>These are due to <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTSAFANDSUS/Resources/Safeguards_eval.pdf">implementation challenges</a>. Typically, the implementation of many compensation programmes has been shambolic. And those affected by development projects are often not involved before their implementation. Compensation is therefore often <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/337-6">inadequate</a>.</p>
<p>Prior to the 1990s, governments’ responses to people displaced by the construction of dams in developing countries were particularly brutal. The <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/chixoy-dam-legacy-issues-overview-4050">Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam project</a> in Guatamala is an example. The government forcibly attempted to resettle people without any well-planned compensation scheme.</p>
<p>Broadly, compensation schemes have improved over the years. But in Africa, management of the negative effects of a number of projects show that more needs to be done. Examples include the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070819071657/http:/www.irn.org/programs/lesotho/pdf/pipedreams.pdf">Highland Water Project</a> in Lesotho and the <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/bujagali-dam-uganda">Bujagali Hydropower Dam</a> in Uganda. Others are the <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/the-inga-3-hydropower-project">Inga 3 Dam project</a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/bui-dam-ghana-3608">Bui Dam</a> and <a href="http://ghanagas.com.gh/the-project/background/">Gas Infrastructure Project</a> in Ghana. The point is especially true when it comes to delivering on compensation schemes.</p>
<p>In the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07900627.2015.1022892?journalCode=cijw20">Bui Dam project</a>, some 1,200 people were displaced. Those negatively affected continue to express dissatisfaction about <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/337-6">government’s failure</a> to keep its promise of support for their destroyed livelihoods. Some families who had portions of their farmlands inundated by the Bui Reservoir are <a href="http://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/337-6">yet to be compensated</a>.</p>
<p>Some communities affected by Ghana’s Gas Infrastructure Project have also lamented about hardships resulting from the <a href="http://www.graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/oil-and-gas-production-threatens-livelihoods-in-coastal-communities.html">destruction of their livelihoods</a>. Chiefs and residents of Anokyi and Abuesi, host communities of the project, complained about poor participation, negotiations, and <a href="http://www.graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/oil-and-gas-production-threatens-livelihoods-in-coastal-communities.html">compensation schemes</a>.</p>
<p>In the DRC, there are concerns about government’s attempt to rush the implementation of the <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-07-03/congo-pushes-mega-dam-project-no-environmental-impact-studies">Inga 3 Dam project</a>. The project is expected to displace some 10,000 to 25,000 people. But the government wants to begin implementation without an environmental and social impact assessment.</p>
<h2>Forward planning</h2>
<p>To meet the promises of the Sustainable Development Goals, governments and donors must make significant investments in critical infrastructural projects. For example, investment related to infrastructure such as dams and roads would become critical in developing countries.</p>
<p>Also needed will be investment in irrigation projects, population redistribution schemes, expansion of agriculture and mining. All are known to have <a href="https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/8833/Bogumil%20Terminski,%20development-Induced%20Displacement%20and%20Resettlement.%20Theoretical%20frameworks%20and%20current%20challenges.pdf?sequence=1">caused major displacement</a> of people.</p>
<p>Governments, multilateral development banks and other development partners therefore need to rethink how they respond to problems resulting from displacement. Such rethinking should focus especially on the impact of projects on peoples’ livelihoods.</p>
<p>All these make forward planning imperative to anticipate the potential displacements of people and their negative implications. This demands development actors to rethink how they capture and confront displacement issues in their investments.</p>
<p>The World Bank has taken a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/world-bank-finally-boosting-oversight-of-projects-that-displace-millions_us_567976d2e4b06fa6887eb473">second look</a> at its safeguard policies. Also, the <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/about-international-rivers-3679">International Rivers</a> persistent campaigns on dam-related cases provide some impetus for moving forward. But, more needs to be done.</p>
<p>Priority areas that need to be considered include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>enforcing donor guidelines on development-induced displacements and initiating independent research to track and disseminate the enforcement of these guidelines;</p></li>
<li><p>the adoption of national guidelines that require all development projects to undergo impact assessments for potential displacements before implementation;</p></li>
<li><p>strengthening advocacy and the monitoring of displacement issues across Africa and their impact at the regional, national and local levels; and</p></li>
<li><p>promoting collaborative cross-country research on the impact of displacements to provide best practice, lessons and awareness.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>To shape the processes and new avenues, we must start early. Multilateral development banks, governments, civil society organisations, nongovernmental organisations and the private sector all have a critical role to play. This is to make sure that the “leave no-one behind” mantra of the Sustainable Development Goals is made a reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61817/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clement Mensah is a guest blogger on Network on Development-Induced Impoverishment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Kofi Diko is affiliated with Network on Development-Induced Impoverishment. He created the blog and writes about issues related to development-induced displacements and resettlement.</span></em></p>Mega development projects can have a positive impact. But there are risks. Between 2004 and 2013, some 3.4 million people were ‘physically and economically displaced’ by World Bank projects alone.Clement Mensah, PhD Candidate in Development Studies, Institute for Social Development, University of the Western CapeStephen Kofi Diko, Graduate Assistant (Institute for Policy Research) and PhD student in Regional Development Planning, University of Cincinnati Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.