Can Africa meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Can Africa meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

The?UN describes its 17?Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet".?(Image: montecellllo / Adobe Stock)

Progress slow but SDGs still vital

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were always a very ambitious set of targets for global development, stretching across economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. A succession of crises in recent years - Covid, the Russia-Ukraine War - has made them more difficult to achieve by the target year of 2030.?

With 2023 the halfway point between introduction and conclusion, Africa is lagging . Of the 166 states that the The Sustainable Development Report 2023 is able to assess, Tunisia is the top-ranked African nation in 58th position. It is only regarded as having achieved one SDG, that of ending poverty, but still has major challenges in ending hunger, providing decent work and economic growth.?

The next highest-ranked African countries are Cape Verde, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa, but even South Africa finds itself ranked in 110th position, having achieved none of the goals and with a particular deterioration in its education provision.?

Only two of the bottom 14 ranked countries are not in sub-Saharan Africa, with South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Chad making the least progress on the goals. A joint report published at the African Economic Conference 2022 concluded that without quicker progress towards achieving the SDGs, at least 492m people in Africa will remain in extreme poverty in 2030 and 350m in 2050.?

However, the report argued that the 2050 figure could be driven down to 159.7m if policies to promote the SDGs are introduced, including transforming agricultural productivity through modernisation and promoting equitable and affordable access to energy. Achieving the SDGs in their entirety may now be beyond many African countries by the target date, but much good can still come out of efforts to pursue them.?

That ought to concentrate minds as global policymakers meet in New York for the UN General Assembly?this week.?

How can Africa catch up on the SDGs?

Africa is lagging behind on the UN's?sustainable development goals. Find out how it can catch up in?this Special Issue of New African, guest-edited by?Antonio Pedro, Acting Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, to coincide with the UN General Assembly.

Download free copy


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William P.W.Omony MBA.

Accountant| Bridging Finance| Commercial Finance| Development Finance| Buy to let Mortgage & Structured Property Finance

1 年

Africa still has so much untapped potential, given the large young population, a great need for development, high poverty rates and an improving access to education and international collaboration, there is so much room. All we need is some semblance of Trustworthiness in the systems and people.

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