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Commitments without implementation widens the gender gap and undermine the achievement of Africa’s social-economic development

For the past decade, Africa has experienced strong growth with an average of 5% a year. The continent has also witnessed progress towards gender equality: maternal mortality has declined, the gap in primary school enrolment between girls and boys had...

ID for Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Africa

An official identity is essential for any person to participate in a modern economy and to access basic rights and services. It empowers people to vote, register assets, own bank accounts and travel. Adequate ID systems also help governments to...

`Third termism` in Africa and its socio-economic impact

Democracy and governance often thrive if there is respect for the rule of law from the executive trickling down. Any constitutional republic has its soul in the supreme law of the land – the constitution. Respect and upholding the constitution is critical for the healthy functioning of any democratic nation.

Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024)

The Constitutive Act establishing the African Union recognises the ever-growing urgency to collectively address the global social, economic and environmental challenges across our national boundaries. Governments cannot single-handedly tackle these global challenges – such as food and nutrition insecurity;, neglected...

Raising Revenue in Africa: New solutions to old problems

Introduction: The problem of revenue generation in Africa Raising revenue to fund government salaries, infrastructure projects and public services is one of the core tasks of any state. However, in Africa a shallow and narrow tax base has undermined the...

Democracy and Good Governance as Tools for Africa’s Development: The role of the African Peer Review Mechanism

At the turn of the millennium, Africa faced an array of challenges, not least the eradication of poverty and the urgent need to foster socio-economic development. The adoption of the Constitutive Act of the African Union in 2000, which established...

Terrorism: How Prepared is Africa?

With the steady decline in conventional armed conflicts, terrorism is now believed to be the most serious threat to peace, stability, security and development in Africa. Since the 11 September 2001 attacks in America, terrorist activities have grown exponentially, not...

The future belongs to Africa

The future belongs inexorably to the continent of Africa. By 2050, it will have the same population as China and India do now. There will beburgeoning consumer demand from a growing middle class, a population of nearly 2 billion people,of...

The Panama Papers – What do they mean? And why are they important for Africa?

In April and May of 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made public the largest ever investigation into international fraud. This exposed a cast of characters who use offshore companies to facilitate bribery, arms deals, tax evasion, financial...

Africa in global affairs: Impacts, challenges and prospects

Although Africa, as a continent of peoples and nations, has existed for a long time, indeed for centuries and millennia, in the context of this paper the term is used specifically to refer to African states from the time of...

How African countries can break the cycle of debt dependency

Key to the implementation of the ambitious 17-point Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the question of how the estimated cost of between U$614 billion and $638 billion that will be required annually will be financed. The United Nations Conference on...

How Africa can close its continent-wide science funding gap

The idea that Africa’s development depends critically on science, technology and innovation is embodied in the African Union’s Agenda 2063. This document emphasises economies that are led by innovation and driven by knowledge. But the continent has some serious work...