AFRICA’S FACE IS CHANGING

Thursday, 19 June 2008 | posted by Gillion Bosman

The following was sent to me via e-mail form the author, I think it is a great summary of the WEF on Africa 

AFRICA'S FACE IS CHANGING

I had the privilege to participate in the World Economic Form for Africa in Cape Town as one of the co-chairs last week and I was encouraged to hear from the African Presidents that attended including President Mbeki that over the last fifteen years countries like Ghana, South Africa, Botswana and others have been more successful in laying a solid foundation from the seeds of democracy, and in extending the benefits of economic development to the most vulnerable in society, arguably not sufficiently given the magnitude of our legacy from the past, with massive socio economic disparities . What was also evident from discussions I attended, comments and questions raised, we have the West to thank for the condition of the African continent, whose own so called established democracies continue to leave many of their own citizens frustrated and disempowered. This therefore begs the question, who gives the West the authority to be the voice of law and order, to be the judge of Africa and to systematically marginalise the visible gains that enlightened African leaders have achieved over the last 15 years by reducing their contribution towards reversing the enormous psychological and emotional damage for which they are responsible?

Indicators that are used by the World Bank and others who believe they have the divine right to measure the performance of Africa must be challenged by Africa's leaders because these measures are not a correct reflection of what is being achieved on the ground. We continue to be a victim of the assumptions of the West who set different standards for themselves. For example, an educationist and entrepreneur from Ghana, Fred Swaniker has established a world class academic institution to build ethical leadership capacity for Africa, various countries are providing free education up to the age of 16, the contribution of remittances to the GDP of African countries by Africans living abroad is growing and providing new flows of investments with most of them returning to re-build their nations. These are the indicators that prove to me that the face of Africa is changing and that seeds of hope are growing.

The looming food insecurity challenge could prove to be a unique opportunity for Africa to reposition the agriculture sector to be one of the major drivers of economic breakthroughs. Africa must focus its investments in raising agricultural productivity with a focus on small farming which can be scaled up for effective rural development. This could provide an opportunity to create linkages between consumption and other sectors of the respective national economies.

An audit of the major drivers from both the public and the 900 delegates from 50 countries attending the World Economic Forum rated a number of key drivers that they believe will contribute significantly towards changing the face of Africa and on top of the list were the socio-economic empowerment of women, children and people with disabilities through significant and sustainable investments in quality education that ensure that these three vulnerable groupings in society are productive and functionally literate when they finish their schooling, at whatever level.

Secondly, African countries need to focus on developing responsible, ethical and visionary leadership as the ultimate force to bridge the gap between Africa's daunting challenges and unprecedented opportunities. Thirdly, Africa should systematically integrate entrepreneurship and technology in her education system to enable Africa to quantum leap her development impact and competitiveness.

In conclusion therefore, the ingredients for Africa to become successful have been laid out, the rest is for all of us to go beyond intellectualising our challenges and become activists for effective solutions. Africa heeds to revolutionise the minds, ideas and capacity to convert our robust policies to a better quality of life.

Big challenges require enlightened leadership to pioneer big solutions and effective leadership over many generations to build sustainable capacity for execution. We should therefore prioritise investment in building institutional capacity as well as Leadership and Human Capital development over the next 20 years, we must do whatever it takes to change the face of Africa because we can, and it is possible. We must become architects for a more cohesive voice on trade matters, make better investments in growing the assets of the poor and accelerate investments in infrastructure to reduce transportation and communication costs.

Wendy Luhabe
Chairperson, Industrial Development Coorporation, South Africa; Co chair of the WEF Africa