Africa Destiny: Challenges and Potentials

I – Africa Challenges = Africa Opportunities of Progress

II – Africa Report on Food Crisis 2023

III – Doing Business in Africa: Population, Urbanization and Youth

Africa faces significant challenges in reaching these goals

Below are some of the important issues that we, as African People, need to work on collectively, in a proactive manner, to achieve inclusive growth, social and economic development (Not in alphabetical order and not in priority order either):

• 👍Africa Market and Business Integration👎
• 👍Agricultural development (food security)👎
• 👍Crime and violence (including domestic violence)👎
• 👍Environmental sustainability and climate change initiatives👎
• 👍Equal opportunity for all (social, racial, religious)👎
• 👍Facilitation and effective regulation of trade-in-goods and trade-in-services (addressing tariff and non-tariff barriers, regulatory obstacles)👎
• 👍Financial market governance and regulation👎
• 👍Foreign direct investment (FDI) generation and management👎
• 👍Gender equality👎
• 👍Good public sector governance (efficiency, efficacy and financial management of government services, reforming fiscal system – cutting red tape; effective regulatory governance)👎
• 👍Urban development (smart cities)
• 👍Rural development and Agricultural production for Local Marketplaces👎
• 👍Social security and economic assistance programs👎
• 👍Job creation👎
• 👍Labor regulation👎
• 👍Poverty reduction👎
• 👍Law and justice system👎
• 👍Health services; communicable/non-communicable disease management; HIV/AIDS/COVID-19👎
• 👍High quality education for all (including digital literacy)👎
• 👍Infrastructure for Transport (roads, railways, ports)👎
• 👍Energy (renewable sources)👎
• 👍Water and sanitation👎
• 👍Information and Communication Technology (ICT)👎
• 👍Natural resource management and protection of the environment with rational exploitation of mining👎
• 👍Peaceful negotiation of conflicts (elimination of armed conflicts and forced movement of people)👎
• 👍Practical regional integration agenda – with emphasis on effective implementation👎
• 👍Social and Private sector development (especially Entrepreneur, Informal Sector, micro, small and medium enterprises)👎
• 👍Public-private-partnerships👎
• 👍Correction and Remedies for the Causes and Roots of Political Corruption, Tribal, Class and Family / Friend Clientelism, Nepotisme, Despotism, Favoritism and Terrorism threat👎👍

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II – Africa Report on Food Crisis 2023

On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) released the report titled “Regional Focus of the Global Report on Food Crisis 2023,” which shows that 30 million people will require food assistance in Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.

The hunger levels are inextricably linked to climate disasters, conflict, insecurity, and economic shocks, the IGAD Secretary Gebeyehu said.

According to the report, of the 30 million food-insecure population, an estimated 7.5 million people in Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan are projected to face large food consumption gaps.

Over 83,000 individuals are anticipated to face an extreme lack of food in the most severe drought and conflict-affected areas of the region, particularly in Somalia and South Sudan.

Even if the March-May 2023 rains bring some relief from the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in more than four decades, the region will continue to deal with its catastrophic consequences in 2023 and beyond, the report noted.

It added that the recovery of pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods from the devastating three-year drought will take years and humanitarian assistance continues to be critical until households and communities can recover.

In Sudan, the impact of the ongoing conflict on food availability and access is expected to drive a rapid deterioration in food security and nutrition security with the capital of Khartoum and the region of Darfur being most affected.

By mid-May, more than 1 million people had fled their homes with around 843 000 people being newly displaced internally and over 250,000 people fleeing to neighboring countries.

The IGAD report said key stakeholders should align efforts and share evidence and information which extend beyond immediate relief measures and encompass long-term strategies to achieve sustainable food security in the region.

“The @PowerUSAID and @WFP both continues suspension of food aid to Tigray, where an estimated 5.3 million people are known to be starving. We demand action” to #ResumeAid4Tigray, #BringBackTigrayRefugees @UNICEF @WFP_Africa @SecBlinken @WFPChief @EUCouncil @USAID pic.twitter.com/T6kVlVqXL4 – June 14, 2023

#development #investment #quality #food #africa #kenya #somalia #ethiopia #sudan #southsudan #Kenya #uganda #nutrition #security #agro #sustainable #people #share

Improvements in these issues will contribute to more inclusive economic growth, achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and assist Africa to be resilient facing external challenges, respond first to the needs, demands and expectations of its own people and constituents, pay a key role in the global economy, as well as its governance structures.

Let us know what you think Africa’s top challenges are (from the above list) and according additional ones that are of your own preferences.

Tell us what you think.

This questionnaire was submitted almost 5 years ago, if you consider that new challenges have emerged since then, given the interruption of the Global Chain Supply, the energy crisis and the food supply resulting from the European Union and the U.S. Sanctions on Russia, please do not hesitate to include them and elaborate on them in your answers.

We appreciate your participation and collaboration for the good sake of Africa and africans.

Best wishes of success for African people and nations.

Reference #africa #sustainability #opportunity #education #management #growth #work #job #technology #digital #development #people #health #security #collaboration #energy #food #climatechange #sustainabledevelopment #investment #entrepreneur #quality #infrastructure #water #transport #environmental #partnerships #economy #communication #law #success #smartcities #gender #europeanunion #saidelmansourcherkaoui #morocco #business #mining #environment #covid

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III – Doing Business in Africa: Population, Urbanization and Youth

Population

The global population was expected to reach 8 billion by November 2022.

Africa’s population is largely rural. But now the continent is driving urbanization: The expansion of cities in the coming decades will experience a similar dynamic to Asia. This is only partly due to the metropolises.

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Urbanization

In 1960 less than 20 percent of Africa’s population lived in cities.

Today, that number has doubled to roughly 40 percent.

An estimated 609 million people in Africa live in urban areas as of 2021. The urban population on the continent has been growing annually and is forecast to increase further to reach 722 million by 2026. Apr 28, 2023

The urbanization rate in Africa was projected at nearly 44 percent in 2021. Urbanization on the continent has increased steadily since 2000 when 35 percent of the total population lived in urban areas. This share is expected to increase further in the coming years.Apr 28, 2023

The percentage of Africans living in the countryside for 2021 based on 53 countries was 52.24 percent.

 Nigeria accounts for the continent’s largest rural population (95 million), followed closely by Ethiopia (85 million).

African Youth equals dynamism

With a median age of 25 years old, the African continent is the youngest in the world. Jan 25, 2022

By 2030, young Africans are expected to constitute 42% of global youth.

Africa’s population as a whole is very young, with 60% of the entire continent aged below 25, making it the youngest continent in the world, in relation to its population makeup. All of the world’s top 10 youngest countries by median age are in Africa, with Niger in first place with a median age of 15.1 years.

Africa is the continent with the youngest population worldwide. As of 2022, around 40 percent of the population was aged 15 years and younger, compared to a global average of 25 percent. Although the median age on the continent has been increasing annually, it remains low at around 20 years. Apr 28, 2023

In total, the population aged 17 years and younger amounted to approximately 650 million. In contrast, only approximately 48 million individuals were aged 65 years and older as of the same year. Apr 28, 2023

When it comes to creating value, Africa’s youth is anything but passive. The millennial generation has lived through the continent’s meteoric rise in mobile and internet penetration rates. Today, African youths are increasingly taking an active role in shaping their future, disrupting how we think about African agriculture, industry, IT, and sustainability.

In the majority of cases, these businesses are spearheaded by Africans under the age of 35. In fact, 2021 was a record-breaking year for Africa’s start-up scene, which secured over $2 billion in funding.

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Entrepreneurial Education, Digital and Knowledge Economy in Africa

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Africa Tech – Social Cost or Cost Opportunity

Entrepreneurial Education, Digital and Knowledge Economy in Africa

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It is through the establishment of a digital economy that foreign trade officials and international financial relations can have access to reliable data and closer management of flows and their cyclical changes. The corresponding data can facilitate decision-making like any sectorial intervention without calling into question the commitments made to the rest of Africa and the world with which Morocco has cultural and commercial exchange treaties.

African leaders signed on Wednesday, March 23, 2018 three major economic agreements during the extraordinary session of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, creating a Continental Free Trade Area (Zlec ), seen as essential to Africa’s economic development, through increased intra-African trade.

Some 44 countries signed the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, while 43 heads of state signed the Kigali Declaration for the launch of Zlec and 27 signed protocols relating to the free movement of people, right of residence and right of establishment.

Zlec gives birth to the largest free trade area in the world since the World Trade Organization was established in 1995. Nineteen Presidents were present while a number of Prime Ministers and government also signed for their respective countries.