Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals PDF
Preview Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals Series Partnerships for the Goals Maano Ramutsindela David Mickler Editors Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals Sustainable Development Goals Series Series Editors R. B. Singh, Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India Suraj Mal, Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India Michael E. Meadows, EGS, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Western Cape, South Africa WorldleadersadoptedSustainableDevelopmentGoals(SDGs)aspartofthe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Providing in-depth knowledge, this series fosters comprehensive research on these global targets to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change. Thesustainabilityofourplanetiscurrentlyamajorconcernfortheglobal community and has been a central theme for a number of major global initiatives in recent years. Perceiving a dire need for concrete benchmarks toward sustainable development, the United Nations and world leaders formulated the targets that make up the seventeen goals. The SDGs call for action by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting Earth and its lifesupportsystems.ThisseriesontheSustainableDevelopmentGoalsaims to provide a comprehensive platform for scientific, teaching and research communities working on various global issues in the field of geography, earth sciences, environmental science, social sciences, engineering, policy, planning, and human geosciences in order to contribute knowledge towards achieving the current 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This Series is organized into eighteen subseries: one based around each of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, and an eighteenth subseries, “Connecting the Goals,” which serves as a home for volumes addressingmultiplegoalsorstudyingtheSDGsasawhole.Eachsubseriesis guided by an expert Subseries Advisor. Contributions are welcome from scientists, policy makers and researchers working in fields related to any of the SDGs. If you are interested in contributing to the series, please contact the Publisher: Zachary Romano [[email protected]]. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15486 Maano Ramutsindela (cid:129) David Mickler Editors Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals 123 Editors MaanoRamutsindela DavidMickler EnvironmentalandGeographicalScience Schoolof Social Sciences University of Cape Town University of Western Australia Cape Town,SouthAfrica Perth, WA,Australia ISSN 2523-3084 ISSN 2523-3092 (electronic) Sustainable Development GoalsSeries ISBN978-3-030-14856-0 ISBN978-3-030-14857-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14857-7 ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2020 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeor part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway, andtransmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware, orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationin thisbookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material containedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremains neutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Foreword Africa’s development aspirations are embedded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063—the blueprint for the continent’s transformation covering the period 2013–2063. These aligned Agendas offer a unique opportunity for Africa to achieve inclusive, transformative and sustainable development. They call for all segmentsofAfricansocietytoworktogethertobuildaprosperous,peaceful and united Africa, the ‘Africa We Want’, where ‘no one is left behind’. Given the comprehensive and integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, its effective implementation requires an ‘all-hands-on-deck’approach,includingtheinvolvementofawidespectrum of stakeholders such as the Member States, the United Nations System, African regional organisations, private sector, civil society organisations, local governments as well as academia and think tanks. This book, Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals, is a perfect example of collaboration between African and non-African academics coming together in the true spirit espoused in SDG 17, highlighting the role of collaborative research in realising the SDGs. It brings evidence-based research to the forefront of implementing the SDGs, covering various key topics ranging from analysis of the best development approaches, industri- alization, natural resources governance and public finance to health, employment and the role of women and young people. It touches on crucial aspects such as the need for quality data to draw policymakers’ attention to critical areas likely to yield positive outcomes in achieving the goals of the SDGs. Thebook’sreleasecouldn’tbetimelierespeciallywiththeapproachofthe first 5-year mark of implementing the SDGs. It identifies opportunities and constraints to the implementation of the SDGs, including the nature of the global capitalist economy, governance of natural resources and the structure of global governance highlighting the potential limits they impose on Africa’sdevelopment. It shouldbe highlighted that there isa high degree of convergence between the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063 since Africa significantly contributed to the formulation of the SDGs through the Com- mon African Position on the Post 2015 Development Agenda. African countries themselves recognise the imperative of pursuing a coherent and integrated approach to implementing the SDGs and the African Union’s Agenda2063includingthroughanintegratedframeworkformonitoringand v vi Foreword evaluation. Through their participation in the Africa Regional Forum on SustainableDevelopmentandtheglobalHigh-LevelPoliticalForum(HLPF) on Sustainable Development, they continue to review progress and chal- lengesandidentifylessonsonbestpracticesforanintegratedimplementation ofthetwoagendas.Thisbookmakesasignificantcontributiontothisprocess and I hope many readers, including African policymakers, development partners, United Nations officials, private sector actors and civil society organisations will find its insight invaluable in informing their own policy- making processes on the implementation of the SDGs. I will conclude by expressing my sincere gratitude for Worldwide University Network’s initiative to bring in African voices and for this wide reachingcollaboration.Itismysincerehopethatthenetworkwillcontinueto undertake further policy research work on critical areas of SDGs to help inform on approaches that work best for the effective and successful implementation of the goals in Africa. I particularly encourage African academics, especially young postgraduate and early career academics to further contribute to the advancement and achievement of the SDGs by bringing in their African perspectives, thus ensuring practical policies that positively influence the day-to-day lives of all Africans. New York, USA Bience Gawanas Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary-General Preface Thisvolumeistheproductofasetof‘Global-Africa’researchandeducation collaborations forged over several years through the Global Africa Group (GAG) of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). As a 23-university- memberinternationalresearchnetwork,WUNfostersresearchcollaborations across continents focusing on four global challenges: Global higher educa- tionandresearch,Publichealth(non-communicabledisease),Respondingto climate change, and Understanding cultures. Since 2015, the Network has worked to directly engage these research programmes with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The WUN Global Africa Group, established in late 2015 and launched at the University of Ghana in 2017, is a cross-cutting and regionally-focused mechanism that enables the wider Network to develop ‘Global-Africa’ collaborations. These are defined as collaborations that have relevance for Africa’s research and development agendas, are linked to international debates and scholarship, and involve dynamic and equal partnerships between the 3 African and 20 non-African university members of the Network in the setting of research prioritiesandinco-designingandco-producingresearchprojects.Indeed,the GAG’sstrategyconcentratestheGroup’sworkonfosteringAfrican‘regional research hubs’ centred upon the Network’s three African member universi- ties: the University of Ghana (West Africa), the University of Nairobi (East Africa) and the University of Cape Town (Southern Africa). In turn, other nationalandregionaluniversitiesandinstitutionsareinvitedintoprojectsand activities through these regional hubs to enhance the Group’s inclusiveness as well as its collective impact on science, society and policy. Assuch,thisvolumecanbeunderstood,throughonelens,asarticulating withSustainableDevelopmentGoal17,whichisto‘strengthenthemeansof implementation and revitalise the global partnership for development’. In particular,thevolumecouldbereadtocontributetotarget17.16,whichisto ‘enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilise and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement ofthesustainabledevelopmentgoalsinallcountries,particularlydeveloping countries’. The Group therefore recognises the inequitable nature of the global system, including in the higher education and research sector, and works to counter structural conditions that inhibit the production of a more level playing field when it comes to research on sustainable development. vii viii Preface Going further, the Group seeks to work at the intersection of African and global development debates and agendas, and indeed to be a sustainable platform for engaging in critical thinking on such questions that shape ‘Global-Africa’ discourses, debates and policies. Themethodologyforthecollaborativeresearchprojectthatproducedthis volume reflects the principles to which the Global Africa Group subscribes. One of the principles relates to co-authorship. Each chapter was required to beco-conceivedandco-authoredwithatleastoneoftheco-authorsbasedat a university on the African continent. This was an attempt to ensure the inclusion of Africa-based ideas, priorities and scholarship. The co-editors also sought and promoted gender balance as well as the inclusion of post- graduateandearlycareeracademics.Theotherprinciplewasthatatleastone co-author for each chapter must be based at a WUN member university to reflect the Global Africa Group’s leadership of the project. Beyondtheseprinciplesforco-authorship,theco-editorsopenlycalledfor contributions that addressed one or more aspects of the SDGs as they relate toAfrica butthat also, insome way, speak to atleast one ofthe three broad themes that are now represented in the book’s parts: (i) Africa’s Sustainable Development: Approaches, Institutions, Agendas; (ii) Scientific Evidence andCritical ThinkingontheSDGs inAfrica,and(iii) Africa andtheSDGs: The Role of Collaborative Research. The result is a set of chapters that cut across numerous SDGs and regions of Africa, with a heavier focus on Eastern,WesternandSouthernAfrica,reflectingtheregionalhubsmodel.By usingthisbottom-upmethodology,wehaveavolumethatarticulatesthecore ideasandresearchprioritiesonAfrica’ssustainabledevelopmentbyAfrican and non-African academics and practitioners working collaboratively through our international network. Thevolumerepresentsamajorsetofresearchcollaborations,totalling26 chaptersco-authoredby81individualcontributorsacrossfivecontinentsand with a Foreword by Ms. Bience Gawanas, Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary-General and former African Union Commissioner forSocialAffairs. Indicatingthe‘Global-Africa’natureofthevolume,these contributors are from, respectively, WUN member universities in South Africa (Cape Town), Kenya (Nairobi), Ghana (Ghana), the Netherlands (Maastricht), Australia (Western Australia), the United Kingdom (Bristol, Leeds,Sheffield,York),Norway(Bergen),HongKong(ChineseUniversity) as well as from non-WUN-member universities in South Africa (Stellen- bosch, KwaZulu-Natal,WesternCape,Pretoria, Fort Hare,Rhodes),Nigeria (Taraba State, American), Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), Malawi (Mzuzu), Tan- zania (Muhumbili), Mauritius (Mauritius), Australia (Queensland), the United Kingdom (Aberdeen, Hertfordshire, King’s College London), the United States (Columbia), Canada (Saskatchewan) and Denmark (Aarhus). Alsoincluded arecontributors fromothertypesofinstitutions,includingthe Association of African Universities, East African Community, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Ghana), Institute for Occupational Medicine (UK), Maendeleo Group (South Africa), Ecorys International Development Unit (Netherlands) and National Museums Kenya. Preface ix The book project and its themes were discussed by participants at the workshopsoftheGlobalAfricaGroupheldattheUniversityofGhana(June 2017),theUniversityofCapeTown(December2017)andtheUniversityof Nairobi (November 2018), as well as through a WUN public forum on ‘Africa and Sustainable Development Agendas’ held at the University of WesternAustraliaonAfricaDay,25May2018.Withthisbook,wehopeto draw attention to Africa’s development priorities, needs and aspirations as African governments and the international community seek to urgently implement the SDGs as a global agenda. Cape Town, South Africa Maano Ramutsindela Perth, Australia David Mickler November 2018
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