Interview with Anacláudia Rossbach, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-Habitat What are the consequences of Africa’s fast-growing urbanisation, and should the continent control this phenomenon? Africa’s rapid urbanisation presents a mix of opportunities, such as job creation, increased productivity, and investment in sectors like technology and manufacturing, but also significant challenges, including widespread informal economies, inadequate infrastructure, environmental degradation, social inequalities, weak governance, unregulated urban sprawl, and public health risks stemming from overcrowding and poor sanitation. The continent is undergoing a transformative urbanisation surge. Data tells us that Africa’s urban population is set to double by 2050, growing by 600 million people. By 2025,…
Raphael Obonyo
Raphael Obonyo is a public policy analyst. He’s served as a consultant with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). An alumnus of Duke University, he has authored and co-authored numerous books, including Conversations about the Youth in Kenya (2015). He is a TEDx fellow and has won various awards.
Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, the governor of Kenya’s Kisumu County, has set several priorities as part of a sustainable development plan for Kisumu: to reduce informal settlements, create employment opportunities, improve infrastructure, promote public housing, and implement climate resilience measures.He was working to reduce the growth of informal settlements, he told Africa in Fact in an exclusive interview. “Unemployment… We must encourage investment to create employment opportunities, especially for the youth, and infrastructure, improving physical infrastructure (water, sanitation, electricity, roads, and housing) to facilitate the movement of goods and service delivery.”Kisumu, a port city on Lake Victoria, with a population of…
The World Bank’s 2022 report on the blue economy in Africa points out the vital importance of this sector to the continent’s economic transformation, but decries insufficient governance and management failures, which are compounded by low institutional capacity. In particular, policies governing ocean and coastal resources are often fragmented, characterised by legal and regulatory gaps and overlapping institutional mandates.While the oceans have long been a source of economic livelihood, this vast resource is threatened by population growth, urbanisation, overexploitation, pollution, acidification, marine plastic litter, underwater noise, declining biodiversity, climate change, and the expansion of global trade.Africa has 38 coastal and…
Regulating and enforcing AI regulation is as complex as the tech itself Used in the public interest, generative AI has the potential to increase access to information, enhance freedom of expression, and expand knowledge about healthcare, education, agriculture, transportation, and other issues. However, recent studies show a dramatic rise in misinformation generated by artificial intelligence and presented as authentic news in Africa, driving the explosion of misinformation and disinformation. Discussions of AI and related risks often feature calls for regulation. However, establishing and enforcing AI regulation is as complex as the technology itself. The 2024 World Economic Forum (WEF) global risk report has…
Corruption is a major problem for many African countries. Its corrosive effects on democracy, development, and security remain a concern for African citizens who in various surveys have made it clear that this scourge is among their top priorities for government intervention. To realise significant progress, African countries must create a new era in which good governance is appreciated and anti-corruption measures are prioritised.During a recent social media campaign in Uganda, dubbed #ExposeTheCorrupt, #CorruptionIsWinnable, one citizen echoed the concerns of many Africans in this lament: “Corruption poses a serious development challenge … in the political realm, it undermines democracy and good…
Decentralised systems of governments in sub-Saharan Africa have been hailed as transformative because of their key role in the delivery of public services and contribution to higher growth. But these roles are delivered against a backdrop of multiple challenges, including limited resources, weak institutional capacity and accounting and accountability mechanisms.Administrative inefficiency, gaps in policy, weak laws, and collusion between unscrupulous local government officers and cash collection firms and leakages have conspired to deny decentralised units the much-needed revenue that would offer relief for myriad financial challenges.Indeed, the fundamental problem confronting most local governments, especially in developing countries, is the widening…
Africa is facing unprecedented food insecurity, with more than 134 million people in 29 out of 54 countries on the continent facing acute shortages, according to the US Department of State Humanitarian Information Unit.Countries facing acute food insecurity in Africa include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.Current rising levels of food insecurity are attributed to several factors, including extreme weather, human displacement, conflict, and economic shocks. Strategic and…
According to the African Youth Survey of 2022, by Ichikowitz Family Foundation, youth on the continent want and hope for a better Africa, and they are optimistic and taking action to shape that future. But the big question remains as to whether the youth on the continent are up to the task or not.Africa continues to experience an explosion in its youthful population; the continent has the youngest population in the world, and it is estimated that more than 400 million Africans are aged between 15 and 35 years. Across the continent, young people are yearning and taking remarkable action to secure a better…
It has been eight years since the unveiling of the SDGs. What is the progress made and how far are we with the realisation of the SDGs? We are now at the midpoint of our journey towards 2030, the deadline set for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unfortunately, as recently pointed out by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, more than half of the world’s population is currently being left behind despite our pursuit of these ambitious targets. In fact, the recent SDG Progress Report[1] indicates that only a mere 12% of the SDG targets…
African countries face a significant energy deficit that limits their economic growth and negatively affects the living standard of their citizens. But, according to the African Development Bank Group, the continent has made important progress in terms of access to electricity, with the percentage of the population with access increasing from 44% to 56% between 2010 and 2020. However, about 600 million in a continent with 1.2 billion people still do not have access to electricity, and about a billion people lack access to clean energy.Globally, Africa still has the lowest rates of energy access. Noteworthy, Nigeria (86 million), the…
