GOAL KEEPERS 2018: OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA HARNESSING ON THE SDGS
BY NNAJIDEMA CHIOMA EUCHARIA
According to
Bill Gates’ speech on the Third Wave of Poverty Reduction during the Goalkeepers
2018 event, the first and second waves of poverty reduction have occurred in
China and India respectively. However, as poverty reduced in these areas, it
quadrupled significantly in Africa. Accompanying high poverty in Africa is the
low level of human development. Bill stated that China and India were able to
tackle this, and today, more than half of citizens in those countries have
passed through the walls of at least a secondary school, with quite a number
enrolled in college. This is an aspect where Africa is still grappling with,
despite the youth boom in the continent.
It is in
light of the aforementioned that more than 50% of Africa’s populations are
youths and the economic development and growth of the continent rises and falls
at their feet. The most foreseeable source or opportunity for development in
Africa is by investing in the human development of African youths who are at
the prime of their lives, equipping them to be economically active by
leveraging on their skills to yield monetary returns and thus, contribute to
economic development and growth in Africa. At this point, Goal 3: Good Health
and Goal 4: Quality Education comes in, as they are the key indicators for
measuring human development.
On health,
the African governments are to invest in tackling pervasive illnesses and
diseases in the continent, such as HIV/AIDS by first, providing adequate health
care plans such as vaccines to prevent the escalation of the disease from its
current stage to an advanced stage. The second strategy would be to prevent the
spread of these diseases to non-carriers in order to promote a safer and
healthier population of young people. Awareness on health must be implemented
in different rural areas of the continent by individual countries as well to
educate the population on the gravity and seriousness of these diseases and how
they can be contracted. Investment on health as a key indicator for development
is important, as citizens must first be healthy before any country can thrive
and ultimately witness development, as citizens are the key drivers of the
economy. A sick population limits the growth and development of a country.
On Education
which is one of the most seriously neglected aspects by African governments, it
is important that 2 core stages take place. First is the enrollment of every
African child into a school, irrespective of their social and economic status
in the society. This can only be done through free education for every child at
the primary and secondary levels. The second stage of this process would be to
move from quantity which is the number of child enrollment to the quality of
education that they get. This is important, as through education, the younger
population would be able to develop necessary skills and competencies which
would get them started for a better life, and increase their chances of earning
considerable incomes in future. In that way, through their involvement in the
economic process in term of inventions and business start-ups, etc. the GDP of
African countries would be quadrupled.
While it is
important to state these suggestions to opportunities for development in
Africa, it is even more important to state that there must be an enforcement
mechanism for African governments to implement them. This would involve working
with regional institutions such as the African Union and international organizations
such as the United Nations to sanction states which fail to meet up with a
specified standard on both the education and health revamping process, thus
leading the way for development in Africa.
NNAJIDEMA CHIOMA EUCHARIA
Student, International Relations
Covenant University, Ota
Nigeria.
Covenant University, Ota
Nigeria.
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