5 November 2015: Participants adopted the ‘Kinshasa Consensus,’ a joint statement on addressing poverty and inequality in Africa through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, at the Tenth African Economic Conference (AEC). The Conference addressed concrete actions to reduce poverty and inequality within the context of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing the importance of accelerating equitable, inclusive, resilient and sustainable structural transformation, and shifting away from overdependence on natural resources.
The 10th AEC took place under the theme, ‘Addressing Poverty and Inequality in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.’ The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) organized the conference, which convened from 3-4 November 2015, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Kinshasa Consensus identifies several emerging issues, including: rapid urbanization, which it notes is contributing to sanitation challenges and rising numbers of slum dwellings; low education quality; and weak health outcomes across Africa. The statement calls for: agriculture-led industrial development; additional efforts to achieve women’s empowerment and gender equality; and timely, credible, disaggregated data for evidence-based policy-making. The outcome document also underscores the role of States in providing visionary leadership in planning and execution, and transforming economies.
On implementing the SDGs, participants supported integrated policies and planning, noting that this approach will require “new ways of working” for many governments that do not yet address the three dimensions of sustainable development or tackle inequality in their policy and planning. Participants stressed that implementation will need to take place at regional, national and local levels.
On finance, the AEC supported effective and innovative domestic resource mobilization (DRM), recognizing the need to minimize leakages in DRM collection, address illicit financial flows (IFFs) and improve accountability. Participants also recognized that financing for development (FfD) should include both aid and private sector investment.
On gender, participants discussed women’s financial inclusion and empowerment, and identified lack of access to land as one of the most challenging issues for African women, calling for governments to close the gap between political commitments and implementation. Participants also suggested raising awareness among men and boys to tackle “patriarchal attitudes” that inhibit women from accessing educational opportunities and advancing their careers.
The AEC included the launch of several reports, including the ‘MDG Report 2015,’ the UNECA and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) ‘Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness Report,’ and the AfDB and World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Africa Competitiveness Report (ACR) 2015′. The latter two reports recommend continued improvements in structural transformation and industrialization. The ACR identifies environmental sustainability, climate change and debt sustainability as key areas that need additional effort. [AEC News] [AfDB Press Release] [UNECA Press Release, 5 November] [UNECA Press Release, 3 November] [Kinshasa Consensus] [IISD RS Story on MDG Report]