13 March 2018: The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the SDG Center for Africa (SDGC/A) hosted an online consultation on proposed indicators for the draft Africa SDG Index and Dashboard. The Africa SDG Index and Dashboard build on the global SDG Index and Dashboard, which SDSN launched in 2016.
To ensure the Index and Dashboard’s relevance for Africa, the Africa Index and Dashboard include additional Africa-relevant indicators and metrics from institutions within and focused on Africa, including both official and unofficial sources. The Index groups indicators by SDG and provides information on the indicator name, description, units, year of collection, source and links. The Index identifies whether the proposed indicator is an exact match to the official SDG indicator or whether it is closely aligned or not available in the UNSTATS database.
The Africa SDG Dashboard presents African countries’ progress towards each of the 17 SDGs, using a red, orange, yellow or green coding system. For countries with no available data on an SDG, white is used. SDG 13 (climate action) has the highest number of countries in the green category, including: Angola; Cote D’Ivoire; Cameroon; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Republic of the Congo; the Comoros; Ghana; Guinea; Nigeria; South Sudan; and Uganda.
On SDG 1 (no poverty), Algeria, Morocco and Mauritius are green. On SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Niger are green. On SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), Somalia, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Gambia are green. On SDG 15 (life on land), Sierra Leone is green.
The Dashboard suggests African countries face challenges in meeting many of the SDGs, based on the large number of red scores across the board. No African country received a green score for SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 6, (clean water and sanitation) SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), SDG 14 (life below water), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), or SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals).
The consultation took place from 13-30 March. Comments and suggestions received during the consultation are expected to inform a revised version of the Africa SDG Index and Dashboard. The report will include case studies on development successes and challenges in four African countries.
African leaders established the SDGC/A in July 2016 to support SDG implementation in line with the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063. The SDGC/A is based in Kigali, Rwanda, and works to create partnerships across the SDGs to ensure their effective implementation across Africa. [SDSN Press Release] [SDGC/A Website] [SDSN SDG Index and Dashboards] [SDG Knowledge Hub Guest Article on the Index and Dashboards] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on SDGC/A News, January 2018]