27 March 2017: The joint Annual Ministerial Conference of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union Commission (AUC) addressed opportunities for reducing inequality and extreme poverty in Africa in order to achieve the targets of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan (2013-2023) of Agenda 2063 and the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Participants stressed the importance of harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend to advance its development, and considered strategies for enhancing inclusive growth and promoting employment.

The joint meeting took place from 23-28 March 2017, in Dakar, Senegal, with a focus on the theme, ‘Growth, inequality and unemployment.’ The Conference included the 18th session of the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa) and Africa Development Week (ADW). Numerous high-level side events addressed: innovation, infrastructure development and sustainable industrialization; free trade and regional integration of markets; and the AIDS epidemic in Africa, among other topics.

In a message at the RCM closing, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called for coherent inmplementation and reporting on the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), Agenda 2063 and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). She stressed the need to empower youth and young women and girls, observing that closing gender gaps in access to products and services such as water, energy, telecommunications, contraception and child care could expand economic activity by US$300 billion annually by 2025.

Addressing a high-level meeting at ADW, UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Peter Thomson suggested that advances in innovation and technology could enable Africa to “leapfrog high-carbon models, spur green economic growth and build resilient economies.” Thomson also highlighted the importance of enabling environments, policy and regulatory frameworks, and strategic partnerships to mobilize financing, investment and innovation, prevent conflict, sustain peace, protect development gains, and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At an ADW event on ‘Invest in Africa’s Land to Catalyze Economic Growth and Prosperity,’ panelists discussed challenges related to increasing access to land and tenure security for the poor and vulnerable, increasing transparency and efficiency in land administration, and reforming institutions and resolving land disputes. Discussions highlighted guiding principles on large-scale, land-based investments contained in the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges and the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa, a tripartite initiative of the AUC, UNECA and the African Development Bank (AfDB), with participants highlighting these agreements as a reference for negotiating sustainable investments in land.

If well managed, Africa’s urbanization and growing youth population could enable Africa to consolidate development efforts.

On the Conference sidelines, the ECA, AUC, the UN Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (OSAA), and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) organized an expert group meeting on ‘The New Urban Agenda and Demographic Dividend: Investing in Africa’s Youth.’ Participants observed that, if well managed, Africa’s urbanization and growing youth population could enable Africa to achieve structural transformation, use its demographic dividend and consolidate development efforts. Conversely, they said both trends could become an obstacle to economic development and contribute to poverty, inequality and conflicts, and urged governments to involve youth in shaping Africa’s urban agenda and to prioritize sustainable urbanization.

UNECA released a number of reports at the Conference. The ‘Economic Report on Africa (ERA) 2017: Urbanization and Industrialization for Africa’s Transformation’ identifies and analyzes the drivers and policy levers for strengthening linkages between urbanization and industrialization, illustrating how African countries can use national development planning processes and frameworks to leverage urbanization to accelerate industrialization. UNECA also launched: the ECA Country Profiles; the Africa scorecard on domestic financing for health, prepared with the World Health Organization (WHO); and a human rights impact assessments of the continental free trade area in Africa (CFTA), conducted with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. [UN Deputy Secretary-General’s Statement] [UNECA Press Release on UNGA President Statement] [UNECA Press Release on ADW Event] [UNECA Press Release on Land Event] [UNECA Press Release on Youth and Urbanization Event] [UNECA Press Release on Report Launches] [UNECA Press Release on ERA 2017 Launch] [Economic Report 2017 Webpage] [Country Profiles Webpage] [UNECA Press Release on Infrastructure Development] [UNECA Press Release on Ending AIDS Epidemic Event] [RCM Meeting Webpage]