Africa Up Close

Orange democratic movement supporters in Kenya. Photo courtesy of DEMOSH via Flickr Commons. 

Politics is indeed a tricky affair judging from the recent “Golden Handshake” between political giants and arch-rivals, with Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga marking the end of the prolonged electoral crisis in the country. The newfound friendship has rebounded the stock exchange, revamped tourism, and excited foreign investors who are now optimistic of rainy days ahead.[1]  However, will the gesture provide an impetus for the much-needed constitutional democracy, and guarantee civil rights and liberties in a way that will lead Kenyans to Canaan?[2]

Youth technology training in South Africa. Photo courtesy of Beyond Access via Flickr Commons.  

Africa, in general, is a very young continent. About 40 percent of the population is below 15 years of age, and an additional 30 percent fall between 15-24 years. This demographic profile presents a unique opportunity to achieve massive socio-economic transformation through harnessing the Demographic Dividend (DD). The Demographic Dividend is the economic benefit that arises following a significant increase in the ratio of the working-age population relative to dependents (children and the elderly), in the workforce.

Police forces present on the streets of Nairobi during election violence. Photo courtesy of DEMOSH via Flickr Commons.

Election-related violence has been a growing trend in African countries since the wave of democracy that swept across the continent in 1990s. The 1992 election in Angola led to a 10-year civil war in the country that resulted in thousands of deaths. Following the 2005 election in Ethiopia, election-related violence led to about 200 deaths. In Kenya, the 2007/2008 election left about 1500 people dead. The 2010 presidential election in Ivory Coast recorded about 3000 deaths. Following the commencement of the fourth republic, after a protracted military rule in Nigeria, most of the elections held in the country have been characterized by violence, and thousands of people have died in election-related violence. The Human Rights Watch recorded that more than 800 people died during the 2011 election violence in Nigeria. Similar trends have been recorded in Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Gambia, Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in others, where thousands of people have been killed and properties damaged following election violence. This trend is a threat to the survival of democracy and human security on the continent, and there is an urgent need to address it.

A news control room. Photo courtesy of Ross G. Strachan via Flickr Commons. 

For decades, the mass media has shaped the world’s view of what is important in our daily lives—our social and political realities—through its ability to influence information and how it is presented.[1] As such, the media has been, and still is, a powerful tool in shaping our perceptions of what matters in our world today. If used well, this inherent power of the media can be of great value in the prioritization of the demographic dividend framework in Africa’s policymaking processes. The media has the power to raise the profile of the demographic dividend agenda in Africa’s development conversations and sustain policymakers’ attention. At any given time, policymakers have several competing policy priorities that may be influenced by their personal interests, opinions, and worldview,[2] not to mention the complex nature of the policymaking process that involves many moving pieces.[3] Media coverage of issues relating to the demographic dividend is critical now more than ever. Despite high-level conversations on the demographic dividend over the past five years, including the 2017 African Union Summit where African leaders committed to investing in the large youthful population to steer development,[4] there is still worry that the demographic dividend ‘hype’ may die out if these conversations do not translate into action at the policymaking level.

Customers shopping at a grocery store. Photo courtesy of Amy via Flickr Commons. 

Professor Michael Porter, head of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard University School of Business, and Mark Kramer, Managing Director of FSG, a social impact advisory firm, pulled no punches when discussing the deleterious effect that capitalism has on the state of the earth and the relationships between those who inhabit it in a 2011 article in the Harvard Business Review. The blind spot of capitalist business practice, they argue, is the belief that business is all about profit, no matter the effect on the environment, health, or welfare of those affected along the supply chain. They believe that blindly prioritizing profit has underpinned a global loss of trust in business and led some governments to adopt policies that hurt business. They also argue that corporate social responsibility investments have not helped. They often do not yield the expected positive results—not for business or for the communities or projects that should benefit from the investment.

Nigeria’s National Assembly. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.  

The Nigerian Senate, through the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Alhaji Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, recently announced that it was proposing a law that would seek the death penalty for perpetrators of hate speech. Skeptics thought that the legislative body was again embarking on a familiar, self-serving endeavor to further impunity in the country. Some may laugh at this proposal, but it is very shocking and alarming that such a proposal is being made in a growing democracy like Nigeria, as well as at a time when other countries across the world are making efforts to roll back the use of the death penalty. Merely proposing such legislation speaks volumes to the current state of the Nigerian Senate. Especially in the context of the recent corruption scandal, in which members of the legislature were found illegally pocketing about USD$50,000 that they allotted to themselves monthly, in a country where 65 percent of the population survives on less than one dollar a day amidst pervasive poverty.

African Women Leaders Network. Photo courtesy of the United Nations via Flickr Commons. 

Today, African leaders agree that Africa has a great opportunity to reap economic benefits from strategic investments made to the continent’s current large youthful population. In the 2013 Sixth Joint African Union Commission (AUC) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Annual Conference of the African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, policymakers and experts recognized the potential of the demographic dividend to transform Africa by reducing poverty and spurring economic growth. Since then, as a result of continuous engagements between population and development experts and policymakers over the years, several other milestones have been achieved. These include the Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development in Africa Beyond 2014; the African Union (AU) Common African Position (CAP) on the Post 2015 Development Agenda; and the Africa Agenda 2063– The Africa We Want. These milestones culminated into the 2017 AU theme, where African leaders committed to investing in Africa’s large youthful population to drive development. We can now say that there is a continental consensus between policymakers and experts on the potential the demographic dividend has to transform Africa.

Telia company logo courtesy of Håkan Dahlström via Flickr Commons.

How to marshal the knowledge, resources, and power of the private sector to achieve good social outcomes? This has been a holy grail of many working in the social justice and non-profit sector. It may seem self-evident that achieving good social outcomes—more development, a healthier population and less violence—is in the interests of business. But, that is simply not the case. Alcohol companies that market their products aggressively in poor neighborhoods feed high levels of inter-personal violence and increase risky sexual behavior, both at great cost to the health system and society. And companies producing fast foods and sodas have contributed to high levels of obesity and diabetes globally. These are just two examples of how business interests do not always align with social interests.

African Union Headquarters. Photo courtesy of UNAMID via Flickr Commons.

The African Union (AU) is swiftly emerging as a significant security and peacebuilding actor on the international scene. It has a clear role, as a regional body under the UN Charter Chapter VIII), to deal with situations constituting threats to international peace and security. However, as continental integration accelerates, several scholars of African peace and security studies have noted worrisome trends in the African Union’s practices regarding security and growing militarization.[1] These trends also constituted the main research theme for conference “African Security and Unbridled Militarization? New Approaches to African Peace and Security Governance,” held from November 22 to 23, 2017 in Uppsala, Sweden. The conference convened leading researchers in the field of African security governance, who made a number of important observations on African peace and security.

H.E. President Emmerson D. Mnangagwa at the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council. Photo courtesy of the United Nations Geneva via Flickr Commons. 

Zimbabwe is coming in from the cold. After 37 years of mismanagement and decline under Robert Mugabe, the population of the former breadbasket of Africa had enough, and ousted its leader in November 2017. While in many respects the bloodless coup was simply a re-organization and consolidation of power in the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Zimbabwe now has the opportunity to shed its pariah status and re-engineer its future. This will not be an easy task as cronyism, corruption, and maladministration have become so commonplace that any move towards just governance will seem radical and viewed (at least by some) as a betrayal.