The Overseas Development Institute has focused its lens on progress in development. 22 countries come under the microscope as part of the Institute’s Development Progress Stories project which identifies transformations in developing countries. Whilst the concluding report is not available until later this spring the individual stories are all available at www.developmentprogress.org [1]. Covering education, health, economic growth, governance, social protection and environmental angles the stories are grounded in research and represent a useful advocacy tool for NGOs.
To keep up to date on development progress, follow @DPS_Progress [2] on twitter.
Below are some of the progresses we've made through out Africa:
Progress in economic conditions:
Mauritius’ sustained progress in economic conditions [3]
Mauritius has successfully translated economic growth into concrete poverty reduction and improvements in human development.
Improved economic conditions in Malawi: Progress from a low base [4]
Between 2004 and 2009, Malawi achieved economic growth rates well above the sub-Saharan African average. Over the same period, poverty and inequality fell and child health improved. This has resulted in part from targeting sectors and areas where the poor work and live.
Progress in health:
Progress in healthcare in Eritrea [5]
Despite profound poverty, Eritrea has achieved dramatic reductions in infant and child mortality rates and has halved the prevalence of HIV in a short period of time. It is one of the few countries expected to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the health sector.
Progress on health in Rwanda: Leadership, performance and health insurance [6]
Rwanda, a very low-income country, has made significant progress in increasing the quality and quantity of health services and in improving health status, through an effective national but decentralised public health programme.
Progress in water and sanitation:
Rural water supply in Uganda: Major strides in sector coordination and performance [7]
Since 1990, Uganda has made notable progress in increasing access to improved drinking water sources in rural areas and has taken major strides in improving its national and local rural water service delivery systems.
Pipes and people: Progress in water supply in Burkina Faso’s cities [8]
Since 2000, improved production and distribution in Burkina Faso have extended water supply to nearly 2 million people in the four principal urban centres in the country. In the capital, Ouagadougou, the number with access to the network more than doubled in six years.
Progress in education:
Ethiopia’s progress in education: A rapid and equitable expansion of access [9]
Since emerging from 16 years of civil war in 1991, Ethiopia has significantly improved its population’s access to education. Between 1994/95 and 2008/09 primary enrolment rose more than 500%.
Benin’s progress in education: Expanding access and narrowing the gender gap [10]
Having had one of the world’s lowest primary school enrolment rates and enormous gender disparities in 1990, today almost all Beninese boys and girls can access school.
Progress in governance:
Somaliland’s progress on governance: A case of blending the old and the new [11]
Since 1991, Somaliland has achieved the type of progress in governance to which the rest of Somalia can only aspire. By drawing on elements of a centuries old kin-based system, Somaliland has developed its own structures and systems of government. The lesson: Absence of easily recognisable formal state institutions should not be equated with an absence of institutions altogether.
Progress on environmental conditions:
Sustainable natural resource management in Namibia: [12]
Namibia has been a pioneer in the sustainable management of wildlife through community based natural resource management. Beyond the intrinsic ecological benefits, putting wildlife conservation in local hands also has the potential to generate real wealth and gains for disadvantaged groups.
Progress in agriculture:
Ghana’s sustained agricultural growth: Putting underused resources to work [13]
With agricultural growth averaging more than 5% a year during the past 25 years, Ghana has ranked among the top 5 performers in the world. This has contributed to major reductions in poverty and malnutrition, and Ghana will achieve MDG 1 before 2015.
Progress in social protection:
Whilst being one of the richest countries in Africa, South Africa is also one of the most unequal. Provision of social grants has limited the growth of inequality and poverty among the poor in South Africa. Between 1996 and 2010, coverage of social grants increased from just over 2 million beneficiaries to almost 14 million.
