Feb 08, 2022 | Basic page

Executive Summary

Background

Agenda 2063 is Africa’s development blueprint to achieve inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development over a 50-year period. The continent aims to achieve this objective through the realisation of five ten-year implementation plans. The First Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063, spanning 2014 to 2023, outlines a set of goals, priority areas and targets that the continent aims to achieve at national, regional and continental levels. Against this background, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) were tasked by policy organs of the African Union to coordinate and prepare continental-level biennial performance reports to track progress made towards the goals and targets of Agenda 2063.

This second continental-level report consolidates progress reports from 38 of the 55 AU Member States. The report analyses progress made on the implementation of Agenda 2063 against 2021 targets.

Continental Progress at Aspiration-level

Continental Progress at Aspiration-level

Africa embarked on the implementation of its First Ten-Year Implementation Plan by domesticating Agenda 2063 in and implementing it through national and regional development strategies, achieving an aggregate score of 51% against the 2021 targets. Overall, the continent performed quite strongly and better than it did in 2019.

At aspirational level, Africa recorded a positive upward trend in respect of all seven aspirations vis-à-vis the 2021 targets. The continent made significant progress in the attainment of Aspiration 2 “An integrated continent politically united and based on the ideal of Pan-Africanism and the Vision for Africa’s Renaissance”. The strong performance of 84% was realised mainly through progress in the signature and ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which came into effect on 1 January 2021, and the establishment and operationalisation of a well-functioning AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra, Ghana. During the period under review there was significant progress in this domain, evidenced by improvements in road networks, air transport, electrification and ICT.

Similarly, progress was recorded in the attainment of Aspiration 4 “A peaceful and secure Africa” with an overall performance of 63% against the 2021 targets, although performance varied across parameters and countries." The data received from Member States indicates a significant decline in the number of deaths emanating from armed conflict and from religious and ethnic disagreement and intolerance.

In the pursuit of Aspiration 7 “Africa as a strong influential partner”, the continent achieved an overall commendable performance of 58% evidenced by the proportion of public sector budget funded by national capital markets as well as the proportion of official development assistance (ODA) in national budgets. The continent did not, however, meet the 2021 target of increasing total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP to ensure that Africa takes full ownership of her development efforts.

With a 67% score, there was also significant progress under Aspiration 6 “An Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of the African People, particularly its Women and Youth and caring for children”. During the period under review, the continent registered a slight increase in the proportion of women in the agricultural population who have ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, as well the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments, regional and local bodies. However, Africa did not meet youth-related goals and targets, registering only a minimal reduction in youth unemployment rates. This moderate performance is also due to an increase in rates of child labour and children marriage.

There was moderate progress of 45% with regards to Aspiration 5 “An Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics”. This is due largely to the weak integration of indigenous African culture, values and language into primary and secondary school curricula.

Africa achieved low progress for Aspiration 1 “A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development” with an overall score of 37% against the 2021 targets. This can be attributed mainly to a decrease in GDP per capita from USD3,170 in 2019 to USD2,910 in 2021 and high employment rates. Notwithstanding the moderate performance under this aspiration, there was commendable progress in access to electricity and internet. Furthermore, there were substantial gains in health-related goals including increased access to sexual and reproductive health services and reduced maternal mortality.

There was an overall weak performance of 42% for Aspiration 3 “An Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law” mainly due to low scores for capable institutions and transformed leadership at all levels. Nevertheless, most Member States had a satisfactory performance. They reported progress in promoting good governance, democratic values and practices, including the domestication of the African Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance.
 
At regional level, East Africa recorded the highest performance with an aggregate score of 53% against the 2021 targets, followed by Southern Africa with 50%. West Africa scored 45%, Central Africa 42% and North Africa 39%.

Progress on the implementation of Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects

Africa has made progress in implementing the 15 Agenda 2063 Flagship Projects. The greatest progress occurred with the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Currently, 54 AU Member States have signed the AfCFTA Agreement, 42 Member States have ratified it, and 39 have deposited their instruments of ratification. This demonstrates a high level of political commitment to achieving market integration in Africa. On trade in goods, Member States have made commitments to substantially liberalise all trade by eliminating tariffs on 97% of tariff lines over a specified period of time. The remaining 3% of tariff lines relate to products with tariff reduction possibilities. So far, 43 countries representing 78% of AU membership have submitted their tariff offers.

There was progress in the implementation of the Pan-African E-Network, which aims to establish policies and strategies to create transformative e-applications and services in Africa, especially the intra-African broadband terrestrial infrastructure and cyber security. The Agreement has been signed by 48 of the 55 AU Member States.
 
There was progress in the implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), which aims to strengthen intra-regional connectivity between the capital cities of African countries and ensure the availability of a single unified air transport market in Africa. Thirty-five AU Member States, which constitute 89% of intra-Africa air traffic, have signed the solemn commitment to support the full operationalisation. Furthermore, the regulatory instruments for the implementation of the SAATM have been drafted. These include consumer protection regulations, competition regulations and the rules of procedures of the SAATM Executing Agency, the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC). AFCAC is coordinating 
the domestication of these instruments in Member States.

Some AU Flagship Projects have registered slow progress over the last two years, partly owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also due to the slow pace of signature and ratification of the protocols for the various Flagship Projects, inadequate financial and human resources as well as weak domestication of Agenda 2063 in AU Member States.

Regional Progress at Aspiration-level

Regional Progress at Aspiration-level

Impact of COVID-19

Over the last two years, Africa has suffered from the devasting effects and impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, affecting lives and livelihoods and stifling development efforts across the continent. Although the continent has recorded lower rates of infections and deaths then other regions of the world, COVID-19 threatens to reverse the socio-economic gains achieved by the continent in the implementation of Agenda 2063’s First-Ten-Year Implementation.

While Africa realised a much better performance in 2021 compared to 2019, the pandemic has put immense fiscal pressure on African governments. As a result of the unexpected socio-economic and health burden of COVID-19, the continent’s economic output contracted significantly, pushing many countries into recession. A study by the AfDB estimated that 30 million Africans were pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 and 39 million are at risk in 2021 (AfDB, 2021). This is mainly attributed to various restrictive and containment measures, such as border closures and lockdowns put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Considerable resources were invested by African governments in national health systems to address increasing COVID-19 infections while providing essential health care services. These additional resources notwithstanding, the pandemic has set back several health-related performance targets and increased vulnerabilities among populations.

In spite of all this, African governments have demonstrated unwavering commitment to contain the spread of the virus and have worked collaboratively from COVID-19 surveillance and control to humanitarian relief and resource mobilisation to mitigate the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic at national, regional and continental levels.

Continental Performance by Agenda 2063 Goals

Continental Progress by Agenda 2063 Goals

Domestication of Agenda 2063

As a critical measure for the effective implementation of Agenda 2063 at all levels, concerted efforts were made to integrate the aspirations, goals and priorities of Agenda 2063’s First Ten-Year Implementation Plan in continental, regional and national development frameworks. As an integral component of these efforts, active participation of multi-stakeholders, including state and non-state actors, sub-regional intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary bodies, civil society organisations and other state actors proved critical in ensuring ownership and subsequently enhancing sustainability of the development process. Furthermore, and in light of the high levels of convergence between the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the AfDB’s High 5s and Agenda 2063’s First Ten-Year Implementation Plan, deliberate efforts are increasingly being made to ensure that the three development agendas are domesticated at the different levels in a more effective and coordinated manner.

Domestic Resource Mobilisation

The Executive Council approved the Agenda 2063 Financing and Resource Mobilisation Strategy on Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM). The Council further requested the AUC and the AfDB, in close collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and AUDA-NEPAD to prepare an Agenda 2063 Financing and DRM Roadmap and Guide. The latter had to be based on the already adopted Agenda 2063 Financing, DRM and Partnership Strategy for widespread dissemination to Member States and in close collaboration with RECs.

To operationalise the DRM strategy, the AUC held a series of joint technical meetings with the AfDB, UNECA and AUDA-NEPAD with the objective of forming a resource mobilisation platform to spearhead this process. This culminated in the official launch of the DRM Technical Working Group (TWG). Subsequently, the DRM Technical Guides were developed in three broad thematic areas, namely: fiscal and revenue mobilisation, innovation in DRM as well as savings and investment. The intended outcome of the TWG’s recommendations is to mobilise the resources needed (funding, human and logistical) to implement Agenda 2063. To this end, efforts are underway to action the DRM strategy and recommendations made by the TWG.

Recommendations

Increased Political Support and Accountability 
Attaining Agenda 2063 is largely dependent on strong political commitment, including accountable institutions and capacities to support implementation, monitoring and reporting of Africa’s 50-year development blueprint. 

  • Undertake multi-stakeholder collective reviews, joint reflection, peer learning and mutual accountability on Agenda 2063 implementation and reporting.

  • Establish and operationalise institutional mechanisms for popularising, tracking, reporting and discussing Agenda 2063 at national and sub-national levels.

  • Work with national and regional agencies (and stakeholders) to implement policies and programmes that accelerate progress towards National Development Plan (NDP) goals and Agenda 2063 targets.

Strengthened Programming
As the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063 is coming to an end and preparations for the Second Ten- Year Implementation Plan are underway, it will be important to undertake empirical studies (e.g., foresight studies) on key interventions required across Africa’s development trajectory, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. These interventions need to be focused on COVID-19 recovery, stabilisation and revitalisation of African economies. In particular: 

  • Place greater focus and investments in the immediate and short-term in specific priority areas that are more likely to trigger accelerated socio-economic recovery and growth.

  • AU Continental institutions – based on their core mandates to support the development and deployment of new tools, approaches and institutional capacity support for Member States and RECs for improved integrated national policy development, planning and implementation of Agenda 2063.

  • Strengthen the capacities of AU Member States and RECs to develop bankable projects; work closely with African finance institutions, such as the African Development Bank, to identify and design bankable projects. This will cause plausible pathways to emerge for realising the targets in Agenda 2063’s Ten-Year Implementation Plans.

  • Lessons learnt and challenges faced during the implementation of the First Ten Year Implementation Plan should guide the evaluation of the First Ten Year Implementation Plan and the formulation of the Second Ten Year Implementation Plan. 

Data Management and Knowledge Capitalisation 
The assessment of the continent’s progress on the implementation of Agenda 2063 relies predominantly on availability of data and information, therefore National Statistical Systems should be strengthened.

  • Devote more technical support towards strengthening data and statistical capacities at sub-national, national, regional and continental levels.

  • Strengthen the institutional architecture for national and regional data governance.

  • Commit human and financial resources for strengthening statistical and data capacities to ensure data availability for accurate reporting and impact evaluation.

  • Strengthen peer learning and mutual support through identification, development and dissemination of best practices and the establishment of knowledge sharing platforms.

  • Work with national stakeholders to strengthen feedback loop mechanisms to understand the state of socioeconomic systems and guide actions to be taken to effect change.

Resource Mobilisation
It is important to promote an integrated financing framework that minimises duplication, leverages economies of scale and optimises the use of resources in financing the implementation of Agenda 2063. 

  • AU Member States, AfDB and other African financing institutions to re-commit funding at least 75% of Agenda 2063’s programme budget.

  • Fast-track the roll-out of Agenda 2063 Financing, Domestic Resource Mobilisation and Partnership Strategy among AU Member States to mobilise domestic resources in support of implementing Agenda 2063 programmes and projects at regional and national levels.

  • Dedicate a proportion (0.1%) of the national budget as financial support for reporting on the implementation of Agenda 2063.

  • Deepen collaboration and leverage political support on addressing illicit financial flows and financial leakages.

 

Conclusion

The outbreak of the global pandemic ushered in a new wave of fiscal pressure on African governments. This, together with other structural difficulties, including low technical and financial capacities for execution impacted the progress and the performance of the Continent on the implementation of Agenda 2063.

The challenges notwithstanding, Africa performed quite strongly and evidently better than it did in 2019. At aspiration level, the continent recorded a positive upward trend for most of the 20 goals, with an overall score of 51% against the 2021 targets compared to the 32% score registered in 2019. The improvement in performance scores is in-part attributed to increased efforts made by AU Member States to populate the data entry and analysis template.

The Continent made notable progress in the implementation of the 15 African Union Flagship Projects. Noteworthy was the progress made on operationalising the African Continental Free Trade Area. The Continent also registered progress in the implementation of other flagship projects, albeit at varied levels.

On institutional arrangements to fast-track the implementation of Agenda 2063, the collaboration between the African Union Commission and the African Union Development Agency has proved to be a unique opportunity for concerted efforts to address some of Africa’s pressing challenges. Beyond AUC and AUDA-NEPAD, the collaboration includes the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) and works to support the monitoring, capacity strengthening, financing and implementation of Agenda 2063. This collaboration has given AU Member States strong impetus to work collaboratively towards achieving the shared development vision of Africa’s transformation agenda: “The Africa, We Want.”

Overall, Africa has continued to demonstrate an unwavering resolve towards achieving the vision of Agenda 2063, even in the face of challenging realities in the socio- economic ecosystem. Despite the remarkable progress made by African countries in implementing the First Ten Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063, the Continent with the current trend, will not be able to achieve some of the targets of the First Ten Year Implementation Plan by 2023.