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NGO Major Group for Africa: Burkina Faso’s Coup Impedes the Achievement of SDG 16

NGO Major Group for Africa condemns the military coup that took place in Burkina Faso against the democratically elected President “Roch Marc Christian Kaboré”, as a group of army soldiers rebelled and seized power in the country, noting that they dissolved the government and gave orders to close the borders, in addition to detaining the president in an army camp after heavy shooting at his home in the capital, Ouagadougou.

Burkina Faso, is considered among the least developed countries in the world. It suffers from lack of stability, and has witnessed many political and military turmoil since its independence from France in 1960.

In this context, NGO Major Group for Africa notes that the coups in power in Africa in general lead to an increase in armed conflict and insecurity, which undermines the achievement of SDG 16, which requires states to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for all for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective and accountable institutions at all levels.

NGO Major Group for Africa also calls on all parties in Burkina Faso to work to strengthen relevant national institutions, in an effort to build capacities at all levels, to combat violence in the country, in addition to the need to establish a mechanism to strengthen the rule of law at the national level and ensure equal access to justice for all.

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Peace Agreement: Is politics in South Sudan on the Cusp of a New Era?

The peace deal signed between the South Sudanese opposition factions in Khartoum on 17 January 2022 came as a glimmer of hope for achieving peace for all citizens of South Sudan.
That deal came after bloody clashes between the two opposing factions led by First Vice President Riek Machar, and the forces affiliated with Simon Gatwech Dual, Chief of the General Staff, at a time when the battles were concentrated in the Upper Nile State until the peace agreement that brought all parties together in south Sudan in 2018 was completely halted.

That deal, which was under the auspices of Sudan, was called the “Deal of the Brave”, and it will seek to live up to its name to guarantee just and perpetual implementation of the provision of the security agreements, thus ensuring a safe return for those who fled the fighting.

NGOs Major Group for Africa appreciates the effort made by everyone to make this deal a success, and recommends the implementation thereof by all parties, in order to achieve the SDG 16, as it promotes community peacebuilding through responsive, inclusive, and participatory decision-making at the level of South Sudan.

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Education Indicators in Comoros Are Declining

The education sector in Comoros has been suffering from some challenges since 2011, as decentralization has exacerbated many problems, due to the general shortage of facilities, equipment, and qualified teachers, who refuse to work due to delays in their salaries.

About 64% of the students in Comoros are enrolled in primary education, but it is noticeable that 14% of young people have not completed their primary education. The literacy rate has reached 58% among male adults in Comoros compared to 52% among women.

In this context, NGOs Major Group for Africa appreciates the commendable efforts made by the government in Comoros to improve education rates, but it wishes to draw the government’s attention to increase national programs that aiming at increasing the number of learners and eradicating illiteracy.

Besides, it calls on civil society organizations to work actively to educate girls about their right to education.

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Tunisia is Africa’s First Country to Achieve Gender Equality

Tunisia is considered the most African country to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 5 of 2030, which is related to achieving gender equality. In recent years, Tunisia has made several legislative amendments related to women, topped by improving legal protection for women and girls in Tunisia and increasing protective and preventive measures that address violence against women in multiple forms.

In pursuit of equality in public life as well, Najla Boudan’s government was formed in August 2021, to include 9 women ministers, including the ministry of finance, industry, trade and justice. Thus, the percentage of women’s participation in the Tunisian government reached, for the very first time in Tunisia’s history since independence, 38.46 percent. Out of the total unemployment rate in the country, the unemployment rate for women decreased to reach 2% compared to 15% for males.

NGOs Major Group for Africa appreciates the efforts of the current Tunisian government in achieving gender equality and hopes that these efforts will continue to eliminate challenges related to achieving equality, and stress that achieving SDG 5 in Tunisia can set a great example for other African countries seeking to achieve the sustainable development agenda.

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Indicators of Unemployment and Poverty in Nigeria are not in Parallel with the SDG 8

Throughout the period of the Coronavirus pandemic that hit the world, Nigeria’s already debilitated economy has suffered a recession that, of course, affected all sectors in the country. The unemployment rate in 2021 reached nearly 33.3% compared to 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020, which means that a third of the workforce of 69.7 million people either do not work or work less than 20 hours per week, according to the definition of unemployment.
The number of poor people in the country increased to 100 million people. And regarding the growth of the GDP, it reached 2% in 2021, while the growth rate of the per capita GDP reached -0.1%. These percentages are very small and reflect the low economic situation in the country.

In this context, NGOs Major Group for Africa expresses its concern about the low economic situation and the high rates of poverty and unemployment and therefore recommends the need to formulate a national plan for economic reform that includes policies to specifically reduce unemployment rates, with the aim of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 8 in Nigeria and preventing the country from falling into a greater economic catastrophe.

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Poverty Rate in the DRC Is on the Rise

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is classified as the third-largest country in terms of the number of poor people in the world. The number of poor people has increased significantly in the recent period after the spread of the Coronavirus in the country, especially in a country that is one of the most populous countries in Africa and one of the poorest before the pandemic.

In general, the poverty rate in the DRC reached 73%, which means that 60 million persons out of 84 million people live below the international poverty line estimated at about $1.90 per day, while the eastern Congo region suffers from the spread of armed groups and militias, which affects the quality of the life of the population in that region, where the poverty rate in the Kivu province reached 80%.

NGOs Major Group for Africa expresses its concern about the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s failure to achieve the SDG 1, which aims at eliminating poverty, and recommends the government urgently develop national plans aimed at ending poverty and activating the role of the Statistics Center to count the numbers of the poor people and implement those plans.

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Covid-19 in Burkina Faso Continues to Increase Poverty Rates in 2021

The Coronavirus pandemic had taken a devastating toll on the population’s sources of income in Burkina Faso, which impacted the slight progress made in SDG 1 (the eradication of poverty). According to the international poverty rate index, Burkina Faso reached 39.45% in 2019 ($1.90 per day). However, this percentage increased by 3.25% to reach 42.70% in 2020 and then reached 44% by December 2021.

In this context, NGOs Major Group for Africa is deeply concerned about high rates of poverty in Burkina Faso and recommends the government take urgent measures to support the population falling below the poverty line by providing decent job opportunities for the unemployed and developing social protection programs in order to curb and reduce this rising percentage to ensure that it does not exacerbate the phenomenon of poverty in the country.

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Introduction

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact not only on the humanitarian and economic aspects, but also on the development plans adopted by undeveloped, economically-depleted countries, as well as its poor infrastructure. In Africa, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was undeniable. As to the development aspect, the impact of the pandemic on the countries of the Dark Continent was variable. Some countries came out of the pandemic with fixed indicators in the development goals set in 2019, and some other countries, especially the countries in the African continent, have been badly affected and the development goals set by their country weren’t achieved.

It is unfortunate that the regions of North Africa and the Horn of Africa are the most different in relation to their response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, in this report, we focus on the regions of North Africa and the Horn of Africa, by monitoring and analyzing the reality and challenges of the sustainable development goals, and discussing whether these countries are moving according to clear plans that enable them to achieve the desired results for 2030 vision? However, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has, in one way or another, affected almost all countries of the world. The countries in the North and Horn of Africa have characteristics that make them a good material for study and analysis, as there are many factors that impede the development of these countries and limit the impact of the efforts made to achieve it. Among these factors, terrorism, extremism, climate change, economic collapse, political instability, and scarcity of resources and capabilities. All of these factors encourage us to closely and periodically monitor the development efforts in those countries, and also make us wonder whether these countries are going to achieve their goals one day or will remain floundering and lose the way?