Africa Monitor | Volume V; Issue VI
The Continent
UN holds first meeting of high-level group on economic empowerment of women
The High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment held its inaugural meeting on 15 March at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is underway this month. Addressing a room of prominent leaders from government, business, academia and civil society, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the group can collectively lead the charge for women’s economic empowerment.
“Women and girls deserve the same access to quality education, economic resources and political participation as men and boys,” Mr. Ban said, noting this is both the global agenda and his own personal philosophy. Women and girls “must also enjoy the same employment, legal rights, leadership and decision-making opportunities,” he added.
Launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos this January, the Panel is expected to provide recommendations linked to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on how to improve economic outcomes for women and promote their leadership in driving sustainable and inclusive, environmentally sensitive economic growth, according to UN Women.
The Panel, which is co-chaired by Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis and Simona Scarpaleggia, the CEO of IKEA Switzerland, will produce the first report this September, followed by a final report in March 2017. According to Mr. Ban, the Panel is strategically positions to demonstrate high-level leadership and commitment to realizing women’s economic empowerment; to set priorities for accelerating women’s economic empowerment, and to demonstrate how they are already being successfully carried out; and to serve as examples of how government, business, civil society and development partners can join forces for women’s economic empowerment.
The Panel is backed by the UN Women, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, with support for its work provided by the UK Department of International Development. Today’s meeting took place on the second day of the CSW, the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The priority theme for the 60th session is women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development.
Source: UN News Service, March 15, 2016
Somalia ranked the happiest country in sub-Saharan Africa
Somalia is ranked the happiest country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Only Algerians and Libyans more happier than Somalis in Africa, according to the UN report. The report about happiness on Somalia has surprised many who believe there is nothing to be happy about for a citizen who live under civil war more than 25 years with absence of basic services.
Denmark is the happiest country in the world with Burundi sitting bottom of the 157-nation UN-sanctioned World Happiness Report 2016. The report, released on 16 March, ranks the countries on a variety of factors: People’s health and access to medical care, family relations, job security and social factors, including political freedom and degree of government corruption places Burundi at bottom.
Denmark, the Scandinavian nation, with a population of 5.6 million, has topped the list twice before since the world body started measuring happiness around the world in 2012. Somalia emerged number 76 while Burundi and Syria are completing the table with over 150 countries.
Source: Dalshan Radio (Mogadishu), March 17, 2016
Economy — all growth, no prosperity
African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), an independent think-tank has ended a two- day conference tagged, African Transformation Forum (ATF) on 15 March 2016. The conference brought together leading thinkers, policy makers, business leaders, journalists, civil society and development partners to share ideas and collaborate in order to advance Africa’s economic transformation.
It was a pensive looking Kagame that entered the hall of Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda last Tuesday morning, walking through the din of applause by 250 participants or thereabout that came from different parts of Africa and the rest of the world.
In his brooding demeanor, Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, cut the image of a leader who bears the burden not only of his 12 million people but also of the rest Africans. Clearly, the Kigali conference was not about Rwanda; it was rather about Africa and the future of its over 1 billion population. And such scope of discussion would give any Kagame a furrowed forehead. To start with, a 2016 World Bank report revealed that the number of Africans living in extreme poverty increased by more than 100 million between 1990 and 2012, despite the economic growth experienced by the continent within the decade. And as the African population continues to swell, the number of its poor people may also rise, the report stated. This does not have to happen though if African leaders prioritize economic transformation by creating better jobs for their citizens and widening the circle of shared prosperity, said the ACET President, Dr. Kingsley Amoako.
According to Amoako, “By 2050, Sub-Saharan Africa will have a larger and younger workforce than China or India. With the continent’s abundant land and natural resources, that workforce can be a global competitive advantage and a great asset in driving economic transformation.” A probable reality, that is. But the economic transformation will not take place, if the continent does not diversify its economies, boosts its competitiveness in world markets and increases its shares of manufacturing in GDP, using more sophisticated technology in production.
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