Africa

Over the last ten years, the Africa region has seen commendable progress in the areas of democratic governance, economic growth and the provision of basic social services. Africa has the highest number of countries with democratic systems to date since the 1960s. In 2007, and for the sixth consecutive year, the region recorded a 5% growth rate. Many countries were able to capitalize on this trend to allocate considerable sums toward basic social services, making progress toward achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Today, the global economic and financial crisis, which hit the region around October 2008, is threatening to reverse many of these advances. The World Bank’s most recent growth prospects for Africa for 2009 stand at 2.4% and the consequences of that reduction are likely to be felt across the region, in the shape of higher unemployment and poverty; decreases in the provision of social services; and increased vulnerability to environmental degradation.

Climate change is likely to represent another important threat for development. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that by 2020, 75-250 million people across Africa could face water shortages and rain-fed agriculture could drop by 50% in some African countries by 2020. If temperatures rise above two degrees Celsius in sub-Saharan African, an additional 600 million people in the region could face hunger, new epidemics of mosquito-borne diseases as well as additional agricultural losses of up to US$26 billion by 2060.

UNDP on the ground

With its extensive representation and network of partners in 45 Sub-Saharan African countries, UNDP, in collaboration with regional institutions and other UN agencies and partners, is building the capacities of African governments and communities to accelerate progress toward the MDGs.

Following the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit which committed to increasing aid to Africa by $25 billion in 2004 dollars by 2010, UNDP has worked with partner governments in Africa and regional institutions to develop “Gleneagles Scenarios” which show that scaling up action toward the MDGs at the country-level is feasible. On the ground, the organization is working with governments, regional institutions, the United Nations and other development partners, including civil society organizations and the private sector, to tackle the multi-dimensional aspect of poverty by working on four focus areas, with gender equality and women's empowerment as a cross-cutting area:

• Poverty reduction and the MDGs
• Democratic governance
• Environment and energy
• Crisis prevention and recovery