The Africa Factbook asset. Working visit of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission in Algeria

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1 NEPAD WEEKLY 15 MARCH 2018 Top stories this week Working visit of the Chairperson of the African union Commission in Algeria The Africa Factbook The PIDA Job Creation Toolkit Human capital is nations vital asset Working visit of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission in Algeria H.E Moussa Faki Mahamat laying a wreath at the Martyrs Memorial in Algeria Algiers, March 13, The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E Moussa Faki Mahamat, undertook a three-day working visit to Algeria. On arrival, he was welcomed by the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E Abdelkader Messahel. He then went to the Sanctuary of the Martyrs, for a wreath laying and remembrance ceremony. The delegation of the Chairperson of the Commission included the CEO of the NEPAD Agency, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki; Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Smaïl Chergui; Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, Prof Sarah Anyang Agbor, and; the High Representative of the African Union for Mali and the Sahel, Mr Pierre Buyoya. During his visit, the Chairperson of the Commission met senior Algerian officials to discuss a number of continental priorities. Discussions included economic integration, following the recent decisions of the Addis Ababa Summit of January 2018 on the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is scheduled to be signed in Rwanda next week, the Single African Air Transport Market and the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport. The African Union institutional reform and the promotion of peace and security, including the fight against terrorism, were also discussed. During the visit, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission reiterated the AU s appreciation to the Algerian authorities, in particular President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, for their constant and strong commitment to the causes of the continent. He emphasised the importance of continuing and strengthening this commitment in the current phase of deepening integration and intensifying peace efforts, to achieve the goal of an Africa free from conflict by H.E Mahamat urged Algeria to join the Single Market on Air Transport launched at the Summit in January 2018, to which 24 Member States are already parties. The Single Market will increase air links between African countries and reduce their costs, thereby promoting trade, investment and tourism. Its materialisation will strengthen African companies and put them in a better position to face the competition of non-african air operators. The progress made in the implementation of regional infrastructure projects under the NEPAD Agency was noted, including the Trans-Sahara highway linking Algiers to Lagos, Nigeria, with a total of 4,500 kilometres of which 225 kilometers in Niger remain to be paved. Nonetheless, the financing of this section has just been completed, and the fiber optic link (4,500 kilometers) between Algeria, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, of which 2,700 kilometers in Algerian territory have been completed. The Chairperson expressed appreciation of the African Union to Algeria for its commitment to these and other projects, which aim to create a development corridor,1 by opening up the sub-region and promoting trade.

2 The Africa Factbook Harare, Zimbabwe, March 5, Africa s Agenda 2063 as well as the Sustainable Development Goals acknowledge the place of knowledge management throughout the continuum of generation, storage, dissemination and utilisation. For Africa to sustainably develop, its governments, researchers, thinkers, academics, business and populace in general need true, scientific and comprehensive information about the countries economies, geography, politics and social aspects, among other areas of development. This information can be used for development planning, policy formulation and/or monitoring and evaluation of the African development agenda. However, despite all its strides and potential for development, Africa still lacks an authentic and comprehensive home-grown source of data and information. In order to address this information gap, the African Union Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Book of African Records in December 2016 which mandated the latter to publish the Africa Factbook. The Africa Factbook seeks to cover gaps in the field of knowledge management, particularly the absence of a comprehensive, reliable home-grown reference source on Africa by Africans. In essence, the Africa Factbook will serve as a reference source for useful facts about Africa and the African people for the purpose of information dissemination, education, entertainment, reference, statistics and documentation. Zimbabwe s Vice-President, H.E Constantino Chiwenga officially opened the Africa Factbook Stakeholders Consultative Conference organised in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 5 March, by the Book of African Records, the publishing company in charge of the project, in partnership with the African Union Commission and Research Council of Zimbabwe. He expressed discontent at the fact that, A common challenge facing Africa is the lack of knowledge about the continent. It is disheartening that the story of Africa is usually told by non-africans who often narrate it from their own perspectives. The CEO of the NEPAD Agency, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, was represented at the conference by Jennifer Chiriga, Advisor on Partnerships, and the following points were highlighted on the importance of the Factbook: The Africa Factbook as the missing link between the continent s history and its legacy The Africa Factbook as the expression of change in Africa, illustrated by new data collection and a new narrative that reflects Africa s diversity. The Africa Factbook will need to be rigorous in its research, for credibility and to deliver a product with well documented facts. The Research Council of Zimbabwe will provide valuable support in moving this project forward. Through the lens of Agenda 2063, Africa s transformative vision, the Africa FactBook will be an authentic publication by Africa and for Africa. 2

3 The PIDA Job Creation Toolkit Johannesburg, March 12, 2018 Infrastructure development is central to creating favourable conditions for Africa s industrialisation to address the needs of Africa s youthful population, urbanisation, unemployment and Africa s aspirations for double-digit growth, said Symerre Grey-Johnson, Head of Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Trade at the NEPAD Agency. Mr Grey-Johnson was speaking on 12 March at a workshop held at the NEPAD Agency in Johannesburg, to prepare for the launch of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) Job Creation Toolkit. He went on to state that, The toolkit will help lead policymakers on the continent in the right direction to addressing the demographic dividend and youth unemployment by making the case that infrastructure can reduce unemployment. The Job Creation Toolkit will serve as a practical tool, catalysing a new African jobs focus in the development and operation of Africa s infrastructure projects, and maximising the number and quality of African jobs. The methodology upon which the toolkit was developed, estimates direct, indirect and induced labour market effects during the planning, construction and, operation and maintenance phases of PIDA s infrastructure projects. In addition, the methodology estimates secondary job effects, which are those jobs that are being created in other sectors of the economy due to the operational infrastructure in service, such as improved energy access. For instance, the methodology estimates that 126,500 jobs can be provided through the Ruzizi III hydropower project serving Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The estimated jobs are broken down as follows: Around 25,100 direct, indirect and induced job years during the project 5-year construction phases; 6,500 job years for the operation and maintenance phase; and around 103,700 secondary job years over the 50-year useful life of the project as a result of improved energy access across the three countries. The methodology s underlying foundation is based on the assumption that project total investment costs will lead to the purchase of goods and services within an economy, which will then create employment. Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere, NEPAD Agency s Principal Programme Officer for the Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Trade Programme explained that the PIDA project owners and their technical partners can use the online toolkit to test alternative project designs and scenarios to maximise African job creation. The toolkit will also have a Best Practice Job Maximisation Guide that will detail possible employment-generating interventions at both national and regional levels. It will provide guidelines on policies and good practice for job maximisation in infrastructure. The PIDA Job Creation Toolkit will be launched in July

4 Human capital is nations vital asset By Dr Ibrahim Mayaki CEO of the NEPAD Agency GDP and GDP growth, often regarded as benchmarks when it comes to assessing the economic situation of a country, have long been controversial. Already in 1992, following the Earth Summit in Rio, several economists had begun to look at the notion of sustainability, believing that GDP did not take into account the stock of natural resources that is nonetheless essential to ensure economic growth over the long term. Similarly, the 2008 financial crisis reminded us of the extent to which our instruments for measuring the economic health of countries and businesses can be inaccurate or even misleading. In a new study entitled The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018, the World Bank analyses the evolution of the wealth of 141 countries between 1995 and 2014, taking into account four elements. The valuation of wealth is based on natural capital (mineral and natural resources, forests, et cetera), capital produced (infrastructures, et cetera), net foreign assets and, above all, human capital (income of a person throughout their life). This is the first time that human capital has been introduced into such a study, illustrating the importance of investing in individuals as an essential tool to create the wealth of nations. We note that human capital represents not less than two-thirds of the world s wealth. In high-income countries, human capital accounts for 70% of the wealth compared to only 40% in low-income countries. Thus, when we follow the trajectory of low-income countries that became middle-income countries between 1995 and 2014, there is an investment from the proceeds of natural capital toward infrastructure and education. Conversely, in ten of the 24 countries from the low-income group, natural capital still accounts for more than 50% of the national wealth. Globally, global wealth has increased, including the catching up of high-income countries by middle-income countries. Nevertheless, inequality has persisted since, in OECD countries, per capita wealth continues to be 52 times higher than that of an inhabitant of a low-income country. Moreover, even though low-income countries show a near doubling of their wealth levels between 1995 and 2014, the demographic pressure felt in many countries, mainly from sub-saharan Africa, has not allowed per capita wealth to increase as much as the world average. By reading this report, we can conclude that Africa faces two main challenges: Leading the transition from wealth based on natural capital to wealth based on human capital and better managing its demographic pressure. African countries that have too often been hit by the commodities curse need to massively reinvest their extractive industry revenues in infrastructure and education to create the necessary conditions for inclusive and sustainable growth. It is further evidence of the fact that African governments must reflect on their development strategies by harnessing the demographic challenge so that our youth truly becomes the first wealth of our continent. 4

5 Announcements Food systems in Africa Never before in the history of nutrition in Africa and the world as a whole, has there been so much interest and attention to food and nutrition security. In the last few years, dialogue and discourse in nutrition has been elevated to the highest levels of the policy making bodies, programmatic and technical engagements, and a renewed attitude towards investments and resourcing for achieving a world free of hunger and malnutrition in all its forms. Following the NEPAD-Pan African Parliament High Level Event on Nutrition and Food Systems held on 8 March, Ms Boitshepo Giyose, NEPAD Agency s Senior Nutrition and Food Systems Officer had an interview with ANN7. To watch the interview, follow the link: v=kqa0ijjdmvu&feature=youtu.be 2 nd Meeting of the Steering Committee on regulatory systems and strengthening harmonisation initiatives in Africa Disclaimer: Material contained in the NEPAD Weekly digest is mainly based on internal content - as it is intended for informational purposes only. However, from time to time, the digest includes external content that would be useful if shared both internally and externally. Whilst every effort is made to ascertain the validity of this content, readers are advised to note that the content irrespective of its source, may on some occasions not be accurate and/or up-to-date. 5