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Leaders should commit to development pledges in Nairobi TICAD Summit

Thursday August 25 2016
ticad

Preparation in earnest for the the 6th Tokyo International Conference on International Development (TICAD VI) to take place at the Kenyatta International Conventional Centre in Nairobi on August 24, 2016. The TICAD summit will be held on August 27 -28. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU |

Nairobi will this week welcome more than 6,000 delegates including several heads of states for a two-day Japan-Africa summit from August 27-28, 2016.  

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) was first convened in 1993 by the Government of Japan to among other priorities promote Africa’s development, peace and security.  The launch of TICAD at the time helped refocus international attention on Africa’s development needs amidst a growing ‘Aid’ fatigue. 

In the last decade of TICAD, the continent has witnessed Japanese investments in different sectors: 2.6 million children in the continent have had the opportunity to learn through investments in education infrastructure; 240 million people have received health/medical care or improved access to the same through vaccination programmes; 4.6 million people have been provided with safe water supply and sanitation facilities and; the area under irrigation in the continent has been expanded by approximately 57 thousand ha.

Whereas the above is significant, it is not unique. Other development partners have similar if not better statistics on the impact of their investments in the African continent.  What is unique in TICAD is its emphasis on Africa’s ownership of its development course.

The conference is happening in Africa for the first time at a time when the continent is perceived to be experiencing a renaissance and attracting growing international interest contrary to the fatigue witnessed in early 1990s.

Great change and laudable progress – including for children are increasingly being observed in the continent: improved literacy and health outcomes, rapidly growing telecommunications sector; increased economic growth in many countries; a burgeoning youthful population; increasing urbanisation and growth of the middle class; and discovery of promising oil and gas deposits amongst others. 

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The perceived good is, however, diabolically cunning.  The African continent is one of the most unequal continents in the world and bears the brunt of bad public governance characterised by gross human rights abuses and political instability, civil conflicts and sectarian violence. 

However, the current food insecurity aggravated by increasingly frequent natural disasters and climatic changes continues to ravage many more households in the continent. At present, nearly 11 million children in East and Southern Africa are at risk from hunger and disease and food prices are on an upward trend due to the effects of El Niño with a 56 per cent possibility of La Niña later in the year in many countries including Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia and South Sudan, among others.

Given TICAD’s interests in promoting high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners on issues ranging from economic growth, trade and investment, sustainable development, human security, peace and stability and governance, TICAD VI should ensure that:

First, there is a clear commitment to support and make universal health coverage a reality to many poor households in the continent by 2030.  This commitment would indeed embody the belief of the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, “I believe that Universal Health Coverage, which is the provision of basic health services to every individual at an affordable cost, is necessary to the stable development of society”.

Secondly, sustainable solutions are agreed on and supported to avert preventable humanitarian emergencies that impede development in the continent and that states and development partners will scale up their support and response to existing humanitarian needs in the continent.

Thirdly, appropriate and comprehensive measures and frameworks are agreed on not only to enhance industrialisation and wealth creation but also to ensure equity in distribution of generated wealth and resources to the community while safeguarding the planet.

And lastly, African leaders and development partners make courageous decisions to fully support efforts aimed at ending the devastating conflicts in the continent.  In the recent case of South Sudan, states and development partners should commit to extend immediate humanitarian support to the people and work with all the parties to the conflict to end human rights violations especially for women and children.  It is our hope that peace and stability across the continent will receive adequate attention and commitments from governments and development partners.

The writers work for Save the Children International, East and Southern Africa regional office.

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