Posted 28 February 1999

Theme: The United Nations system-wide special initiative on Africa - Programme to boost African development

Prepared by the Agriculture Department
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Despite the widespread concern expressed by the international community about the deteriorating economic and social conditions in Africa and the commitment of African governments to removing the obstacles to growth, current projections indicate that the prospects for socio-economic recovery are still not in sight for the majority of countries. This concerns particularly those afflicted by armed conflicts and unless urgent actions are taken, living standards can continue to fall in the region.

The agreements reached at numerous international gatherings, such as the World Food Summit, the UN Conference on Environment and Development, the UN Conference on Population and Development, the Social Summit in Copenhagen and the Women's Conference in Beijing, routinely single out the problems of Africa for special attention. This solidarity with Africa is a continuing source of strength, which needs to be channeled into further positive action.

On 15 March 1996, the former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, along with Mr. James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, and Heads of UN agencies, launched the UN System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa. This Special Initiative must be seen as reinforcing and not duplicative of the various initiatives, launched in favour of Africa, either the UNDAF (United Nations Development Assistance Framework) or the System-Wide Plan of Action for African Recovery and Development. The aim of the Special Initiative on Africa is to identify and develop practical proposals to maximise the support provided by the UN system to African development, and to raise the priority given to Africa in the international agenda. Most of the resources in the Special Initiative will be firmly rooted in national programmes of action locally defined and managed.

The Special Initiative has a two-fold challenge:

• To carry out the best supportive actions congruent with Africa's priorities, which can be taken to help stimulate an added push for development in Africa,
• To mobilize the political support needed to ensure that timely action is taken to remove some of the obstacles to Africa's development.

This is also an opportunity to clearly establish the supportive role of donors in Africa by reinforcing that Africans, women and men, must be at the centre of their own development. The Initiative includes a number of innovations for improved modalities of implementation focused on an African-centered development process.

The bulk of the work in putting together the Special Initiative was undertaken by five Working Groups, which were established under the guidance of the Co-Chairpersons and the Steering Committee. The keys themes of the Special Initiative were clearly demarcated. Priorities for the Initiative are listed below under the subject headings of the five working groups involved in the Special Initiative:

• Water: (chaired by UNEP)
• Assuring Sustainable and Equitable Freshwater
• Household Water security;
• Freshwater Assessment;
• Water for Food Security.
• Food Security: (chaired by FAO)
• Land Degradation and desertification Control;
• Quality Improvement;
• Food Security with special emphasis on the role of Women.
• Governance: (chaired by UNDP)
• Peace-building, Conflict Resolution and National Reconciliation through:
• Capacity Building for Governance;
• Strengthening Civil Society for Development;
• Harnessing Information Technology for Development;
• Partnership with Africa through South-South Cooperation.
• Social and Human Condition: (chaired by UNESCO)
• Basic Education for All African Children;
• Health Sector reform;
• Poverty Reduction through the Promotion of the Informal Sector and Employment Generating Opportunities;
• Sustainable Livelihoods in Environmentally Marginal Areas.
• Resource Mobilization: (chaired by World Bank)
• Substantial Debt Relief;
• Partnership Innovations for Effective Development Cooperation through:
• Trade Access and Opportunities
• Internal Resource Mobilization.

The priorities for this Initiative are presented under four major cross-cutting themes chosen to emphasize key issues, which are essential for accelerating African Development, and which the wider audiences necessary for effective political mobilization easily understand.

The crosscutting themes are:

• Give Development a Chance
  Issues to ensure that there are minimum conditions for civil tranquility and economic development. The two most critical of these factors are peace and improved external economic conditions (debt and trade prospects)
• New Hope for the Upcoming Generation
  Fundamental human development issues to assure that people have a fair chance in life: education, health and sustainable employment. Each is important in and of itself, yet reinforces the prospects for the other.
• Strengthening the capacity for Governance
  Governance issues (particularly, transparency, accountability and responsibility, partnerships across societies and total effectiveness) have increasingly been identified as fundamental for much of development progress. This Initiative includes strengthening both the public sector and civil society.
• Urgency on Survival Issues
  Africa virtually lives today on the edge of survival and its prospects are frightening if current trends continue. Sustainable food and water security are the two fundamental survival issues confronting Africa. The question for each is not so much technical approaches as it is adding political and societal urgency to addressing the issues if the current poor prospects in food and water security are to be reversed.

Altogether, if the Initiative is successful it should be sufficiently important to enhance the prospects for many other development interests shared by Africa and its external partners and consequently add impetus to African development.

It is emphasized that the Initiative is not a call for action by UN agencies; rather, it is a call to support Africa determined priorities and efforts, and to galvanize international support for their successful implementation. In a memorandum from the Assistant Director General of the Agricultural Department in FAO, the FAO Focal Point for UNSIA, to all FAO Representatives on 11 December 1998, linkages between the Special Initiative on Africa and the ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security were encouraged. It was suggested to the FAO Representatives to include the priority areas for the Special Initiative on Africa on Food Security in Thematic Groups' agendas and work plans.

For more information contact the FAO Representative in your country or Ms. Mahazosoa Ratsimba, Agricultural Department, FAO headquarters.