General Assembly
Official Records
Fifty-fourth Session
Supplement No. 1 (A/54/1)

Chapter II

Africa

172. Working with national and regional partners to improve the lives of people in Africa remains a priority for the United Nations Development Group. The challenges are clear. An estimated 44 per cent of Africans, and 51 per cent of those in sub-Saharan Africa, are living in absolute poverty. Of the 30 million people infected by HIV/AIDS in the world, 23 million live in sub-Saharan Africa; 91 per cent of all AIDS deaths in the world have occurred in 34 countries -- 29 of which are in Africa. If Africa is to reach the Social Summit's target of halving absolute poverty by 2015, annual GDP must rise by at least 7 per cent until 2015. Growth is currently around 3 per cent and is expected to reach 3.5 per cent in 2000. Africa's debt burden increased from $344 billion in 1997 to $350 billion in 1998, a sum equivalent to 300 per cent of exports of goods and services. Africa received less than $5 billion in foreign direct investment, a mere 3 per cent of global flows.

Enhancing United Nations collaboration for the development of Africa

173. I presented my report on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa to the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session of 1999. It highlighted the need for substantial and sustained economic growth and social development to meet the challenges faced by African countries. Against this background, the United Nations Development Group, with some of the Executive Committees, has developed an action plan to identify common activities and the most appropriate contributions from individual agencies.

174. The Administrative Committee on Coordination continues to stress the need to tie United Nations initiatives in Africa -- the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s and its implementing arm, the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative -- into other development undertakings, such as the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative, the Alliance for African Industrialization and the coordinated follow-up to the United Nations conferences. The first annual regional coordination meeting of the United Nations system in Africa was held at Nairobi, in March 1999, chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General. It adopted the System-wide Special Initiative and the New Agenda as the framework for coordinating the United Nations approach to the development of Africa.

175. Under the auspices of the United Nations Development Group, 10 African countries have participated in the UNDAF pilot phase. Ten more UNDAFs are expected in Africa by the end of 1999 in preparation for the programme cycles beginning in 2001.

Tackling the challenges of poverty in Africa

176. The Jobs for Africa programme is an integral part of the System-wide Special Initiative and meets commitments made at the Social Summit. It aims to develop and strengthen the capacity of national and regional institutions and networks in 10 participating countries to combat poverty by generating productive employment. Following up on the Summit and taking on the fight against poverty was also the topic for a subregional meeting organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in March 1999.

177. The United Nations Development Programme has sponsored a number of long-term national studies to enable Governments to define objectives for poverty eradication, taking into account the effects of globalization and investment flows. A regional decision-making information system was set up in Zimbabwe in 1999 with outreach to other African countries. The programme has benefited 14 countries to date, and another 30 have made formal requests for support.

178. The Africa 2000 initiative of UNDP, providing support to rural women in Africa for sustainable development activities, had sponsored over 700 projects by the end of 1998. At a cost of $1.5 billion, WFP is providing assistance to approximately 21 million people in Africa through 100 projects. In southern Africa, WFP has been working with national partners through its vulnerability analysis and mapping units to promote the use of vulnerability monitoring and analysis to develop contingency plans for tackling regional natural disasters.

179. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements established the African Forum on Urban Poverty in September 1998. Its Urban Management Programme, supported by UNDP and the World Bank, already covers 26 African countries. The Sustainable Cities Programme, implemented jointly with UNEP, operates in eight African countries.

Focusing on health and education for Africa

180. Led by UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank, education activities under the Special Initiative focused during the year on improving primary education in 16 countries where primary school enrolment is low. United Nations agencies were also involved in improving the quality of education in Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.

181. UNAIDS, together with its sponsors (UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO, WHO, the World Bank and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme), intensified its campaign against HIV and AIDS in Africa. Seeking as broad a base as possible for its campaign, UNAIDS has brought together Governments, regional bodies, bilateral development agencies, multilateral organizations and the corporate sector, with commitments from large pharmaceutical corporations, the entertainment industry and the Global Business Council on AIDS, as well as civil society organizations.

182. Africa, whose peoples are major victims of malaria, is a principal beneficiary of the WHO-led Roll Back Malaria campaign, which aims to cut deaths from malaria by 50 per cent by 2010 and 75 per cent by 2015. Other United Nations initiatives, such as National Immunization Days, have also helped women and children in many African countries.

183. The work of UNFPA in assisting countries in Africa to implement the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development has led to concrete improvement in reproductive health care in 19 countries. Four countries have introduced legislation outlawing the practice of female genital mutilation.

184. A major focus of the development activities of WFP is on enhancing women's capacity to increase household food security.

Building national capacity for good governance and trade

185. Collaboration with national, regional and international partners in Africa is central to the United Nations efforts to strengthen national capacity for good governance and trade. The Special Initiative governance group established the Africa Governance Forum and is creating comprehensive databases to analyse government practices. The Forum met in June 1999 in Mali to examine the link between governance and conflict management. In addition, UNIFEM's programme on governance and leadership is promoting greater gender balance in decision-making by voters, candidates and elected representatives in Africa.

186. UNDP, together with UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNESCO, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the African Development Bank, OAU and ECA organized a forum in March 1999 to consider how to create a positive environment for investment and to enhance competitiveness.

187. The Special Initiative trade group, led by UNCTAD in collaboration with WTO and the International Trade Centre, has developed an integrated framework for trade-related technical assistance. The UNCTAD Asia-Africa Business Networking Forum (March 1999) is itself an example of the United Nations continuing support for South-South cooperation.