Sustainable development in Africa

Sustainable development in Africa has always been a call for concern. Africa is endowed with rich and diverse renewable and non-renewable natural resources, yet its people remain among the poorest in the world (Sustainable Development Report on Africa - Managing Land-Based Resources for Sustainable Development , 2012). The lack of balanced development – where economic, social and environmental dimensions are given due consideration for sustainable development – has led the international community to consider different paradigms of development (Dione, 2012).

The National Strategies for Sustainable Development in Africa – A sixteen country Assessment, complements the available resources on the sustainable development strategic process.  It provides an assessment of the level of development and implementation of National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSSD) in African countries (Africa, 2011).

According to the aforementioned assessment, most countries are progressively applying the principles of multi-stakeholder participation and ownership, sound leadership, and good governance. Increasingly, ministries responsible for planning and finance are playing a key role in the NSSD process (Africa, 2011).

Most African countries have developed and are implementing their National Strategies for Sustainable Development. The amount of emphasis being laid on the different pillars of sustainable development differ with respect to the country concerned. Commendable progress has been made but a lot is yet to be done. The following recommendations could be helpful in redressing sustainable development in Cameroon:

·  Assistance should be given to African nations in developing and implementing their sustainable development strategies.

· All countries should ensure that all stakeholders undertake meaningful participation in the strategy cycle, from implementation to execution.

· The implementation of national sustainable development strategies should be decentralized at subnational levels. This will build capacity and ensure effective implementation.

·  Lastly, development agencies should work with African countries, especially developing nations in providing blueprints to addressing their development challenges and needs.

Enhancing Social Sustainable Development in Africa

According to the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), a central aspect of the social dimensions of sustainable development relates to social conditions and factors (social drivers) that shape processes of change. The former identifies the following as being social drivers:

·  Social structures and institutions that shape people’s preferences, behavior, and possibilities, and to

·       Agency – the capacity of individuals and groups to influence change

Here with a further breakdown of ‘social drivers’ to development:

Employment-Centered Economic Policies: Employment is the most important source of income for the bulk of the world’s population. Macro-economic policy needs to prioritize employment and decent working conditions as a primary development objective (UNRISD, 2013). Employment should not be seen as a side effect to development strategies. The major challenge faced in the 21^st century as regards unemployment is generating employment in sectors and production systems that do not degrade the environment, as was the case in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Social Reproduction and Care: Inclusive and sustainable development requires greater recognition of the rights and needs of both care-givers and care-receivers. There is need for greater investment in infrastructure and basic social services. Pre-school facilities and school feeding programs could also be provided to ensure optimal incomes for care-givers and care-receivers. The challenge to optimizing social care is in forging policies that support care-givers and care-receivers.

Equality of Opportunity and Outcome: Equality matters for both its intrinsic value as a human right and for instrumental reasons linked, for example, to economic growth and social cohesion (UNRISD, 2013). Inequalities are critical for determining how people are affected by tragedies and natural disasters (such as climatic changes, food crises, and outbreaks of epidemics), and their ability to respond, cope, and adapt to opportunity and adversity. Gender-based wage gaps are a perfect illustration of inequality in the workplace.

Green and Fair Economy: The Green economy concept, when viewed through a social lens highlights a good number of issues that generally receive little attention during policy setting. Inclusive and participatory governance arrangements could also foster the growth of a ‘green and fair’ economy. Rounded green social policies are needed for the following reasons:

·         To and compensate the vulnerable

·         To ease the uptake of green jobs via retraining and education 

·         To ensure decent work within the green economy

·         To ease the participation of rural participants, among others.

Participation and Empowerment: These two have always been recognized as key social drivers of equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development. Participation goes beyond giving disadvantaged groups a voice at the table. It further involves these people’s capacity to gain control over decision-making processes, and enhancing their capacity to exert claims on external actors and institutions that affect their lives. Nowadays, the international Development community is paying greater attention to empowerment issues, but little attention is being paid to economic empowerment of the former.

Aspirations for Sustainable Development in Cameroon

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 8 in number are quite a mirror of some of the critical sustainable Development needs in Cameroon.

To understand the needs for sustainability in Cameroon’s development, it is essential to analyze Cameroon’s current standing vis-à-vis the rest of the world (ROW), and especially vis-à-vis Sub-Saharan Africa. Cameroon has a population of 22.25 million inhabitants and a GDP of $29.57 billion, as at 2013 (Bank, n.d.). According to the World Bank, Cameroon attained a primary school enrollment of 11% in 2012.

Statistics on Cameroon’s poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of the total population), per the World Bank are as follows: 39.9% in 2007, 40.2% in 2001, and 53.3% in 1996. This trend shows an ironic, consistent increase in the country’s poverty levels. Cameroon’s CO2 emissions as at 2010 stand at 0.4 metric tons per capita, which is fairly better than the Sub-Saharan average of 0.8 metric tons per capita (World Bank Statistics). Cameroon’s life expectancy stands at 55 years (World Bank, 2012), a slightly lower statistic as compared to the Sub-Saharan average of 56 years.

The World Bank still categorizes Cameroon as pertaining to the Lower Middle income group. Cameroon’s latest population census was done in 2005, 10 years ago. This leads to questioning as regards the collection of metadata on Cameroon. The norm is for population censuses to be carried out every 5 years, but Cameroon has already exceeded and even doubled the required census spacing. 

In response to the many challenges being faced by Cameroon vis-à-vis their development goals, we were able to coin the following objectives for Cameroon as blueprint for Cameroon’s development.

Priority should be given to deficient zones like: the Far North, North, Adamaoua, and East, especially with respect to cost of education and the effectiveness of the human and financial resource allocation.

Fostering primary school enrollment remains a critical challenge for a developing country like Cameroon. Worth noting is the overall national increase in primary school enrollment rates from 102.8% in 2001 to 112.9% in 2011. However, learning outcomes have deteriorated even though they remain above those of comparable African countries (Cameroon: Improving the Quality of Primary Education to Ensure Sustainable Growth, 2014).

Cameroon could also address the complex issues of food security through sustainable agriculture initiatives. Women have a great role to play in this domain. The following initiatives could be helpful:

·         Implementation of farming and post-harvest technology

·         Micro-credit schemes (small scale funding schemes)

·         Education of farmers

·         Higher enrollment into agricultural schools

There is also the dire need to protect our forests, and other natural resources (environmental sustainability). Cameroon’s forest covers approximately 21 million hectares which is almost half of its territory (Support Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon, n.d.). This vast forest land is unfortunately subject to serious problems like climatic change, increase in population, and unsustainable forest management. Half of Cameroon’s forest cover has already been lost in 50 years (Support Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon, n.d.). A plausible solution to this issue would be to adopt strategies like ‘1 person, 1 tree’. We all know of the importance of flora to the ecological system. We can’t survive without trees.

HIV/AIDS still remains a threat to sustainable development in Cameroon. The following summary from PEPFAR enlightens the state of the disease in in the country. Visit http://www.pepfar.gov/documents/organization/212134.pdf and read for more information.

Cameroon is in the midst of a generalized HIV epidemic with overall prevalence among thehighest in West and Central Africa at 5.5%. Data on incidence indicates that 51,315 new HIV infections per year. The National AIDS Control Committee (NACC) projects an increase from 560,000 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in 2010 to 726,000 PLHIV in 2020. In combatting HIV/AIDS, the following strategies could be taken into consideration:

·  Better prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections

·   Improvement on Cameroon’s health systems

·   Improved circulation of information on HIV and health in general

·  Enhanced  support and protection for HIV infected and affected persons

These are a few of the many areas that need attention.

Works Cited

Africa, U. N. (2011, March). Publications. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.uneca.org: http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/publications/natlstratsforsustdev.pdf

Bank, W. (n.d.). Cameroon. Retrieved March 31, 2015, from data.worldbank.org: http://www.data.worldbank.org/country/cameroon

Cameroon: Improving the Quality of Primary Education to Ensure Sustainable Growth. (2014, April 24). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from www.worldbank.org: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/04/24/cameroon-improving-the-quality-of-primary-education-to-ensure-sustainable-growth

Dione, J. (2012). Managing land-based resources. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: http://www.uncsd2012.org

Support Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from Green Cameroon: http://www.greencameroon.org/

Sustainable Development Report on Africa - Managing Land-Based Resources for Sustainable Development . (2012). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: http://www.uncsd2012.org