Institute of Development Studies

IDS research featured in landmark Commission for Africa report

13 September 2010

As the Commission for Africa publishes its update on the progress Africa has made since 2005, IDS Fellow Andy Sumner summarises IDS' contributions to this landmark report.

Still Our Common Interest outlines what the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have achieved for Africa over the last decade. During the last few years Africa has seen a number of notable successes. As a whole the region has experienced annual economic growth rates of 6 per cent from 2003 to 2008, and there has been progress in education and mortality rates. Yet more is needed if we are to achieve the promises made in 2000 at the Millennium Summit, to reduce poverty drastically by 2015.

Progress on education

• Education has been a key priority for sub-Saharan African governments as well as donors.
• Progress towards Universal Primary Education (UPE) has been made, the out-of-school population has decreased, and the gender gap in education is narrowing in many countries.
• Nevertheless, differences between countries remain great. Sub-Saharan Africa's out-of-school rates remain the largest in the world and significant gender gaps persist in education.
• Comprehensive education plans to accelerate progress towards UPE, addressing budget, gender and other issues have gained popularity among African countries. This is mostly in the context of the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) but more commitment to these plans is still needed.
• Achieving UPE quicker through abolishing school fees has proven more complex than anticipated. Governments need to plan this move carefully, tailor it to groups of vulnerable children and ensure financial sustainability.
• Teacher shortages remain a concern. Bringing teacher/pupil ratios down through more attention to teacher development and further teacher recruitment will be vital to both reach UPE by 2015 and sustain the quality of education.

Progress on fighting HIV/AIDS

• The Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS (2006) introduced the goal of supporting country-driven plans in sub-Saharan Africa for scaling up HIV prevention and treatment.
• But coordinating responses to HIV/AIDS, even though desperately needed, remains challenging. This is particularly because of the large number of global actors.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has reshaped the population structure, leading to dramatically lower life-expectancy at birth.
• In addition, women are disproportionally affected in comparison with men.
• On the other hand, anti-retroviral treatment coverage for adults has expanded over the last decade.

Progress on protecting the most vulnerable

• The UN Framework for the Protection, Care and Support of Orphan and Vulnerable Children is receiving increased attention.
• Issues relating to vulnerable children, in many cases aimed at children affected by HIV/AIDS, are being integrated in national and/or ministerial plans.
• However, progress on protecting the vulnerable varies across different regions. Progress is evident in East and Southern Africa, where programmes for children were introduced on national levels. Unfortunately, good intentions in these regions have not yet translated into changes in resource allocation.
• Programming for children is still new to the West and Central African region.

More detail on these, and other, findings is available in the full report: Still Our Common Interest.

IDS research for the Commission for Africa report was carried out by IDS Fellow Andy Sumner, IDS students Ricardo Santos and Mohammed Nurul Azam, and University of Sussex student Graca Sousa.