Africa suffers from poor quality and expensive infrastructure services compared to other parts of the world. This constrains productivity by up to 40 percent and reduces Africa’s GDP by about 2 percent per year. In addition, the limited existing infrastructure is already being severely impacted by extreme events associated with climate change, and now, the Covid-19.
#MyLittleBigThing had a FREE Webinar on SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure in Africa on Thursday 23rd April. The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Isaac Kamande- Director of Planning, Ministry of Mining Kenya, and Mr. Emmanuel Ametepey- Executive Director of Youth Advocates Ghana (YAG) and a Convener of the African Youth SDGs Summit.
Mr. Isaac Kamande identified the gaps in Africa’s infrastructure by referring to the fact that two-thirds of Africa’s 900 million people do not have access to electricity. This is coupled with the scarcity of water in Africa leading to problems in sanitation at a time when we need to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In his view, “Africa needs US $93 – 130 billion dollars to address this backlog.”
We also need to bridge the gap between available capital and bankable projects that drive the growth of infrastructure.
Mr. Kamande contextualized industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa as adversely hindered by a lack of basic infrastructure in the form of roads, railways, and energy. The continent’s long history of dependency on raw material exports has condemned Africa to be the last frontier for modernization in the world.
However, he noted that there were innovations in Africa but the majority are stuck in the idea stage due to factors such as weak intellectual property rights laws, and pervasive survivalist livelihoods. He added that Governments in Africa need to address these issues in order to increase the potential of youth innovations.
Emmanuel Ametepey, the Executive Director of Youth Advocates Ghana (YAG) and a Convener of the African Youth SDGs Summit took up the conversation by stating that it was critical for the youth to engage in the SDGs and urged participants to network in coming up with solutions addressing Africa’s challenges. He further stated that there was a need for the National Governments to recognize innovations for us to elevate them from the idea stage, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that Ghana reported news on its first coronavirus patient on 12th March 2020. The country was still under partial lockdown. The pandemic had impacted youth in positive and negative ways, “There has been a huge impact on education. Schools have closed down which means that students are missing out on learning opportunities. The Ghana government is speaking of lessons being organized online but issues of infrastructure such as technology, access to internet connectivity hinder the delivery of effective e-learning.” He urged young people to continue to be more innovative highlighting one Ghanaian youth who had come up with a hand washing machine.
The next #MyLittleBigThing SDGs Webinar is on 23rd April at 7.00pm Nairobi (+3 GMT) and will focus on SDG 10 and Inequality in Africa. Registrations are ongoing at https://bit.ly/2RLQimC
By Wahito Maigua