AFDB President says investment in quality education to end poverty

TUNIS

Africa must invest in quality education in order to stop children from inheriting poverty from generation to generation, African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka told leaders gathered in Kigali, Rwanda, on Tuesday during the opening day of the seventh Africa Economic Conference.

This is how you stop children from inheriting living conditions of debt, and once you do that you have stopped the transmission of poverty, said Kaberuka, during the opening session that focused on a critical analysis of the drivers of growth in the face of global uncertainty. Speaking under the conference theme “Inclusive and Sustainable Development in an Age of Economic Uncertainty”, Kaberuka emphasized that Africa should step outside of the box and question the parables of economic growth that will lead to economic transformation translating into the creation of jobs and other benefits. It’s possible to register growth in GDP even in double digits, record millions in exports, but have 60 per cent living under a dollar per day, he said. After 2009 global crisis, rich countries are still concentrating on their own immediate problems and there is less appetite for the multinational solutions, which Africa needs. In this context, Kaberuka under- scored the need for long-term solutions. He suggested that Africa’s growth should include researching solutions on how African countries could internally finance their development, and learn from what has gone wrong globally to redesign their policies. Helen Clark, the Administrator of United Nations Development Programme, said the conference provides a forum for dialogue around the ideas, evidence and policies available to advance inclusive and sustainable development in the uncertain times in which we live. Africa, like all regions, is affected by the current sluggish global growth and by climatic extremes. Its poorest people.