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THE 2017 edition of the World Economic Forum on Africa, an exclusive club of jet-setting haves better known globally for its January get-togethers in Davos, Switzerland, is to descend on Durban on an altruistic mission of helping Africa to achieve inclusive growth.

It is fitting that this meeting takes place in South Africa, a country of stark contradictions where millions of have-nots live in squalor and deprivation, often a stone’s throw from a few living in the lap of luxury, with southern Africa the most unequal region on the continent.

The men and women in sharp suits at Durban’s International Convention Centre this week will be reminded that all their efforts will come to naught if the three related and mutually reinforcing developmental challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment are not addressed squarely and urgently.

The story is well known: for all the years of outwardly impressive growth figures across the continent, our people enjoyed little to none of this supposed success story.

Southern Africa’s women, youth and smallhold farmers in particular continue to bear the brunt of hardships found at the confluence of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Of the 15 SADC countries, only Mauritius is classified a high human development country on the UN’S human development index. Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe are all classified low, registering HDI values below 0.55.

Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia rank among the world’s top 10 unequal countries, with Swaziland joining this group with a Gini index above 0.5, according to World Bank data.

Unemployment levels are high with an estimated 40% of the labour force in the region unemployed or under-employed. Many of those employed are in vulnerable jobs characterised by informal arrangements, a lack of decent work conditions and meagre incomes.

The majority in rural areas spend much of their productive labour hours on subsistence agriculture, with about 70% of the region’s population dependent on agriculture for food, income and employment.

Granted, the persistently high levels of inequality in southern Africa are in large part legacies of the land dispossession and widespread asset stripping of the masses, as well as racially discriminatory policies of our recent past. But policy choices and overall governance deficits in the postcolonial period have not helped.

To achieve truly inclusive growth and comprehensive transformation, southern African leaders in the public and private sectors, many of whom will be wining and dining and wheeling and dealing between their important meetings in Durban this week, will need to think seriously and find ways to invest in meeting the needs of the people.

Instead of focusing solely on gross domestic product and hoping to tweak it to make it more inclusive, leaders should focus directly on reducing inequality and eliminating poverty in ways that lead to economic prosperity for all.

Such an approach to development will unlock the people’s potential to drive the region’s development agenda and strengthen the economies to benefit all.

This will require public and private investment in sectors with high social returns such as education, water, health and sanitation, and the provision of quality basic services free to poor households.

Fair taxation and ending tax dodges will ensure governments harness the revenue needed to halt inequality through well-resourced and equitable public spending.

The youth, who comprise three-quarters of the SADC’S population, represent one of the best opportunities for transformation.

To unlock the potential in the region’s young population, investment should go towards enhancing innovation, entrepreneurship and broadening employment opportunities for young women and men, aligning education and skills training to the socio-economic needs of the region and economies of the future, and promoting meaningful youth participation in socio-economic and political governance at all levels.

Farmers, who account for most of the rural populace, remain stuck on small patches of unproductive holdings, farming mainly for family consumption and realising little surplus. Where they harvest enough to sell produce, their participation in the market is confined to the lowest rungs of agriculture value chains.

There is minimal local processing to capture and retain greater value, effectively turning farming, the fundamental livelihood activity for most, into a poverty trap. This must change. Smallholder agriculture must be transformed into a profitable and sustainable livelihood enterprise, supported by a mindset shift among smallhold farmers towards seeing agriculture as a profitable business and not just a survival activity. Government and private investment in sub-sectors such as horticulture, fisheries, small livestock, irrigation, processing, research and development, and extension are key to realising this transformation.

Equality, too, between women and men is imperative. Across the political, economic and social spheres, women and girls remain excluded and disadvantaged as a consequence of the predominance of patriarchy in all forms of societal organisation and activity.

Economically, there are still huge inequalities between men and women. Lack of credit, sustainable finance and customary practices are the biggest obstacles to women’s ownership of property and other productive resources.

The gender pay gap remains stark. As a proportion of men’s earnings women, on average, earn only 42% in Mauritius, 53% in Swaziland and 59% in South Africa, while in Malawi, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Namibia and Lesotho women earn 61%-78% of what their male counterparts are paid, according to the 2016 edition of the SADC Gender Protocol Barometer. In addition, women continue to suffer the burden of uncounted and unpaid care work.

By ensuring equitable investment in physical and social infrastructure, eliminating gender discriminatory practices in the workplace and challenging social norms, leaders can set the region well on the path to achieving truly inclusive economies.

• Dr Chagutah is Oxfam regional policy and influencing manager for southern Africa.