Livelihoods in Africa can be better

WITH Africa Day celebrations over – it is now time to hunker down and carve a way forward that will see Africans celebrating being part of a continent in which they enjoy fulfilled livelihoods.

Of interest is the fact that the need for Africa to grant its citizens fulfilled livelihoods has – to a large extent – been coloured by the Covid19 pandemic currently ravaging the continent and the rest of the world.

This because, on the one hand, Covid-19 has proved to be a stress test for the continent’s ability and capability to deliver the much desired fulfilled livelihoods to its citizens.

In this regard, the pandemic has exposed the continent’s underbelly of under-development. On the other hand, the pandemic has shown to be an opportunity for the continent to develop creative ways of addressing its developmental deficit.

However, it is also important to highlight some noticeable green offshoots when it comes to some of Africa’s responses to the pandemic and its future impact on the continent’s development trajectory.

One such response is how Africa has identified the implementation of its free trade act as the best stimulus for the continent’s post-covid-19 economies. As it is under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement the AU has developed both short- and long-term mechanisms to alleviate the deleterious impact of the pandemic on its member states’ economies. In the short term, the AU heads of states have agreed to establish trade corridors enabling the transit of essential goods or germ-killing products such as soaps. These products get priority transit through borders, particularly in landlocked countries.

Another key development in this regard has been the introduction of the “Internet Resilience in Africa” webinar series. Organised jointly by the AU Commission, the Internet Society and the African Telecommunication Union and in partnership with regional and organisations working for the development of the internet on the continent, the webinars explore the impact on the internet by the novel Covid-19 disruptions and how the lessons learnt from those experiences can be used to position the internet as a tool that makes a meaningful contribution to the socio-economic development of Africa beyond the pandemic.

The Smart Africa Alliance’s mandate is to drive the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the manifesto, which is based on key pillars including:

Putting ICT at the centre of the AU members’ national socio-economic development agenda.

Improving access to ICT – especially broadband.

Using ICT to improve accountability, efficiency and service delivery through platforms such as e-government and government to citizen, government to business, as well as business to business communication links.

Utilising ICT to empower women and youth to encourage social inclusion and promoting sustainable environmental management by efficiently managing the generation of clean energy, urbanisation and disaster management.

Creating an enabling environment for business to prosper and contribute to sustainable socioeconomic development.

These are important developments that, hopefully, will also go a long way in addressing some of the prevailing shortcomings when it comes to the development of a sustainable digital economy on the continent.

For example, one of the key shortcomings remaining the bane of some sub-saharan countries including South Africa is the low level of cybersecurity.

These important structures also enable any country to protect its critical infrastructures.

These are important requirements for any country to meet its citizens’ basic needs and achieve sustainable development – something Africa is in dire need of.