Breaking Gender Bias Circle In Africa

 By Olufemi Oyedele

Women are seen in many African countries as second class citizens, even in their fatherland. They are only allowed to play the second fiddle. In the new millennium, what distinctly stands out African nations from western world are the numerous biases against women. Gender inequality is one of the greatest threats to Africa’s future. A study on gender inequality conducted in February 2022 by an online platform on market and consumer data, Statista, showed that the respondents agreed that there is gender inequality in Africa.

Twenty-two per cent of the African respondents considered employment opportunities as the main challenge faced by women on the continent. Females were, on the average, some 32 per cent less likely to have the same opportunities as males in sub-Saharan Africa. The second-leading issue was gender-based violence, as reported by 19 per cent of the respondents. In some parts of the East, women have no right to property inheritance and can only lay claims to property belonging to their husbands.

African Children: Let’s Give The A Healthy Start In Life

By Matshidiso Moeti

This week, at the 28th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, we watched with pride as Heads of State endorsed the Addis Declaration on Immunization in support of ensuring that all African children – no matter who they are or where they live – can access the vaccines they need to survive and thrive. Vaccines are, without question, among the most effective and cost-effective public health tools available, saving between two and three million lives every year.

Vaccines have led to the eradication of smallpox, a 99.9 per cent reduction in polio cases worldwide and a dramatic reduction of other diseases like measles, diphtheria and tetanus. Immunization is also rooted in a commitment to equity and is among the simplest means to advance it. By ensuring every child, rich or poor, receives the same life-saving vaccines, countries can ensure that the next generation starts out on a more equal playing field in terms of their health. Beyond the individual, the positive ripple effects of immunization are enormous.

When children are vaccinated, families, communities and governments can save or reinvest the time and money that would have been spent caring for sick children. Vaccinated children are more likely to stay in school and ultimately enrich the economy. It’s no wonder that every dollar spent on childhood vaccinations yields $44 in economic benefits. This week’s commitment by African leaders to act on this wealth of evidence couldn’t have come at a better time. While many countries in Africa have made tremendous gains in immunization coverage in the last 15 years – contributing to child mortality being halved – progress has stagnated, leaving one in five of African children without access to life-saving vaccines.

Concrete actions are needed to achieve the targets of 90 per cent immunization coverage in every country and 80 per cent coverage in every district by 2020, as outlined in the Global Vaccine Action Plan. The stakes have truly never been higher for ensuring that every child in Africa has access to life-saving vaccines. The largest generation of young people that the world has ever seen is poised to come of age, and Africa’s youth population is growing faster than that of any region in the world. In 2015, 226 million youth aged 15-24 lived in Africa. By 2030, that number is projected to increase by 42 per cent. By 2050, the working age population in sub-Saharan Africa, will more than double. 

Lightening Africa

By Said Adejumobi  

The metaphor for describing Africa as a “dark continent” has varied in time and space. In the 1970s to 1990s, Africa’s relative underdevelopment with high levels of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, disease, etc was used by the Afro-pessimists like Joseph Konrad to qualify Africa as the “heart of darkness.” However, with the Africa ‘rising’ story, the energy crisis, precisely the provision of electricity, is now used to qualify the continent as a “dark continent.”  When an aerial picture of Africa is taken at night via the satellite, the image that suffices is undoubtedly one of a continent in utter darkness, with little twinkles of light, far in between.

The facts are daunting and the storyline is very bad. Over 60 per cent of the population of the continent estimated at about 612 million people,  do not have access to  basic energy. Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa generates less electricity than Spain. The energy used in the city of New York is up to, if not more than, what the entire Sub-Saharan Africa consumes. Yet, electricity is the lifewire of a modern economy and society, without which human potentials, and economic development will be severely impaired. Firms cannot operate optimally,  jobs cannot be created, the informal sector cannot grow, the learning environment for our children will be harsh and inhospitable, and households will grumble all the time. That is the fate of Africa today. The promise of industrialisation and economic transformation will be far fetched for the continent if the energy infrastructure is not provided in Africa.

The energy challenge is now a major policy priority for the continent and the World Goal number seven (7) of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to achieve affordable and clean energy. The Progress Panel headed by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan made energy the focus of its 2016 report entitled: Power, People and Planet, while the African Development Bank (AfDB) made it the subject of its annual board meetings which took place recently in Lusaka, Zambia from from May 23-27, 2016 on the theme: Energy and Climate Change.

Akinwumi Adesina, the new president of the AfDB, decked in a slim-fit suit and his trade mark bow-tie, spoke brilliantly on why the continent must be lighted up, and quickly too, and why the fate of our young men and women fleeing the continent, should not be in the Mediterranean Sea, but in economic prosperity at home. Energy is key to creating jobs and opportunities for them, at home. As Adesina delivered his message to the audience with passion, commitment, and conviction, the urgency of the matter no doubt dawned on everyone present. The AfDB used the platform to launch its new initiative on the ‘New Deal on Energy in Africa’ through which it hopes to support African countries to overcome the energy challenge with billions of dollars in investments.

There are areas of good consensus amongst key stakeholders on what needs to be done to get Africa lighted up. African governments can no longer do it alone; public-private sector partnership is central in changing the ball game on energy in Africa. Massive investments and strategic planing are required in the sector which hitherto was not the case except for political rhetorics and high level of corruption. And finally, is that the reform of the energy sector is imperative if the goal of lighting up Africa is ever to be achieved.

World Bank Group Recruitment Drive For African Nationals

The World Bank Group is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The World Bank Group leadership is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workforce, in which nationals of Sub-Saharan African countries have an even greater part to play in achieving the Bank Group’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. We are currently recruiting talented professionals for employment opportunities across multiple technical areas and professional streams. Positions may be based in Washington D.C. or in a country office.

We are accepting applications for Specialists in the following areas: Agriculture; Climate Change; Development Economics; Education; Energy and Extractives; Environment and Natural Resources; Finance and Markets; Governance; Health, Nutrition, and Population; Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management; Poverty; Social Protection and Labor; Trade and Competitiveness; Transport and Information Technology; Urban, Rural, and Social Development; and Water. There are also opportunities for Investment Officers, Risk Managers, Financial Officers, Legal Counsel and Information & Technology Solutions (ITS) experts.

Interview with Wold Bank Group, Sean McGrath, Human Resources Vice-President, In Focus Article on African Business Magazine's website.

Application Deadline:  August 31, 2015 Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.  A select number of candidates will be interviewed in September and October 2015 in Washington, D.C. and locations in Africa and Europe. Applications that are not selected for interviews during this campaign will be kept on file for up to one year and may be considered for future opportunities. -African Business Magazine