Opinions

To create quality job opportunities for Africa’s growing youth population, the continent’s governments should both nurture the informal sector and encourage informal businesses to formalize their operations. To this end, they could employ many of the same tactics that have proved effective in encouraging the development of small and medium-size…

It is wholly unacceptable that a mother in sub-Saharan Africa is over 100 times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than a woman in Western Europe in an age when having a mobile phone and access to the internet alone can greatly enhance their life chances.    …

Africa’s economic growth over the last 25 years has been accompanied by soaring inequality, which the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to worsen. Developing innovative products for the continent’s poorer “nonconsumers” will provide a more predictable, inclusive, and sustainable path to prosperity for hundreds of millions of people.     Eradicating poverty…

For too long, Africa has been a strategic plaything of world powers. By bolstering its internal cohesion and economic integration, the continent can become a strong geopolitical force with an independent and unified voice on important global issues.   Africans must take responsibility for our continent’s affairs. We have all…

This year was supposed to be crucial for Africa-Europe relations, culminating in the sixth AU-EU Summit, scheduled for 28 and 29 October in Brussels. But then COVID-19 happened. After a long palaver, a decision was finally taken: the summit will be postponed to 2021, although a date still needs to…

Strengthening Africa’s agriculture systems will not only make the continent more self-reliant and resilient to future shocks, but will also boost global health, prosperity, and security. The international community therefore has both moral and self-interested reasons to support this process.     Over the next 30 years, Sub-Saharan Africa’s population will…

The year 2020 began on a high note for the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN). As the world was preparing to mark 25 years since the Fourth World Conference on Women, AWLN sought to commemorate the anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action with the launch of 25…

Systemic racism has its roots in extractive capitalism in Africa. Black people need to start telling their stories themselves. When we really know each other, recognize our contribution to a common history, and see that all solutions hold value, we may start to shift systems.     When Barack Obama…

If it cannot address systematic human rights abuses on the continent, what really is the purpose of the African Union?     On May 29, just four days after George Floyd’s death in police custody, African Union Commission’s Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat issued a scorching statement condemning the Black man’s…

As the world battles a pandemic, Africa has become polio free. Lessons learned can help its fight against COVID-19.     “Could you patent the sun?” This is how American virologist Jonas Salk responded when asked whether he would be patenting his breakthrough polio vaccine. The polio virus, which once…