Millennium Development Goals
The Africa Progress Panel is committed to help Africa achieve the MDGs and is currently working on three fronts that are directly related with supporting the achievement of these goals.
1. Business & MDGs
The APP has set up a Business Advisory Group to examine the role business in adding social value in Africa. The group, chaired by Richard Harvey, ex-CEO of Aviva and a volunteer for Concern Universal, is composed of fifteen prominent African and international business leaders, including three members of the Panel.
The group issued several recommendations on how business can add social value and identified key areas where more can be done. The findings and recommendations of the advisory group have been captured in a policy brief entitled ‘Doing Good Business in Africa: How Business Can Support Development’.
With actionable recommendations, the policy brief is expected to the draw attention of business leaders around the world at key business events to be held over 2010.
2. Agriculture
The spike in international food and fertilizer prices has underlined the vulnerability of poor urban and rural households in developing countries, particularly in Africa. It is clear that the global food demand requires concrete and timely action in order to avoid tragedy. There are various policy options available to African governments to reduce this vulnerability whether in the form of supporting agricultural production and inputs, providing ‘smart’ subsidies, stimulating growth (including of small and medium enterprise) or improving rural development.
The APP in partnership with AGRA, Future Agricultures Consortium and a network of African policy experts is working on a policy brief that will address the options available to African governments to support agriculture, including potential challenges and what is needed to succeed.
3. Maternal Health
There is no mystery about what measures are required to tackle maternal mortality. There are many examples of dramatic improvements in maternal health, including in severely resource-constrained environments in Africa and beyond.
The APP is preparing a policy brief targeted at African leaders and decision-makers in both the public and private sectors on what can and needs to be done to accelerate progress on MDG 5 that aims at improving maternal health. The document will intend to make the case that maternal health is not just a public health issue, set out the costs of failure and benefits of success, provide relevant examples of progress, identify the blockages, and encourage the formation of new coalitions to overcome them.
