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Prime ministers and presidents generally don’t like global summits. They are a necessary part of the ebb and flow of international diplomacy. But frankly, the majority of summits don’t achieve that much – they usually end in a bland bureaucratic statement which nudges things forward to the next summit. Summits with genuine, long-lasting outcomes are rare. But as we started planning for the Gleneagles G8 meeting in 2005, I saw that it could be one of these rare ones – a summit about changing the world, not changing the wording on a communique.

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The beginning of a new year is a good moment to review the Commission for Africa, which was established in early 2004 to consider the situation in Africa and to make recommendations to the G8, which subsequently met in mid-2005 at the Gleneagles Summit hosted by the United Kingdom.   It found that Africa was in considerably better shape than popular perceptions suggested and provided important underpinning for the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign, which focused specifically on aid, trade and debt issues.

The 2010 follow-up Report sets out the extent to which G8 commitments had been followed through – in brief, wholly on debt relief, somewhat on aid, and hardly at all on trade.  It noted that Africa has continued to make significant progress, and three years on, in early 2013, if anything it has accelerated.  The contrast with the economic performance of the G8 countries could hardly be starker; and in spite of recent negative developments in countries like Mali and the Central African Republic, political progress has also been notable.

And how the world has changed over the past 8 years!  In 2013 the UK will – for the first time since Gleneagles – assume the Presidency of the G8 and host a G8 Summit.  But the G8 matters less than it did, as it ceded power to the G20.  Aid, too, has become less significant in the overall scheme of things – it remains important, and those of us in the UK should be very proud that we will become the first G8 country to reach the 0.7% target in 2013.  But better economic policies; a stronger emphasis on social protection; a significant increase in private sector investment – in large part the consequence of greater political stability and a more favourable investment climate – and growing remittances will be what drive African prosperity and continuing progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At the end of May 2013, the High Level Panel established by the UN Secretary-General (and co-chaired by the British Prime Minister) to provide a Framework document to shape the debate on what should succeed the MDGs, will report.  An inter-governmental panel to look at a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – on issues like the environment, pollution, over-fishing ,climate change etc – is also expected to report by mid-2014.  This provides a massive opportunity to develop a single set of goals and targets which recognise very clearly that is indeed in our common interest that we should recognise that we need not just growth but growth with equity and which protects the natural environment and planetary boundaries within which our common future will be determined.

Where does the Commission for Africa fit into all this?  We are ready to play our part in the lead up to 2015 as and if necessary.  Early in 2012, we developed the idea of a series of ‘Africa Debates’ to ensure that African Voices were fully reflected in these discussions.  You can find our note on the website.  To our great satisfaction, it emerged that a series of consultations – not just in Africa, but more broadly – were envisaged to inform the debate, including ‘My World’ led by the UN Development Programme and funded by DFID.   We will continue to monitor the situation carefully.  If we feel that the Commission can make a continuing contribution to the Debate over the coming 3 years we will certainly do so.

Myles A Wickstead, CBE – Head of Secretariat, Commission for Africa

Claire Hickson – Secretariat, Commission for Africa

Late last year, Tony Blair, who set up the Commission for Africa, published an essay arguing that more attention needs to be given to supporting African leaders and their governments’ ability to deliver change. 

Not Just Aid: How Making Government Work Can Transform Africa reaffirms the argument made by the Commission that development is “not about aid alone and has to be about partnership and governance”.

In the essay, presented in a keynote speech at the Center for Global Development in Washington on 16 December, Mr Blair says he believes that Africa “has the potential to be to the first half of this century what Asia was to the second half of the last: an engine of prosperity capable of lifting millions out of poverty”. He argues that government’s capacity to deliver a vision for change will be a decisive factor in fulfilling that potential and concludes that donors could be doing much more to support improvements in that capacity by:

• aligning more of their support behind leaders’ own priorities;
• ensuring their support has the right scope – not to specific, not too broad;
• helping leaders develop the capacity of their own offices to develop policy and deliver leadership – and not undermining ministers capacity by demanding too much of their time;
• thinking politically not just technically.

Both the Commission’s 2005 and 2010 reports argued that building African governments’ capacity is essential to growth and development and made a series of recommendations on how donors could support capacity building more effectively. The latest report recommends that African governments draw up “comprehensive capacity-building strategies” and that donors align their support fully behind these and do not pursue competing priorities or procedures.

You can watch the speech and download the essay here.

Both the Commission for Africa’s reports in 2005 and 2010 emphasised the role the private sector had to play in promoting a strong and prosperous Africa – alone and in partnership with others. It was in this vein that the head of the Commission’s Secretariat Myles Wickstead chaired a Business Fights Poverty event in London last week that looked at new models of partnership between business, government and civil society.

The event brought companies together with government and NGOs to discuss what made for successful partnerships between the three sectors – and coincided with the launch of Business Action for Africa’s report on the same theme.

Deputy Director of the Shell Foundation Clare Woodcraft’s opening remarks focused on the lessons they had learned from scaling up projects, summarised in a report being launched that day. The clear lesson is that projects need to be designed to accommodate expansion from the outset.

From the government side, Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, who is Head of Profession for Private Sector Development at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), spoke of DFID’s work to improve its communication with and support to the private sector. William Asiko, President of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and Chair of Business Action for Africa, gave the private sector perspective on partnerships. Dame Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive of Oxfam GB, described some of the work her organisation had done with private companies – including in helping smallholder farmers in Azerbaijan become suppliers for Unilever. Finally, Natalie Africa, Executive Director of the Business Call to Action partnership, gave an overview of their work to bring private companies together with donors and multilateral agencies to promote development.

A key theme emerging from all the presentations was the need to understand each others’ perspectives and the different skills that each partner brings to the project.

Myles Wickstead, head of the secretariat to the Commission for Africa, was one of a number of high profile contributors to an online debate on a recent report by Youth Business International (YBI) that looked at how to promote youth entrepreneurship through access to capital.

YBI’s report, entitled Youth Entrepreneurship: Beyond Collateral, calls for “a fundamental shift in the way that the value of non-financial support is recognised” to enable young entrepreneurs “to reach their potential in social change, job creation and economic renewal”. Business Fights Poverty hosted the online debate, which saw contributions from other high-profile commentators – including Justina Charles, Minister Of Culture, Youth & Sports for the Commonwealth of Dominica; former World Bank Executive Director, Per Kurowski; Jane Nelson, director of Corporate Social Responsibility at the Harvard Kennedy School and star of Dragons’ Den Peter Jones – as well as members of the Business Fights Poverty network.

Both the 2005 and the 2010 Commission for Africa reports put considerable emphasis on the need to promote the conditions where private enterprises of all sizes could thrive – as well as the importance of supporting small businesses, particularly those run by young people. African governments have done a lot in recent years to make it easier to do business in their countries. The 2010 report calls upon them to continue these efforts and to do more to support small enterprises and promote youth employment.

Myles’ comments focused on the wider societal and economic benefits of promoting youth entrepreneurship and employment:

“There are now more people living in the world than the cumulative total of all the people who have ever lived in the world before us. People are generallly living longer; and whilst there is still a long way to go before we can claim success against the fourth Millennium Development Goal of reducing by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate by 2015, many more children are living beyond their fifth birthday and into adulthood.

There are many implications to these developments, not least in the way that financial and other services are provided. At one end of the spectrum, it seems bizarre that people find it increasingly difficult to get insurance cover as they get older – even those who continue to lead active lives and have never made a claim. At the other, it will be crucial to look at the full spectrum of instruments to ensure that young people are able to lead healthy and productive lives. This includes the provision of post-primary and vocational training, but also finding ways of enabling and releasing the entrepreneurial instincts of the younger generation.

The downside of not doing this is clear – increasing numbers of young people with no jobs and no channel for their aspirations is a recipe for instability and conflict. The upside is equally clear, not least for the older generation who will come to depend increasingly on their children and their children’s children to support them into old age. That means, put bluntly, a younger generation which has jobs. It is important, therefore, to continue to find ways of providing collateral and guarantees for youth lending; but increasingly important as well to look at ways in which non-financial services can help in meeting these important objectives.

I very much welcome this Report from the Prince’s Youth Business International, which signals the start of the debate rather than the end of it. It could not be more timely, and I hope that the discussion which it generates will lead to a clearer recognition of the importance of access to non-financial (as well as financial) services in ensuring that young people can fulfil their potential.”

From 20-22 September, world leaders met at the United Nations in New York to discuss progress against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to agree a global action plan to ensure they are achieved by 2015.

The eight MDGs, and targets to measure them, were agreed in 2000. They include goals and targets for halving world poverty, tackling hunger, universal enrolment in education, child health, maternal mortality, the environment and tackling HIV/AIDS. The eighth goal covers the global partnership required to achieve the goals. The target date for achieving the MDGs is 2015.

As discussed in the Commission for Africa’s latest report, Still Our Common Interest, there has been rapid progress in some African countries against some of the goals and targets. However, overall, the continent is not on track to meet them by 2015.

Leaders made considerable progress in agreeing a way forward at the Summit. In addition to the agreement of a global action plan, donors pledged $40 billion in support of the Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health in recognition of the fact that this is the goal on which there has been least progress globally.

The Commission for Africa held the New York launch of its new report at the start of the Summit.

The Commission for Africa yesterday held the New York launch of its report to coincide with the start of the Millennium Development Goal Summit in New York.

The launch was hosted at the Rockefeller Foundation at the beginning of the week-long Summit which will consider progress against the MDGs, which were set in 2000 as targets for the world’s efforts to tackle global poverty – and are due to be achieved by 2015.

Commissioners President Benjamin Mkapa, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Bob Geldof were joined by UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro and UK International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell MP in welcoming the report.

Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin opened the event and underlined the Foundation’s own commitment to supporting growth and development in Africa.

President Mkapa, who co-chairs the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF), lauded the progress made by Africa in breaking down the barriers to doing business on the continent and thanked donors, such as the UK and Germany, for the support they had given to the ICF.

Prime Minister Meles welcomed the report’s recognition of the progress made in Africa over the past five years, but called on both Africa and the international community to redouble efforts to push forward growth and promote development.

Prime Minister Meles also welcomed the UK Government’s continued support for international development despite cuts elsewhere in its budget, and Andrew Mitchell reinforced his government’s ongoing commitment to the MDGs and called upon the international community to continue to focus on them.

Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro reinforced those sentiments, welcoming the report’s input into the discussions that were to take place over the coming week.

Bob Geldof closed proceedings, saying that the MDGs were a “gift that the world had given to itself” ten years ago and calling on the international community to put all its efforts into ending the “economic illiteracy” that is poverty.

Tony Blair, who set up and chairs the Commission for Africa, today issued the following message to coincide with the New York launch of the Commission for Africa’s follow up report, Still Our Common Interest.

‘I am not big on anniversaries, as I sadly suspect my wife would confirm. By temperament I am always more likely to look forward rather than back. But the five years which have passed since the Commission for Africa published its first authoritative report – and the new report being launched today – does gives us an opportunity to look at what has changed on the continent and, more importantly, where we need to focus efforts over the coming years.

The most striking story out of Africa over the last five years – and one often overlooked – has been its remarkable economic growth. Even the global financial crisis, from which the developed world is still struggling to recover, slowed down rather than reversed the continent’s strong performance.

Between 2003 and 2008, Africa’s economy grew on average by six per cent. These figures, of course, hide wide variations and there are still some shocking examples of countries ravaged by conflict and abuse of power. But, overwhelmingly, the trend in individual countries was upwards. As the shock waves of the financial crisis reached Africa, growth slowed and unemployment rose strongly. But even in 2009, sub-Saharan Africa’s economies grew by 2.1% and the World Bank is predicting a strong recovery this year.

There is no doubt, of course, that a major factor in this sustained growth has been increasing demand for Africa’s rich natural resources. This has been led by China, India and other fast developing nations. Where once investors may have seen only problems, they now see commercial opportunities. Africa can claim, over the last five years, to have become the new economic frontier.

But extractive industry is not the whole answer. Growth has been seen across a wide range of sectors. Increased external investment in infrastructure – again frequently led by Africa’s new partners – has helped. The principal driving force has, however, been from within the continent itself.

It has been African governments’ own commitment to sound economic management, encouraging investment and supporting enterprise which deserves most credit. Across the continent, governments have worked hard to create a stable economic environment which attracts investment from both within and outside its borders and where businesses can flourish. There is more to do. But I feel confident that the change is significant and lasting: witness Rwanda’s achievements, recognised by the World Bank last year as the country which had done most to reform its business environment on the planet.

This is not to dismiss the role that the major increases in international aid have played in Africa’s progress over the last five years. I am proud that the commitments made at the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 have resulted in real improvements in the lives of millions of people on the continent through, for example, better health care or educational opportunities. Not everything promised has been delivered but in the hurry to demand commitments are met, we should not forget the impact of promises kept in communities across the continent.

But what the last five years has underlined is that the key message of that first Commission report holds true today: the continent will prosper best when African governments take the lead and the rest of the world supports them in their efforts. Indeed what has become even clearer since 2005 is that it is improved standards of governance rather than simply increased levels of aid which makes the most difference to the most lives.

For without good, accountable and honest government, aid is too often wasted, investment is discouraged and ambitions, however strongly held, are unmet. It is improved government which has driven economic growth. It is sound government, above all, which is needed to turn this increased national wealth into real improvements in the lives of its citizens.

Developed countries, of course, still have a role but it is to help provide the resources so African governments can invest in their citizen’s priorities.  As our new report underlines, aid which undermines national governments will fail in the long-term to promote development. Aid which strengthens their ability to deliver will succeed.

But to ensure improvements come quickly and fairly, we need to bolster the capacity of African governments to shape plans and deliver policies which will make a difference on the ground. Too often it is not the ambitions of the continent’s leaders which are at fault but the lack of capacity and systems to put them in place. Putting this right is the focus of my African Governance Initiative which is now working in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

I am proud of what the Commission for Africa has achieved. The commitments we made in 2005 have contributed to a stronger Africa. But we need to recognise that the real credit for Africa’s progress lies with Africans. Our job now is to support them in the vital next steps that could transform the continent and its place in the world, learning from the past as we build the future.’

Tony Blair is patron of the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative, a charity that works with the leaders of Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia (www.africagovernance.org)

On 13th September 2010, the Commission for Africa launched its follow-up report, Still Our Common Interest, at the British Museum in London.Speeches by Commissioners Tidjane Thiam, Hilary Benn and Bob Geldof were introduced by chair of the British Museum’s trustees and deputy chair of Thomson Reuters, Niall Fitzgerald, who also c0-chairs the Investment Climate Facility for Africa. They were joined by government ministers Henry Bellingham and Mark Lancaster, who welcomed the report, as speakers and guests from African embassies, business, think-tanks and non-governmental organisations.

VoxAfrica filmed the launch. The report, which measures progress since the first report in 2005, also received coverage from the BBC, Radio France Internationale, the Financial Times and a range of African and other international newspapers.