An African Perspective

The world financial crisis that hit the world in 2007 has now become a systemic global economic crisis that affects socially, economically and politically, all the countries and regions differently depending on their level of development and grade of insertion in the world economy.

Over the last decade Africa has gone through major breakthroughs in terms of economic growth, poverty reduction and access to basic social services, but in spite of that, 36.2% of the its population lives on less than one dollar per day. The current economic crisis has evidenced that this progress to date could be washed away and that much needs to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the region.

In their response to the economic crisis, African governments, along with international organizations, will have to address the challenges resulting from the current economic crisis in conjunction with finding solutions to other critical issues Africa has been severely hit by, e.g. poverty, food security, global warming, human rights and peace-building, whose management will be crucial in strengthening democratic values, good governance and human development.

In line with this, Members of the Club of Madrid, Members of the Africa Progress Panel and other prominent experts and decision-makers, gathered on November 3, 2009 in Accra, Ghana to discuss the political impact of the crisis from an African perspective and to formulate practical recommendations to the political institutions and policy-makers in charge of responding to the political challenges arising from the crisis, at a global, regional and national level. This report offers a summary of the key points and recommendations that were raised at the meeting as input to the Club of Madrid’s annual conference on the topic in November, 2009 in Madrid.

Source: Club de Madrid