United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

"When it comes to regional value chains, a recent study by the ECA shows that the sectors likely to benefit the most from the full implementation of the #AfCFTA in the #agrifood industry in Africa are the following: milk and dairy products would witness a trembling in intra-African trade for intermediate consumption in 2045; sugar and meat, would both register a doubling in intra-Africa trade for their intermediate consumption. Mr. Karingi also noted that the Zambia and Zimbabwe Common Agro-Industrial Park (#CAIP) is one of the regional value chains targeting the African food market that is today valued at more than $900 billion" Stephen Karingi, Director of Regional Integration and Trade Division speaking at African Union High-Level Private Sector Forum: Plenary Session on Agribusiness and Food Security. Eunice G. Kamwendo Olayinka Bandele

African leaders have been called to strengthen regional value chains as part of a concerted effort to drive economic integration and reshape the continent's economic prospects. The call was made by Mr Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa during the recent COMESA summit held in Bujumbura, Burundi. Gatete emphasized the necessity for African nations to broaden their regional value chains as a step towards forging a more unified economy. “This requires not only removing all the barriers to intra-African trade but also creating incentives for greater cross-border investment,” he said. Gatete also took the opportunity to commend COMESA for the implementation of the Tripartite Free Trade Area, which became operational in July 2024. He highlighted the significance of this agreement, which unites three major regional blocs—COMESA, EAC, and SADC—that collectively account for over 60% of the continent's GDP. With a combined population exceeding 650 million, a collective GDP surpassing US$1 trillion, and merchandise trade valued at more than US$400 billion, COMESA is a major pillar of Africa’s regional integration agenda. Furthermore, Gatete said that the demand for critical minerals will rise enormously over the coming decades, and urged the continent leaders to be ready to take advantage of this, given its abundance of those critical minerals in Africa. The outgoing chair and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema reported a substantial increase in the trading bloc's exports, which soared from $100 billion in 2020 to $219 billion in 2024. This remarkable growth underscores the region's expanding economic footprint on the global stage. President Hichilema emphasized the important role of technology in augmenting agricultural productivity, suggesting that technological adoption is essential for enhancing food security in the region. The incoming chairman, President Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, highlighted the potential of the tourism industry and mineral resource management to further bolster the economies within COMESA. Established in December 1994, COMESA represents the largest economic entity in Africa in terms of trade and investment. Its goal is to establish a significant economic and trade unit and to achieve economic prosperity through regional integration. The summit, which took place on 31 October 2024, brought together heads of state, leaders, and decision-makers to deliberate on the theme of "Accelerating Regional Integration through the Development of Regional Value Chains in Climate-Resilient Agriculture, Mining, and Tourism." COMESA Secretariat East African Community, SADC Secretariat #RegionalValueChains #FreeTradeArea #FreeTrade #economicprosperity #prosperity #regionalintegration #Bujumbura #Burundi

Reliable food security statistics are essential for informed decisions on food access, quality, and affordability. Recognizing this, a regional collaboration between the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and Statistics Norway, funded by the Norad - Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), has supported eight African nations in strengthening their food and nutritional security through enhanced capacity building in processing and analysis of from Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCES) data. The project, launched in 2020, focuses on enhancing the capacity of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) to produce food security statistics through HCES. Training workshops have equipped NSO staff to collect, process, and analyze data effectively. The project also helped to develop new guidelines for processing food consumption data from HCES which the United Nations Statistical Commission endorsed in March. The project is further developing e-learning materials to support these standards. Hilde Orderud, Senior Adviser at Statistics Norway, said this data would inform both national and regional policy planning. “Food security is high on the global agenda and has been so for a while. This is among other reasons, related to climate change,” said Ms. Orderud during a side event on “Food Statistics and Analysis from Household Expenditure and Consumption Surveys”, during the 2024 Statistics Commission. “NSOs will be able to produce new statistics with already collected data which is very cost-effective and the data is processed once which is more efficient and also improves quality,” she said, commenting on the importance of the project. Although approaches to Food Security consist of tackling four key pillars: availability, access, utilization, and stability. This project mainly focuses on the issue of access. Commenting on the interconnectedness, Astrid Mathiassen from Statistics Norway explained that "access" involves economic and knowledge-based means of obtaining food, while "utilization" relates to how households make use of available food and their ability to absorb necessary nutrients. In Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the project has built NSO capacities, created food security fact sheets, and established reliable poverty and food security data. Owen Siyoto, Food Security Statistics Program Coordinator at COMESA, noted that these statistics guide policies, enhance regional integration, and foster resilience to supply shocks. Read the full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e7_ZeTb7 COMESA Secretariat #FoodSecurity #DataForDevelopment #Africa #SustainableDevelopment #Statistics #Malawi #Zambia #Zimbabwe

Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Temesgen Tiruneh has challenged African policy makers to build robust data and statistical systems that support development. Officially opening the 9th Statistical Commission this week, Mr. Tiruneh decried traditional statistical approaches, saying they were no longer relevant to meet new demands for data and statistics. Instead, he stated, “Africa must embrace new technologies and innovation in digital collection methods to ensure statistics are timely and relevant.” “The world is changing, and Africa must be ready to ensure it participates in the digital economy,” said Mr. Tiruneh, noting that using geospatial data in decision-making was “critical to helping pinpoint where development was happening or lacking thereof.” For his part, ECA African Centre for Statistics (ACS) Director, Oliver Chinganya said Africa was facing huge economic development challenges that demanded innovative solutions, and modern statistical systems were key, in this regard. Speaking on behalf of the ECA Executive Secretary, Claver Gatete, Mr. Chinganya said, “Africa must invest in the transformation and modernization of statistical systems to accelerate sustainable development and economic growth,” he told delegates at the Statistical Commission being held under the theme, ‘Unleashing the potential of African innovation in statistical Development’. “The SDGs demand new data acquisition and integration approaches to improve the quality timeliness and disaggregation of data. Any national SDG implementation would be suboptimal without strategies and frameworks to integrate geospatial information into the measuring and reporting processes,” he added. The ECA has developed and approved a Roadmap for African countries to transform and modernize their data and statistical systems. African countries have made commendable progress in adopting the 2008 System of National Accounts, and a majority of countries have adopted or are in the process of adopting the SNA, which, according to Chinganya, “demonstrates a commitment to improving the quality and relevance of statistics, which are vital for policy making.” He stressed that quality data and statistics were key in enhancing Africa’s economic integration and the ability of the continent to formulate evidence-based trade, contributing to inclusive growth under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework. Fitsum Assefa Adela, Minister of Planning and Development, Ethiopia mentioned that Ethiopia has embarked on a digital transformation geared towards improving data quality, enhancing accessibility and strengthening data systems. Colleen Zamba, Secretary to the President and Cabinet in Malawi said accurate and reliable data was the foundation of effective governance and management in Africa. Read the full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eUqw8Xkb #DataForDevelopment #StatisticalCommission #DigitalTransformation #AfricaData #SDGs #AfCFTA #Ethiopia #Malawi #Statistics

As the world strives for sustainable development, a pressing question arises: should we rethink what measures human well-being? Sweta C. Saxena , Director of the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), thinks so. She is calling for African countries to move beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the gold standard of measuring welfare. GDP measures in monetary terms the value of goods and services a country produces over a specific time by capturing the level of economic output. It does not measure the quality of life, social welfare, inequality and differences in human experience. For instance, a country’s GDP may rise but the health or environmental quality of its citizens are declining. Speaking at a side event on, “Beyond GDP growth: Quality of Life Matters”, at the 9th Statistical Commission, Ms. Saxena said when we think of the quality of life, GDP does not come to mind as the most appropriate measure. “We need to move beyond GDP to capture the aspects of our lives that are more important and to capture the factors that matter more for the quality of life of 1.4 billion people living in Africa,” said Saxena, emphasizing that the real meaning of quality of life must be understood. In an effort to promote a rethink on the measurement of human well-being, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) launched an ambitious project known as the Quality of Life Initiative (QoL) focusing on what really matters to people and gives value to their lives. The ECA is a partner of the QoL Initiative, which aims to develop a comprehensive, human-centric concept of quality of life, including objective and subjective factors, and to promote it as a primary urban development objective. Human well-being has been identified as one of the key transformative shifts needed to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The QoL will contribute by helping subnational governments in urban areas achieve progress towards a prosperous and fulfilling life for individuals and communities. The Quality of Life Initiative supports local authorities and decision-makers in understanding how their current investment and policy priorities improve the well-being and quality of life of the individuals and communities they serve and how to make tangible, long-term improvements in the lives of urban populations. To better internalize the issues, the ECA launched an experimental survey which focused on what staff at ECA consider to be quality of life. From the survey, it was found that identities related to gender, age, race, nationality, education and origin pale compared to identity as humans. Read full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eqAFSEjk #BeyondGDP #SustainableDevelopment #QualityOfLife #HumanWellBeing #UNSDGs #GDP #QoLInitiative #AfricaDevelopment

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Executive Secretary, Claver Gatete, on Wednesday October 30, 2024 signed a partnership agreement with COMESA Secretary General, H.E Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe that aims up boost #Africa's sustainable industrialisation agenda. Key areas of focus include infrastructure and regional value chain development, enhance de-risking opportunities and domestic resource mobilisation. They underscored the need for results, especially for women and #MSMEs. The signing was hosted by the Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB) President, Mr Admassu Tadesse. COMESA Secretariat

🔥📣 Just Launched: The UN 2.0 Action Plan! 🎉 United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres and the senior leadership at the UN have laid the foundation for #action to systematically implement UN 2.0 across entities – in order to achieve a more agile, responsive and resilient United Nations. This comprehensive action plan encourages UN entities and teams to adapt the actions to the current stage of their journey, setting ambitious targets for each step. 👉 The UN 2.0 Action Plan comprises 14 key actions centred around 4 main areas: 🔹 Strategy and Resources: building data, digital, innovation, foresight and behavioural science into the ‘DNA’ of UN entities 🔸 Culture and Behaviour: fostering culture change through open knowledge exchange and leadership development 🔹 People and Learning: hiring for additional data, digital, innovation, foresight and behavioural science, adding basic skill requirements to other job openings, and providing systematic learning opportunities 🔸 Partners and Collaboration: sharing partnership models across entities and reviewing the potential for joint centers of excellence and shared technology ⬇️ Check out the slides below for each of the 14 key actions! ⬇️ 🌟 Stay tuned also for our upcoming series about the UN 2.0 Action Plan, where we share inspiring success stories on UN 2.0, useful resources and toolkits for your teams, and exciting events!   🔗 To explore more about the Pact for the Future and #Action45 of the Pact highlighting UN 2.0, visit: https://lnkd.in/gQjZMj6D 🔗 To learn about UN 2.0 and the Quintet of Change, visit: https://lnkd.in/eWBdaTnC  UN Innovation Network United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) #UNGA #UNGA79 #SDGs #UnitedNations #DigitalTransformation #AIforGood #SocialImpact #DataforGood #UN

ECA Deputy Executive Secretary Hanan Morsy joined FT Live's Africa Summit Panel on "Redesigning the Global Financial Architecture to unlock capital at a fair cost for Africa." She highlighted the ways to reform the Global Financial Architecture, scale up development finance, and avoid a "lost decade". “Scaling affordable finance requires bigger, better, and bolder Multilateral Development Banks (#MDBs) with higher capitalization and streamlined application and disbursement processes. De-risking and blended finance are key to attracting private sector investment,” said Hanan Morsy. "We need to shift the narrative on Africa from risk to opportunity in order to change the perception of Africa as one asset class, and media has a role to play to highlight the good stories and successes in growth, innovations and renewable investments," she added. Financial Times #FTAfrica #GlobalFinance #DevelopmentFinance #InvestmentInAfrica #SustainableGrowth #AfricaSummit #GlobalFinancialArchitecture

📆Mark your calendar! Deputy Executive Secretary Hanan Morsy will be a panelist at the upcoming Financial Times Africa Summit for a discussion on “Redesigning the global financial architecture to unlock capital at a fair cost for Africa.” 🗓️ Date: Tuesday, 29 October 🕒 Time: 11:50 AM - 12:30 PM GMT / 2:50 PM - 3:30 PM Addis Time 🌍 Panelists joining Hanan Morsy for the discussion will be: - Atanas Bostandjiev, Founder and Chairman, Gemcorp - Amadou Hott, Special Envoy of the President, African Development Bank for the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa - Modupe Famakinwa, Senior Vice President & Head of Corporate Funding and Investor Relations, AFC - Andres Schipani, East & Central Africa Bureau Chief, Financial Times Register now to watch the session 👉 https://lnkd.in/eEshuscj #FTAfrica #FTLive #AfricaSummit #FinancialInclusion #GlobalFinance #InvestmentAfrica

Africa should urgently invest in robust data and statistical systems to accelerate sustainable development, the Director of the Africa Centre for Statistics at the Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA), Oliver Chinganya has urged. Opening the Eleventh Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV X), as part of the series of events by the community of African statisticians, including Statistical Commission for Africa (STATCOM),  Mr. Chingaya, stressed the importance of data and statistics in supporting informed decision-making and planning. FASDev initiated in 2004 by the ECA, the African Development Bank, the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) and the World Bank, brings together representatives of national statistical offices, statistical training centres, international, regional and subregional institutions, bilateral agencies, international donors to deliberate on supporting statistical development in Africa. FASDev, being held at the back of the Statistical Commission for Africa (STATCOM), has established linkages among producers of official statistics, statistics training centres, and partners supporting statistical development in Africa This year the Forum is meeting under the theme, ‘Strengthening the mobilization of technical and financial resources to support innovation in statistical development in Africa’, which Mr. Chinganya said reflected continued efforts in the transformation and modernization of official statistics on the continent. Mr. Chinganya highlighted that African countries had made notable progress in improving their national data and statistical systems in the areas of digital censuses as well as in modernizing administrative data for statistical purposes. Furthermore, many countries have harnessed data science and new data sources to close data gaps and adequately respond to users’ needs. Despite the progress made, Africa was challenged by limited investment in data and statistics which hindered innovation and the delivery of timely and accurate statistics for development. “There is a need to expedite the provision of robust data and statistics to assist the Government in accelerating the achievement of the agenda for sustainable development and agenda 2063 through their national development plans,” said Mr. Chinganya, calling for the strengthening the mobilization of technical and financial resources to support innovation in statistical development in Africa. “I urge the eleventh Meeting of the Forum on Statistical Development in Africa to deeply reflect on strengthening synergies among all stakeholders to enhance innovation in the African Statistical System because ‘Synergy is better than my way or your way; it is our way’,” he said. Read the full article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ef6d567Z For more on STATCOM 👉 https://lnkd.in/egaAQFqT #Africa #statistics #sustainabledevelopment #development