Accountability mechanisms required to achieve Malabo 2025, SDG 2030 targets
Over the last two decades, multiple food system convenings have been held across Africa, during which significant declarations and partnerships have been announced.
In 2003, for example, African Union (AU) leaders met in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and committed to increasing their national budget allocations to agriculture development to at least 10 percent. Two years later, recognizing the need to accelerate the restoration of Africa’s depleted soils, AU heads made the Abuja Declaration, pinning them to increase their national fertilizer application to at least 50 Kg/ha.
The Maputo commitment was reaffirmed in 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in addition to multiple other pledges around agricultural development, poverty reduction, and nutrition, all to be achieved by 2025. A year later, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations members, creating 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Just recently, in 2023, at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, a resolve was made to accelerate climate funding to avert impending challenges affecting African countries, notably their agri-food sectors.
With the above events in mind, various other pledges have been made by governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders, all of which have pushed for the acceleration of food system transformation objectives.
Unfortunately, nearly all deadlines have been missed, with the continent being significantly off track for the pending ones, notably the Malabo Declaration (2025) and the SDGs (2030).
However, a turnaround may be achieved by shunning the business-as-usual approach and establishing transparent and collaborative partnerships that hold all stakeholders accountable. Accountability mechanisms encourage stakeholders to work together towards shared goals, leveraging their respective strengths and resources. With precise accountability mechanisms in place, financial, human, and technological resources can be allocated more efficiently while reducing the duplication of efforts and ensuring that investments are targeted toward initiatives with the most significant impact.
In this regard, governments should urgently develop and enforce policies that promote transparency to the already-established commitments. This is as other stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society, commit to pursuing accountability at the community level.
Thankfully, all the continental pledges and commitments made so far are supported by reporting processes and monitoring tools, which comprise trackable indicators that can pinpoint existing loopholes.
We can start with Malabo, enforced by the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), a reporting programme comprising a Biennial Review process highlighting the progress and areas needing attention to actualize critical food security and nutrition goals. The fourth Biennial Review (BR4) report was released earlier this year, with all 49 reviewed countries needing to catch up in achieving the Malabo Declaration goals. Six countries did not participate, two more than in BR3 when Rwanda was the only country on track.
Against this backdrop, all stakeholders are now called to accelerate the actions under review by the CAADP. If achieved as envisaged, this will fast-track the primary food system objectives, forming the foundation of many other continental agendas.
-ENDS
