By Wallace Mawire
The 10th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-10) will be held in hybrid format on 23to 25 April, 2024 at the headquarters of the African Union Commission (AUC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The theme of the forum is “Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions.”
According to Nassim Oulmane, Acting Director of the Technology Climate Change, and Natural Resource Management Division of the ECA, while African member States are past midway in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, progress on most SDGs is off-track and is either moving much too slowly or has regressed below the 2015 baseline; Achieving the SDGs by the set deadline of 2030 is contingent on stepping up implementation through ambitious and bold solutions and action.
“ARFSD-10 is a timely opportunity to address shortcomings and capitalize on emerging opportunities to ensure robust, accelerated and timely implementation of the SDGs and Agenda 2063. In addition, participants will play a key role in mobilizing Africa’s inputs for the Summit of the Future to be held in September 2024,” he adds.
Jointly organized by the ECA in collaboration with the AUC, the African Development Bank and UN system organizations, the Forum aims to assess progress and exchange knowledge, best practices, and policy solutions to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in line with regional priorities.
The SDGs goals on the ARFSD-10 agenda are: Goal 1 (No poverty), Goal 2 (Zero Hunger),Goal 13 (Climate Action), Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions; and Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) and the corresponding goals of Agenda 2063.
Several pre-events and side events aligned with the theme and subthemes of the Forum will precede ARFSD-10 from 17 April to 22 April. These include Coding Camp for African Girls; A Science Technology and Innovation Boot Camp for young people; a Youth Forum on the Summit of the Future and the 6th African Science, Technology and Innovation Forum. Other events include a Dialogue Session on Carbon Markets, Africa Climate Talks and Review of Progress on Food Systems. The Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed is also slated to lead the annual meeting of the Regional Collaborative Platform for Africa, and a retreat of African UN Resident Coordinators.
“For Africa, integrated implementation of the SDGs and the Agenda 2063 is essential; and we need actions and solutions at scale to achieve both,” he says and notes that out of ARFSD-10 will be key messages comprising specific issues of importance, and a declaration, which will inform the forthcoming global UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development later in the year.
Participants will include high-level policy makers and experts from ministries and agencies responsible for finance and economic development, social affairs, environment and natural resources management, statistics, agriculture and food security, science, technology and innovation and other ministries from the 54 ECA member States. Representatives from the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities and other regional and subregional organizations as well as UN system agencies, development partners, major groups that include civil society organizations, the private sector and academia will be in attendance.
ARFSD is one of the three mechanisms mandated to follow-up, review and catalyze actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN Member States in September 2015.
Nine sessions of the Regional Forum have been held to date.
