Page 13 - Issue 68

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This led to the need to study the
achievements and identify the obstacles
faced in achieving the goals and the ways to
overcome them.
Dr. Mohamed Ashour Mahdy discussed the
evaluation of the decade-long plan of the
agenda. His presentation answered the
following questions: What is the agenda?
Why the agenda? How the agenda? And
where is the agenda headed?
The agenda is a 50-year developmental
strategy that began in 2018 and will
continue until 2063. It is divided into five and between the East and West on the
phases: the first decade (2014-2023), the
second (2024-2033), the third, fourth, and
fifth phases, each ten years. The agenda was
created to address the challenges faced by
previous experiments in African and to
continue successes achieved by some of
them.
Dr. Mahdy outlined the seven aspirations
of the agenda: a prosperous Africa, a
politically integrated and united continent,
good governance and democracy, peace
and security, shared cultural identity and
common values, citizen-led leadership, and
empowering Africa to play a key global
role. Based on these aspirations, twenty
goals were set, with twelve programs and
projects designed to drive the achievement
of these goals and hence the strategy. The indicators showed weak performance, and
goals were highly ambitious, such as the
creation of a virtual African university,
silencing the guns, and developing an
African space strategy, and other ambitious
goals.
VOL 1, ISSUE 68
Four indicators were set to evaluate the
first decade's plan: alignment, relevance,
effectiveness, and intensity. As for the level
of alignment, the goals and programs were
in line with the national development plan.
However, in terms of responding to the
specificity of each country, there was
weakness, as the plan was framed in a
general manner that did not consider the
specificities of some countries. This
explains the performance disparities
between the North and South on one hand,
other. Regarding the alignment between
the agenda's goals and other strategies, the
goals were in harmony with the
Sustainable Development Goals and the
five priorities outlined in the African
Development Bank Group's program. The
criteria set for efficiency were weak.
Overall, the results related to effectiveness
showed that ten indicators were achieved
beyond expectations, particularly in areas
such as free trade, enhancing
infrastructure, and increasing awareness of
the agenda at the political level.
Thirty indicators showed good
performance, particularly in health,
nutrition, education, technology, and some
aspects of security and peace. Sixteen
three indicators showed negative
performance, such as silencing the guns in
Africa, climate change, natural resource
management, poverty, and inequality.
Dr. Mahdy ended his speech by stating
that ten years was not enough to judge the
agenda’s success, as some objectives
require longer periods to be fully realized.