Oliver Cann, Director, Public Engagement, Tel.: +41 79 799 3405; Email: Oliver.Cann@weforum.org
Cape Town, South Africa, 4 June 2015 – The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be launched later this year, give Africa its best chance yet of eradicating poverty, said a panel on Meeting the Development Challenge at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town.
The fact that consultation on the development of the goals has reached grassroots level in Africa means that there is a greater sense of ownership of the SDGs on the continent, which has not been the case with the Millennium Development Goals.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance of Nigeria (2011-2015), said that the SDGs have credibility in Africa because they reflect and reinforce the continent’s own goals and objectives.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Undersecretary-General and Executive Director, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN), New York, and a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on Africa, said, “We are the first generation with a real possibility to end poverty. We are also the first generation to move the gender agenda forward and to address structural issues underpinning gender inequality.”
Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever, United Kingdom, and a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on Africa, described the SDGs as “an agenda of the common good”. He said that partnerships are embedded in the SDGs and the world will only get back on track if people put the needs of others ahead of their own.
Jabu A. Mabuza, Chairman, Telkom Group, South Africa, emphasized that technology, while vital in improving the continent, could have unintended consequences. “In an interconnected world which is very fast, if you are not moving forward you are actually going backwards,” he said.
The panel emphasized the need to get funding in place to implement the SDGs at an early stage. Private capital has an important role to play, and potential risks to the participation of the private sector in funding options need to be identified and mitigated.
More than 1,250 participants are taking part in the 25th World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, from 3 to 5 June 2015. The theme of the meeting is “Then and Now: Reimagining Africa’s Future”.
The Co-Chairs of the World Economic on Africa are: Antony Jenkins, Group Chief Executive, Barclays, United Kingdom; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Undersecretary-General and Executive Director, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN), New York; Patrice Motsepe, Founder and Executive Chairman, African Rainbow Minerals, South Africa; Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever, United Kingdom; and Sir Michael Rake, Chairman, BT Group, United Kingdom.
Notes to Editors
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