The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The intersection of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine and the effects of climate change has exacted a huge toll on African development, exacerbating poverty and inequality and reversing the gains that had been made in poverty reduction in the past two decades. …
The world is approaching the midpoint implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but only 12% of the targets are on track. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) has emerged as a critical enabler of digital transformation and can turbocharge progress to deliver on the SDGs. But to do so, it …
Technology and data are integral to daily life. As health systems face increasing demands to deliver new, more, better, and seamless services affordable to all people, data and technology are essential. With the potential and perils of innovations like artificial intelligence the future of health care is expected to be …
Africa, a continent of immense diversity and untapped potential, stands at a crucial crossroads in its pursuit of sustainable development. It grapples with formidable environmental challenges, encapsulated in the ‘Triple Planetary Crisis’ of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution. Yet, within these challenges lie boundless opportunities for transformative and ecologically …
New data from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas show that 25 countries — housing one-quarter of the global population — face extremely high water stress each year, regularly using up almost their entire available water supply. And at least 50% of the world’s population — around 4 billion people — …
Twenty-five countries, which house one-quarter of the world's population, are facing extremely high water stress each year, regularly using up almost their entire available water supply. According to this research published by the World Resources Institute, at least 50 per cent of the global population or around four billion people …
UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa Report 2023 examines the continent’s potential to become a major participant in global supply chains for high-technology sectors like automobiles, mobile telephones, renewable energy and health care. Recent disruptions due to trade turbulence, economic uncertainty, a global pandemic and geopolitical events have compelled manufacturers worldwide …
After improving between 2000 and 2013, hunger levels have significantly worsened in Africa in the years since. While global food insecurity is currently at an all-time high, Africa's record in addressing undernutrition was not impressive even in the pre-pandemic era when growth rates were higher. There are several challenges to …
This policy brief highlights five significant transboundary climate risks in Africa that urgently need consideration for management. Transboundary climate risks have the potential to set back economic development gains, jeopardise trade and food security and impact infrastructure investments in Africa. This policy brief, produced for the nineteenth ordinary session of …
This is the first of two rapid assessment reports focusing on severely affected crisis contexts in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides a rapid assessment of crisis-affected populations in Somalia, South Sudan and Mali, to inform and bolster Action Against Hunger's humanitarian programming and interventions. This report covers the findings of interviews …
This brief looks at how transboundary and cascading climate risks could impact different African regions, with a focus on East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa. It then examines what roles national adaptation plans (NAPs) and regional adaptation plans can play in managing these risks. Finally, it makes recommendations for …
This working paper sets out the case that many countries and shared water basins are facing cooperation deficits, outlining cooperation trends and the importance of progress on water cooperation across sectors, stakeholders, scales and borders, for improved water security. The special focus on Africa undertook a water cooperation assessment in …
In this time of global upheaval and a rapidly changing climate, the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa stand to benefit from vast endowments in natural resources and the transition to a low-carbon economy. Global efforts to decarbonize economies are likely to create demand for 3 million tons of minerals and metals …
Present results from large ensembles of projected 21st century changes in seasonal precipitation and near-surface air temperature over Africa and selected sub-continental regions. These ensembles are a result of combining Monte Carlo projections from a human-Earth system model of intermediate complexity with pattern-scaled responses from climate models of the Coupled …
Productive natural ecosystems are being lost and degraded by poorly planned and managed commercial and small-scale livelihood activities in Zimbabwe, and threats will be further exacerbated by climate change. This report identifies the drivers of ecosystem degradation and assesses the value of ecosystems that are key to Zimbabwe’s sustainable development. …
This report relies on several data sources. The main source providing the poverty, inequality and labor figures herein is the 2019/20 Household Budget Survey (Inquérito sobre Orçamento Familiar, IOF2019/2020) conducted by the National Statistical Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estatística, INE) starting in November 2019 and spanning 13 months. The survey’s …
An estimated 3.6 billion people – almost half the global population – live without access to safely managed sanitation. These figures come with a devastating human cost: each day, around 1000 children under 5 years of age die from diarrheal diseases attributed directly or indirectly to unsafe water, sanitation and …
The total number of court cases focused on climate action has more than doubled since 2017 and is growing worldwide, according to this new report by the UNEP. The trend indicates that climate litigation is becoming an integral part of the international push for greater climate action and justice. Climate …
The African Development Bank’s East Africa Economic Outlook 2023 reviews the economic performance of 13 Eastern African countries over the past year. The countries are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. It provides key economic trends in the East Africa region …
West Africa experienced slower economic growth over the past year except for Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, and Niger, according to the African Development Bank’s 2023 West Africa Economic Outlook report. The report assessed the economic performance of 15 West African countries, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte …
