Focus On Planet Earth - AFRICA INSTITUTIONAL CAUSES.

AFRICA INSTITUTIONAL CAUSES

[ Social | Economic | Institutional | Environmental ]

Political liberalization is spreading across Africa (UNDP, 1996); pluralism and accountability are more evident. In the last five years, 30 sub-Saharan countries held national pluralistic elections. In the wake of such changes, civil society is growing in strength, with significant movements towards more open communication, a freer press, decentralization, attention to human rights, social justice, and popular participation in the development process; evidence of this includes the fuller inclusion of women in positions of economic and political prominence (UNDP, 1996). Grassroots participation and initiatives are playing an increasingly important role in the process of policy-making and implementation (UNEP, 1996b).

Yet institutional infrastructures to support democratic changes often lag behind. Physical as well as institutional infrastructures were designed to support the colonial economy, not to promote production diversity and industrial development in general. Given a long history of dependence on imported technological inputs, African countries have only relatively recently begun to be involved in acquiring appropriate technological capability (UNECA, 1993a), thereby increasing both local capacity and competitiveness.

A number of Governments, centres of commerce and learning, non-governmental groups, and private and public donors, including United Nations agencies, are actively working to expand the information and telecommunication infrastructures in Africa , so that Africans can become full actors in the global information revolution. As the rest of the world also adapts to this, the resistance of African central Government and parastatal institutions to communications entrepreneurship is fading, thereby creating opportunities for information exchange rather than information hoarding and exploitation. The ensuing participation by a wide range of community sectors offers great opportunities for Africa to compete effectively in an international marketplace and thereby bolster and accelerate development.

United Nations Environment Programme