African Heads of State and Government Climate Finance Dialogue concludes, mobilizing greater alignment of public-private finance mandate for Africa

Rado Ratovonarivo — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 14:30:00 +0000

PRESS RELEASE

New York, 4 October 2022 – Creating an environment primed to boost access to private investment, while delivering greater alignment for public-private finance mandate towards fast-tracking the participation of private capital in Africa’s green transition, the African Heads of State and Government-Institutional Investor Climate Finance Dialogue concluded on the margins of the High-Level Segment of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment group, and the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (�山��OSAA) jointly organized the dialogue, which also looked at leveraging opportunities from the upcoming 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, to accelerate the mobilization of climate finance at all levels and promote institutional investor-public partnerships to accelerate the implementation of African Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Participants agreed the dialogue highlighted Africa’s attractiveness for intra-African institutional co-investments, as well as a new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) narrative. This is based on Africa elevating the importance of de-risking and addressing the perception of African investment risk and the continent as the world’s climate finance and climate technologies manufacturing hub. For their part, institutional investors welcomed learning more about investment opportunities on the continent.

The Dialogue saw the participation of three African Heads of State, namely H.E Adama Barrow, President of the Republic of The Gambia, H.E. Wavel Ramkalawan, President of the Republic of Seychelles and H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Several senior officials and investment leaders took part in the event, including over 10 African Ministers, Dr. Hubert Danso, CEO and Chairman, Africa investor, Ms. Cristina Duarte, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Africa, and Amb. Mary Burce Warlick, Deputy Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA).

Noting the timeliness of the dialogue, Dr. Hubert Danso highlighted the unique opportunity to forge investment partnerships at scale, ahead of Africa’s COP27 presidency, leveraging the engagement between senior government officials from the continent and leaders from the investment community, to forge institutional investor-public partnerships at scale, that promote and deliver bankable NDC projects that accelerate Africa’s climate transition, as well as the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

For her part, Ms. Cristina Duarte emphasized Africa must address “the three paradoxes” to effectively tackle its climate finance challenges. First, is the finance paradox. Africa is rich in financial resources but often seeks financial assistance and debt relief from the international community. Second, is the energy paradox. Africa has an abundance of energy resources, yet it remains a relatively dark continent. Third, is the food systems paradox. Africa experiences chronic food insecurity despite significant agricultural resources.

The Special Adviser on Africa further stressed the importance of energy access, not only in advancing the climate finance agenda but also in creating employment opportunities that tap into the continent’s demographic dividend. She called on African countries to look within and build strong domestic resource mobilization systems that could leverage international financing from a much fairer position.

Aimed at boosting African NDCs’ bankability, the shortlist for the African NDC Investment Awards was also announced during the dialogue. This shortlist comprises 100 projects representing US $32 billion of NDC financing and investment opportunities from 43 African countries and all 5 African sub-regions.

Participants will continue their engagement through this Heads of State and Government Climate Finance Dialogue platform, including for COP27 and beyond, on the road to an unprecedented stocktaking exercise anticipated to take place at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) in the United Arab Emirates.

Visit the �山��OSAA and the Africa Investor websites for more information.

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Africa at the Transforming Education Summit

Rado Ratovonarivo — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 16:30:00 +0000

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A wide view of the projections in the General Assembly Hall as Secretary-General António Guterres (on screens and at podium) addresses the SDG Moment 2022.

�山��Photo/Cia Pak

The �山��system and its partners organized the Transforming Education Summit in New York from 16 to 19 September, aiming to tackle a global education crisis that is having a devastating impact on the lives of children and young people around the world, including in Africa. In addition to recovering learning losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summit explored ways to make equitable, inclusive, quality and relevant education accessible to all, mobilizing global action and solidarity to put education front and centre on country priorities and government agenda.

The United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa produces knowledge products, highlighting the issues addressed during the Transforming Education Summit, with a specific focus on Africa. Most recently, the office published the policy briefs STEM education and inequality in Africa and Information Communications Technology in Higher Education in Africa: Challenges from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Summit included a Leaders Day segment dedicated to the presentation of National Statements of Commitment by Heads of State and Government as well as a presentation of the Summit Youth Declaration and the Secretary-General’s Vision Statement for Transforming Education. The �山��Chief urged countries to protect education budgets and prioritize spending for learning resources. “Education financing must be the number one priority for Governments. It is the single most important investment any country can make in its people and its future,” continued the Secretary-General, who also spoke via video message on transforming the financing of education.

The Minister of National Education and Literacy of Côte d'Ivoire as well as the Minister of Education of Sierra Leone exchanged with youth leaders from their respective countries as well as other participants during an engagement on Intergenerational dialogues on young people at the center of transforming education. The Youth Envoy of the African Union also delivered closing remarks during a pivotal Youth Declaration segment exploring opportunities for action.

�山��News reported the importance of halting a crisis that will have a significant impact on an entire generation, while amplifying the call of Secretary-General António Guterres that “Now is the time to transform education systems.” The outlet shared a key outcome of the initiative as well, which is the announcement that “more than 130 countries attending the summit, have committed to rebooting their education systems and accelerating action to end the learning crisis.”

The “biggest-ever investment in education” was also announced during the Summit, when the Secretary-General and Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, launched a new mechanism that will provide an initial US $2 billion in additional affordable funding for education programmes, which could unlock an extra US $10 billion of additional financing for education and skills by 2030.

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Office of the Special Adviser on Africa - UNGA

African Heads of State and Government Climate Finance Dialogue concludes, mobilizing greater alignment of public-private finance mandate for Africa

Africa at the Transforming Education Summit

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