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African countries could not attain the MDGs
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh,
Ghanadot
Accra, May 25, Ghanadot - The world
today is faced with problems of poverty and underdevelopment in
many countries, of which the African continent is no exception.
This situation therefore reveals unimaginable suffering, with
avoidable diseases, malnutrition, hunger, starvation,
deprivation, lack of basic education, environmental degradation,
and above all, the lack of social cohesion leading to conflict
in the poorest nations.
Unfortunately, most of Sub-Saharan Africa remains in deep
crises, with virtually all the countries suffering from various
degrees of hardships, including huge indebtedness.
It was against this backdrop, that the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) were identified in the year 2000 to reverse global
poverty and underdevelopment.
However, achieving the MDGs in Africa, to meet the various
targets by 2015, is still an uphill task.
It is for these reasons that the Community Directed Development
Foundation (CDDF), a civil society organisation in Ghana, has
introduced a social innovation to promote sustainable
development in Africa to meet the MDGs, and to achieve rapid
sustainable progress beyond the targets set for the MDGs.
Speaking to some journalists in Accra, the CDDF President and
Founder, Professor Kwabena Mante Bosompem, revealed that the
foundation had already developed approaches to cover the three
most important barriers that inhibit rapid sustainable
socio-economic development in poor African and developing
countries.
These barriers, he mentioned, were the inability to replicate
development from one area to the other, difficulties in
achieving holistic integration of development options, and
solving the sustainability question.
Prof. Bosompem, who is also the Head of the Parasitology
Department of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical
Research (NMIMR) of the College of Health Sciences, University
of Ghana, Legon, stressed that in the process to lift Ghana and
the rest of Africa out of poverty and misery, the CDDF unveiled
a consolidated partnership for development that would eliminate
disease, hunger, civil strife, wars and poverty from Africa, and
the world at large.
In the Dangme East District of the Greater Accra Region, the
CDDF has already put in place an integrated network of local
partners in development, that include the traditional
authorities, religious leaders, the media, social and
occupational groups, and local government.
The people in the Dangme East area have formed six Community
Directed Development Associations (CDDAs), which networks all
the identifiable groups in the development areas, and have also
put together task forces and a system of community
representatives for social action.
Under the circumstances, therefore, within the next few months
they should expect a clear improvement in health, education,
agriculture, industry, commerce, environment, among others.
He noted that the evolution of this capability would require
innovative partnership with vital stakeholders such as the
telecommunications industry, to facilitate critical
communication needed for the transformation process.
The reality of the circumstances prevailing today is that
nothing concrete can ever be achieved in any part of Ghana and
Africa without the active support and involvement of all people
and sectors of our society.
“To ensure that the spirit of critical partnerships is upheld,
we have put together a sequence of groundbreaking initiatives
for the media, students, among others,” Prof. Bosompem added.
Ghanadot
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