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OPINION

Bjorn Lomborg

By Kodjo E. Mensah-Abrampa, Thomas Chataghalala Munthali, and Bjorn Lomborg

Too often, the progress being made across the many, varied countries of Africa goes unrecognized. In Europe or the United States, the continent only makes headlines when a country is in crisis, or people are in need. Negative narratives overshadow the continent's many advancements—including policy breakthroughs and approaches that would inspire the world. 

Many African countries have experienced significant economic growth over the past two decades. Africa's GDP growth is outpacing the global average, driven by increased foreign investment, improved governance, and a growing middle class.

African entrepreneurs and innovators are driving change and creating opportunities: several hubs have emerged for technological innovation, particularly in the mobile and fintech sectors. Mobile money services in Kenya and Ghana have revolutionized financial transactions and increased access to banking services for millions of people across the continent.

Africa's young population presents a demographic dividend, with a large and growing workforce that can drive economic growth and innovation. Many governments are investing more in education and skills training to harness this potential.

There have been notable improvements in healthcare and education outcomes across many African countries. Increased access to healthcare services, improvements in sanitation and hygiene, and efforts to combat diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis have contributed to longer life expectancy and improved quality of life.

While Africa still faces numerous challenges, including poverty, inequality, and conflicts in some regions, it is important to recognize the significant progress that has been made and the immense potential for further development and prosperity across the continent.

As African nations strive to make even faster progress, it is crucial to focus on the areas where policies can be most effective. No nation, whether rich or poor, has the resources to achieve all good things at once.

Unfortunately, the international approach to insist that the world needs to address all issues at the same time, at full speed—while well-intentioned—has not been helpful. In the so-called Sustainable Development Goals, the world has promised everything to everyone: to fix hunger and poverty, tackle corruption, climate change and war, improve education, provide jobs, healthcare and opportunities, along with a bewildering array of major and minor promises such as developing more urban gardens. While all these policies are desirable, not all of them are equally achievable with limited resources.

That is why we have worked together with the Copenhagen Consensus think tank and many of the world’s leading economists to ask which policies across all these many promises could achieve the most good. Our free, peer-reviewed findings, which can be read in the book “Best Things First”, offer a roadmap for the 12 smartest initiatives for politicians around the world.

We asked the same question in country-focused projects in Ghana and Malawi. Researchers have found exceptionally effective policies that deliver huge benefits at low costs, and these can help inspire countries across Africa and the world.

In Malawi, for example, economic research from the National Planning Commission revealed that using Technology Assisted Learning to improve education is one of the most effective policies, delivering 106 Kwachas of social good for every Kwacha spent.

This research is one of the reasons why the Government of Malawi scaled up foundational skills teaching and learning through cost-effective tablet-based adaptive technology. This has already reached almost half a million children, and the goal is to get adaptive learning on tablets to all 3.5 million children in Standards 1 to 4 over this decade.

In Ghana, research pointed to the power of digitization to streamline bureaucracy and cut down waiting times and uncertainty for citizens. Ghana’s Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies which are responsible for infrastructure and service delivery still depend on central government transfers to fund their development, generating only approximately 20% of their total budget with their own resources. Streamlined, digitized revenue collection has the potential to improve their autonomy.

Digitizing property and business fees can make tax collection much more efficient, and this will help municipalities to provide the best possible services to citizens. Calculating time and money saved, the total benefits of the implementation calculated for an average MMDA are GH¢ 4.3 million, which means each cedi spent on this intervention yields a return nearly nine times higher.

 Across Africa, more countries need to identify and prioritize the policies that would deliver the most bang for the buck. The current focus on achieving everything for everyone embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals, though well intentioned, is not really helping. Even the UN admits that these goals are failing badly. The reason is that promising everything means nothing is a priority.

Across Africa, countries are tapping into their huge potential for growth and development. We can speed that progress even more, by first focusing on the most effective and impactful policies.

Dr. Kodjo E. Mensah-Abrampa is Director-General of Ghana’s National Development Planning Commission. Dr. Thomas Chataghalala Munthali is director-general of Malawi’s National Planning Commission. Dr. Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus and author of Best Things First, named one of the best books of 2023 by the Economist.