The
Role of Education in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in
Africa and the Developing World: Imperative of Strong Old Students and Alumni
Associations
Being Paper Delivered by the Vice Chancellor of Imo
State University
Prof. U. U. Chukwumaeze, SAN, FCArb,
On the 60th Birthday Colloquium of Dr.
Uzodinma Adirieje this 26th Day of February 2024
Greetings
I
congratulate my senior, Dr Uzodinma
Adirieje on this occasion of his 60th birthday. Senior Uzodinma
is a man of style who is unique in all his ways. This quality is innate in him
because having stayed with him in the same dormitory, House D, in Eziachi
Secondary School Orlu in Imo State for 3 years, from 1978 to 1981, I saw in him then
the quality of a great leader and achiever. Among his peers, he was a star,
exhibiting an outstanding degree of statesmanship, a gift of steady application, and a knack for seminal creativity. He is proficiently intelligent, doggedly
hardworking, and transparently honest. I was therefore not surprised when he
called and told me how he wanted to celebrate his 60th birthday, in a very
unique way, just like him. Once more senior, accept my sincere message of
congratulations.
Introduction
Africa
is made up of 54 countries, blessed with a lot of natural resources,[1]
has the largest world free trade area and a 1.2 billion person market.[2]In
terms of human resources, Africa is not lacking as it is projected that half of
its population will be under 25 years old by 2050.[3]However,
the Continent is facing a lot of challenges like conflicts and violence which
are negatively affecting economic activities. About 462 million of African
population are living in poverty as at 2023 and the external debt of most
African countries are so high that some have started restructuring their debts
in order to achieve sustainability.[4]It
has also been stated that commodities account for more than 60% of total
merchandise exports in 45 of the 54 countries in Africa and this makes the
Continent to be highly vulnerable to global commodity price shocks which has
been an impediment to growth and development of Africa.[5]
The implication is that despite being blessed with human and natural resources,
Africa is facing a lot of challenges that are militating against its
development.
Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) is the child of the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 with the aim of producing a
set of universal goals to address environmental, political and economic
challenges facing the world.[6]It
is worth knowing that SDGs replaced Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which
focused mainly on the reduction of poverty, prevention of deadly diseases,
expansion of primary education for children, et cetera.[7]
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 SDGs was adopted in
September, 2015.[8] The SDGs are: no poverty; zero hunger; good
health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and
sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth;
industry, innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable
cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action;
life below water; life on land; peace, justice and strong institutions; and
partnership for the goals.[9]
It
can rightly be argued that the SDGs are all encompassing and as such, their
implementation requires a lot of analytical thinking to understand the contents
of the goals and what they intend to achieve. In other words, the role of
education in effective and efficient implementation of the SDGs is imperative.
SDGs intend to achieve development in every facet of a country and the world at
large. Thus, their implementation is not only capital intensive, but requires
every hand to be on deck to achieve its objectives. As have been stated
earlier, Africa is facing a lot of challenges that are putting a strain on its
resources. For instance, a data of spending on defence in Africa for 2023 shows
that Africa is spending heavily on national defence and security.[10]
This means that there may not be sufficient fund to channel to the
implementation of the SDGs. As such, strong old students and alumni
associations can pull their resources together to assist government in
implementing the SDGs.
However,
it is apposite to define two terms that will feature majorly in this paper to
wit: old student and alumni association, and developing world. Old students and
alumni associations are associations of former students of institutions who
graduated from the institutions and decided to come together to form a group
for mutual benefit. Developing world or country does not have any specific
connotation. However, it refers to countries which, relative to other
countries, have lower standard of living.[11]
This
paper is structured in five sections. The first section introduced the paper.
The second section analyzed the SDGs. Also in this section, the extent to which
governments in Africa[12]
and the international community are implementing the SDGs is examined. The
third section explored some of the factors militating against the
implementation of the SDGs in Africa. The fourth section examines the role
education can play in achieving SDGs. The section also explored how strong old
students and alumni associations can help in achieving the SDGs. The last
section concludes the paper and made necessary recommendations.
Analysis of Sustainable
Development Goals
A
closer look at the 17 SDGs shows that they are interconnected; in that the
success of one leads to the success of the other. This means that to achieve a
positive result, a holistic approach must be adopted in their implementation. Success
cannot be achieved if States adopt a ‘pick and choose’ approach. However, the
issue at stake is how these SDGs can be achieved. Who are the stakeholders that
need to play one role or the other for successful achievement of the goals?Addressing
these questions are necessary as it has been stated that not a single SDG is
projected to be met by 2030, and developing countries are said to be worse
affected.[13]
One
of the steps taken by the United Nations (UN) towards the achievement of the
SDGs is to encourage member States to adopt an SDG Stimulus. The SDG Stimulus has five components to
wit: increase funding from multilateral development banks (MDBs) and public
development banks (PDBs); enhanced reliefs to countries facing distress;
expansion of liquidity by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and major
central banks; empowerment and expansion of the specialized global funds; and
expansion of private philanthropy with a focus on ‘ultra-high-net-worth’
individuals.[14]Member
States are also encouraged to endorse the reform of global financial
architecture with special attention on increase funding from national and
subnational governments and private entities, reform of current institutional
framework and develop new and innovative mechanism to improve the quality and
speed of deployment of international cooperation, et cetera.[15]
Thus, the United Nations recognizes the importance of finance and cooperation
amongst member States if the achievement of the SDGs is anything to come by. It
also recognizes the need for member States to develop sustainable development
pathways to guide medium to long term approach to guide their sustainable
development policies not only for 2030 but up to 2050. The focus of this medium
to long term approach is on gender equality, universal education, universal
health, sustainable cities, sustainable ecosystems and zero-carbon energy
systems.[16]
Latin
America and Caribbean recognized that SDG requires collaboration and
coordination amongst nations. This led to the forming of the Forum of the
Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development (the
Forum), with the sole aim of establishing a regional mechanism for the
implementation of the SDGs.[17]
The Forum meets annually and includes other stakeholders like the civil
society, academia, private sector, development banks, other United Nation
agencies and regional integration blocs. It is expected that the involvement of
all the stakeholders will enhance exchange of knowledge and ideas that will
provide innovative approach of implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achieve
the SDGs. It is worth noting that through this Forum, the Economic Commission
for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC) is mandated to amongst other things
build capabilities by organizing seminars, workshops, courses and technical
assistance at regional, national and subnational levels and integrate SDGs into
national and territorial planning systems including on taxation, budgets and public
investments.[18]
The Forum through collaboration and partnership with the stakeholders listed
above has been able to identify their targets and indicators in line with the
SDGs and are working assiduously towards achieving them. It is worth noting
that the European Union also has a blueprint of the current state of SDGs,
challenges to implementing them and steps to be taken towards achieving the
2030 Agenda.[19]
A
report on the progress of Africa towards achieving SDGs shows that Africa is
struggling to meet SDGs targets.[20]
With respect to the provision of quality education, it is reported that 288
million school-age children are out of school; domestic violence, child
marriage and gender mutilation is still prevalent in Africa; loss of forest
cover, biodiversity, and land degradation is widespread in Africa.[21]Available
data shows that land degradation affects 46% of Africa land and 65% of the
population, costing the Continent $9.3 billion annually.[22]Also,
Africa has made little progress in SDG 17 which has to do with partnering with
the wider stake.[23]
Even
though African Union Agenda 2063 is a blueprint and master plan for
transforming the Continent into a global powerhouse for the future and also, a
framework for inclusive and sustainable development for Africa, a lot still
needs to be done to achieve the SDGs taking into consideration factors that are
inherent to Africa. In other words, there is the need to look inward to achieve
the SDGs.
However,
before examining the extent to which Africa and the developing world can look
inward to achieve the SDGs, some of the factors militating against the
implementation of the SDGs need to be explored.
Factors Militating Against the Achievement of SDGs in Africa
and the Developing World
Corruption
It
has been argued that corruption is harmful to development.[24]In
fact, corruption is said to be number one barrier to sustainable development.[25]The
Transparency International in its 2022 Report stated that 44 of 49 African
countries scored below 50 in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), while
capital flight from Africa is in tens of billions of dollars each year.[26]Statista
found that Sub-Sahara Africa had the lowest global average score in the CPI as
at 2022 with a regional score of 32%.[27]A
point worth noting is that Africa lost $89 billion to illicit financial flows
in 2020.[28]In
other words, it is not in doubt that Africa is not just corrupt but the most
corrupt continent in the world. Taking into consideration that corruption is
the number one barrier to sustainability, it can rightly be argued that unless
it is addressed, Africa will not be able to achieve the SDGs.
Insecurity
As
stated above, achieving SDGs requires a lot of funds. Most African countries
face security challenges like Islamic militancy, socio-political instability,
kidnappings, banditry, human trafficking, cyber-crimes, gender based violence, et cetera. It costs a lot of resources
to address these security challenges. The implication of this is that some
African countries spend up to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on
defense and this runs into billions of dollars.[29]Thus,
denying the Continent of the requisite funds needed to achieve the SDGs. Also,
in some African countries, bandits and Islamic militants prevent farmers from
farming on their lands. All these constitute a great challenge to the
realization of the SDGs.
Lack of Unity of African Countries
As
can be seen from what is obtainable in the European Union and Latin America and
Caribbean as stated above, SDGs can be better achieved if there are regional
collaborations. However, recent events in Africa have shown that the Continent
is not united. Recently, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced their
withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).[30]
Africa
has many regional blocs to wit: ECOWAS; Arab Maghred Union (UMA); Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); Community of Sahel-Saharan States
(CEN-SAD); East African Community (EAC); Economic Community of Central African
States (ECCAS); Southern African Development Community (SADC); and
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Most times, the interests of
all the unions do not align and this denies Africa the needed partnership and
collaboration to enable it achieve the SDGs.
Too Much Dependent on
Imported Goods
Africa
is said to be one of the least diversified regions in the world with respect to
exports.[31] Commodities
account for about 60% of total exports in 45 out of 54 countries in Africa and
this makes the Continent to be vulnerable to global commodity shock which is an
impediment to growth and development.[32]
Thus, there is the need for Africa to put measures on ground in order to become
an economic hub. This means that every trade barriers must be eliminated as
this will enable Africa acquire fund needed to achieve the SDGs. It is worth
knowing that eliminating trade barriers will also enhance foreign direct
investment (FDI) into Africa, which will inturn enhance the revenue of Africa.
Covid 19 and War in
Ukraine
It
is argued that Russian War in Ukraine has disrupted the recovery of Africa from
the effects of Covid 19 by raising food prices, disrupting trade of goods and
services and tightening the fiscal space, et cetera.[33]As
of December 2022, food inflation in East and West Africa was 21.7% and 24.3%
respectively.[34] Nigeria
on the hand is facing the worst economic crisis in West Africa with high
inflation and all-time low currency against dollar.[35]
Considering the ‘big-brother’ position of Nigeria, it lacks the will power to
lead other African countries to achieve SDGs as Nigeria needs to put her house
in order before thinking of what affects other African countries. Also,
economic crisis in most African countries means they would be more preoccupied
with steps to address the crisis than how to achieve the SDGs.
Climate Change
SDGs
3, 6, 13, 14 and 15 talks about good health and well-being, clean water and
sanitation, climate action, life below water and life on land.It can rightly be
argued that these SDGs can be achieved if the issue of climate change is
addressed. Africa contributes just 4% of greenhouse emissions worldwide but is
one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.[36]It
is said that from 1970 to 2019, 731,700 persons died from weather, climate and
water related disasters in Africa.[37]The
economic cost of climate change in Africa within this period is $38.5 billion.[38]
Thus, addressing the issue of climate change will go a long in achieving the
SDGs.
The Role of Education in
achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
The
role of education is achieving SDGs cannot be overemphasized. In the first
instance, SDG 4 talks about the provision of quality of education. The aim is
to provide free primary and secondary schooling for all boys and girls by 2030.
As stated above, achieving SDGs is not the responsibility of government alone
but rather the wider stake. Thus, there is the need to create awareness through
seminars, tutorials, publications, et
cetera. Take for instance SDG 5 that talks about gender equality, education
helps in creating the necessary awareness to know that what a man can do, a
woman can do better. Understanding the need for gender equality may require a
sort of mental reset especially for people from patrilineal societies. Also, a
closer look on all the 17 SDGs shows that they cannot be achieved without
education. One cannot for instance have good health and well-being without
understanding what it is all about and how it can be achieved.
As
stated above, achieving SDGs is the responsibility of many stakeholders and
also requires a lot of finances. It has already been shown in this paper that
Africa is facing a lot challenges that are making it to have insufficient
finances to achieve the SDGs. This means that there is the need to look inward
on how to achieve the SDGs and the role strong old students and alumni
association can play in this regard is worth analyzing.
Even
though this paper is unable to find data on the specific amount old school and
alumni associations contribute to education in Africa, there is sufficient
evidence that they not only exist, but have been contributing positively to
education. A visit to the United States of America (USA) can give an idea of
what can be achieved through alumni. For instance, in 2014, alumnus Kenneth
Griffin donated $150 million to Harvard University.[39]
Harvard University stated that this gift from Griffin will impact positively on
over 800 students by way of financial aid.[40]As
at 2022, Harvard University has an endowment fund of $50.9 billion and the endowment
fund is made up of donations from alumni and donors.[41]It
is worth knowing that universities in the USA use endowment funds to provide
financial aid to students, build campus medical centers, museums, research centers,
et cetera, thereby contributing
immensely to the achievement of SDGs.The need for old students and alumni
associations to help in achieving SDGs in Africa becomes more necessary with
the finding that most African countries allocate less than the 15% of their
annual budget to education as required by United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to education.[42]Thus,
pulling resources together through old school and alumni associations can help
close the gap in funding to education.
Conclusion and Recommendations.
This
paper examined the role of education in achieving SDGs with special focus on
strong old students and alumni associations. It analyzed the 17 SDGs and
observed that they are interconnected. This is because the success in one of
the SDGs leads to the success in the other. An analysis of steps taken by some
countries towards the implementation of the SDGs shows the Latin America and
Caribbean countries have taken positive steps to achieve the SDGs. However,
Africa is struggling with achieving the SDGs. The reason for the difficulty of
Africa in achieving the SDGs may not be unconnected with the challenges facing
the Continent which includes corruption, insecurity, et cetera. It emphasized on the importance of education in
achieving SDGs. Due to challenges that are peculiar to Africa, the paper
suggested the need to look inward. By this, old school and alumni associations
can pull their resources together and assist the government in achieving SDGs.
Success in this regard in the USA is an eye-opener of the extent to which old
school and alumni association can contribute to achieving the SDGs.
Thank you for listening, happy
birthday senior.
[1]
Antonio Pedero, ‘How can Africa salvage
the Sustainable Development Goals?’, September 22, 2023, African
Business, available at https://african.business/2023/09/resources/how-can-africa-salvage-the-sustainable-development-goals,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[2]World
Bank, ‘The World Bank in Africa’, The World Bank, October 5, 2023, available at
https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/overview,
accessed on 12/02/2024.
[3]Ibid.
[4]Ibid.
[5]United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development, ‘Economic Development in Africa
Report 2022’, available at https://unctad.org/publication/economic-development-africa-report-2022,
accessed on 13/02/2024.
[6] United
Nations Development Program, ‘Sustainable Development Goals: Background of the
Goals’, available at https://www.undp.org/sdg-accelerator/background-
goals#:~:text=The%20Sustainable%20Development%20Goals %20(SDGs,economic%20challenges%20facing%20our%20world,
accessed on 13/02/2024.
[7]Ibid.
[8]
United Nations, ‘History’, available at https://sdgs.un.org/goals,
accessed on 13/02/2024.
[9]Ibid.
[10]SaifaddinGalal
, ‘Leading African Countries for Defense Spending Budget in 2023’ November 17,
2023, Statista, available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/1219612/defense-spending-budget-in-africa-by-country/#:~:text=Defense%20spending%20budget%20in%20Africa%202023%2C%20by%20country&text=As%20of%202023%2C%20Algeria%20had,3.6%20billion%20U.S.%20dollars%2C%20respectively.,
accessed on 13/02/2024.
[11]
Britannica Money, ‘Developing Country’, 2024, available at https://www.britannica.com/money/developing-country,
accessed on 19/02/2024.
[12]
In this paper, Africa and Developing countries or world shall be used
interchangeably to mean the same thing.
[13]
Sachs J. D et al, ‘How to Achieve the
SDGs: The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Framework’, 2023,
available at https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/chapters/part-1-how-to-achieve-the-sdgs-the-sdsn-framework,
accessed on 15/02/2026.
[14]Ibid.
[15]Ibid.
[16]Ibid.
[17]United
Nations, ‘The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals: An opportunity
for Latin America and the Caribbean’, (LC/G.2681-P/Rev.3), Santiago, 2018, available
at https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/6321b2b2-71c3-4c88-b411-32dc215dac3b/content,
accessed on 17/02/2024
[18]Ibid.
[19]KalterinaShulla
and Walter Leal Filho, ‘Achieving the UN Agenda 2030: Overall actions for the
successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals before and after
the 2030 deadline’ European Parliament, 2023, available at https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2022/702576/EXPO_IDA(2022)702576_EN.pdf,
accessed on 17/02/2024.
[20]
United Nation Development Program, ‘New
Africa SDGs report shows slow progress, calls for greater action to meet
targets’, December 9, 2022, available at https://www.undp.org/africa/press-releases/new-africa-sdgs-report-shows-slow-progress-calls-greater-action-meet-targets, accessed on 18/02/2024.
[21]Ibid.
[22]Ibid.
[23]Ibid.
[24]FredjFhimaet al, ‘How does corruption affect sustainable development? A threshold
non-linear analysis’, (2023), Economic
Analysis and Policy, Vol. 78, 505-523.
[25]
Ethixbase360, ‘Corruption Is Still the
Number One Barrier to Sustainable Development’, March 3, 2022, available at https://ethixbase360.com/corruption-and-sustainable-development/,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[26]
Transparency International, ‘CPI 2022 for Sub-Sahara Africa: Corruption
Compounding Multiple Crises’, August 25, 2022, available at https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2022-sub-saharan-africa-corruption-compounding-multiple-crises,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[27]SaifaddinGalal,
‘Corruption Perceptions Index score in
Sub-Saharan Africa as of 2022, by country’, September 22, 2023, Statista,
available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/1211798/corruption-perception-index-in-sub-saharan-africa/,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[28]United
Nation Development Program, supra, n.
20.
[29]SaifaddinGalal,
‘Military expenditure as a share of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Africa as of 2022, by country’ November 30, 2023, Statista, available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/1244492/military-expenditure-as-a-share-of-gdp-in-africa-by-country/, accessed on 18/02/2024.
[30]
Aljazeera, ‘Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso
announce withdrawal from ECOWAS’, January 24, 2024, available at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/28/niger-mali-burkina-faso-announce-withdrawal-from-ecowas,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[31]
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, supra, n. 5.
[32]Ibid.
[33]Ashish
Kumar Sen, ‘Russia’s War in Ukraine Is Taking a Toll on Africa’, June 15, 2022,
United States Institute of Peace, available at https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/06/russias-war-ukraine-taking-toll-africa#:~:text=Russia's%20war%20in%20Ukraine%20has,continent%2C%20said%20United%20Nations%20Assistant,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[34]SaifaddinGalal,‘Monthly food inflation in Africa from January
2020 to December 2022, by region’, September 22, 2023, Statista,
available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/1305780/food-inflation-in-africa-by-region/,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[35]ChineduAsadu,
‘Nigeria’s currency has fallen to a
record low as inflation surges. How did things get so bad?’, February
17, 2024, AP News, available at https://apnews.com/article/nigeria-currency-economy-naira-tinubu-cbn-49f5686d9638e9db2ac42ae3cecd2f24,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[36]Doris
DokuaSasu, ‘Climate change in Africa - statistics & facts’, January 10,
2024, Statista, available at https://www.statista.com/topics/9715/climate-change-in-africa/#topicOverview,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[37]SaifaddinGalal,‘Number of reported deaths due to weather,
climate, and water disasters in Africa from 1970 to 2019’, January 31,
2024, Statista, available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/1307423/number-of-deaths-due-to-climate-disasters-in-africa/,
accessed on 18/02/2024.
[38]Doris
DokuaSasu, supra, n. 34.
[39]
Harvard University, ‘Kenneth Griffin makes Largest Gift in Harvard History’,
February 19, 2014, The Harvard Gazette, available at https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/02/kenneth-griffin-makes-largest-gift-in-harvard-college-history/,
accessed on 19/02/2024.
[40]Ibid.
[41]Sarah
Wood, ’15 National Universities with the Biggest Endowments’, October 2, 2023,
U.S. News, available at https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/10-universities-with-the-biggest-endowments,
accessed on 19/02/2024.
[42]Charles
Ogwo, ‘UNESCO Allays Majority of Basic Education Financing Gap in Africa’, May
17, 2023, BusinessDay, available at https://businessday.ng/education/article/unesco-allays-majority-of-basic-education-financing-gap-in-africa/,
accessed on 19/02/2024.
