Not waiting for a savior

By

While Africa is the least affected region by Covid-19 so far, the number of confirmed cases and deaths on the continent is quickly rising. Despite the challenges many African countries continue to face, the African response to the coronavirus pandemic displays innovation and ingenuity.

 

 

Worker in the rice mill Labana Rice Limited in Birnin Kebbi / Nigeria. © Thomas Imo, GIZ

By Lidet Tadesse

Lidet Tadesse is an analyst covering peace and security and regional integration in Africa.

All contributions

This text was first published at "Africa is a Country".

 

Five months have passed since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). While Africa is the least affected region so far, the number of confirmed cases and deaths in Africa is quickly rising. The continent has surpassed 1.6 million confirmed cases and has recorded more than 39,000 deaths at the time of writing. Several African countries are bracing for what could become a full-blown health emergency, while at the same time strategizing on how to contain COVID-19’s devastating economic impact; ramifications of which impact far more people than the coronavirus itself. Despite the challenges many countries continue to face, Africa's response to COVID-19 has been replete with admirable displays of agency, innovation and ingenuity, demonstrating clearly that Africa is not waiting to be saved from the coronavirus.

 

While African agency is often dismissed in international relations and international development, the early preventive measures of several African countries with regards to the coronavirus are hard to overlook. By early March, many nations had already closed their borders early, activated new or pre-existing health infrastructures and repurposed existing capacities (machinery, human power, factories) even while caseloads remained very low. Many in the continent had observed the evolution of the outbreak in China, Europe and the US and recognized they would need more than an economic plan to respond to the pandemic effectively.

 

Africa clearly demonstrates that the continent is not waiting to be saved from the coronavirus.

 

With only a few countries boasting capability to test citizens, procure and transport supplies at scale, African countries turned to the convening power of the African Union (AU) and the African Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) to address their shared vulnerabilities. By coming together rather than going apart, African countries worked to overcome their shared challenges - some of which relate to the global market for medical supplies. They set up a joint procurement platform to help African countries by pass the highly competitive global market for personal protective equipment (PPEs) and medical equipment, a system which continues to be characterized by price gouging and government protectionism. By resorting to collective and coordinated action against COVID-19, the continent’s response demonstrates the true power of solidarity; not just as a conceptual ideal underlying multilateralism, but as a key element of effectiveness when responding to a pandemic or other public crises.

 

But the response to COVID-19 in Africa goes beyond the remit of the state. African researchers, civil society and regular citizens have been galvanizing their knowledge, finances, social capital and ingenuity to address their needs. Citizens in Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria self-organized to establish food drives and food banks to help support the most vulnerable in their societies, those disproportionately affected by the economic depression. On social media, examples of African innovation and ingenuity proliferate, from touch-free handwashing tools, home-made ventilators prototyped in Somalia, the manufacture of testing kits under a dollar in Senegal, using drones to drop off testing kits in hard to reach places in Ghana, and repurposing production lines to manufacture PPE in Morocco, Ethiopia and Kenya.

 

These positive developments have to be contrasted with the popular skepticism in many countries of the existence of coronavirus in Africa and its threats to Africans. This skepticism, combined with public negligence and the difficulty of maintaining social distancing continue to contribute to the growing numbers of COVID-19 cases in the continent. Nonetheless, the various innovations and acts of ingenuity from across the continent prove the point, once again, that local solutions for local problems are more effective than the ‘copy and paste’ solutions that are often imported to Africa. They also demonstrate that sometimes, African solutions can also respond to global problems.

 

The fight against coronavirus for most African countries focuses not just on devising national strategies for prevention, but also continental and global responses. Continental representatives are collectively weighing in on the global response to COVID-19, and negotiating with major global players to secure their interests - most notably vis-a-vis COVID-19 vaccine development and access to global capital to manage the economic impact of the pandemic.

 

African representatives at the United Nations have joined like-minded blocks such as the EU to advocate for the framing of any future vaccine as a universally affordable and accessible product for the global public good. Efforts are underway, in collaboration with global scientific communities, to ensure that clinical trials are conducted on the continent to ensure their effectiveness in African communities.

 

 

African solutions can sometimes be the answer to global problems.

 

Moreover, the pandemic is projected to have a devastating impact on African economies. Currently, economists estimate that the continent will need between 100 billion to 150 billion USD to finance its economic recovery. With this looming financial burden, debt relief and access to capital are essential to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic in Africa.

 

The AU has been at the forefront of the global debates economic recovery, insisting to global creditors and financial regulators that the global economy, as well as local African economies, cannot be rescued without a focus on these critical issues. Through its four special envoys, the AU has been negotiating debt relief and access to capital for African economies struggling to service their debt while simultaneously repurposing their budgets to respond to the costs of the pandemic.

 

The picture at the national level is rather mixed. Governments are trying to balance responding to the health challenges of the pandemic while simultaneously minimizing its economic impact. At the same time, the pandemic has also laid bare pre-existing governance problems such as corruption, gender based violence, state-sanctioned violence against citizens, diminishing civic and political space, and extension of party/presidential terms. The picture of how successfully Africa combatted the pandemic is therefore unclear. Nonetheless, the innovation and ingenuity demonstrated in the continent’s response to the pandemic needs to be reflected in writing on the global response to COVID-19.

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Green from the growth container

A contribution by Maria Smentek (WFP)

If there is a lack of fertile soil and rain, hunger breaks out quickly. Maria Smentek from the World Food Programme (WFP) explains how farmers and pastoralists can counter climate change with hydroponic-systems.

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From Berlin to Yen Bai: 10,000 trees for Vietnam

A contribution by GIZ and BMZ

It began with clicks at a trade fair and ends with concrete reforestation: a campaign at the Green Week in Berlin is now enriching the forests of the Yen Bai Province in Vietnam. A chronicle of an education about climatic relevance to concrete action - and about the short distances on our planet.

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(c) Nina Schroeder/World Food Programme

Hunger is caused by people, not the climate

Interview with Jacob Schewe (PIK)

A study by the World Bank predicts that millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa will have to leave their homelands because of climate change. We have spoken with one of the authors

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(c) Christoph Püschner/Brot für die Welt

The North bears the responsibility, the South bears the burden

A report by Susanne Neubert (SLE)

Adaptation to climate change can be achieved by making agriculture more environmentally sustainable – if the rich countries also reduce their emissions

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How Can We Feed The World in Times of Climate Change?

A Contribution by Jan Grossarth

Genetically modified bacteria become edible proteins, cows graze on pasture, and no waste is produced in an industrial circular economy. Journalist Jan Grossarth sees a silver lining for the future of world nutrition

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A Climate of Hunger: How the Climate Crisis Fuels the Hunger

A photo reportage by the Zeitenspiegel agency

Every one degree Celsius rise in temperature increases the risk of conflict by two to ten percent. The climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis, as the photos by Christoph Püschner and Frank Schultze illustrate.

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How to Combat Hunger in Times of Climate Crisis?

An Interview with Martin Frick (WFP)

The climate crisis fuels world hunger. What needs to change in the global fight against hunger, and which role plays humanitarian aid in international development cooperation?

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ICTforAg 2022: Conference

An Initiative by GIZ Fond i4Ag

In March 2022, the virtual conference ICTforAg summons leading actors in the agrartechnology and food sector from low- and middle-income countries to exchange ideas advancing resilience, nutrition and agriculture-led growth.

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World Soil Conference ends with resolutions on drought management and land restoration

A contribution by GIZ

At the UNCCD COP15, the nearly 200 Parties met in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. A key goal is to halt the loss of fertile soils by 2030.

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Drugs and the Environment

A Contribution by Jorrit Kamminga

This year's United Nations World Drug Report highlights for the first time the nexus between illicit drugs and the environment. In view of climate change, it is time to feed the debate with facts and make drug policy greener

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Our Food Systems are in Urgent Need of Crisis-Proofing: what needs to be done

An Artikel by TMG

Based on a scientific study by TMG Think Tank, the authors highlight various challenges in the fight against the hunger crisis. The findings show that climate change, conflict and covid-19 are increasing food and energy prices.

 

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Farmers' organizations want to be involved in designing agricultural policy

An interview with Kolyang Palebele

Four interviews kick off the relaunch under the new name „Food4Transformation“, asking the same questions from different perspectives. "Women and young people need access to land. And they need financial support to cultivate this land." - says Kolyang Palebele, President of the Pan African Farmers Organisation (PAFO).

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From field to fan shop: how to increase supply

A contribution by Jan Rübel

Organic cotton is extremely popular – but farmers still find it difficult to change their conventional cultivation methods. A new project addresses this dilemma: Bundesliga football teams in Germany are promoting the switch to organic cotton in India. And thereby setting an example.

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Working with nature for diversity in farming, climate protection and empowerment

Ein Beitrag von Friederike Bauer

Germany joins the international Agroecology Coalition, reinforcing its commitment to fair, sustainable agriculture and ensuring the future viability of rural areas. By adopting a holistic approach, agroecology is helping to address the greatest challenges of our time: protecting the climate, combating hunger and preserving biodiversity.

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Circular Economy: From Innovation to Upscaling

A Contribution by the Project RUNRES

Recycling organic waste into soil amendments and animal feed through a transdisciplinary approach – this is what the RUNRES project, launched in four sub-Saharan African countries four years ago, seeks to achieve. Three of the project's scientists report.

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Stick together and learn from each other

By Claudia Jordan

During the Women Leadership Programme in May 2024, around 20 women from African countries and Germany met again for a one-week workshop in Bavaria, Germany to become fit for leadership in their organisations. One topic that concerns the women across countries is climate change, but also violence against women and their discrimination in agriculture.

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The untapped potential of protein diversification

A Contribution by Ivo Rzegotta

Diversifying our protein supply to include plant-based foods and cultivated meat can be a game-changer for climate mitigation and climate adaptation, especially in the countries of the Global South. However, a great deal of research is still required to capitalise on this potential. And political support, as Ivo Rzegotta, Good Food Institute, demonstrates.

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