IDRC post-event report

Abstract

While other regions in the global South are making headway in economic growth, Africa seems to be caught-up in a development quagmire. On the economic front, most African countries are marred with inept economic policies exacerbated by unfavourable IMF/World Bank lending programs. Politically, the excesses of authoritarian regimes have resulted in protracted civil and ethnic wars, institutional collapse, and destruction of civil society and democratic accountability. Human security is at its record low with most African countries in the lower rankings of the UNDP human development index; and other aspects of this index such as nutrition and food security are yet to reach ‘appreciable’ levels. These ‘realities’ sum up the rationale for this conference, and thus engender the need for an actionable way forward. The theme “Africa Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Exploring the Multi-dimensional Discourses on 'Development'” helped us to understand the continent's development trajectory from a multi-perspectival standpoint; it also helped us to place the discussion into its current and future perspectives without neglecting the historical conditions (path dependencies) that have resulted in Africa's present position in the global political economy.