Berlin Institute for Population and Development Leapfrogging Africa Sustainable Innovation in Health, Education and Agriculture hen in Rwanda bring in blood reserves +++ sustainable intensification makes farming more productive +++ online teaching not only during the pandemic +++ avoidable infectious diseases +++ kanian solutions +++ top school +++ development reduces the number of children +++ avoiding the mistakes of industrialized countries +++ central development areas: health, education and agriculture +++ Leapfrogging in Africa +++ higher yields +++ Diagnosis out of About the Berlin Institute The Berlin Institute for Population and Development is an independent think tank that deals with issues of regional and global demographic change. The Institute was founded in 2000 as a non-profit foundation and has the task of raising awareness of demographic change, promoting sustainable development, introducing new ideas into politics and developing concepts for solving demographic and development policy problems. In its studies, discussion and background papers, the Berlin Institute prepares scientific information for the political decision-making process. Further information, as well as the possibility to subscribe to the free regular newsletter “Demos”, can be found at www.berlin-institut.org. Support the independent work of the Berlin Institute. The Berlin Institute receives no public institutional support whatsoever. Project funding, research contracts, donations and endowments make the successful work of the Institute possible. The Berlin Institute is recognized as a non-profit organization. Donations and endowments are tax deductible. The Friends of the Berlin Institute brings together interested and committed individuals, companies and foundations who are willing to support the Berlin Institute financially and with ideas. You can find information about the Supporters’ Association at http://www.berlin-institut.org/foerderkreis-des-berlin-instituts.html. Bank details: Bankhaus Hallbaum IBAN DE50 2506 0180 0020 2864 07 BIC/SWIFT HALLDE2H Berlin Institute for Population and Development Leapfrogging Africa Sustainable Innovation in Health, Education and Agriculture Imprint Original edition September 2020 © Berlin Institute for Population and Development The work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Published by the Berlin Institute for Population and Development Schillerstraße 59 10627 Berlin Phone: (030) 22 32 48 45 Fax: (030) 22 32 48 46 E-mail: [email protected] www.berlin-institut.org You can find the Berlin Institute on Facebook and Twitter The authors: (@berlin_institut). Dr. Reiner Klingholz, 1953, PhD in the Department of Chemistry at the Research and graphics: Daniel Hegemann, Lena Reibstein University of Hamburg, former director of the Berlin Institute for Po- pulation and Development. Design, illustration, layout: Jörg Scholz (www.traktorimnetz.de) Sabine Sütterlin, 1956, Diploma in Natural Sciences at the ETH Zürich. Print: Druckerei und Verlag Gebr. Kopp, Cologne Freelance Research Assistant at the Berlin Institute for Population and Development. Some thematic maps were produced on the basis of the EasyMap software of Lutum+Tappert DV-Beratung GmbH, Bonn. Alisa Kaps, 1991, Master’s Degree in Economic and Social Geography at the University of Salzburg. Head of the International Demography ISBN: 978-3-946332-59-6 Department at the Berlin Institute for Population and Development. Catherina Hinz, 1965, Master’s Degree in German, History and South Asian Studies at the Universities of Hamburg and Heidelberg. Managing Director of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development. The Berlin Institute would like to thank the Bayer AG for funding support. Sabine Sütterlin and Reiner Klingholz conducted this study in the context of a scholarship and a fellowship respectively at the Stellen- bosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa. Thanks also go to those who made themselves available as interviewees in the course of the research. The Berlin Institute bears sole responsibility for the content of the study. CONTENT PREFACE: A CONTINENT IN SEARCH OF ITS OWN PATH TO LEAP FORWARD ...................4 SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 6 1. AFRICA NEEDS GREAT LEAPS ........................................................................................8 2. HOW DEVELOPMENT SLOWS DOWN POPULATION GROWTH ..................................... 14 3. HEALTH AND WELL-BEING FOR ALL.............................................................................20 4. LEARNING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ............................................................................ 41 5. FILLING STOMACHS AND CREATING JOBS ..................................................................62 SOURCES .........................................................................................................................82 A CONTINENT IN SEARCH OF ITS OWN PATH TO LEAP FORWARD Since March 2020, the world seems to be Between vulnerability and hope forward in large strides and many small upside down: Europe, and most recently the steps, rapidly, innovatively and sustainably, USA and Brazil in particular, are at the centre However the spread of Covid-19 will unfold in in three areas that are of central importance of a global pandemic. Highly developed Africa, the consequences of the economic at the early stages of demographic and socio- countries are groaning under the economic crisis in Europe, Asia and the USA are already economic development: health, education consequences of measures to stop the hitting the continent hard. The world market and agriculture. Because only healthy, coronavirus. prices for raw materials and the demand for qualified and well-nourished men and cut flowers collapsed as well as remittances women can develop their own potential and Africa – so often in the past referred to as the from migrants abroad while tourists are promote the economy of their home “hotspot of crises and epidemics” - seemed staying away. Without social security and countries. This is not only about how African to be better prepared thanks to experiences working in the informal sector, millions of countries ride the big technological waves of with past and present epidemics. Most Africans cannot afford to comply with contact the last decade, the development of governments took early measures, closed the restrictions and lockdown measures in their computers, the internet, social networks or, borders and imposed tight restrictions as need to survive. Already existing inequalities most recently, block chain technology. soon as the first Covid-19 cases occurred. are about to deepen while hunger and Sometimes it is just simple and straight Nowhere has there been such a hard poverty tend to increase as well. forward solutions that make the difference lockdown as in South Africa. But after the for the well-being of the people. We have relaxation of many measures due to The crisis highlights the already existing compiled some of them in this study, and economic difficulties, infection numbers deficiencies in the infrastructure even more they offer possible starting points for a great steadily increased in the southernmost clearly: the insufficiently equipped health leap forward – even from the current crisis. country of the continent. It is uncertain systems are unable to meet the needs of the whether other African states will suffer a people adequately even without a pandemic. similar fate. For now, infection and fatality Almost everywhere there is a lack of medical Role models – “made in Africa” numbers for Covid-19 are low compared to staff and equipment such as respirators. other world regions and - from a purely Supply chains for essential medicines and These examples demonstrate the courage to demographic point of view - the youth of contraceptives are interrupted. Millions of learn from past mistakes of more developed African populations is a glimmer of hope for a children did not go to school even before the countries and to try out something new. In smoother course of the pandemic on the lockdown, and now the school closures are fact, some of them even indicate where continent. But whether Africa will be spared tearing another gap in the educational African countries have already taken a leap the great wave of infections or not, nobody pathways of African youth. The achievement forward leaving more developed countries can tell. For now, the lack of widespread of the sustainable development goals of the behind: In Europe, for example, drones as testing calls for caution regarding the true United Nations is moving even further into suppliers of blood reserves or medicines are reach of the virus. the distance, as is the chance of a still dreams of the future; in Ghana or demographic dividend. Rwanda they are already a reality. The mobile data network works better in remote areas of The situation is serious, perhaps more Kenya than in some parts of Germany. Small serious than ever. But the focus on buses in Nairobi – called Matatus – offer consequences of the coronavirus pandemic also tends to obscure progress in development in recent times. This study shows where Africa is already moving 4 Leapfrogging Africa WIFI to their customers. In contrast, those What people in Africa are concerned about who travel by bus on German country roads often search in vain