Search results for ""Author Jennifer G. Cooke""

During the last decade, sub-Saharan Africa enjoyed unprecedented rates of economic growth, with new technologies, better governance, and increasing investment flows creating new opportunities for innovation and economic and human development. Yet across the continent, vulnerable populations continue to contend with recurrent crises and stresses that leave them in a cycle of fragility and risk, struggling to recover and unable to expand economic opportunities or to improve well-being. This report examines resilience from the perspective of vulnerable communities across Africa and identifies the most promising entry points for innovations that can increase resilience capacity.

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Africa’s changing economic landscape is prompting a shift in how U.S. policymakers view the continent. High growth rates, new technologies, and a rapidly expanding consumer class are driving greater global competition for investment and access to potential export markets, and the United States is recognizing that it will need to step up its game to remain relevant and influential in an increasingly crowded and competitive environment. This will mean placing a stronger emphasis on strengthening trade and investment ties and encouraging U.S. companies to take fuller advantage of expanding opportunities. Playing up these opportunities will not only serve long-term U.S. commercial interests in Africa but will serve U.S. development and diplomatic objectives as well. U.S. investments, done right, can have long-term development impacts in Africa, through technology and knowledge transfer, training, systems development, and partnerships. And a new, more optimistic engagement with Africa’s citizens and entrepreneurs will have strong resonance with the continent’s up-and-coming generation, creating links based on enduring mutual interest.

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Many of Africa’s economies are at a crossroads, with an unprecedented opportunity for sustained growth, structural change, and accelerated development. Each will face a unique set of economic and political circumstances, but key to the success of all will be building critically needed infrastructure, deepening regional integration, and building a skilled workforce. Across these three challenges there are new possibilities for corporate and public actors to work in partnership to overcome barriers to investment and structural transformation. This report highlights examples of progress and positive collaboration and identifies areas where African governments can do more to make the most of current opportunities.

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