ON THE UN SYSTEM-WIDE SPECIAL INITIATIVE

FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF

UN-NADAF

The System-wide Special Initiative is a Critical United Nations contribution to Africa’s efforts to accelerate development. It is an Initiative for which all of us should exert every effort to mobilize the energy and resources of the United Nations system behind the cause of African development, the greatest development challenge faced by the world today. Launched in March 1996, the Initiative coincides with a period of hope and progress for Africa. A continent that experienced a "lost decade" of development in the 1980s, and had a shaky start to the 1990s, Africa has just had its fourth consecutive year of positive growth. The Initiative aims to maintain the momentum and also to help refocus international attention on the pressing challenges that still confront Africa.

This is why the Initiative brings together all UN agencies, including the Bretton Woods institutions, with the singular purpose of maximizing the impact of their combined support for Africa’s own development efforts. It is not only Africa, therefore, but also the UN system itself which stands to benefit from this focused and intensified inter-agency collaboration.

As a result of Africa’s efforts, 11 African countries in 1977 achieved economic growth rates of 6 per cent or higher. Such success would be remarkable for any region, let alone one which had been caught in severe economic crisis for a decade and a half. This growth rate achieved by 11 countries meets or exceeds the target - considered wildly optimistic by many - set in 1991 by the UN General Assembly's New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF), for which the Special Initiative became the implementation vehicle through a General Assembly resolution in December 1977. What is particularly encouraging about these positive growth rates is that they have been recorded in a period when official development assistance has been in decline, when the rapid growth in foreign direct investment flows to developing countries has largely bypassed those in Africa, and when, let us not forget, some parts of the continent are still victims of conflict and civil strife.

Since taking office, I have sought to mobilize the entire international community behind the cause of African development. To guard against the threat of Africa’s marginalization from a world of globalized trade and investment, I have also tried to enlist the vast resources of the private sector in support of Africa’s development. I have called on donor nations to reverse the disturbing trend of declining official development assistance. And I have said that my programme of reform, my "quiet revolution" of change and transformation at the United Nations, should be judged in part on how well it enables the Organization to respond to the needs of the poorest people in Africa and elsewhere.

Indeed, for the Initiative to work, the normal business of development has to be conducted in a new way, and requires the new types of collaboration and coordination around which my overall reform programme is built. Only in this way will the Initiative made its contribution to poverty eradication, peace-building and stability in Africa.

Against this background, the Special Initiative brings the UN system and the international community firmly behind the development priorities identified by Africans themselves, for example in the Cairo Agenda for Action adopted by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1995.

In seeking to address the longstanding challenges of peace and development in Africa, the Initiative does indeed join a number of other initiatives - including the Tokyo International Conference of African Development process, and the development vision for the 21_st century of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - designated to support Africa’s own priorities and efforts.

I can say confidently that in its first two years, the Initiative has laid the foundation for progress, building political support among key constituencies. It is in this spirit that, at its 33_rd session, the OAU expressed full support for the Special Initiative and called upon the international community to honour the commitments made within the framework of UN-NADAF and the Initiative.

Already, the Initiative has seen clear progress in the collaboration between UN agencies and institutions, particularly in the areas of education and governance where a growing number of African countries are progressing with well-defined programmes and gaining the support of external partners.

The Security Council recently held its first-ever ministerial-level meeting devoted solely to Africa, a sign of renewed interest in Africa’s prospects. I shall soon submit to the Council a report recommending ways to strengthen system-wide support for Africa’s endeavors to address the problems of conflicts and to lay the foundation for durable peace and sustainable development. So to those who say that poverty and conflict persist, and that multilateral efforts have achieved little progress, my message today is one of renewed hope - hope that we can consolidate the gains achieved thus far, hope that we can put to rest biased perceptions regarding Africa, and hope that Africa will at long last realize its great potential.

Africa has reached a critical turning point in its history. After an era of decolonization and a period characterized by civil wars, military rule and economic stagnation, a third wave is beginning in Africa - one of peace, democracy, human rights and sustainable development. This is indeed an opportune time for us and our partners to coordinate and harmonize our programmes and mobilize support for the development of Africa and increase aid effectiveness. The Initiative gives us a unique opportunity to do so.

The Initiative is essential if we are to help Africa strengthen its ownership and leadership of the development process. It is essential to accelerate the continent’s socio-economic progress and give new hope to the upcoming generation of Africans by improving basic education, health care, food security, and employment opportunities, all of which are crucial to poverty eradication and civil tranquillity.

The Initiative must succeed. It is one of the most valuable ways the United Nations has been able to devise to encourage the pooling of resources by the United Nations and its agencies to have the kind of tangible impact needed to advance the objectives set out in UN-NADAF.

I am fully committed to the Initiative and I call on the entire international community to make it work.

Kofi Annan

Secretary-General

United Nations, New York

March 1998