BIDEN'S PICK FOR UN THOMAS-GREENFIELD - SPEAKS ON AFRICA SDGS 2017

THANK YOU very much Frank and let me

00:10

also start by thanking the British

00:12

chamber and Gareth for inviting all of

00:16

us here today in providing us the

00:18

opportunity to speak at on these very

00:21

important issues at this conference

00:23

today I'm really delighted to be here I

00:26

am NOT Ellen Johnson Sirleaf I know that

00:31

all of you were expecting her and maybe

00:34

second third or fourth best but I can

00:37

tell you that being here is really an

00:41

honor to speak on her behalf and while

00:44

we miss her here today I'm also

00:46

delighted to reunite with my good friend

00:49

ambassador Illinois who was the

00:52

Secretary General Special Representative

00:54

to Liberia during the period that I

00:57

served as ambassador they are from 2008

01:00

in 2012 and it really was a privilege to

01:02

have worked with ambassador law and to

01:05

work with President Sirleaf and the

01:07

people of government of Liberia to

01:09

develop blueprints for cooperative

01:11

growth in Liberia in the years following

01:14

a devastating civil war in this country

01:17

I gained a King passion for Africa over

01:23

my 35 years in the u.s. Foreign Service

01:26

in fact it's hard for me to believe it's

01:28

it's been that long but 35 years in the

01:33

Foreign Service and throughout my

01:36

present tenure at Georgetown University

01:39

where I serve as a senior senior fellow

01:42

my love for Liberia goes back to my time

01:46

as a graduate student doing research in

01:48

Liberia in the 1970s so I have a very

01:52

long history with what the country of

01:54

Liberia this morning I'd like to share

01:58

with you my thoughts about Africa's

01:59

place on the world stage some of the

02:02

challenges facing the continent some of

02:05

the successes of the partnership that

02:08

the United States government has had

02:11

with Africa and where I see

02:12

Africa in in the coming years

02:15

specifically I'd like to discuss how

02:17

Africa can utilize sustainable

02:19

development goes to bolster educational

02:22

opportunities health care and energy

02:24

infrastructure for the next generation

02:26

of Africans the Africa that I have come

02:31

to know and believe in is a continent a

02:34

vast opportunity and that's promised

02:37

it's a continent with tremendous natural

02:40

and human resources and a rapidly

02:43

expanding middle class it is the next

02:46

frontier of global opportunities and it

02:48

is a continent that has made remarkable

02:51

progress over the past decades despite

02:54

the many challenges that the continent

02:56

continues to face I've seen that

02:58

progress firsthand over nearly 40

03:01

decades sorry four decades of work in on

03:06

the continent when I first visited

03:08

Africa in 1978 to do research in Liberia

03:11

the continents population was about 450

03:14

million with 27% living in urban areas

03:18

and now in 2017 the population is over

03:21

1.2 billion with 40% living in urban

03:25

areas the GDP of sub-saharan Africa back

03:28

in 1978 was about 170 million dollars

03:31

sorry 170 billion dollars now it's about

03:34

1.6 trillion dollars the percentage of

03:39

people living on less than a dollar 25

03:41

cents a day in sub-saharan Africa has

03:42

dropped from 56 percent in 1990 to 41

03:46

percent today which is still not not

03:50

high enough when I arrived in Liberia in

03:53

1978 I found the continent that suffered

03:56

from repressive governance military

03:59

coups and violence that was the norm for

04:02

many African countries in those days but

04:04

now I believe we're seeing a different

04:06

African continent we're seeing a

04:08

different picture on the continent of

04:10

Africa Liberia has emerged as a champion

04:15

of democracy and peace and in 2005 it

04:18

elected Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the

04:20

continents first woman ever to be

04:23

elected president in Africa

04:25

and she served two turns ending in a

04:30

transition hopefully at the end of the

04:32

year and it will be historic for Liberia

04:37

because it will lead to one sitting

04:40

president democratically elected

04:43

transferring power to another

04:46

democratically elected elected president

04:49

later in the year

04:50

Liberia has never had that in its entire

04:52

history in the health arena life

04:55

expectancy in Africa was about 47 years

04:58

in 1978 and now it's 60 the child

05:01

mortality rate has dropped 52 percent

05:04

between 1990 and 2015 and the maternal

05:06

mortality rate has fallen to fallen 49

05:11

percent in education sub-saharan Africa

05:14

has made greater improvements in access

05:16

to education than any other region in

05:19

the world since 1990 the proportion of

05:22

children in world in primary or

05:24

secondary school has risen 54 percent

05:27

over the past 25 years these are

05:29

incredible statistics given a

05:32

substantial progress in these critical

05:34

areas and others Africa is being

05:37

becoming a global player the world is

05:41

sitting up and taking notice of what is

05:44

happening on this continent and there

05:46

has been an explosion of investment and

05:48

interest in Africa over the last two

05:50

decades and I know that's the reason we

05:53

have so many of you from the private

05:54

sector in this room today the truth is

05:58

we can't meet today's global challenges

06:02

without Africa Africa's success is

06:05

pivotal pivotal to international efforts

06:09

to end poverty to fight extremism and to

06:13

boost economic growth looking ahead

06:15

where Africa ends up on the world stage

06:18

in the next century will depend on how

06:21

well the continent tackles its own

06:24

challenges this century it will also

06:27

depend on how the international

06:29

community partners with Africa to

06:31

promote and to implement the SDGs and to

06:35

help achieve Africa's promise

06:38

so let's take a look at some of the

06:40

challenges Africa faces thank you and

06:43

how to address them through the frame

06:46

framework of SDGs in 2014 the African

06:50

Union adopted the common Africa position

06:53

the cap on the post-2015 development

06:56

agenda the caps stressed the need to

06:59

learn from Africa's experience with the

07:02

Millennium Challenge goals the

07:03

Millennium Development Goals over the

07:06

previous 15 years the cap called for a

07:09

more inclusive formulation of the agenda

07:12

and the honoring of international

07:14

commitments made for its implementation

07:16

it also emphasized that the post-2015

07:19

development agenda the member state

07:22

driven and reflect African priorities

07:25

and programs achieving sustainable

07:29

meaningful development remains one of

07:32

the top priorities of every country on

07:34

the continent of Africa African

07:36

countries have been proactive in

07:38

incorporating SDGs into the national

07:41

plans and into strategies in addition

07:44

the African Union has developed a

07:46

strategy to assist its member states in

07:49

reaching their SDG goals through

07:51

targeted implementation of agenda 2063

07:55

this is the AU strategic framework for

07:58

the socio-economic transformation of the

08:00

continent over the next 50 years the

08:03

SDGs are much bigger than any single

08:05

government of course to be truly

08:08

sustainable they will require sustained

08:10

commitments from all sectors including

08:13

advocacy international trade and

08:16

investment research and development

08:18

organization and also from the next

08:21

generation of African leaders so let us

08:25

look at some of some of the challenges

08:28

facing Africa today and how advancement

08:31

of SDGs can mitigate these challenges

08:34

and I'd like to first address the most

08:36

important stakeholder in this process

08:39

and that is Africa's youth Africa is a

08:42

young young continent half of all

08:44

Africans are under the age of 19

08:47

Africa's population is projected to

08:49

double to 2 billion people by

08:52

by 2050 and this is a double-edged sword

08:55

it is there are great possibilities for

08:58

a huge population but there are also

09:00

some downsides so how do we ensure that

09:04

this youthful population contributes to

09:07

Africa's prosperity and not become a

09:10

source of conflict I believe we need to

09:14

start by creating opportunities for

09:15

Africa's youth that means creating jobs

09:19

it also means strengthening education

09:21

systems it means mentoring and providing

09:25

opportunities for Africa's youth in

09:27

spite of recent progress there's still

09:29

significant education gaps an education

09:32

deficit in Africa countries need to

09:35

invest more in education including

09:37

primary school and particularly for

09:40

young girls we catch ocation means weak

09:43

opportunity and when youth have no

09:44

opportunity they are susceptible to

09:47

extremism they are susceptible to

09:50

trafficking they are susceptible to

09:54

criminality and as you all know they are

09:58

susceptible to getting on boats fleeing

10:00

to Europe on on across the Mediterranean

10:03

and across the Sahara Desert taking

10:06

their lives into their own hands young

10:08

people in Africa are eager for

10:10

opportunities for education I saw this

10:13

every day when I served as the US

10:15

ambassador to Liberia and I think Ellen

10:17

can also comment on this as well where

10:20

we saw young people with very few tools

10:24

really passionate about about education

10:28

and passionate about learning in its

10:30

commitment to working with African

10:32

partners to improve education the United

10:35

States has launched efforts to improve

10:37

reading skills for primary school

10:39

children by also providing support for

10:42

for education programs we're making a

10:45

huge push for girls education where only

10:48

51% of women over the age of 15 are able

10:51

to read and write and if women can't

10:53

read and write

10:54

they can't contribute to their country's

10:56

growth there's a need to put a greater

10:59

focus on girls education to ensure that

11:02

girls can enroll and more importantly

11:05

then enrolling that they remain in

11:07

school through the President's Emergency

11:09

Plan for AIDS relief dreams program

11:12

we're investing in keeping girls in

11:14

school in 10 sub-saharan African

11:16

countries and this is part of a package

11:19

of interventions designed to reduce new

11:22

HIV infections in adolescent girls and

11:25

young women by 40%

11:27

USAID education programs have had a huge

11:30

impact on Africa and Liberia for example

11:33

schools were closed between August 2014

11:35

and February 2015 in an effort to

11:39

prevent Ebola transmission USAID

11:43

facilitated educational access by

11:46

distributing teaching and learning

11:48

materials and helped 220,000 children

11:51

return to school following the outbreak

11:53

we have to ensure that African countries

11:56

prioritize education an investment is

11:58

pivotal to this to this end

12:01

African countries need to take a hard

12:03

look at education budgets they need to

12:05

compare their education budgets to their

12:07

security budgets and they need to make a

12:09

determination that education is as

12:12

important as security and consider

12:14

whether giving more money to education

12:17

should be a priority programs that

12:19

support youth such as the young African

12:21

leaders initiative which was a program

12:24

that we put together focused on bringing

12:27

young African leaders to the United

12:29

States to give them leadership training

12:31

in programs across US universities has

12:35

been quite successful in creating

12:37

concrete opportunities that will help

12:40

Africa's future leaders be prepared for

12:43

leadership Yali has committed

12:45

significant resources to propel this

12:48

next generation of African leaders by

12:50

ensuring that we buster their commitment

12:53

to entrepreneurship and to to leadership

12:56

we also have created for Yali leadership

13:00

centers in higher education higher

13:03

education institutions in Ghana in Kenya

13:06

and Senegal as well as South Africa and

13:09

these organizations are helping to train

13:14

mentor and helping young people to

13:16

network with each other across

13:18

the continent of Africa and already

13:21

we've had about 450 young people who

13:24

participated in these read regional

13:26

training centers but we've had close to

13:28

3,000 young Africans come to the United

13:32

States we currently have a thousand who

13:34

are at about 30 universities across the

13:36

United States who are participating in

13:39

leadership programs this this summer

13:41

when I leave here tomorrow I'll be

13:44

heading to Madison Wisconsin and to

13:47

Minneapolis Minnesota where I will be

13:49

speaking to some of these young people

13:51

to encourage them and to help them and

13:54

mentor them as they prepare for their

13:56

roles as leaders on the continent of

13:58

Africa and the next generation Africa's

14:00

youth are its greatest resource and they

14:03

are a force for good African leaders

14:06

should view them as a treasure as a

14:07

source of dynamism to bring their

14:10

countries out of poverty and into strong

14:12

and prosperous nations and to help build

14:15

successful government if we can ensure

14:18

Africa's youth are engaged and

14:20

contributing to to their countries

14:22

Africa's economies will grow and we know

14:25

that their people will prosper if we

14:28

look in the healthcare arena improving

14:30

education will also improve healthcare

14:33

outcomes as well because that the two

14:36

are very much intertwined with each

14:38

other we saw the link clearly during the

14:41

Ebola outbreak where lack of education

14:44

about disease transmission led to poor

14:47

health decisions during the Ebola

14:49

outbreak throughout Africa many

14:51

challenges persist in the health care

14:54

arena sub-saharan Africa has the highest

14:56

rate of maternal and child deaths of any

14:59

region in the world

15:00

and only 32 percent of sub-saharan

15:03

African populations has basic access to

15:06

to power and this deficit prevents

15:09

progress in both health as well as

15:11

education sectors therefore

15:13

strengthening Africa's healthcare

15:15

infrastructure and human resources for

15:17

health is a critical priority as we move

15:19

to to implement the SDGs PEPFAR has made

15:24

great strides in combating hiv/aids

15:26

saving lives of millions of Africans and

15:29

bringing an age

15:30

generation within reach in on the

15:34

continent of Africa Africa has

15:36

contributed to the significant progress

15:39

made toward eradicating polio around the

15:42

world yet polio re-emerged in northern

15:45

Nigeria in 2016 representing a set back

15:48

to global polio eradication efforts a

15:52

polio free Africa is in sight though and

15:55

through vigilance and increased

15:58

resources I think that we can achieve

16:01

the goals that we hope to achieve in

16:03

that area the Ebola epidemic in Liberia

16:06

exposed the fragility of the health

16:08

sector and it also exposed the fragility

16:12

of the economy in Liberia that was

16:15

really set back over the 14 month period

16:19

in which they were dealing with Ebola

16:21

Ebola killed thousands it drained lively

16:25

needed resources it slowed economic

16:27

growth in a delayed key development

16:29

projects and one of the hard learn

16:31

lessons of the Ebola crisis is that good

16:34

governance which includes allocating

16:36

funds for health is key to mitigate

16:39

mitigating epidemics like like Ebola the

16:43

death toll from Ebola in Liberia and

16:45

neighboring countries was at red was a

16:47

tragedy in itself and it thought it

16:50

progress on achieving the SDG goes while

16:54

the international community responded to

16:57

the Ebola crisis we need to translate

17:00

the effective emergency response to

17:02

Ebola into an effective long-term health

17:04

care system across the continent of

17:06

Africa and we hope to continue to

17:09

support the establishment of an African

17:11

Center for Disease Control and

17:13

Prevention a so called Africa CDC which

17:16

will reinforce increasingly capable

17:18

health and science sector in Africa and

17:21

we hope that the Africa CDC will serve

17:23

as a platform for sustainable public

17:26

health capacity efforts like these we'll

17:28

build a capacity of local healthcare

17:31

systems so that they can effectively

17:33

respond to challenges like Ebola but

17:35

this goal is ultimately the

17:37

responsibility of African countries

17:39

themselves of their governments and of

17:41

their people sustainable local

17:44

finance healthcare system is the best

17:46

long-term solution to dealing with

17:48

situations like Ebola let me talk a bit

17:51

about the energy infrastructure energy

17:54

is a major constraint to economic growth

17:56

and Community Development on the

18:00

continent of Africa the United States is

18:02

working very closely with African

18:05

governments but also partners around the

18:07

globe to prioritize and address key

18:10

legal regulatory and policy constraints

18:12

to investments and to implement measures

18:15

that will sustain growth and enable

18:18

successful governance of a growing power

18:21

sector throughout sub-saharan Africa I

18:23

think one good example of a promising

18:26

initiative comes from Liberia when I

18:29

served in Liberia from 2008 to 2012

18:33

Liberia started out having provided no

18:36

electricity for for his people and they

18:41

put streetlights and Ellen will recall

18:43

this as well

18:44

there were streetlights that were put

18:46

around the city and you could go around

18:47

the city anytime during a during the

18:50

night and you would see young people

18:52

studying under under streetlights

18:56

it could be pouring rain outside and

18:58

they would be out there under their

18:59

streetlights trying to make sure that

19:03

they committed themselves to their

19:08

education and this was an incredible

19:11

sight and it occurred to me if

19:14

streetlights could encourage students

19:16

what would happen in Liberia if there

19:20

was electricity in schools and

19:22

electricity and homes and and in

19:24

hospitals and how much more could be

19:26

achieved in Liberia if the private

19:27

sector had access to reliable and

19:30

affordable energy the United States

19:33

after I left Liberia but something that

19:36

I worked on diligently while I was

19:38

there's fine day 257 million Millennium

19:41

Challenge corporation impact come back

19:44

in 2015 the compact seeks to improve

19:49

road infrastructure and bolster access

19:51

to reliable affordable electricity and

19:55

we work with the government of Norway

19:56

and with

19:57

you and with the UN to rehabilitate the

20:01

Mount coffee hydroelectric plant which

20:04

is also part of a power Africa

20:07

initiative and it more than doubled the

20:10

availability of electricity in Liberia I

20:13

was back in Liberia in December where we

20:15

cut the ribbon on the first turbine of

20:18

of the power plant and it was an amazing

20:23

accomplishment that I know will

20:25

contribute to Liberia's ability to

20:28

implement their own SDG goals

20:31

energy will continue to be instrumental

20:33

to Africa's growth and success in the

20:36

coming years finally I have to say a

20:39

word about politics in Africa because

20:41

politics is is everything on this

20:44

continent and we know that establishing

20:46

strong democratic governance and

20:48

eliminating corruption will also be

20:51

crucial to advancing SDGs in Africa and

20:54

while we've seen progress in some places

20:57

too often we have witnessed setbacks one

21:00

of those setbacks being South Sudan

21:02

where again Allen served as the

21:05

secretary-general Special Representative

21:07

a country where we all celebrated their

21:10

accomplishment in achieving independence

21:13

in 2011 and two years after that they

21:17

were embroiled in a horrible civil war

21:21

leading to thousands of deaths and and

21:24

many more thousands of people being

21:27

forced from their homes

21:29

Liberia's upcoming presidential and

21:31

legislative elections will also as I

21:33

noted earlier mark a historic moment in

21:36

deference to the Constitution and to

21:38

ordinary Liberian citizens and with a

21:41

commitment to peaceful transfer of power

21:43

President Sirleaf will step down after

21:47

her two years her two terms in office

21:50

the credibility of this important

21:53

election hinges on the maintenance of

21:54

peace which will include the gracious

21:57

confession of the unsuccessful

21:59

candidates we fortunately saw that

22:03

happen in the case of Nigeria in 2015

22:05

and most recently in the case of Ghana

22:08

in December

22:10

this year but in order for democracy and

22:12

economic growth to flourish throughout

22:14

Africa you need more than peaceful

22:16

elections as well we also need to work

22:19

with African countries to combat

22:21

corruption that remains rampant across

22:24

the continent of Africa and I know that

22:26

it's businesspeople you know how

22:29

difficult it is for you to do business

22:32

in countries where corruption is the

22:34

order of the day

22:35

corruption actively works against

22:38

justice it promotes exclusion and

22:41

poverty and it denies the most

22:43

vulnerable people in Africa their their

22:45

basic needs in their basic rights and it

22:48

stifles development and implementation

22:50

of the SDGs so we have to work as

22:54

international partners we have to work

22:56

with governments - in corruption by

22:59

holding people accountable and helping

23:01

governments to recover stolen stolen

23:03

funds when we look at some of the cases

23:06

and the amount of money that has left

23:09

the continent of Africa because of

23:11

corruption we know that we can change

23:13

the trajectory of this continent if we

23:15

dealt with these issues so following let

23:18

me conclude on a more positive note I've

23:21

always tried to be positive about Africa

23:24

and I do feel positive I want to

23:27

emphasize that I am very optimistic

23:29

about where I see this continent going

23:32

in the future and my optimism comes from

23:35

a number of areas it comes from the fact

23:38

that we do have this dynamic population

23:40

of African youth who we know have

23:43

tremendous possibilities and we know

23:46

that we have a continent that has great

23:49

natural resources both in terms of their

23:52

people but also in terms of their youth

23:55

and if Africa can effectively harness

23:57

these resources I'm confident that we

24:00

see a bright future for this continent

24:02

the SDGs will be instrumental in

24:05

advancing Africa's goals in terms of

24:08

education health care and infrastructure

24:10

and they will also create an environment

24:13

for good governance and we think that in

24:16

that environment countries can flourish

24:19

however implementation of SDGs must be

24:22

african-led

24:23

and I think that's the point that you

24:25

may when you're reading from the

24:27

statement earlier that they must be

24:29

Africa it must be an african-led

24:30

progress and it must be for the African

24:33

people African leaders however cannot do

24:37

this alone they need to have for success

24:41

they need to have strong relationships

24:45

and continued engagement with

24:46

international partners and this is a

24:49

team effort it's a team effort that and

24:52

that's the reason I think all of us are

24:54

here today international partners

24:57

whether you are in government business

24:59

media civil society will be instrumental

25:02

in supporting Africa's efforts to

25:04

implement SDGs and regardless of whether

25:07

you are inside government or outside

25:10

government every single person in this

25:12

room has a role to play in ensuring that

25:15

international partnership with Africa is

25:17

successful Africa needs all of our ideas

25:21

it needs our passion