On 1^st March 2022, KEPSA CEO Ms. Carole Kariuki participated in the 2022 UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA), cluster meeting of resident representatives at the Windsor Golf and Country Club in Nairobi. Themed ‘A #FutureSmartAfrica: Sparking the Development Revolution’, the meeting took place as part of the resumed Fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) that was followed by the commemoration of UNEP’s 50th year anniversary.

Attending the RBA Cluster meeting was the Chief Guest Amb. Raychelle Omamo, SC, EGH, Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahunna Eziakonwa, RBA Director, Walid Badawi UNDP Resident Representative in Kenya, Cristina Duarte, Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Africa as well as Resident Representatives from the 46 RBA Country Offices, RBA Senior Management, RSCA and Hub managers, and other invited guests.

Making his opening remarks, Mr. Walid Badawi UNDP Resident Representative, Kenya said that Kenya was selected as the launchpad to spark UNDP’s development revolution in building a future smart Africa and a future smart UNDP. “Kenya has truly made us all in Africa, proud. Bringing Africa’s voice so effectively on so many global issues, particularly matters peace and security. And none more important than the very recent speech by His Excellency Ambassador Kimani to the UN Security Council on the Russia and Ukraine conflict. Many of us were actually speechless when he so eloquently reminded that a world in which multilateralism is on its deathbed is a world where norms are disregarded”, he said.

He noted that Kenya being the home to UNDP and UN Habitat is a recognized global sustainable development champion, boasting a very progressive constitution with sustainable development at its core which meant that sustainable development and building resilience also must be part of that future smart Africa, he concluded.

Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, the RBA Director, laid down the vision for the RBA Cluster meeting by expressing the many contradictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We saw that as the situation got worse, Africa rose to the challenge of multilateralism. And Africa put his best foot forward to demonstrate what solidarity means in the hardest of times. We saw solidarity flights out of Addis Ababa, distributing PPEs and everything that was needed across the continent when the rest of the world was shut down. We saw African leaders come together to debate how Africa should not be left behind and the private sector rose to this challenge. In an age where the world was shrinking in its understanding of what our common humanity means, Africa was waking up to a new reality that we need each other and we must band together.” She said.

Ms. Eziakonwa said that future smart Africa is one that can bet on the success of all its women and youth. An integrated one Africa market, where goods and services that proudly speak about Africa are meaningfully and beneficially integrated into the world, where its men and women also stand shoulder to shoulder proudly with their counterparts in the rest of the world.

In her key note speech, the Chief Guest CS Amb. Raychelle Omamo highlighted the need for Africa to take action in order to achieve accelerated development in the struggle against poverty and inequality. “Is it enough just to have the wonderful vision of this Africa that we desire? I don’t think so. I think Africans must start acting. It is not enough to dream. I’m glad that you’re holding this retreat in the background of Covid-19 because the pandemic opened our eyes to who we are, and unless you know who you are, you cannot move forward. Covid-19 taught us lessons on how to diagnose our own problems.” She said.

Mr. Achim Steiner, the UNDP Administrator challenged the attendees to reflect on the many changing dynamics of the African development context. He noted that in addition to conflicts and record numbers of refugees, the world was in a state of re-organizing itself to reflect a shift in economic and geopolitical power while also coping with a citizenry that is increasingly challenging the authority of the state. “We need strong states, and the pandemic was an illustration and a reminder on what happens if your state is not strong and capable of delivering. There is a recalibration happening all over the world where people’s movements are challenging traditional notions of authority. Young people not believing in their institutions or living their own future become vulnerable and easily receptive to ideologies that take us very quickly to the terrain of political polarization”, he said.

Making her submissions on the #FutureSmart Leaders Panel, KEPSA CEO Carole Kariuki was joined by Mr. Philip Thigo, Senior Adviser, Data, Innovation and Open Government, Office of the Deputy President of Kenya and Cristina Duarte, Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Africa.

In the discussions, Ms. Kariuki reiterated KEPSA’s role as the apex private sector body in helping navigate policy and regulatory bottlenecks affecting business. “On the whole idea about a future smart Africa, private sector always seems to be the ones that lead the process, and the policymakers follow. If you look at the integration processes when the East African Community was being formed, it’s because businesses were already there, even across the world it is always business that take lead in revolutions. For example, from the agrarian to the industrial revolution. And for Africa, it’s about leapfrogging because the African businesses are very innovative and very resilient”, she said.

Giving the Kenyan example around the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Kariuki explained KEPSA interventions around the provision of interest-free loans to MSMEs in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation in addition to helping small businesses to digitize to weather the pandemic lockdown. “The biggest thing that we’re doing now is building value chains between small and big companies to say that no one can exist on their own When we talk about sustainability and climate change, everyone has to operate within an ecosystem. Going forward the future of smart Africa is the circular economy and sustainability”, said Ms. Kariuki.

On the panel was Mr. Philip Thigo, Senior Adviser, Data, Innovation and Open Government, Office of the Deputy President of Kenya, who spoke on the role of technological advancement in Africa’s revolution. “You cannot have development without a technological revolution. You cannot have the SDGs without a data revolution. The future is co-created every step we walk, and that future is now.” He said.

On her part, Ms. Cristina Duarte said, “I would like to focus on the development of Africa, because I think this is a clear call to generate constructive disruptions in the continent. After some years in the African policymaking field, I strongly believe that we need to have a sense of advancing development revolution. I also believe that UNDP is in a vantage position in the continent to leverage on the COVID-19 disruptions for the benefit of the African people. But in order to do that, we need to find what drives us as a common people.”

The UNDP RBA is convened to interrogate what is required to help UNDP deliver a #FutureSmart Africa, the meeting will over three days unpack what the UNDP Strategic Plan means for Africa; and how corporate resources can be leveraged more to add speed and scale in achieving the strategic plan.

The Objectives of the Cluster Meeting are to;

1. To forge a collective understanding of how the Strategic Plan 2022 – 2025 lands in the RBA region through the Strategic Offer 2022 – 2025.
2. To embrace new pathways to accelerate our actions and results on the ground in the Decade of Action.
3. To promote a new movement within UNDP and with the continent’s leaders and peoples – to create the shifts needed to spark a new development revolution across Africa.
4. To foster an understanding of the partnerships that would be needed to accelerate progress on the SDGs in Africa.

The meeting will have as its Key Output – A Nairobi Consensus on a UNDP Africa that is #FutureSmart and ready to take the continent on an accelerated pace to attain the SDGs with the following expected outcomes.

1. The consensus attained will provide implementation fodder for the Strategic Plan, and the Strategic Offer in Africa.
2. Interactions on critical issues will allow for cross-learning, harnessing, internalizing and adapting from the past to build towards a UNDP that can support a #FutureSmart Africa.
3. We shall renew the infrastructure for delivery of development in the Decade of Action.
4. Create a solutions bank and service lines that can deepen our programmatic focus, to spark the development revolution in Africa.