Each country has its own challenges in sustainable development. By working with subject experts and local impact ecosystem network we have identified three major areas of impact.
Corn, maize, rice, and soy yields are decreasing as global weather temperatures rise, while most small-scale farmers lack the resources to protect, mitigate, or adapt to climate change. It is a challenge to raise satisfactory yields, but increasing equitable access to support the agricultural ecosystem and reducing food waste are also important challenges.
Given the interrelationships among the health of our planet, communities, and ecosystems highlighted by the recent pandemic, we need to take a holistic approach. Through data-driven approaches to service provision, wellbeing, and accessibility, a better quality of life and healthcare can be achieved.
Specific health challenges include:
During the age of crises, the droughts induced by climate change and the war in Ukraine disrupted already fragile food supply chains, which were already weakened as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. As malnutrition and famine threaten human life, the need for transparency and accountability is much needed.
Specific food-related challenges include:
Ghana sits on the Atlantic Ocean and borders Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. Its population is of about 31.2 million (2021). In the past two decades, it has taken major strides towards democracy under a multi-party system, with its independent judiciary winning public trust. Ghana consistently ranks in the top three African countries for freedom of speech and press.
In 2021, Ghana’s economy performed even better than expected by the international financial institutions IMF and World Bank. GDP increased by 5.4%. This rapid growth was driven primarily by the very positive development of agriculture and the expanding services sector. For 2022, the IMF expects Ghana’s GDP to increase by 5.2%. Analysts at the Economist Intelligence Unit expect growth of 4.9%. (Source: World Bank, 2022, Austrian Chamber of Commerce)
Kelechi Ofoegbu
COO Impact Hub Accra / Ghana
Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and culturally diverse federation of 36 autonomous states and the Federal Capital Territory. Its population is 211 Million (2021), with English as the official language.
In 2021 the Nigerian economy achieved a growth rate of 3.6% well above the IMF’s expectations, mainly due to the significant increase in oil prices and the ongoing recovery of the private sector. This marked a trend reversal after 6 years of economic growth that was consistently lower than population growth.
In December 2021, President Buhari presented the National Development Plan, a new initiative for the years 2021 to 2025. Targets include an average real economic growth of 4.6 % (as already in the ERGP), the creation of 21 million full-time jobs and the reduction of the absolute poor part of the population by 35 million people.
The plan, which envisages total investments worth Naira 348 trillion (USD 838.5 billion), is to be financed to the tune of over 85 % by the private sector due to the lack of state funds. (Austrian Chamber of Commerce)
Gloria Okorie
Program Lead Impact Hub Lagos / Nigeria
Small and landlocked, Rwanda is hilly and fertile with a population of about 13 million people (2020). It borders the far larger and richer Democratic Republic of Congo, and East African neighbors, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi. The main languages are French and Kinyarwanda. (Worldbank, 2022)
Rwanda’s economy has tremendously recovered over the last two decades. The country registered an average GDP growth of around 8 percent per year, with a double-digit growth recorded in the last two quarters of 2019. Since 2000s, collected domestic taxes increased 20 times while the national budget increased 14 times. Rwanda is the 2nd best place to do business in Africa thanks to extensive 10-year doing business reforms. This page provides highlights of Rwanda’s economic achievements over the last two decades. (Republic of Rwanda, 2022)
Validate.global helped the venture Tricog to reduce the time it takes the venture to onboard new health centers to their solution from usually 30 to 40 days in just 16 days in Rwanda. They currently have 4 machines running in the country and planning to scale.
Cares Manzi
Managing Director Impact Hub Kigali / Rwanda
