Chux Daniels and Rob Floyd
The COVID-19 pandemic has created one of the most extreme economic challenges for Africa in modern history. And yet in addressing those challenges, national governments have a unique window of opportunity to redirect research, science systems, innovation and technology strategies, and funding towards addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In operationalizing recovery interventions, it is vital that Africa’s leaders, policymakers, and decision-makers do not return to “business as usual”— unsustainable economic growth, environmental degradation, and high levels of inequality and exclusion. In rebuilding, leaders should take a long-term and system innovation approach that focuses on people, crisis-resilience, and sustainable growth for transformative change, as articulated in Agenda 2063.
