Barriers
The level of literacy
According to the UN Statistics Division, disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes are found across regions, and sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Central and Southern Asia lag. As a result, many students need more preparation to participate in a highly complex global economy. Whereas there could be other reasons, the reason mentioned above partly explains the low knowledge and policy uptake levels, particularly at the grassroots level. For instance, the new policies on the new ways of agriculture practices that would boost production, and cater to the ever-increasing population estimated at 8 billion people, are sometimes not taken up because the communities need help understanding and interpreting these new ways of doing things. For example, the new forms of agriculture practice require adopting climate-smart agriculture (CSA), an integrated approach to managing landscapes, cropland, livestock, forests, and fisheries that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. The World Bank argues the CSA systematically considers the synergies and trade-offs between productivity, adaptation, and mitigation. Finally, CSA aims to capture new funding opportunities to close the deficit in investment. FAO adds that radical changes may be needed to adapt to new climate conditions, such as shifting to an entirely different agricultural production system.
Low levels of technology uptake
The modern world is so interconnected and enhanced by technology. Most of the new knowledge and policy documents are more available online than on paper. However, such technology is not much established, particularly in the developing world where knowledge is so much needed. This creates a gap in knowledge sharing and policy. African Development Bank (AfDB) particularly points at poor technological capability as one of the significant constraints to Africa’s efforts to achieve sustainable development. The Bank thus argues that African governments and all national actors must grasp the increasing opportunities that technology and innovation offer for human development and transformation of the continent. In its Status of digital agriculture in 47 sub-Saharan African countries (2022), FAO also argues digitalization is fundamental to leveraging the benefits of digital technologies in transforming societies, improving livelihoods, and accelerating the ability of the Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate poverty.
Opportunities
collaborations and partnerships
In the contemporary world, nations need each other more than before to foster a concerted effort toward development challenges that appear to transcend national boundaries. Because most national development goals align with regional and global development agendas such as the SDGs, these collaborations and partnerships appear more critical than ever to bolster and amplify knowledge and policy sharing. International collaborations and partnerships have been cited as the primary multi-stakeholder vehicle for driving development effectiveness to maximize the effectiveness of all forms of cooperation for the shared benefits of people, the planet, prosperity, and peace. According to the UN SDGs, a successful development agenda requires inclusive partnerships at the global, regional, national, and local levels, built upon principles and values, and a shared vision and goals placing people and the planet at the center. It adds that solid international cooperation is needed now more than ever to ensure that countries have the means to recover from the pandemic, build back better and achieve Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. James Mawanda