PURPOSE: Within the framework of the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa (1991-2000), the United Nations General Assembly, in 1989, proclaimed 20 November “Africa Industrialization Day”. Since then, the United Nations System has held events on that day throughout the world to raise awareness about the importance of Africa’s industrialization and the challenges faced by the continent.
FORUM: “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Green Industrialization to Accelerate Africa's Structural Transformation.”.Africa Industrialization Day 2024. The theme focuses on harnessing emerging technologies like AI and innovations in green manufacturing to accelerate Africa's industrialization in a sustainable manner. The event aims to build stronger policy advocacy; harness the power of AI in reviving Africa's industrial sectors; improve efficiency; boost productivity; and foster innovation in Africa's industrialization agenda. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #AccelerateafricasIndustrialization, #AIW2024, , #integratedmarket, #AfricaIndustrializationDay, #Industrialization, #20november, #AfricaIndustrialization, #AfricaIndustrializationWeek, #IndustrializingAfrica.
EVENTS: At UNHQ; On November 20th, from 1:15 – 2:15 pm (EST) a virtual event jointly organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the African Union Economic Development, Tourism, Trade, Industry, Mining (ETTIM), the African Union (AU) Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations to mark the Africa Industrialization Day 2024 will be held at the Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations. The event will bring together representatives of African states, other Member States, regional entities, and partner organizations of the UN system supporting Africa’s sustainable development.
In Kampala, Uganda, from the 25th to the 29th of November 2024; This year, Africa Industrialization Week is set to take place under the theme “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Green Industrialization to Accelerate Africa's Structural Transformation”. Consequently, the 3rd Edition of the African Women in Processing Summit (3rd AWIP) will be held on the margins of the Africa Industrialization Week. This summit will focus on empowering women entrepreneurs in Africa's processing industries.
The event Overall objectives emphasizes building synergies between policy, investments, innovation, and capacity building across sectors to effectively leverage AI and green solutions for inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Africa, as underlined below. Specifically;
To build stronger policy advocacy around leveraging AI and green industrialization for Africa's sustainable development.
To highlight strategies and best practices for harnessing the power of AI to boost productivity and efficiency across industrial sectors in Africa.
To promote investments in AI solutions that can help revive and transform key industries in Africa.
To facilitate experience and knowledge sharing between policymakers, industries, academia, civil society and development partners on integrating AI in production systems.
To explore collaborative initiatives between public and private sector for increased funding in AI research and development for industrial applications.
To enhance technical skills and capabilities in AI and green technologies critical to Africa's industrial growth and global competitiveness, in line with the existing Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA7 2016-2025), SDG 2030 and the AU Agenda 2063 which aims to transform and revitalize education in Africa.
To showcase innovative use cases of AI and green industrialization by youths and women entrepreneurs in Africa.
To formulate policy recommendations and actionable strategies for mainstreaming AI and green industry in Africa's industrialization planning and development agenda.
Stronger policy frameworks and advocacy plans formulated to integrate AI and green industrialization in Africa's development policies and strategies at national, regional and continental levels.
Increased awareness and knowledge on the applications of AI in enhancing productivity, efficiency and competitiveness across Africa's industrial sectors.
New partnerships and investment commitments established to fund AI and green technology R&D and scale up deployment in Africa's industries.
Enhanced collaboration between policymakers, industries, academia and other stakeholders to develop sector-specific AI adoption roadmaps.
Increased skills, capabilities and technical expertise in AI and green industrial technologies across industrial workforce and institutions in Africa.
New databases and knowledge exchange platforms developed to showcase AI and green technology innovations by youths and women entrepreneurs in Africa.
Valuable case studies and best practices documented on the implementation of AI and green industry solutions in Africa.
Comprehensive policy recommendations and action plans developed for mainstreaming AI and green industrialization in Africa's development policies and strategies.
Commitments from stakeholders to implement strategies and actions for harnessing AI and green industry to advance Africa's industrialization.
PUBLICATIONS: The theme of the 2024 African Economic Outlook is Driving Africa’s Transformation: The Reform of the Global Financial Architecture. Despite strong economic performance and remarkable resilience, structural transformation in Africa has been slow and uneven, and addressing this will require calling bold reforms of the global financial architecture to meet Africa’s development financing needs. The African Economic Outlook 2024 is being published as African countries continue to contend with significant structural challenges and multiple severe shocks, including heightened food and energy prices driven by geopolitical tensions such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, climate issues affecting agriculture and energy production, and persistent political instability. This challenging environment has led to a slowdown in Africa's real GDP growth, which dropped to 3.1 percent in 2023 from 4.1 percent in 2022. Looking forward, however, the economic outlook is more positive, with growth expected to increase to 3.7 percent in 2024 and 4.3 percent in 2025, highlighting the strong resilience of African economies. This growth rebound will be underpinned by expected improvements in global economic conditions and effective policy measures. With these outturns, Africa will remain the second-fastest growing region globally, with 40 countries set to achieve post higher growth rates relative to 2023 levels. Despite these positive trends, Africa still faces challenges in achieving sustainable economic and social transformation. Historical growth rates have been insufficient to offset population increases, leading to minimal gains in per capita GDP. Structural transformation has been limited, with economies heavily reliant on traditional, low-productivity sectors like agriculture or low-skilled services for growth and employment. To achieve substantial structural transformation, Africa needs to focus on strategic investments in key Sustainable Development Goal areas such as education, energy, productivity-enhancing technology and innovation, and productive transport infrastructure. The financing gap for these investments is vast, estimated at about US$402 billion annually until 2030, and will require scaling up domestic resource mobilization and fostering private sector investment. However, given the enormity of resources, scaling up external financial flows as complementary sources of financing is crucial. In that respect, the report underscores the urgency to reform the global financial architecture to facilitate fair, sustainable, and inclusive resource allocation, essential for financing Africa's development goals. Download the main report and the Country note.
STATEMENT: Read the Statement of the United Nations Secretary-General for Africa Industrialization Day 2024; November 20th and the Join statement of the African Union for the celebration of Africa Industrialization Day 2024.
PODCASTS: Highlighting Africa’s renewed determination and commitment to Industrialization as one of the central pillars in attaining the continent’s economic growth and development goals as articulated in Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030. Listen to the Audio-Podcasts!
CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: “Accelerating Africa’s Industrialization Through the Empowerment of African women in Processing for an Integrated Market” IAD 2023 Campaign. Get the communication materials!
WHY WE OBSERVE THE DAY?
HOW TO GET INVOLVED!
PARTNERSHIPS
Given the importance of industrialization and economic transformation in Africa, the 20th of November is commemorated as the Africa Industrialization Day, adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity in July 1989, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Africa Industrialization Day provides an opportunity to key stakeholders to reflect on Africa’s industrialization by looking at how the continent can change its current status quo. Since 2018, the Africa Industrialization Day has been commemorated with weeklong events, marking a departure from the one-day tradition, and which affords more time to reflect and accelerate actions towards Africa’s structural transformation, as an enabler to meet the objectives of Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Agenda 2030.
Raise awareness about the importance of Africa’s industrialization and the challenges faced by the continent.
Focus particular attention to the continent’s inclusive social and economic development priorities.
Bring about desired and aligned policy decisions, investment financing, institutional and human capital dedicated towards Africa’s Industrialization.
Accelerate actions towards Africa’s structural transformation.
Take cognizance of current and emerging global trends.
Register to in Side-events, High-level events/panels, Seminars/Workshops, Signature Ceremonies, B2B, B2G, Showcases and Exhibitions.
Meet the objectives of Agenda 2063, and SDGs, 2030.
The Africa Industrialization Day is Organized by the African Union (AU), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA), the Office of Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Africa (OSAA).
With the collobaration of the African Union Organs and Agencies, African Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Private Sector entities (e.g. platforms, actors and investors), UN system entities, regional and international development partners, among others.
With the participation of Civil Society Organization; International and Non-Governmental Organizations, Researchers and Academics.