SUSTAINABILITY

There is broad consensus that the implementation of the SDG’s will take place largely at the national level, driven by local stakeholders. There is also broad consensus that it will not be possible to implement the SDG’s successfully without the meaningful participation and ownership of local actors. Among these stakeholders are citizens, who have too often been left behind in the implementation of development programmes, thus leading to their failure. In Africa, youth make up 65 – 70% of the population in most countries. Therefore, any effort to mobilise citizen participation must focus on building the capacity of African citizens to engage.

Citizen engagement of any kind is not an easy undertaking, as there are a number of factors that determine its success. Often in Africa, citizens neither have the information nor capacity to successfully engage in development processes. At the same time, African governments frequently do not have established systems and institutionalised structures to effect meaningful citizen engagement, despite the fact that many governments acknowledge the importance of citizen engagement. This duality of structural challenges must be overcome by any initiative that seeks to promote and enhance people participation in development delivery.