African states like Kenya have been challenged to design systems that are country-led, investment-driven, regionally integrated, and globally coherent in a bid to become self-sustaining in the face of shrinking foreign aid. In a sentence: to push for the “second Independence” after the first phase of Independence, from the original colonisers, has so far proved disappointing for so many.
The Accra Reset, formally articulated at the recent G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg and spearheaded by Ghanaian president John Mahama and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, seeks to position Africa not as a passive recipient of aid, but as the architects of a new multilateral order rooted in sovereignty, dignity, shared value, and mutual interest.
The newly launched platform has been thrust into the limelight by a confluence of recent events and incidents, such as the crisis in the Sahel and the controversy over the new US global health MOUs in the wake of the collapse of global aid institutions, including USAID.
In recent years, foreign aid to Africa has experienced a significant decline, sparking concerns among policymakers, development experts, and communities that rely on this once-critical support.
Once the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, sub-Saharan Africa is now facing a brutal cut in funding, which raises questions about its effects on the region’s development and stability.
Data shows that in 2021, Africa received $64.8 billion in aid. This dropped to $60 billion in 2023, including $20 billion less from the US. Last year, foreign aid from the US shrank further to $12.7 billion.
“The Accra Reset responds to this moment by arguing that aid dependency and fragmented project-based financing are no longer fit for purpose. Instead, it calls for executable business models, integrated regional markets, and smarter public–private partnerships that unlock domestic and international capital.’’
With an interim Secretariat based in Accra, Ghana, the initiative has since galvanised the support of more than 24 former heads of state, global pioneers, and leaders of international organisations. These champions and sponsors come from across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
It is also set to launch a high-level panel tasked with producing a landmark report on restructuring global governance and financing for development (with an initial emphasis on health).
Through the platform created for private sector stakeholders such as the African Alliance of Multilateral Finance Institutions (AAMFI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry, the coalition has set its eyes on more than $10 billion in what is described as “reset-compatible” pledges from African development finance institutions, private banks, and other regional and global funders.
Kenya stands to gain greatly from this initiative in its pursuit to broaden domestic funding. On Monday, the Cabinet approved a 5 trillion shilling wealth fund aimed at catapulting the country into a developed nation in the next decade. Without initiatives like Accra Reset recalibrating international capital for Africa’s benefit, it is hard to see how such funds can become sustainable.
President William Ruto’s legacy projects also seek to cut the country’s dependency on aid and debt, which has since ballooned to Sh12 trillion or close to 70 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Kenya stands at the intersection of development finance innovation, regional trade, digital public infrastructure, and climate resilience,’’ a statement from the Accra Reset secretariat reads.
“It offers a framework to reduce reliance on shrinking aid flows; crowd in private capital for health, climate, and food systems; thereby strengthening Kenya’s role as an East African investment and innovation hub.”
This initiative mirrors 4D, an African Union initiative aimed at boosting startups and SMEs with fresh flows of funds and supporting platforms.
It combines innovative new ways of channeling resources from development finance institutions and aid agencies to startups, SMEs, and other fast-growing innovation-focused entities to lower and overcome barriers to market access and scale caused by unfriendly policies.
Under this plan, African leaders are looking to inspire a new generation of innovators who can increase Africa’s competitiveness in globally hot technology fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and health sciences.
It hopes to create the next homegrown unicorns based in Africa, hiring Africans and building products and services focused on Africa’s unique problems and challenges so that the continent stops being overdependent on imported technology.
Resourcing these more agile economic actors is expected to have a significant impact on major developmental contexts where Africa still lags, such as health, trade, local manufacturing, and job growth.
The ambitious plan seeks to shift more resources to innovators to tackle neglected development sectors: the AfCFTA Secretariat, Africa CDC, AUDA-NEPAD, Africa Civic Aviation Commission, and the Africa Capacity Building Foundation.
This will likely resolve the current gulf between private funding for innovation and traditional development financing for social objectives, which unfortunately continues to widen.
The former deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, Monique Nsanzabaganwa, has often said that this chasm has led to large amounts of private funding going to agile innovators for useful economic activities like fintech and e-commerce, but with limited applicability to the surrounding development infrastructure that will make Africa economically resilient.
Whilst the AU-endorsed Trillion Dollar fund initially aimed to boost trade in African-made goods under the AfCFTA, the scope was later expanded to biotech innovation, digital health, artificial intelligence, and the green economy. Some analysts believe that such vertical funds would have no chance of success without the broader reforms envisaged by the Accra Reset.
By connecting the various vertical funds and programs like PIFAH and PIDA, the African Union stands a better chance of accelerating regional trade and addressing socio-economic ills that have led to the continent lagging behind its peers. It is these kinds of high-level architectural gaps that promoters of the Accra Reset believe it can begin to plug by aligning technocratic capacity with political mandates.
Doing this effectively also requires addressing governance instability that has seen the continent record 220 of the world’s 492 coup attempts, economic vulnerabilities like high debt levels, Infrastructure deficits, energy insecurity and climate-related risks that have affected over 110 million Africans and caused an estimated $8.5 billion in damages.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general, World Trade Organisation, said during the launch of the Accra Reset at this year’s UN General Assembly (UNGA) that the world as we know it has changed too much for the old paradigms of aid, trade and development to continue delivering for Africa.
“We are not likely to return to the familiar status quo ante. These shifts present Africa with obvious challenges, but they also contain opportunities for the continent to move forward and deliver better,” She said.
There is no softer way to break the news: either we find a way to make the Accra Reset deliver, or the “African Century” idea is toast.
by VICTOR AMADALA
