The United Nations and the African Union have intensified efforts to align the African Union’s Agenda 2063 with the UN Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030.

Botho Bayendi, director of the office of strategic planning and delivery at the AU Commission, said this in a statement by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Ms Bayendi said the initiative, ‘Two Agendas, One Framework’, aimed to harmonise Africa’s long-term development plan with global SDGs for more effective implementation at national levels.

She spoke on the sidelines of the ongoing 11th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, which commenced on April 7 and is expected to end on April 12 in Addis Ababa.

Ms Bayendi said that realities on the ground demanded increased cooperation between the UN and the AU as both institutions target the same development indicators.

Similarly, Said Adejumobi, director of strategic planning, oversight and results division at UNECA, said Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030 had an 80 per cent convergence rate, necessitating joint efforts for effective implementation.

Mr Adejumobi added that the UN system, through its resident coordinators in every African country, would drive national-level implementation of the STYIP in line with the ‘Two Agendas, One Framework’ approach.

Yacoub El-Hillo, regional director of the UN Development Coordination Office, praised the AU-UN collaboration.

He cited the key achievement of the ‘College-to-College’ strategic approach, a joint coordination mechanism in peace, security, development, and humanitarian sectors.

According to Mr El-Hillo, the partnership holds significant promise for the continent’s 1.5 billion people, reinforcing the need for unified action.

In his remarks, Maes Ennio of Côte d’Ivoire, representing Agenda 2063 Champion Alhassan Ouattara, said the synergy between the UN and AU could form the basis for Africa’s transformation.

“The 2018 memorandum of understanding signed between UN Secretary-General António Guterres and AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat remains a cornerstone of the joint efforts toward harmonising Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030.

“This side event also aims to facilitate the integration of STYIP priorities into the UN Country Teams’ Common Country Analyses and Cooperation Frameworks. This will further ensure alignment of national development plans with both agendas,” he said.

The meeting brought together all UN resident coordinators across Africa and key development partners.

It was jointly organised by the AUC, UNECA, United Nations Development Programme, AUDA-NEPAD, and the UN Development Coordination Office under the Technical Working Group for the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan.

The STYIP outlines Africa’s development vision from 2024 to 2033 and is designed to align with the UN’s global development goals as part of efforts to harmonise national development plans across member states. 

(NAN)