The Hopeless Continent

Growing up here in Africa, I realized many people round the globe, including Africans had accepted the perspective that, Africa is a poor continent, a domain people pity. This perception was well-rooted, to the extent that the Economist published an Article in 2000, dubbing Africa as ‘The Hopeless Continent’. Over time this perception and ideology changed. Now something that seemed impossible is occurring, the ‘Hopeless’ continent is now seen as a ‘Hopeful’ continent. This transformation has been named ‘Africa Rising’, describing the rapid economic growth (in GDP) of Africa. Many have argued this Rising is two-faced because it only focuses on economic growth, while countries are performing poorly on economic development defined as the process

In this year’s Africa’s Transformation forum in Kigali, it was stated “Almost half of the 10 million graduates churned out of the over 668 universities in Africa yearly do not get jobs,” so with Africa’s youth population growing significantly, hopefully to increase by 45% by 2030, imagine the increasing number with no jobs and even more, meaning low income, resulting in poverty. Also, this can be considered as a waste of Africa’s greatest resource, hence Africa is working way below it’s production possibility.

The African rising narrative suggests, that Africa is growing, and is basing this growth mainly on statistical figures like the GDP, however this is not an adequate measure because they are developmental problems like poor access to health facilities, poverty , income inequality and high unemployment levels. I believe for Africa to really rise we must focus on economic development whiles experiencing our economic growth. Lastly, we must find our identity and learn to take ownership of what we own, in order to unleash our fullest