Former Ethiopian PM urges Africa to build domestic capacity to accelerate SDGs progress
Addis Ababa, April 13, 2025 (FMC) — Ethiopia’s former Prime Minister and current Board Chair of AGRA, Hailemariam Dessalegn underlined that Africa must turn inward and strengthen its domestic capacity to close the growing gap in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At the opening of the Eleventh Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-11) on April 9, 2025, in Kampala, Uganda, Hailemariam delivered a key message.
Addressing delegates gathered at the Speke Resort Convention Centre in Kampala, ex-prime minister noted that the continent is clearly falling behind in meeting the 2030 targets—a reality that has been repeatedly confirmed in progress reports. “The figures are very clear,” he stated, “but we wanted to understand why this is happening.”
According to him, the root of the problem lies in two critical challenges: the lack of delivery capacity within African nations and the erosion of the international financing model outlined in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. He emphasized that Africa must stop depending on promises of external aid that have consistently failed to materialize.
“The notion was that SDGs would be financed—especially in developing countries, mostly in Africa—through Official Development Assistance (ODA),” he explained. “That basis has already been eroded. It doesn’t exist. The 0.7% GDP commitment by developed nations to finance the SDGs has never materialized, and hopefully, it will not.”
In light of this reality, Hailemariam urged African countries to shift their focus toward building domestic capacity to drive sustainable development. “We need to focus on our domestic capacity,” he said firmly, signaling a call for a new era of self-reliance, regional cooperation, and local innovation.
His remarks resonated with the forum’s overarching theme, “Driving job creation and economic growth through sustainable, inclusive, science and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.”
As the regional preparatory platform, the three-day forum, which concludes on Friday, April 11, 2025, plays a crucial role in finalizing Africa’s collective input to major global events, including the 2025 UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York and the Second World Summit on Social Development in November 2025—ensuring that Africa’s priorities and common positions are strongly articulated on the world stage.