From the MDGs to the SDGs: Africa at a crossroads

Decision-makers and a wide range of stakeholders from Africa will gather to discuss critical issues around the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). African countries have made significant progress on the MDGs, increasing the numbers of women in parliaments, reducing maternal, infant, and HIV-related deaths, and placing more children in primary schools than has ever been the case. However, the continent is also characterized by unequal access to social services, high unemployment, and vulnerability to shocks. As the world inaugurates the SDGs, participants will draw lessons and implications for the next 15 years. The event will conclude with the launch of “Assessing Progress Toward the Millennium Development Goals in Africa”, the last of a series of yearly reports co-published by the African Union (AU), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

What: High-level side event on the SDGs: Africa's perspective When: Monday, 28 September, 2015 at 10AM-1PM EST Where: Permanent Observer Mission of the AU to the UN - 305 east 47th street 5th floor 3 Dag Hammarskjold plaza Who: Akinwumi Adesina, President, AfDB Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson, AU Commission Ángel Gurría, Secretary-General, OECD H.E. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary, ECA, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa