Dear ~Contact.FirstName~,

Africa’s priorities for the year ahead were discussed in the recent Foresight Africa report by the Brookings Institution‘s Africa Growth Initiative. In 2016, African countries will have to react to many changes and challenges coming from outside the continent such as shifting dynamics in the global economy; potential adverse effects of China’s and other emerging economies’ economic slowdown; and decreasing commodity prices, all of which will require mitigation and policy reform. 

Last week AIDF hosted inaugural Africa Summit at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The two day summit attracted over 300 participants representing NGOs, UN agencies, donors, governments and the private sector. The topics discussed included mobile innovations, procurement, finance, humanitarian logistics, health & WASH and improving livelihoods of displaced people. Look out for event reports and presentations that will be available on the AIDF website later this week.

As a snapshot of the latter topic, we’d like to bring to your attention AIDF infographic on refugees in Sub-Saharan Africa. Out of 3 million people fleeing from drought, flood, famine and conflicts in countries including South Sudan, Somalia and the Central African Republic only 15,000 were resettled. This highlights the need for organisations to introduce effective approaches to camp management and innovations to address the refugee crisis. It is worthwhile to mention that East Africa delivers the fastest growth in mobile usage rates globally. The mobile penetration rate in the region was 39% competing with the global average of 50%. More details in the infographic below.

Kind regards,
AIDF Team