Addis Ababa, February 21, 2022(Walta) – The Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-8) will be held in Kigali, Rwanda on March 3 – 5, under the theme, Building forward better: A green, inclusive and resilient Africa poised to achieve the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.
The theme is aligned with the 2022 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) on Building back better from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The ARFSD-8 is organized by the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and the government of Rwanda in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and other entities of the United Nations System.
According to ECA, the forum will bring together African Ministers, senior officials, high-level policymakers and experts from ministries and agencies, and practitioners from UN member States, the private sector, civil society, academia, and UN organizations.
The ARFSD-8 will conduct a regional follow-up and review of the implementation of the selected SDGs and Agenda 2063 goals.
It will also focus on identifying ambitious strategies and policy actions to build back better from COVID-19 and to dramatically scale up implementation in 2021-2030.
The Forum will be preceded on March 1st and 2nd by the Africa Regional Collaborative Platform (RCP) of UN agencies operating in the region; the third Africa Regional Forum on Science and Technology; the capacity development workshop on Voluntary National Reviews and Voluntary Local Reviews; and Africa Regional Preparatory workshop for Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGS).
Unique to Africa, the ARFSD will undertake an integrated follow-up and review of the SDGs and goals of the African Union Agenda 2063. This is because, for Africa, the two Agenda provide a synergistic framework for achieving inclusive and people-centered sustainable development in the region.