ABSTRACT
Sub-Saharan Africa faces a litany of developmental challenges, not least its deteriorating environment and ecosystem, its faltering agricultural productivity, its heavy-handed state intervention, its inadequate foreign investment, its improper political governance, its limited public health programs, its narrow business partnerships, and its social strife. Long after the implementation of structural adjustment policies required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its strategic support of teetering African economies and the adoption of investment practices enunciated by both the World Bank and the European Union, those challenges are still far from abating. A statement issued at the conclusion of the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg, South Africa, August 26-September 4, 2002, underscored the enduring nature of those challenges: “Africa’s efforts to achieve sustainable development have been hindered by conflicts, insufficient investment, limited market access opportunities and supply side constraints, unsustainable debt burdens, historically declining ODA [official development assistance] levels, and the impact of HIV/AIDS.”
