ABSTRACT
There was both a great fanfare and hopeful exuberance when the United Nations endorsed the millennium development goals (MDGs) on the dawn of the third millennium, and also launched the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the second decade of the current millennium. Both the MDGs and SDGs, now also 'global goals' have significant implications for global development, particularly in the case of African countries. African governments must meet their commitments if they are serious about delivering the promise of Article 10 of the UN's Declaration on the Right to Development to all their citizens by 2030. Africa's transformation agenda will require both sufficient and necessary conditions for successful outcomes. A key requirement is the multilevel political dimensions of the development agenda. As Africa tries to seize the twenty-first century, and crystallize the Africa Rising narrative, it faces a globe confronted with multiple crises, climate change, crime and security, leadership malaise, natural resource governance, youth unemployment.
