Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to contribute to this critical study on Canada's approach to Africa.
Food for the Hungry, including our FH Canada affiliate, has been working in Africa for four decades. We design, develop and deliver catalytic solutions that build resilience so that children, families and community can flourish. We do so through community-led development to provide health, water, education and food security solutions, with gender and environment as cross-cutting themes.
Much of the testimony that you already heard has outlined the significant opportunities on the continent, from the Africa free trade agreement and forecast that 12 of the 20 fastest-growing economies in 2024 will be from Africa, to the youth bulge who will contribute to tomorrow's global and regional workforce, and to the natural wealth that can power a just transition to renewable energy. At the same time, you heard about the converging risks and compounding crises facing the continent, from climate change and worsening disasters to economic shocks and high debt distress, rising instability and conflict, the spectre of future pandemics and epidemics, and deepening poverty. The success of Canada's approach to Africa will hinge on our ability to navigate these complex risks and crises in pursuit of advancing African and Canadian interests.
As surprising as it may sound, the development community has lacked effective assessments and strategic approaches to determine how to achieve peace and development objectives in the face of overlapping risks and crises, and their root causes. Therefore, as you work to define Canada's approach to Africa, our first recommendation is that the committee affirm the fundamental need for a risk and resilience framework, such as the one used by the OECD, to help establish the scope and substance of interventions necessary to support Africa and advance Canadian interests in the face of adverse conditions. This resilience framework should guide Canadian government action to identify complex risks and crises and their root causes; assess the exposure and vulnerabilities presented by these risks and crises to specific sectors, institutions, markets, groups and communities that Canada will prioritize as an outcome of both this study and ongoing work by Global Affairs Canada; and find the entry points within these communities, sectors and markets in order to strengthen resilience through a Canadian whole-of-government approach.
Various studies by the World Bank, the Overseas Development Institute and the UN have found that resilience is central to achieving long-term growth, sustainable poverty escapes and conflict prevention. We've seen positive momentum from Global Affairs Canada to support resilience in several sectors. Canada's feminist foreign policy also presents an opportunity to focus on the resilience of women and girls to a range of shocks and stress.
Given the evidence and importance of resilience in this age of crises, at Food for the Hungry we have recently developed a new evidence-based global program model that is rooted in resilience, which we are currently piloting in Africa and other regions. Together with our peers in Cooperation Canada's food security policy group, we have made recommendations for Global Affairs Canada to support gender-responsive and resilient food systems, which Africa desperately needs in the face of worsening droughts, desertification and other extreme weather events. Canadian NGOs are ready to partner with Canada to advance a multi-sector resilience agenda across Africa. These efforts should take place within a broader co-operation approach among like-minded partners for greater leverage and support.
To this end, our second recommendation is for the increased use and investment in so-called “country platforms” across a range of African countries. Country platforms have gone by different names over the past two decades, but are among the least visible and under-examined mechanisms in development practice. Emerging evidence from Liberia, Somalia, Niger and Rwanda have shown the importance and potential of these platforms to do three things: convene governments, societal stakeholders and like-minded international partners on development; promote mutual accountability between actors; and solve collective action problems, including in times of crisis. The OECD, UN and MDBs have all variously committed to support country platforms. Canada has been the lead donor in support of Mozambique's country platform.
In conclusion, we believe that if Canada adopts a more strategic resilience framework to guide its role in Africa, and if it supports greater collective action, dialogue and mutual accountability between actors, these efforts can exponentially help to support Canada's own understanding of regional developments and opportunities, rally and leverage support from governments and other partners, and help deliver on Canadian national interests in the face of compelling opportunities, but also risks, crises, and uncertainties.
Thank you very much.