Africa Day, historically known mainly as the Day of African countries’ liberation, is set on the anniversary date of the founding of the African Union (25 May 1963). It is celebrated not only on the African continent but around the world. In Slovakia, we commemorate this day with positive examples—development cooperation projects of Ambrela’s member organizations.
On the occasion of Africa Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his message said that the coronavirus pandemic could significantly slow the progress that would have allowed African countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (so-called SDGs), as well as the development goals set out in the African Union Agenda.
In addition, this year elections were due to be held in roughly twenty African countries. However, these are likely to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which, according to the UN Secretary-General, could have significant consequences for stability and peace in the republics.
It should be expected that political actors will engage in sensible and inclusive political dialogue in order to ease pre-election tensions and promote democratic practices.
In its Medium-term Development Cooperation Strategy for 2019–23, Slovakia identified eight new partner countries in East Sub-Saharan Africa (specifically: Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda). According to UN classification, they belong among the least developed countries in the world, and Slovakia will apply, in its support and assistance, experience gained from its previous successful development cooperation with Kenya. It is there that Ambrela members have already carried out dozens of successful projects.
Slovak non-governmental organizations have been implementing development projects on the African continent since the mid-1990s, focusing mainly on healthcare, education, rural development and agriculture. Slovak development cooperation in Africa intensified even more after 2003, when the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation (SAMRS) was established. The SlovakAid donor logo can be seen on many successful healthcare, agricultural and educational projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Even today, member organizations of the Ambrela Platform of Development Organizations are present on the African continent, where they try through their intervention to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and provide field support—whether by distributing food packages, disinfectants, face masks, or awareness materials to needy families, or by directly treating sick people. This includes member organizations such as: Nadácia Integra in Kenya and Ethiopia, eRko also in Kenya and Ethiopia, VŠ sv. Alžbety in Kenya and Lesothe, Slovak Catholic Charity in Rwanda and Uganda, Človek v ohrození in Kenya, SAVIO also in Kenya, MAGNA in South Sudan, and others).
Although migration between continents, that is, from Africa to Europe, is more widely publicized, the much more serious and larger-scale one is precisely the intra-continental one—directly within the African continent. For this reason, Ambrela itself also implements the European project ‘Global Goals and Migration’, in which it tries through concrete stories of the faces of migration and the development projects of its members to point to the causes of forced migration, as well as to the solutions that mitigate it. Supporting positive examples from the field from Slovak development organizations is the best way to remember today’s Africa Day. You can also experience unique African culture from the comfort of your home at the three-day online festival by Ambrela member organization PDCS this weekend as part of the event 'Dni Afriky online'.
Text: Boba Markovič Baluchová, Photo: Ambrela members’ archive www.ambrela.org