Background

The “Africa’s progress towards achieving SDG 9: policies to accelerate Africa’s achievement” (virtual event) will be organized by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a side event of the Ninth Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development 2023 (ARFSD 9) held in Niamey, Niger from 27 February to 2 March 2023, under the theme of “Accelerating the inclusive and green recovery from multiple crises and the integrated and full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063”. 

Objective

The objective of this side event is to present Africa’s progress towards SDG 9 (Industry) and facilitate knowledge and experience sharing in national policies and innovative solutions, especially in the area of skills development and SMEs growth, that could contribute to accelerate progress towards SDG 9. 

Rationale

This side event is a unique window of opportunity for both the ARFSD 9 and UNIDO. The ARFSD 9 for 2023 will carry out an in-depth review of five selected SDGs (including SDG 9) and corresponding goals of Agenda 2063. UNIDO, as the custodian agency for six industry-related indicators under SDG 9 adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017 (A/RES/71/313), is mandated to report and collect data on these indicators. Therefore, UNIDO is in an advantageous position to organize the side event (SDG 9 Industry focus), as it can draw on data from and collaborate closely with other UN agencies, such as the ILO (employment) and the IEA (energy use and CO2 emissions), as well as experiences from Governments across the continents and industrial firms of different characteristics. Furthermore, the objective of this side event is aligned with UNIDO’s mandate and includes “Strengthening knowledge and institutions” among its strategic priorities, including skills development and SMEs growth. The side event aims at complementing UNIDO’s existing work with a stronger focus on reinforcing the knowledge base for sustainable industrial development at the project, programme, country, and international level, as well as the institutional capacity at the technical, policy, and normative level.