Africa

Year in Review: 2016 in 12 Charts (and a video)

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Between the social, political, and economic upheavals affecting our lives, and the violence and forced displacement making headlines, you’d be forgiven for feeling gloomy about 2016. A look at the data reveals some of the challenges we face but also the progress we’ve made toward a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future. Here are 12 charts that help tell the stories of the year.

1.The number of refugees in the world increased.

At the start of 2016, 65 million people had been forcibly displaced from their homes, up from 60 million the year before. More than 21 million were classified as refugees. Outside of Sub-Saharan Africa, most refugees live in cities and towns, where they seek safety, better access to services, and job opportunities. A recent report on the "Forcibly Displaced" offers a new perspective on the role of development in helping refugees, internally displaced persons and host communities, working together with humanitarian partners. Among the initiatives is new financial assistance for countries such as Lebanon and Jordan that host large numbers of refugees.

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© Andrea Borgarello for World Bank/TerrAfrica

We are all too aware that difficult times lie ahead for coastal communities.

Coastal erosion, especially in West Africa, has already displaced communities, with economic losses costing about 2.3% of GDP in Togo alone. In the past 60 years, sea temperatures in the Western Indian Ocean increased 0.6 C, triggering mass coral bleaching and deadly climate-related disasters across the region. The economic cost of the 1998 coral bleaching event to Zanzibar and Mombasa was in the tens of millions of dollars. The natural cost is still unknown.

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We humanize what is going on in the world and in ourselves only by speaking of it, and in the course of speaking of it we learn to be human. –Hannah Arendt

We all know that measuring poverty is critical to monitor progress and to tailor effective policy response. But what the numbers mask is the pain and suffering that people go through to make ends meet. Let’s take the case of South Sudan. The country has had a very tumultuous time, witnessing more than its share of a few crises between 2015 and 2016. The collapse of a fragile peace accord led to a renewed military confrontation while simultaneously international oil prices dropped, depriving South Sudan of its main source of foreign exchange. This triggered a severe fiscal and economic crisis, leading to sky rocketing prices as documented in our real time market price dashboard. Securing livelihoods has become more and more difficult with 66 percent of the population now living in poverty, a new peak.

The 66 percent number certainly summarizes the country’s poverty level, which is unquestionably useful for comparisons and analyses to inform policies and programs. However, what the number doesn’t reveal is the struggle that families go through daily. To capture this aspect and give a humane feel to an abstract poverty number, we have started collecting short video testimonials from people living in South Sudan as part of the High Frequency Survey:

Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT) — *Photo: Neil Palmer (CIAT)*

Development practitioners know secure land rights for women are important for the well-being of rural families, whether a woman is head of her household or lives in a household headed by a man. We know the research shows that such as:

Increases in food expenditures
Children less likely to be severely underweight
Improvements in child educational achievements
Increases in share of expenditures devoted to healthcare

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Artisanal fishermen and women anchor close to a Mauritian beach, where fish are heavily exploited. © Manoj Nawoor

African coastal countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) rely heavily on fishing and related employment, yet these livelihoods are all under threat due to declining fish stocks. Coastal erosion and shoreline habitat loss have taken a toll on poor coastal communities that are the most vulnerable to climate change while having contributed to the climate change problem the least. There are more storms, more floods and more droughts than ever previously recorded.

In many African countries, the ocean economy contributes one-quarter of all revenues and one-third of export revenues. And as coastal populations grow, overfishing, illegal fishing, pollution and unsustainable tourism degrade marine and coastal biodiversity and worsen poverty.

There are many stories about why children fail to enter, attend, or complete schooling, in places like Liberia. As a researcher with the Africa Gender Innovation Lab, I had the opportunity to examine this issue through an impact evaluation of the International Rescue Committee’s Sisters of Success (SOS) program, in Monrovia Liberia.

Our recently released baseline report depicts a different reality than many would expect. Data and findings come from households in Monrovia, Liberia, with 12-15 year old girls who registered for the SOS program. The extent to which our study results can reasonably represent the results one would expect for other girls in Greater Monrovia depends on how similar girls and households in the study sample are to a representative sample of Greater
Monrovia. Analysis, which can be found in the full report, suggests that they are in fact quite similar.

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Flower Hmong women, Bac Ha market, Vietnam. Photo: Tran Thi Hoa/World Bank

There are about 370 million Indigenous people in the world today, according to estimates. Present in over 90 countries, , and 1/3 of the rural poor. They live, own and occupy approximately one quarter of the world’s lands and waters which represents 80% of the world’s biodiversity. But research shows they are just as much urban as they are rural. According to a recently published report Indigenous Latin America in the Twenty-First Century, . Wherever they live, Indigenous Peoples face distinct pressures, including being among the poorest and most marginalized in their societies.

Where are these 370 million people, who are they, and why they are so overrepresented among the poor?

Only about 8% of the Indigenous Peoples around the world reside in Latin America, a far smaller number than most people surmise. On the other hand, over 75% live in China, South Asia and Southeast Asia, according to World Bank’s first global study of poverty among Indigenous Peoples across the developing world, Indigenous Peoples, Poverty, and Development.

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The latest development in the fight against HIV/AIDs in Africa wasn’t conceived in a lab with scores of scientists, but on a TV set with actors, makeup artists, directors and producers. What are we talking about? The MTV Staying Alive Foundation produced the entertainment education program MTV Shuga, a television drama that targets African youth. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o starred in the first two seasons of the show. The show is broadcast in over 70 countries, reaching over 750 million people worldwide.

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As a former country manager in Benin, my team and I advised the national administration on the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Project Law then under consideration and engaged in PPPs. This effort took place after the private sector, both domestic and international, made a strong commitment to finance large infrastructure programs. Timing is everything, of course, and the window for passing the legislation through parliament before legislative elections was tight – ultimately, too tight. A better understanding of PPPs and the options these partnerships can offer to a country like Benin, which needs substantial infrastructure investments, would have helped the process tremendously.

At the time, however, PPP educational options for French speakers were scarce. Although plenty of PPP resources exist in English, many fewer tools are available for Francophone African countries. These tools are critical to understanding PPPs, creating and adopting legislation, applying PPPs when they may serve a need, and knowing when not to use them to secure infrastructure services.

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Expansion of the Azito Thermal Power Plant in Côte d'Ivoire will improve access to electricity and help sustain the country's economic growth. © Cedric Favero/International Finance Corporation

An estimated 1.2 billion people — almost one in every five people in the world — are living in areas affected by conflict and fragility today. Some of these people are fleeing from war, while others have escaped natural disasters. Most are trying to earn a living in very challenging environments.

These are not abstract numbers — we are talking about real people, with real problems. Hence, we need to ask ourselves, in the public and private sectors, what strategies can help them.