There has been a gradual decline in democratic quality in Africa for the first time in almost a decade and the Middle East are not exempt. Recent declines in democracy have undermined some of the remarkable progress made in Africa and middle East over the past three decades, although bright spots remain. The Covid-19 pandemic, though seemingly less damaging to public health than elsewhere in the world, has added pressure on governance, rights and social inequality.

The AGR 2021 signals important ways Africa can harness incoming changes and direct the trajectory of national, regional and global governance, economic development, and environmentally sustainable practices. Furthermore, technological advances and evolving political economies have spurred a burst of interest in Africa’s futures.

Regional organisations (ROs) play a critical role in achieving the African Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063, the continent’s master plan for development. This report identifies the regional organizations in Africa and explore how they can help address the current and future development challenges facing the continent in realizing the objectives of the Agenda 2063.

The Climate Change Action Plan 2021–2025 aims to advance the climate change aspects of the WBG’s Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) approach, which pursues poverty eradication and shared prosperity with a sustainability lens. The new Action Plan represents a shift from efforts to “green” projects, to greening entire economies, and from focusing on inputs, to focusing on impacts.

The world remains placed between the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic and a seemingly accelerating pace of climate change, both of which identify the need for increased global cooperation and dialogue.

This report highlights the human rights and freedoms situation in Uganda 2020. It covers the following key thematic areas: assessment of human rights situation in the 2021 elections, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on Uganda; the plight of older persons in Uganda; mental health in Uganda and the human rights implications; the need for decriminalization of petty offences in Uganda and their human rights implications; the death penalty and its human rights implications; and cattle rustling in Karamoja sub-region and its human rights implications.

Its 15 years since the previous debt reliefs were undertaken by the international community. Following the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many African countries have either recently defaulted on their public debt, or subscribed to the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) put in place by official lenders in 2020. Alternatively, other African countries are making progress toward a possible restructuring of their debt under the auspices of the G20 and of the Paris Club, but also of so-called “emerging” and private creditors.

The importance of statistical information for evidence-based public policy preparation, planning, decision-making, monitoring, evaluation and reporting on development progress cannot be emphasized enough. To that effect, provision of reliable data for the region constitutes part of the rationale for the formulation of the IGAD Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics (IRSDS).