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Africa: Responsive Public Health Demands Patience and Focus

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“In 25 years, you should be irrelevant.”
With those words, Volante CEO Liz Jarman hushed the room at VillageReach’s 25th anniversary event.
The point was clear: if nonprofits are still needed to fill gaps in health systems decades from now, we’ve failed. While we can catalyze innovation and take risks, real success means governments and communities leading their own health futures without external support.
Another organization marking 25 years in 2025, the Gates Foundation, has gone further: setting an end date for all operations, 2045. They recognized that accelerated investment over a fixed horizon can drive change, but that an endpoint provides focus.
Durable health progress requires patience and a vision that extends beyond the next grant cycle.
Innovation That Lasts with Community Insights to Action
Public health crises, from Ebola to COVID-19, have revealed the high cost of quick fixes and fragmented investments. Too often, new pilots emerge with urgency, only to fade away due to a lack of integration into health systems. Innovations last when they respond to communities’ lived experiences and governments’ priorities. Responsiveness means not just chasing symptoms; it means building systems that can listen, adapt and endure.
The health system can only work for the people if it listens to them.
That’s the heart of the Community Insights to Action (CITA) approach. Instead of designing solutions from the top down, CITA begins by asking communities—especially those that are often overlooked—what matters most to them. Their answers shape how services are delivered, how policies are made and how programs are planned.
But it doesn’t stop there. CITA closes the loop by showing communities how their voices led to real change. That feedback builds trust, strengthens accountability and keeps the conversation going.
It’s not just a method; it’s a mindset shift that puts people at the center of the systems that serve them, and it is innovative by design. CITA ensures that health systems do not stagnate but are continually refreshed with new ideas and better ways of doing things, grounded in the realities of those who are most often excluded.
Why Responsiveness Matters Now
Responsiveness means that health care is available when and where it is needed, that it can adapt to shifting demands, absorb shocks and reflect the priorities of the people it serves. This matters more than ever at a time when health budgets are shrinking, donor contributions are unpredictable and governments must make hard choices about limited resources. It matters because inequities are widening, with those living farthest from health facilities, migrants and marginalized groups excluded from the health care gains of the last 50 years. And it matters because our systems face increasing shocks from pandemics, climate disasters and displacement that require flexibility rather than rigidity.
Yet the current financial environment pushes in the opposite direction. When funding reduces, horizons often shrink. Donors and governments alike can be tempted to prioritize projects that show fast results but have no path to sustainability. This leads to duplication of effort, wasted resources and initiatives that vanish when funding ends.
It is more important than ever to resist the trap of quick fixes and invest in approaches that last.
Practical Philosophy Rooted in the Hardest Places
VillageReach itself was founded in Mozambique in the aftermath of Cyclone Eline in 2000. From the beginning, its philosophy was to design for the lowest-resource settings first, because if it works there, it can work anywhere.
That founding principle still holds true today, especially in how we engage with communities most often left behind, including women without safe maternity care, rural families facing vaccine stockouts and young people cut off from reliable health information. From this starting point, CITA builds system responsiveness step by step: engaging deeply with communities, analyzing insights, translating them into system-level action, embedding them into government processes and closing the loop.
Over time, systems become not just stronger but more innovative. But this is not a quick fix.
No Shortcuts in System Design
We have found that complete system design through to closing the loop with communities takes longer than the 6–12 month time horizon of most programs. It takes time to reach marginalized groups in local languages and through trusted intermediaries. It takes time to move from feedback to transformation. It takes time to equip health workers and managers to lead and integrate their good practices into existing systems. And it takes time to return to communities to show how their input has shaped change.
This deliberate pace has clear payoffs. In Mozambique, when a nationwide vaccine stockout left many mothers anxious, the AlôVida hotline, where a CITA lens is being applied, became a lifeline. A WhatsApp innovation allowed women to ask questions, seek reassurance and demand answers. In the DRC, CITA data helped prioritize when and how to implement “special vaccination strategies” in hard-to-reach areas to improve uptake where it was most needed. Over the past five years, this community-driven Next Generation Supply Chain in the DRC has brought half of the country’s provinces from the bottom tier to among the best performers in vaccine availability. The progress was not the result of rushing but of steady, iterative improvements aligned with time-bound government priorities.
The lesson is that we must plan for decades, but within those horizons set milestones that compel progress.
Building to Last
Responsive systems reach those who have been previously left behind. They are more resilient because they can absorb shocks and maintain continuity. They are more trusted because people see their voices leading to action. And they are more innovative because feedback, action and accountability spark new ideas across the system.
In moments of uncertainty, the temptation is to prioritize speed. But the real need is for patience to embed responsiveness into core systems and build sustainable government ownership. Funders, governments and implementers must resist short-term thinking and commit instead to approaches that are routine, responsive, iterative and designed to last. By reducing duplication and building trust, we can deliver better results for every dollar invested.
The right question is not “how fast can we do it?” but “how well can we build it—and how soon can we begin?” Africa has the talent, the will and the innovations. What we—governments, funders and implementers—need now is the patience and focus to build health systems that endure.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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Africa: Land Is Africa's Best Hope for Climate Adaptation – It Must Be the Focus At COP30

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November 10, 2025

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Agriculture, forestry and other land uses together account for about 62% of Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, land degradation, deforestation and biodiversity loss are eroding Africa’s resilience.
But land – especially agriculture – has been on the margins of climate change initiatives. Even at the annual global climate change conference, land hasn’t featured much.
This is changing. In September 2025, Africa’s climate community met in Ethiopia, to agree on the continent’s climate priorities ahead of this year’s global climate conference, COP30. They agreed that land could be Africa’s most powerful tool in tackling climate change.
Much will depend on securing finance at COP30 for agroforestry, forest management and soil carbon restoration projects.
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Read more: Climate crisis is a daily reality for many African communities: how to try and protect them
I’ve been researching land for over 20 years. My research focuses on how to sustainably regenerate land, how community forest enterprises can combat deforestation, and how to rebuild forests as a way of combating climate change.
For this reason, I argue that COP30 must place land restoration and sustainable land management at the heart of the climate agenda. It should recognise that healthy soils, forests and ecosystems are not side issues to climate change. They are the very foundation of economic growth and making the world resilient to climate disasters.
Read more: Climate disasters are escalating: 6 ways South Africa’s G20 presidency can lead urgent action
This is especially critical for Africa, whose people and economies depend so heavily on the land. Agriculture alone, which is intrinsically tied to land, employs over two thirds of Africa’s labour force and typically accounts for 30%-40% of gross domestic product. Yet climate change disasters like prolonged droughts, rising temperatures and destructive floods are steadily eroding the land.
Millions of people in Africa could lose their farms, income, food, and future chances if COP30 does not recognise how land, nature, and climate change are all connected.
Why Africa must prioritise land and nature at COP30
Africa’s agriculture, the backbone of most economies on the continent, has been badly affected by more frequent droughts, floods and unpredictable rainfall. As a result, African countries sometimes lose an estimated 1%-2% of their gross domestic product in a year.
Over half of Africa’s population depends on crops that are fed only by rain. Therefore, extreme weather events hit the majority of Africans directly. At the same time, nearly half of the continent’s land area is degraded.
Read more: Indigenous knowledge systems can be useful tools in the G20’s climate change kit
This affects agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of around 500 million people.
Forest ecosystems such as the Congo Basin, the Guinean forests and Africa’s dryland forests are disappearing rapidly. This is already having devastating consequences for communities that rely on them for food, fuel and income.
Africa must negotiate climate finance with one voice
Adapting to climate change remains Africa’s most urgent priority. The good news is that African countries are already deploying land based actions (adaptation and using land to sequester carbon and reduce emissions) as a weapon against climate change. They are achieving this by expanding agroforestry, restoring wetlands and managing grasslands more sustainably.
This boosts soil health and increases the carbon stored in the ground. These projects are very useful in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting livelihoods and building resilience.
The September 2025 second Africa Climate Summit made the continental emphasis on land official. Its Addis Ababa declaration placed land and nature-based solutions at the centre of Africa’s climate agenda. This was a step forward from Africa’s 2023 climate summit declaration, which made only passing references to land.
Read more: African countries shouldn’t have to borrow money to fix climate damage they never caused – economist
What’s needed now is for Africa to unite and focus on three key climate change areas:
What Africa needs to do at COP30
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Read more: African countries gear up for major push on climate innovation, climate financing and climate change laws
Peter Akong Minang, Director Africa, CIFOR-ICRAF, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)
This article is republished from The Conversation Africa under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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Africa: African Union Commission Welcomes and Congratulates the Republic of South Africa As G20 Chair and Host

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November 10, 2025

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1. The African Union Commission (AUC) warmly expresses its support for the Republic of South Africa as G20 Chair and welcomes the country for hosting the G20 Summit in Africa for the first time. This milestone reflects South Africa’s growing role in global governance.
2. As the current Chair of the G20, South Africa has shown exceptional leadership in promoting the priorities of the Global South, advancing sustainable development, and strengthening inclusive global governance.
3. The Republic of South Africa is a vibrant democracy that upholds equality, human rights, and the rule of law. Its Constitution and policies reflect values aligned with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
4. South Africa is a nation rich in diversity, home to people of many races, cultures, languages, and faiths living together in unity. This inclusivity is a source of national strength and global admiration.
5. The African Union encourages all international partners to engage with South Africa and the wider African continent on the basis of mutual respect, truth, and constructive cooperation, supporting Africa’s continued contribution to global peace, development, and prosperity.
Read the original article on African Union.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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Africa: Governance Failures, Not Just Guns, Driving W/Africa's Growing Crises – Experts Warn

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November 10, 2025

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Abuja — Experts and peacebuilding stakeholders have raised the alarm that governance failures, weak state institutions, and exclusionary politics, not armed violence alone, are fuelling the wave of instability sweeping across West Africa.
They stressed that restoring lasting peace and security in the region will depend on inclusive governance, stronger regional collaboration, and community-driven solutions.
The warning came at the second edition of the West Africa Peace and Security Dialogue (WaPSED 2025), held in Abuja.
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The event was jointly organised by the Building Blocks for Peace (BBFORPEACE) Foundation, the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), the LAC-LAC Network of Niger Republic, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC) West Africa, and the Society for Peace and Practice.
Speaking at the opening session, Dr. Joseph Ochogwu, Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), said the region’s lingering challenges; from violent extremism and political instability to climate-induced conflicts, highlight the urgent need for inclusive dialogue and homegrown approaches.
“Sustainable peace in West Africa requires strong regional cooperation and locally driven strategies. We must strengthen our institutions, empower communities, and integrate peace education into national development frameworks,” Ochogwu said.
He urged participants to move beyond mere discussions and focus on practical strategies capable of transforming the region’s security and governance landscape.
Also speaking, Mr. Rafiu Adeniran Lawal, Executive Director of the Building Blocks for Peace Foundation and Regional Coordinator of GPPAC West Africa, said the dialogue was convened to explore solutions to the diverse threats undermining stability across the sub-region, ranging from banditry and insurgency to democratic decline and economic hardship.
“Across West Africa, we face persistent herder-farmer clashes, banditry, and insurgency which have disrupted livelihoods and deepened food insecurity.
“Beyond Nigeria, the resurgence of military takeovers in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea reflects a troubling democratic retreat and growing disillusionment with governance,” Lawal noted.
He explained that the 2025 Dialogue, themed ‘Reimagining Peace and Security in West Africa: Local Solutions, Regional Solidarity and Global Partnerships,’ was designed to promote community ownership of peace processes and strengthen collaboration among stakeholders.
“Our goal is to centre real actors and lived experiences. By harnessing local knowledge and regional solidarity, we can chart a new course that places people, not power, at the heart of peacebuilding,” he said.
Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Isaac Olawale Albert of the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies and the TETFund Centre of Excellence in Security Management, University of Ibadan, said the region’s insecurity is deeply rooted in poor governance, weak leadership, and the failure of states to meet citizens’ expectations.
“The problem is not just a lack of weapons to fight insurgents; it is the weakness of our governance systems. Corruption, poor coordination, and elite competition over state resources have created governance vacuums that non-state actors now exploit,” Prof. Albert said.
He argued that lasting solutions require a balanced approach that combines local innovation, regional solidarity, and international support to tackle governance gaps, inequality, and institutional decay.
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“Peace and security cannot be sustained by governments alone. They must be co-owned by citizens, institutions, and regional partners who share a common vision for stability,” he warned.
Prof. Albert also called on governments to prioritise institution-building, promote accountability, and invest in effective local governance structures capable of addressing community-level grievances.
The dialogue brought together policymakers, security experts, civil society organisations, academics, ECOWAS representatives, and members of the diplomatic community.
Participants agreed that rebuilding trust between governments and citizens, strengthening democracy, and promoting transparent governance are essential for lasting peace in the region.
Read the original article on Vanguard.
AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa – aggregating, producing and distributing 600 news and information items daily from over 110 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC.
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