China’s Global Development Initiative: A Viable Alternative for Ghana

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By: Alexander Ayertey Odonkor

In a virtual address at the general debate of the 76^th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021, Chinese president Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) to support the timely achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Focused on eight priority areas, namely poverty alleviation, financing for development, food security, climate change and green development, pandemic response and vaccines, industrialization, digital economy and connectivity, the GDI seeks to replenish and accelerate decades of hard-earned progress (for all 17 UN SDGs) wiped-out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To achieve this daunting goal, China, through the GDI is strengthening global development partnerships, and promoting stronger, greener and healthier global development, a timely action, especially for developing countries, as they struggle to recover from the brutal impact of COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which have disrupted global supply chains. So far, more than 100 countries and international organizations support the GDI, and over 50 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI at the United Nations.

Considering the devastating impact of the COVID-19 on Africa’s socioeconomic landscape, slowing the region’s growth and reversing years of progress made towards achieving the UN SDGs of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, in fact, the introduction of the GDI by president Xi Jinping  is undoubtedly, timely, presenting a window of opportunity for African countries to recover strongly, especially for Ghana, which used to be one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies – between 2012 and 2021 Ghana’s real GDP averaged 5.2 percent and GDP per capita grew at an average of 2.3 percent – unfortunately, the impact of COVID-19 has constrained economic growth, posing significant setbacks to all the 17 UN SDGs. 

With growth expected to further decline to 1.6 percent in 2023 and remain muted in 2024, accelerating unemployment, derailing poverty reduction goals and stalling progress of other UN SDGs – it is imperative for the government to adopt varied potent approaches to address the economic downturn, which has impeded development  and eschew putting all the eggs in one basket. At present, an IMF programme for Ghana, has gained traction, seems to be the panacea to the country’s economic woes but this arrangement has been tried severally. In fact, Ghana has spent 22 of the past 35 years under the IMF’s supervision – a worrying trend, which could end if Ghana varies its approach in addressing deep-rooted challenges pertaining to socioeconomic development.

For example, active participation in the GDI programmes, positions Ghana on a new and high-quality socioeconomic development trajectory, characterized by six core principles; staying committed to development, staying committed to a people-centered approach, staying committed to innovation-driven development, staying committed to harmony between human and nature, staying committed to benefits for all to leave no country and no one behind and staying committed to results-oriented actions. With these unique guiding principles, Ghana’s active participation in the GDI programmes has the tendency to restore social, economic and environmental gains lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict and accelerate progress for the UN SDGs.

With experience sharing, capacity building and practical cooperation, and focus on the central task of implementing the 2030 Agenda being some of the hallmarks of the GDI, Ghana could benefit enormously from invaluable contributions from member countries, particularly China. For example, to restore Ghana’s lost progress and accelerate efforts to achieve SDG 1 (end poverty in all its forms everywhere), which  sadly, is on an upward trend over the last 4 years, Ghana could draw vital and recent lessons from China, which achieved this goal at the end of 2020, exactly 10 years ahead of the UN SDGs time frame. A recent (2022) report from the World Bank shows that over the past four decades China has successfully lifted nearly 800 million people from poverty, the largest in human history – a remarkable achievement which undoubtedly offers key lessons to unlock Ghana’s full socioeconomic potential to eradicate poverty in all its forms across the length and breadth of the country.

Again, through the GDI, which prioritizes development financing and innovation-driven development, Ghana could scale up value-addition, clean energy production, agriculture modernization, enhance environmental protection, increase digital connectivity and drive sustainable industrialization, all of which are central to improving food and water security, fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth, improving access to quality healthcare and education and mitigating inequality. Over the past three years, Ghana’s ranking on the Global Innovation Index (GII), has seen little progress – placing 108^th, 112^th and 95^th in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively, out of 132 countries.

Considering the positive impact of innovation on development, Ghana will have to accelerate its innovation capacity to drive social, environmental and economic gains to achieve the UN SDGs. Fortunately, through practical cooperation with GDI member countries and international organizations, Ghana could tap into vast experiences and capacity build strategies to drive innovation for development. For example, Ghana could enhance its innovation capacity via essential lessons, technical and financial support from China, which moved from 43^rd in 2010 to 11^th position on the GII 2022 rankings – pursuing innovation-driven development. In conclusion, through the GDI, Ghana will be equipped with the needed tool set to effectively accelerate social, economic and environmental progress to achieve the UN SDGs.