African Heads of State, during the January 2011 African Union Summit, recognised the challenges faced by rural communities and called for an integrated development initiative to promote rural transformation. Rural development is essential for a more inclusive social and economic transformation of the African continent. The AU has put in place developmental frameworks such as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which go a long way towards this end. Furthermore, the Rural Development Policy Framework goes beyond individual sectors to include linkages between the agriculture and nonagriculture economic sectors; it also makes a link with the urban-industrial sector so that overall, all development is driven by one economy, as opposed to the dual economy approach that prevails currently. The AU Agenda 2063 provides clear and strategic direction in addressing Africa’s fractured process of structural transformation, and aligns it with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Africa is the only region in the world in which accelerated urbanisation is driven by rural poverty, and is not accompanied by a corresponding acceleration in urban manufacturing and industry. Urbanisation in Africa is driven by better services in cities, not by jobs. This has to change, given the fact that the rural population will continue to grow.
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