SDG LINKAGES AND EQUITABLE ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION IN AFRICA

A two-fold innovation would seem to make up the essence of Agenda 2030. This consists, on the one
hand, of the inter-linkage between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), based in the widely
acknowledged belief that success in one sphere is linked to–possibly even conditioned upon–the success
in other areas. In this regard, the SDGs speak to a system-wide approach to addressing challenges that
had hitherto been conceptualised and dealt with on their own, as if in their own silos. On the other hand,

both on their own terms and in their inter-linkage, the SDG goals presuppose a fundamental re-
organisation of the basic structure of economies and their internal dynamics as well as their interface with

the global political economy. In Africa, this is spelt out more fully in the continent's own Agenda 2063.
Across Africa, a number of national and continent-wide initiatives continue to emerge that reflect this
innovative dimension of Agenda 2030, which, with the appropriate policy and other necessary conditions,
have the potential for a far-reaching realisation of the SDGs.
A national example are two current inter-related initiatives in Ghana by which the government seeks to
break the economy's mould of primary commodity export- (and related manufactured import-)
dependence, promote domestic industry, improve agriculture and the rural economy and create jobs. This
paper briefly describes these initiatives and the kind of national and international policies that could serve
as drivers for the kind of inclusive, equitable socio-economic transformation that animates Agenda 2030.