Sustainable Transformation in Health, Education and Agriculture: How Africa Could Profit from Leapfrogging

African countries rank low in almost all development indicators. People in many parts of the continent face a preindustrial, agrarian lifestyle with low incomes, low education levels, and high fertility rates. Productivity in agriculture is too low to feed even today’s population. Hundreds of millions of residents do not have access to electrical power or safe drinking water. This leaves a number of countries in a trap of poverty and high population growth.
In order to raise living standards for its people, the continent cannot follow the road of development Europe or Asia have paved before. There is just not enough time for this procedure. In addition, Africa cannot afford to repeat the fatal errors the early industrialized countries have made during their development, which was accompanied by extensive use of fossil fuels and high greenhouse gas emissions or an agriculture that is extremely productive but causes soil erosion, biodiversity losses, groundwater pollution etc. Africa needs a fast, innovative and sustainable transformation.