The continent of Africa is the second largest landmass in the
world and is home to a wealth of cultures, as well as policies
and strategies. Economic development varies widely across
Africa’s 54 sovereign nations. However, as a collective, Africa
is committed to implementing a vision for prosperity: the
African Union Agenda 2063.41 A common thread in African
cultural heritage is an orientation towards communities,
inclusivity, peace, conviviality and long-term partnerships.
This section describes engineering in Africa and its challenging
contexts and priorities in light of the SDGs. Africa has a young
population and faces an array of challenges in terms of inequality,
equity, service provision and justice. There are well-known
diƛiculties relating to the provision of universal health coverage
and .uality education, beneficiation from natural resources and
infrastructure, as well as a recognized need to create sustainable
cities and to develop a holistic response to disasters resulting
from the climate crisis, migration, pandemics or armed conÆict.
Indeed, appropriate solutions necessitate co-development. As the
Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip
Alston, noted in his report to the UN General Assembly, ‘to reduce
the harm caused by incorrect assumptions and mistaken design
choices […] systems should be co-designed by their intended
users and evaluated in a participatory manner’ (Alston, 2019).