GRID-Arendal
Abstract: Policymakers,donors,development agencies and the private sector are currently exploring and promoting development models to help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and fulfil the needs of the growing African population while supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The continent of Africa possesses a vast wealth of opportunity with respect to natural and human resources,though how these are deployed is of particular importance in light of the challenges the continent faces. Ninety per cent of the world’s extremely poor and half of the world’s food-insecure people live in Africa. About 90 per cent of the Sub-Saharan workforce relies on informal,vulnerable employment,with insufficient access to water,health and education services. Circular Economy (CE) approaches present substantial opportunities for reconfiguration of economies,workforce,and resource use in Africa,where implementation of CE may be more feasible than in wealthier countries whose industrialization and infrastructure build-up over time has itself created path dependencies and lock-in.