Africa could add USD 316 billion to GDP by 2025 or 10 percent of current GDP if the countries work to progress and advance gender equality, according to a research on advancing women’s equality in Africa conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute in association with McKinsey & Company in Africa entitled the power of parity.
According to the research Africa’s progress towards gender equality is not moving fast enough and that this is potentially costing the continent in lost growth, but advancing women’s equality in Africa could deliver a significant growth.
The research finds that if every country were to match the progress toward gender, however, this is a distant possibility as progress towards gender parity appears to have stalled or even gone backwards on the continent.
As stated on the research, based on data obtained from 39 countries across Africa including Ethiopia on the way governments are leading in helping to advance gender equality, it will take 140 years for Africa to achieve parity at the current rate of progress.
The report stressed that a concerted and coordinated effort from all stakeholders is needed. “The public sector could do on the following five key areas for action to empower women and reinvigorate progress towards parity. Invest in human capital, create economic opportunities, leverage technology, shape attitudes, and enforce laws, policies, and regulations.”
“We believe that there is a real opportunity for governments in Africa to take the lead here. Creating pathways for African women in the workplace and in society to assume a more equal and fulfilling role is a major priority,” further reads the report.
Currently, women account for more than 50 percent of Africa’s combined population, but in 2018 they generated only 33 percent of the continent’s collective GDP.
The research shows that countries that have put deliberate strategies in place to advance gender equality have done well, for example, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and South Africa have clear targets for gender balance in their cabinets.
“In Africa, women are more active as economic agents in Africa than anywhere else in the world. They perform the majority of agricultural activities, own a third of all firms and in some countries, make up some 70 percent of employees according to African Development Bank report. They are central to the household economy and the welfare of their families, and they play a vital,” the report states.
However over and above their income-earning activities, yet across Africa women face an array of barriers to achieving their full potential, from restrictive cultural practices to discriminatory laws and highly segmented labor markets.
In related development, the annual Ring the bell event in Ethiopia was held at Addis Ababa Hilton hotel on March 13, 2020. Due to the corona virus spread the participants from abroad were not able to come to the event.
Report: It will take 140 years for Africa to achieve gender parity at the current rate of progress
Ethiopia ranked 114 out of 128 countries on rule of law
26th out of 31 in the Sub-Saharan Africa Region
The World Justice Project (WJP) released the WJP Rule of Law Index 2020, an annual report based on national surveys of more than 130,000 households and 4,000 legal practitioners and experts around the world.
The WJP Rule of Law Index measures rule of law performance in 128 countries and jurisdictions across eight primary factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice. The Index is the world’s leading source for original, independent data on the rule of law.
Ethiopia’s overall rule of law score decreased 5.6% in this year’s Index. At 114th place out of 128 countries and jurisdictions worldwide, Ethiopia improved six positions in global rank. Ethiopia’s score places it at 26 out of 31 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region and 16 out of 19 among low income countries.
Significant trends for Ethiopia included an improvement in the factors measuring Constraints on Government Powers, Open Government, and Fundamental Rights, and a deterioration in the factor measuring Order and Security.
Denmark, Norway, and Finland topped the WJP Rule of Law Index rankings in 2020. Venezuela, RB; Cambodia; and Democratic Republic of the Congo had the lowest overall rule of law scores—the same as in 2019.
More countries declined than improved in overall rule of law performance for a third year in a row, continuing a negative slide toward weakening and stagnating rule of law around the world. The majority of countries showing deteriorating rule of law in the 2020 Index also declined in the previous year, demonstrating a persistent downward trend. This was particularly pronounced in the Index factor measuring Constraints on Government Powers.
The declines were widespread and seen in all corners of the world. In every region, a majority of countries slipped backward or remained unchanged in their overall rule of law performance since the 2019 WJP Rule of Law Index.
Regionally, Sub-Saharan Africa’s top performer in the Index is Namibia (35th out of 128 countries globally), followed by Rwanda and Mauritius. The three countries with the lowest scores in the region were Mauritania, Cameroon, and Democratic Republic of the Congo (126th out of 128 countries globally).
Countries with the strongest improvement in rule of law were Ethiopia (5.6% increase in score, driven primarily by gains in Constraints on Government Powers and Fundamental Rights) and Malaysia (5.1%, driven primarily by gains in Constraints on Government Powers, Fundamental Rights, and Regulatory Enforcement).
The largest declines in the rule of law were seen in Cameroon (-4.4%, driven primarily by falling scores in Order and Security and Fundamental Rights) and Iran (-4.2%, driven primarily by falling scores in Criminal Justice). Over the last five years, countries experiencing the largest average annual percentage drop in the rule of law were Egypt (-4.6 %); Venezuela, RB (-3.9%); Cambodia (-3.0%); Philippines (-2.5%); Cameroon (-2.4%); Hungary (-2.1%); and Bosnia and Herzegovina (-2.1%).
The single biggest decline by factor over the past five years was Egypt’s and Poland’s score for Constraints on Government Powers, with an average annual decline of -8.5% and -6.8%, respectively.
“The rule of law is not just a matter for judges or lawyers,” said William H. Neukom, WJP founder and CEO. “It is the bedrock of communities of justice, opportunity, and peace. We are all stakeholders in the rule of law and therefore we all have a role to play in upholding it. The 2020 Index underscores that we have our work cut out for us.”
Ethiopian 737 MAX crash interim report questions Boeing training
In its second interim report published on March 9, 2020, a year after the disaster, Ethiopian investigators reinstated that it was the faulty MCAS design that caused the crash of flight ET302. They also qualified the training provided by Boeing as “inadequate”.
As it has already been determined in the initial report published in April 2019, a malfunction of the MCAS system was the main reason behind the crash. According to the investigators, that malfunction can be blamed on a faulty design: the reliance on the readings of a single angle of attack probe without redundancy “made it vulnerable to unwanted activation.”
“Shortly after liftoff, the left Angle of Attack sensor recorded value became erroneous,” recounts the report. The incorrect measurement triggered the MCAS system which automatically tried to push down the nose several times. The captain tried to fight back the system, requesting his first officer to help him (“Pull with me”), to no avail.
According to the report, the pilots of flight ET302 followed the procedures recommended by the manufacturer. Thus, the investigators say that their training was at fault. “The difference training from B737NG to B737 MAX provided by the manufacturer was found to be inadequate,” they said. “There was a deviation between the left and right recorded angle of attack /AoA/ values,” says the report.
The USA House Transport Committee report also accuses the Federal Aviation Administration for the approval of the planes and Boeing design failures.
On October 29, 2018, Indonesian carrier Lion Air operating flight 610 from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang, crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew. The conclusion echoes the final report of the Lion Air JT610 crash published on October 24, 2019, in which the Indonesian investigators also recommended for Boeing to review its documentation regarding the MAX.
Less than five months later, on March 10, 2019, in strikingly similar circumstances, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 another 737 MAX aircraft crashed six minutes after takeoff on a flight from Addis Ababa, to Nairobi, Kenya. The two brand new aircraft, derivative model, to crash within five months of each other and killed 346 peoples.
The Committee’s preliminary findings identify five central themes that affected the design, development, and certification of the 737 MAX and FAA’s oversight of Boeing which are Production Pressures, Faulty Assumptions, Culture of Concealment that Boeing withheld crucial information from the FAA, its customers, and 737 MAX pilots, Conflicted Representation FAA’s current oversight structure with respect to Boeing creates inherent conflicts of interest, Boeing’s Influence Over the FAA’s Oversight
Manuel von Ribbeck of Ribbeck Law Chartered, who represents around 80 families of both crashes and took the case to Chicago court, stated that “he is very pleased with the amount of attention and work the committee has done on behalf of the families and the public in general.”
The report recommended the issues must be addressed by both Boeing and the FAA in order to correct poor certification practices that have emerged, faulty analytical assumptions that have surfaced, notably insufficient transparency by Boeing, and inadequate oversight of Boeing by the FAA.
The final report of the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is reportedly “under progress”.
The FAA grounded the 737 MAX three days after the Ethiopian Airlines crash, following similar actions taken by China, the European Union, and Canada, among others and still grounded.
Insurance technology provider eyes the Ethiopian market
The Dallas, Texas based insurance technology provider, Beyontec with its Ethiopian partner, Moti Engineering discussed with potential customers to supply its services.
The company that has been in service for over 12 years is one of the leading global technology solutions providers for the insurance industry.
Vivek Sethia, CEO and Co-Founder of Beyontec told Capital that the company will provide modern technology for the insurance industry in the world because the founders and staff of the company are engaged in the insurance industry and they understand the gaps and solutions for the sector.
He said that the insurance industry in Ethiopia is one of the growing sectors that should be equipped with modern technologies to keep its growth and follow other countries standard.
“For the past five months the company staff was undertaken several meetings with Ethiopian insurers about the technology and discussed with regulatory body, National Bank of Ethiopia and other relevant government offices about the technology and its solution,” Vivek said adding, “we have got good feedback.”
During a conference held at Intercontinental Addis Hotel on March 11 the company with its Ethiopian partner gave demonstration about its service and experience of other countries that they uses Beyontec’s service.
Abdulhamid Mohammed, Managing Director of Moti Engineering, told Capital that the insurance sector is lagging using technologies than the banking industry.
According to Abdulhamid, his company has been at the back of most of the banks with their automation, while the insurance industry is far from that.
“They have to use a technology that is what we are now working with the well known US Company to improve the insurance companies IT system,” he said.
“Even though they are lagging behind, they have the late comer advantage since they will be equipped with the latest technology,” the Ethiopian partner added.
Hadush Hintsay, Secretary General of Ethiopian Insurance Association, said that such kind of technology is crucial for the sector development. He told Capital that the insurance business is growing by 15 percent every year and such kind of modern service will facilitate the service and also contribute to improve more.
Though the insurance sector is showing growth its contribution for the economy is very small compared with other countries that have similar economic status with Ethiopia.
Beyontec provide services in the US, Middle East and Africa.
Beyontec has been providing the technology edge needed to make insurance business more competitive. Beyontec Suite the core solution, accelerators, automation solutions, the platform solutions, and the Enterprise Cloud ecosystem model are helping global insurance companies bridge technology gaps, shift the value pools, and reinvent risk management in the digital economy.
