INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE ON AFRICAN INFORMAL SECTOR TO DESIGN SUPPORT PROGRAMME
Press Release
DEV/2109
INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE ON AFRICAN INFORMAL SECTOR TO DESIGN SUPPORT PROGRAMME
19960418 Developing a framework to galvanize international efforts in support of Africa's burgeoning informal sector is the task of 31 development experts scheduled to gather at Headquarters in New York from 23-26 April. The meeting of the International Task Force on the Development of Africa's Informal Sector will design a special programme of support for the sector and decide how to put it into practice.Recent estimates indicate that the informal sector will generate 93 per cent of the continent's new employment opportunities in the 1990s. Women predominate in the sector, carrying out 75 per cent of informal trade, 60 to 80 per cent of food production and up to 80 per cent of food-processing in some countries.
The task force was established as a result of the June 1995 high-level international workshop on Africa's informal sector. In its first meeting last November, the task force finalized an outline programme of support covering eight priority areas for action, including an enabling environment, infrastructure support, finance and credit, entrepreneurship development and appropriate technology.
In addition, experts from the task force were assigned to study these priority areas, identify challenges and then develop strategies and goals for them. Their findings will be presented at the 23-26 April meeting.
A third meeting of the task force is scheduled for November. After finalizing the programme of support, the task force will focus on sensitizing African governments to the needs of the informal sector and on mobilizing international support.
The task force meeting, to be held in Conference Room 8, will be attended by representatives of the United Nations system organizations, donor agencies, and African and non-African governmental organizations.
Among those scheduled to participate in the meeting are M.M. Awny, Director General of the Social Fund of Egypt; Enos S. Bukuku, Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania; Robert Young, Policy Adviser to the United States Agency for International Development; Lucia Quachey, President of Ghana's Association of Women in Development; Victor- Emmanuel Djomatchoua-Toko, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Organization of African Unity to the United Nations; Solomon Bakoto, Countryside Development Foundation for Sustainable Development, Cameroon; and J.S. Juneja, Global Projects and Services Ltd., India. * *** *