Publications
Summary of publication
This Report summarises the progress of Australia's aid investments in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2015-2016, against objectives outlined in the Sub-Saharan African Aid Investment Plan 2015-19. These include: i) contributing to African leadership and human capacity in critical skills shortages through our Awards program; ii) enhancing agricultural productivity and food security; iii) providing life saving assistance through humanitarian support; and iv) empowering women and girls and gender equality outcomes.
In 2015-16, the Australian Government provided $117.2 million in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Sub-Saharan Africa. Good progress has been made in 2015-16, despite challenging economic and political contexts in many countries.
Key highlights during 2015-16 included:
- Ninety-eight per cent of Alumni surveyed in 2015 reported that they were applying their Award acquired learning to their job, demonstrating continued effective implementation of the Australia Awards program to Africa despite significant scaling down of planned activities over 2015-16.
- Australia's support to the Hunger Safety Net Program (HSNP) enabled 129,000 poor men and women in Kenya's four poorest counties to access regular cash transfers to build resilience and reduce vulnerability to shocks.
- Australia's support for the Zimbabwe window of the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) in 2015 contributed to an estimated 822,040 poor men and women increasing their incomes.
- Australia's humanitarian support to South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015 provided life-saving assistance to 731,000 vulnerable men, women and children.
- A regional Gender Action Plan was developed, supported by implementation plans for the seven Posts. We continued to advocate for all investments being informed by gender equality analysis.