A Pathway to Attain Sustainable Development in Africa

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Initiative for Sustainable Development in Africa (ISDAf) was conceived in 2020 to raise awareness of the need to engage local indigenous and descendent (LID) communities as equal partners in Strategic Environmental and Social Assessments (SESA) and Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) for development and conservation projects at the national and local level. The UNDP’s (2019) report on international migration explores the driving forces behind many Africans making the dangerous journey to Europe via smugglers. The study found that 90 percent of immigrants would take the same risks again given the chance to create a life in Europe; 77 percent said the primary reason they left their homes was because they had no opportunity to participate in their country’s government. The failure to adequately engage with LID communities often results in people being displaced and losing access to traditional medicines and foods when they do not have access to doctors, hospitals, or grocery stores. They also lose access to traditional sacred sites, burial grounds, and other cultural sites important to the community, leading to a loss of their self-identity and community cohesion. ISDAf’s initiatives in Africa illustrate the potential positive outcomes of working with LID communities as equal partners.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37947.0