MILLIONS of people in the world suffer consequences of systematic violence in their countries, or between a country and another.
There are records and memories of watching the violence of some kind on the news or seeing it with our own eyes. Violence is the absence of peace. On the other hand, peace is not limited to absence of war, but it goes further to mean dignity and well-being for all.
Tanzania has, for a long time, defined itself and well-defined by others as a peaceful country, with tranquility that makes the base of conducting economic activities that have catapulted the nation to the middle-class economy status.
Following two decades of sustained growth, Tanzania reached an important milestone in July 2020, when it formally graduated to lower-middle-income country status. Due to its peace and tranquility, coupled with good governance, Tanzania has been host to thousands of refugees from warring countries.
It is against that background; Tanzania has been chosen to host the continental Human Capital Heads of State Summit for being a peaceful country and taking bold measures
in creating a productive human resource. The Summit which will convene on July 25-26, indicates that Tanzania is a country which runs its affairs peacefully. Reflecting on important issues concerning human capital agenda requires a conducive environment, coupled with peace and tranquility.
Tanzania boasts of those, thanks to the proper guidance and good leadership of President Samia Suluhu Hassan. Some of the benefits in countries that enjoy peace like ours are deeply related to growth, sustainability, health, and education. All these could be summarised with what is called 'the standard of life'.
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The Africa Human Capital Heads of State Summit comes in response to engagements with government focal points on the need to draw attention to the role of human capital in economic growth and elevate the discussion on the importance of investing in people.
The Summit will foster technical deliberation, share the latest knowledge on human capital, and conclude with concrete commitments and next steps from the participating Heads of State.
The overall theme of the Summit is linking investments in human capital to economic growth and harnessing the demographic dividend, by addressing learning poverty and the skills gap for youth and women.
The two-day summit will bring a bottom-up demand to human capital prioritisation and investments (via technical workshops in all Sub-Saharan countries) by discussing challenges and bottlenecks to human capital accumulation along with identification of priorities and drivers of growth. These workshops will be led by country Human Capital Focal Points. The outcomes of country-level workshops will be used to inform high-level Heads of State summit interventions.
We commend President Samia and the government generally for the trust the World Bank has on Tanzania to the point of requesting the country to host such an important meeting. Tanzanians should be proud of the status granted to them and move on. The Summit offers Tanzania yet another opportunity to be recognised. Kudos!
