Africa‘s economy, like other parts of the world, is adversely affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic, disrupting the day-to-day patterns of social and economic activities at all levels of the society. This enormous challenge has led to a dramatic loss of human life, production and distribution of food and fibre, accessibility to essential basic services at community, health sector as well as the work environment levels. To a large extent, the pandemic’s socio-economic disruption divested livelihoods of millions of dollars and threatened the continued existence of enterprises - with the small and growing businesses and the informal economy workers affected the most. The pandemic robbed many of their incomes/jobs and drove millions of people into extreme poverty. The closing of air and land borders, trade restrictions and confinement measures inhibited the normal business processes, limited production and distribution of basic and essential products and services.

One aspect that has become apparent is that the pandemic knows no borders, business is no longer as usual and that people regardless of their socioeconomic status must adapt to the new normal. We see clearly how nations, livelihoods, health, and safety are intrinsically and inevitably interconnected – highlighting the fact that the challenges we are facing cannot be dealt with in isolation. We see the need for everyone (rich and poor) and sectors (public, private, academia, civil society organisations) to unite in solidarity to save humanity and our planet. To defeat the fight against the common enemy and build back better, Member States of the United Nations are urged to work with major groups and other stakeholders in preparing and preventing such global health crises as well as closely collaborating towards the achievement of sustainable development goals. In the spirit of SDG 17 partnerships, it is also important to enhance MGoS engagement in voluntary national reviews processes to accelerate the decade of action and advance the implementation, follow ups and review of the 2030 and the Agenda 2063.

We noted that although the pandemic has presented enormous challenges at all levels of the society, it also presents tremendous opportunities for reaching the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063. The implementation of the Agenda 2030 will address most, if not all of the challenges the world is facing as the result of the current global crisis – this will provide a stable and prosperous life for every person and ensure the mantra of ―leaving no one behind‖ is achieved on the Africa continent. Advancing towards the realisation of the SDGs will also add greatly to the global solidarity initiatives aimed at building back from the current crisis and prepare the world to build back better and stronger as the COVID-19 continues to rage in the post-COVID-19 era.

The Corona virus outbreak challenges not only Africa but the world in general to provide rapid and strong responses from all actors including the Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS) and the pandemic has intensified the need for accelerated and united action for the Africa and the world we want. MGoS recognised its critical role and has since been actively contributing towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063. To achieve Agenda 2030, we firmly recognised the need to prioritize transformative pathways and genuine partnership to save lives and forge inclusive paths forward in ensuring no one is left behind.

To accelerate the realisation of the 2030 Agenda on the African continent, we believe that this requires international, regional, and national support; mobilisation of resources (financial, human, and institutional); technology transfer and innovation; experience sharing; and strong partnership between all stakeholders. Thus; ARMMGoS calls for a global, regional, and national commitment to:

1. Forge strong global partnership across all levels and sectors with strong political support at the highest level.
2. An inclusive process of sustainable development that impacts livelihoods, valuing and empowering local capacity, wisdom, culture and contextualizing/localizing action;
3. Improve accessibility dissemination of accurate information on COVID-19 to marginalized groups of the communities that live largely in remote areas to curb the spread of the virus
4. In response to the pandemic, government - diversification of resources should also recognize the need for key social sectors such as education, health, and gender, which if not adequately addressed and distributed would further restrict the civic space and curtail civil society activities
5. Empower local communities especially disadvantaged children, youth and women with education, training, knowledge, skills and access to rights and opportunities that would lead them to own sustainable development;
6. Prioritize socioeconomic advancement actions that is holistic, multi-sectoral and cross-disciplinary;
7. Ensure, in our actions, that all life — human, animal, and biosphere — thrives;
8. Make systems of support flexible and adaptable to meet complex and evolving situations and needs;
9. Inspire accountability and transparency, open access to information and data, and improve communication across sectors and actors;
10. Cooperate and collaborate across and within national borders, with all sectors and on all levels, to create long term solutions and resilience while still supporting immediate needs.