The African alternative: putting the people first

Abstract

This paper compiles contributions by Adebayo Adedeji, then United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), to the International Conference on Popular Participation in the Recovery and Development Process in Africa (Arusha, Tanzania, February 1990). The conference sought to shift Africa’s development paradigm from top-down, state-centric approaches to one centered on grassroots participation, democratization, and human-centered growth. Adedeji critiques the marginalization of African populations in development processes, attributing persistent crises to authoritarian governance, external dependency, and failed structural adjustment programs (SAPs). He advocates for an African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes (AAF-SAP), emphasizing self-reliance, equitable resource distribution, and popular sovereignty.