Abstract:
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) offered an opportunity to the world
to address the problem of underdevelopment especially in the developing
countries. In order to realize these goals, governments around the world
came up with different strategies. Language however, did not appear on the
development strategies of many governments especially in Africa. This gave
rise to debate among scholars about the significance of language in the
realization of these goals. Whereas other continents like Europe were closer
to realizing the MDGs by the deadline of 2015, Sub-Saharan Africa still
lagged far behind. By the time the 8 MDGs expired in December 2015 and
were replaced with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), most African
countries were far from attaining the goals. This paper argues that in order to
attain the MDGs in Sub-Saharan Africa, languages of the Africa masses
needed to be part of the strategy. The paper further argues that in a region
that has a high linguistic diversity like Sub-Saharan Africa, local languages
had a significant role to play in the attainment of the MDGs. The paper calls
for the empowerment of languages of the African masses so as to effectively
involve the masses in development and eventual attainment of SDGs by the
set deadline of the year 2030.
Description:
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) offered an opportunity to the world
to address the problem of underdevelopment especially in the developing
countries. In order to realize these goals, governments around the world
came up with different strategies. Language however, did not appear on the
development strategies of many governments especially in Africa. This gave
rise to debate among scholars about the significance of language in the
realization of these goals. Whereas other continents like Europe were closer
to realizing the MDGs by the deadline of 2015, Sub-Saharan Africa still
lagged far behind. By the time the 8 MDGs expired in December 2015 and
were replaced with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), most African
countries were far from attaining the goals. This paper argues that in order to
attain the MDGs in Sub-Saharan Africa, languages of the Africa masses
needed to be part of the strategy. The paper further argues that in a region
that has a high linguistic diversity like Sub-Saharan Africa, local languages
had a significant role to play in the attainment of the MDGs. The paper calls
for the empowerment of languages of the African masses so as to effectively
involve the masses in development and eventual attainment of SDGs by the
set deadline of the year 2030.
