Social investment challenges of health, education, housing, water supplies and sanitation are enormous and demand the creativity and partnership of all caring parties. Gender equality Since the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, the world better understands the need to free women to become equal participants in development. This is not just a matter of rights but of good economic sense. The world has learned expensively that it is cheaper and far more humane to prevent conflict than to fight a war. In the next twenty years we must learn how to prevent conflicts, as well as intervene in them.
Peace can no longer be just about peace making and peace keeping.
It is also about peace building. It is almost trite to ask what role the world's superpower has in propelling Africa to greater heights in the 21 st century. We know how much of the US is built on the blood, sweat and tears of Africa. The African Diaspora is now nearly 13 percent of this great nation. Europe, with different historical links to the continent, has long had a series of special trade and aid agreements with Africa which have helped us dramatically.