The language factor in the attainment of millennium development goals: the case of multilingual sub-Saharan Africa

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.