Championing the SDGs in Africa’s EMs Judicial System, from top to bottom and Repeat. Pt. 2

Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due. — Domitus Ulpian

In my last article, I set course on a very adventurous path that now looking in the rearview, you would think, I’ve geared away from Championing The SDGs: Africa’s Emerging Markets’ COVID-19 Recession Cure, I will un-blur that by stating, that it’s no fun to see the landscape — the grass, hills, trees, skies, and the sun — and miss the symmetric relationship and interdependence of its elements

I will avoid going philosophic, to say “the whole is better than the sum of its parts”, The sum being the SDGs itself, and the parts being the 17 Goals. Yet, we see presently that the awareness of some of the goals is more than the awareness of their whole. An example is Goal 13, Climate Action, which supports that all nations must work together to help mitigate and adapt to Climate Change and its impact for the benefit of people everywhere, has taken precedence in the media from 2015 till date.

While the second will be Goal 5, Goal 5, Gender Equality, which is directed at solving the disadvantage conditions of women and girls worldwide, ending all violence against women and girls, to recognizing and valuing women’s work at home. While, the internet is accelerating Goal 4, Quality Education, which is focused on providing education for all, starting from an early age.

More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations. — Kofi Annan

For me, no matter what goals win the popularity contest, it will do more huffing and puffing, than biting, when there is no incentive for complying in behaviors and actions that promote the goals, nor are there risks or liabilities for not complying engaging in supporting behaviors and actions. The SDG that solves this is Goal 16, Peace and Justice Strong Institutions, with the aims from ending all forms of violence, equal access to justice and legal information for all, to combating crime and corruption.

The SDGs Is not Generic to Every Sovereign

The above paragraph forces me to add that to me, The SDGs serves as a Win-win, where developed nations have the Win, and developing nations have the win. Because developed nations, G7 and G20 nations have the foundational systems and have undergone the historical evolution that foster and accelerate the fulfillment of the SDGs. While developing nations neither have the foundational systems nor the historical evolution required to foster and accelerate realizing the SDGs in their nations.

Furthermore, I believe the number of certain Goals will differ for certain nations, as all nations are in different phases in their evolution. Or, better still, some of the G7 and G20 nations have solved and fulfilled some of the Goals for their citizens. Examples are the Nordic nations who always top 20 in the Human Capital Index, HCI. For such nations, Goal 1, No Poverty, will be a win for them. But, Goal 15 and Goal 12, Life on Land and Responsible Consumption and Production, will be Wins for them.

Popularity has become its own justification. — Jonathan Franzen

Thus, allow me to point out that the above paragraph points out one of the major flaws of the SDGs, it means different things to all UN nations, to the G7 and G20 countries, causing different motivations to present world leaders. With that said, it is no error in my part to also add that the SDGs is not the elixir to solving Africa’s development opportunity maximization, but rather, the most robust framework to solve Africa development opportunity maximization — I choose to call what others call ‘Africa’s problem’ Africa’s development opportunity maximization.

“If the continent were a business, we will be talking back to basics “ — Andy Zelleke

Before we go right into solving this sequel’s promise, allow me to add that the SDGs will be nothing but an educative initiative in Africa than a development initiative. Because in the present Knowledge Economy of our world Data is the oil to this economy. And presently, Africa just began collating and storing the required data to help it evenly contribute and participate in the global landscape. Thus, for Africa I believe there should be another Goal, Data Collation, and Infrastructure.

Finally, let me be unequivocally clear that my writings are not written for the Baby Boomer and Generation X, but the millennials. Because, these generations have presently exceeded the time required to make the required choices regarding Africa’s development and these generations are more disadvantaged than the millennial generation, because of the steep learning curve required for them to function as technology natives, which is easier for the millennials, as they are the generation that connects the older generations with the Generations Y and Alpha.

“Millennials have found that education does not equal economic mobility, and the works of white patriarchs long dead do little to further our enlightenment beyond operating as an exercise in patience. — Alice Minium”

From Top to Bottom and Repeat Models

Now, let us get into this post’s critical analytical promise. And, to this requires summoning the aids of models or frameworks — or as I have heard some refer to them as technologies. Well, frameworks are often used in strategic exercises or endeavors. And, therein lies my major reservations about frameworks, because oftentimes, they remain so high-level, and their creators or designers see them as an end, forgetting a framework is simply a means to an end and should be a compass or guide to the frontline workers.

With that said, it is now an open secret that the utmost form of sophistication is simplicity. Thus, allow me to conclude that the most effective framework should be the easiest and simplest to understand. While the table supports my conclusion. Because with 2 — a vertical line dividing a horizontal line in half — the best framework becomes active, the Growth-share, SWOT, Ansoff matrices, and the SMART framework serve as my proof of concept.

But first, I will begin with the As-is-to-be table, then extend it to a baseline-target table — both from Strategic Management, and end with the Deming Cycle, to lend the repeat function to my proposition.

Proposed Nigeria’s Judicial System As-is-And-To-be Table

Well as the name implies, this is a 2-column table that helps turn vision into results effectively. Where, the As-Is column houses the present situation, and the To-Be column houses the expected or desired situation. For simplicity sakes, I will use 3 of the SDGs target indicators to define the desired outcomes, then use the opposite of these outcomes as the present situation. Also, I will choose 3 major targets under this goal, which are key to Nigeria’s present Judicial system.

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I believe, from the above table, with the 3 selected targets, it is easy to see what the gauge and monitor the progress of Nigeria’s Judicial system. I ask your pardon if you are not a number person — blame it on my tech and finance background.

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Proposed Nigeria’s Baseline-Target Table

The Baseline-target table is an improved version of the SMART framework, and a detailed variation of the As-Is-&-To-Be table, to improve and monitor performance. It has four columns namely: Target, Measure/Benchmark, baseline, and objective. Here, the baseline and objective columns can be inputs that are housed in the As-Is and To-Be columns respectively, in the above, As-Is-and-To-Be table above. The target column usually consists of the entity or group that will be influenced while the Measure/Benchmark are the required units of measurement that will be used to gauge performance.

In the recent week, I attended several Webinars hosted by Teresa Clarke, CEO of Africa.com, the Crafting Strategy in the Face of Uncertainty webinar exposed me to some of Africa’s business leaders. And, Funke Opeke — the Prometheus of internet connectivity to Nigeria — was a panelist in one of these webinars, and she shared the below Baseline-Target table for Nigeria’s Broad plan 2020–2025:

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In her table above, the targets are the entities that will benefit from the broadband access, while for the target of my proposed table will consist of the 3 arms of government: the Legislative, Judicial and executive — to me these are the entities that make up a countries judicial system — where the legislative makes the law, the judicial interprets the law and the executive enforces the law. Also, for simplicity sakes, one of the targets in the As-Is-and-To-Be table will be used in my proposed table, the chosen target is: Promote the rule of law at the national level and ensure equal access to justice for all.

Again, the above table is solely designed for item 1, in the As-Is-And-To-Be above, while the measures are the major factors that have a direct impact on the target ‘Promote the rule of law at the national level and ensure equal access to justice for all.’ It is the value of your — my reader — time that forces me to create a Baseline-target just for that target. And, it is important to note, that targets in the above table have several parts, but succinctness is to blame for the lack of granularity in the above table.

Proposed Nigeria’s Judicial System Deming Cycle

While the As-Is-And-To-Be and Baseline-Target tables are frameworks used in Strategy formulation, the Deming Cycle, is a framework used for continuous process improvement, birthed by William Edwards Deming, but actively promoted by the prominent statistician Walter A. Shewhart. Which is a combination of these four steps, Plan, Do, Check, and Act?

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A vision or goal without a mechanism or framework for continuous improvement is a recipe for mediocrity. Thus, I believe the PDCA if implemented in the Judicial system of a developing nation will help that nation continuously repeat successful and continuous improvement and implementation of Goal 16 of the SDGs. Below is the meaning of the items in the four quadrants above they can be used to achieve the repeat function in my proposal.

Plan

Here the Plan to achieve the objective in the Baseline-Target is done, and the expected results are predicted. Thus, Balanced Scored, BSC — the scope of this article limits to explore the value of a BSC — will be created to monitor the progress of the targets in the Baseline-Target Table.

Do

In the Do quadrant, execution of the plan is implemented, in small steps to control the circumstances. So, if hiring and retraining the entire personnel in Nigeria’s Judicial system is the first item in the Plan quadrant, this is done in small incremental steps.

Check

The Check quadrant is a periodic check and studying of the results in the Do quadrant. Thus, a periodic check on the Judicial Systems Target column of the Baseline-target table will be done to evaluate if the results are beyond or below the results in the Baseline and Objective Columns in the Baseline-Target table.

Act

Here, the action is taken to improve or standardize the observations in the Check quadrant. Thus, the selected judicial committee that is responsible for implementing this proposal will, comb through their results in the Check Quadrant, then identify what is working, and what needs improving.

Conclusion

I am aware of the simplistic nature of my proposition, and that revolutionizing a political landscape is no work in the park. However, if Africa’s political landscape is not revolutionized, the continents development aspirations will be equivalent to plowing the seashore — an exercise in futility. And, I totally agree with Andy Zelleke, when he concluded his moderator role in the Africa.com Webinar:

If the lives of the masses are not improved because of these initiatives, it almost does not matter how other things are progressing, as that becomes an unstable political situation. — Andy Zelleke

Finally, I believe the As-Is-And-To-Be table serves as a high-level strategic tool to implement the SDGs, the Baseline-Target table serves a more granular framework to give a detailed overview of the implementation process, while the Deming Cycle addresses the tactical framework for implementing Goal 16 in an African nation’s Judicial System.

Like always, I remain radically open-minded to your comments and perspective, to any flaws in my proposition.

By the way, in my last article, Climate Change vs SDGs awareness, I left a link for you to test your Climate Change and SDGs awareness, here’s the direct link to the form. I’ll appreciate your input in the form. Thank you in advance.