Enhancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Progress in Africa: A Systematic Literature Review Focused on Risk Management Measures in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jmrr/V2E2/2026-05Keywords:
Africa Development, Ethiopia, Ghana, ISO 31000 Framework, Kenya, Nigeria, Resilience Planning, Risk Management, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Systematic Literature Review (SLR)Abstract
The implementation of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa is seriously being undermined by a complicated paradigm of economic, social and environmental risks. Risk management is recognised as key to sustainable development, yet there is a large shortcoming when it comes to comparative multi-country analysis that systematically addresses these risks and the corresponding mitigation. The present work fills this gap by providing a Systematic Literature Review of four strategically significant African countries, namely Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya. Based on the risk management framework from ISO 31000 perspectives, this study systematically summarize studies to compare the dimensions of risk landscape. The results illustrate differentiated but related risk futures: Nigeria and Ethiopia are primarily threatened by political and economic instability, whereas Ghana and Kenya experience growing pressures from rapid urbanisation and environmental degradation. The review aggregates a set of proposed risk management actions and processes into policy and governance, technological and infrastructural, community-based, as well as finance-focused-strategies. But a key finding is that there is a massive evidence gap around the monitoring and evaluation of how effective such measures are. The paper concludes that the main message for SDG implementation is that risk management is not an add-on but a core enabler of resilient development. It presents implementation recommendation that are applicable to policy makers, development partners and researchers calling for the institutionalization of risk registries, context- specific interventions and a reinvigorated research agenda focusing on comparative and longitudinal assessments aimed at expediting SDG goal attainment in the African continent.
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