Dear Friends,
Welcome to the sixth edition of Africa Capacity.
The year 2014 was a significant year for the African Capacity Building Foundation in its drive toward sustained capacity development in Africa. ACBF has successfully supported the continent in building capacity for the formulation and management of economic policies and in achieving strengthened public administration, transparent and accountable financial management. We have supported statistical development, effective oversight of the executive arms of governments by parliaments, as well as improved participation of civil society and private sector in the policy-making process.
ACBF was able to make such an effective contribution thanks to the tremendous support of its African and non-African member countries and its multilateral partners, including the African Development Bank the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.
Among some of the major highlights of the year for us was the decentralization of ACBF’s operations department in West and Central Africa. An office was set up in Accra, Ghana that is fully operational, ensuring we are close to our partners for more effectiveness. The ACBF also undertook major institutional and programmatic reforms and adopted a new business model, which has resulted in a more focused, more efficient and better governed organization that pays serious attention to results and sustainability. These reforms will enable the Foundation to increase its effectiveness and maximize its impact in Africa.
The Foundation also organized a workshop and coordinated the drafting of papers towards a common position paper in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the 1st US-Africa summit in Washington D.C. The summit was the first of its kind between a sitting US President and African leaders. It was aimed at strengthening ties between the US and Africa that is a fast-growing region. Drawn from the main regional economic communities, the papers provided a unified, consolidated African position on issues pertaining to US-Africa relations.
A new strategic partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was started. The Foundation also supports strategic grant-making and capacity building functions of civil society organizations to advance evidence-based tobacco control policies in Africa, including tobacco taxation, advertising bans, graphic warning labels, and smoke-free environments.
Another notable milestone is that the Board of Governors (BoG) Committee on Resource Mobilization is now operational and held its first meeting in Lome, 4-5 November, 2014. At the meeting, the committee developed an annual work plan for its activities.
The ACBF website was also revamped in September, making it a more user friendly platform for our diverse audiences. As a result, there are more people visiting the website, which is in English and French, and are getting to know more about our activities. Our knowledge products are also more accessible through an improved virtual library. It is indeed cheering to know that visits to the website have more than doubled with wider reach to more African countries, especially Francophone African countries.
Despite the success achieved, the continent still faces challenges. The outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in 2014 fully demonstrated that although significant progress has been made over the past two decades in the field of capacity, Africa still faces serious human, institutional and societal capacity constraints. In this regard, Africa should have a sustained investment in capacity development that will enable it to prevent, anticipate, or manage such crises.
Among its key activities for 2015, ACBF will hold the third Pan-African Capacity Development Forum during the first week of September in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the goal of reflecting on the capacity development imperatives of Africa's economic transformation. Among the expected delegates are heads of state, policy-makers, academics, civil society activists, and private sector operators.
Meanwhile, the Foundation will continue to support the African Union Commission and African countries in their efforts to address their capacity challenges, in particular, in articulating the capacity dimensions of AU's Agenda 2063, and in its integration into national development plans. Addressing capacity challenges in countries affected by conflict will equally constitute a major focus of the Foundation's work this year.
I cannot end this note without wishing Africa and the friends of Africa's development a happy, peaceful and prosperous 2015.
