The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the African Union’s specialized agency for capacity development, is 30 years old. Founded in February 1991 by African governments and their international partners to spearhead and robustly coordinate capacity development on the continent, ACBF has implemented programs worth about US$1 billion across Africa.
In three decades, the Foundation has gathered the requisite experience that makes it the go-to institution for expert knowledge and human resources to advise and support African countries, regional economic communities (RECs), and institutions on the decisive steps to take to develop the practical skills urgently required for the continent’s economic transformation.
To celebrate the 30 years of excellence and solid work, ACBF is hosting a two-day 30th anniversary celebration on October 20-21. The celebrations will be held virtually because of Covid-19 protocols and restrictions.
On the opening day, 20 October, the Foundation will showcase its cutting-edge work in closing up capacity gaps in Africa and effectively delivering on continental development priorities such as the AU’s Agenda 2063.
On the second day, 21 October, the Foundation will hold a virtual knowledge seminar to discuss “Post-COVID-19 recovery in Africa: challenges, lessons, and capacity development priorities”.
It is generally acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic has induced shock and slowed down global economic activity. By August this year, a total of 212,560,109 cases had been confirmed worldwide, with 4,443,976 fatalities, making it the deadliest pandemic in history.
Africa has equally been affected, with 7,548,957 confirmed cases and 189,307 fatalities by August 2021. The African economy has also not been spared, with GDP contracting by 2.1 percent in 2020, but projected to grow at 3.4 percent in 2021.
African countries have understood that they must take crucial measures, especially on issues such as vaccines, access to which will have decisive economic implications on their post-COVID-19 recovery. The continent has to seize the opportunity offered by the post COVID-19 recovery to ensure a sustainable socio-economic transformation.
It is against this background that ACBF is holding the virtual knowledge seminar with the main objective of sharing ideas and experiences while proposing concrete actions on how to better tackle some of the key capacity development challenges facing African countries in the post-COVID-19 recovery effort.
For further information, contact
Tsitsi Chakonza
Communication Consultant
T.Chakonza@acbf-pact.org
