Addis Ababa, 1 July 2017 (ACBF) – The Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) – Prof Emmanuel Nnadozie – has told journalists covering the 31st session of the Executive Council meetings preceding the 29th African Union Ordinary Summit that unlike what most observers think, inadequate financing is not always the major challenge to implementing Agenda 2063, Africa’s mega 50-year plan for its development transformation.
The Head of ACBF, now the African Union Specialized Agency for Capacity Development, was quizzed on the grounds covered and the challenges and opportunities of the Agenda, which is coming under strong review at the Summit deliberations in the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa and to which the Chairperson of the African Union Commission – H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat – made emphatic allusion in his address to the Executive Council session.
“Financing is a constraint in every endeavour but sometimes people tend to have ‘the illusion of lack of finance’ even when the case is not so,” Prof. Nnadozie told the press. He stressed that as a near-trillion dollar economy, the African continent can very well finance the programmes of Agenda 2063 which comprises programs for inclusive economic growth, forging continental unity, ossifying good governance, abating conflicts, entrenching African values, domesticating development priorities and strengthening the continent’s voice on global matters affecting it.
He indicated several potential sources for financing Africa’s mega development plan, including the appropriation of countries’ foreign reserves and optimal use of pension funds, among others while emphasizing the real need for drawing up bankable projects for development.
“You would agree therefore that financing is not always the number one challenge, but rather human and institutional capacity to drive these plans to success” he argued
The most important capacity challenges for implementing Agenda 2063 now being addressed by ACBF, include 1) cultivating transformative leadership and changing mindsets (to build self-confidence, pan-African solidarity and strong work ethics), 2) building institutional capacity (where it is weak or non-existent) and, 3) transforming the capacity of people to bring about industrialization, massive manufacturing and profitable job creation especially in crucial areas such as development management as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
ACBF is practically approaching this effort through diligent studies on capacity needs at continental, sub-regional and country levels. Working with the AUC, the Foundation has produced a comprehensive trilogy of capacity imperatives for achieving agenda 2063. The first of the three working documents lays down the general capacity requirements for achieving Agenda 2063, the second outlines a capacity development plan framework for actioning the first ten year plan of the Agenda, and the third document spells out the critical technical skills that Africa should quickly develop to roll out the first ten-year plan of the Agenda.
It is therefore in the above context that Prof Nnadozie told the press covering the Addis Ababa meetings “we need massive effort from everybody, especially our African member States, development organizations, donors, the private sector and civil society to fructify this mega plan.”
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For more information, please contact:
Abel Akara Ticha – Senior Communication Officer
The African Capacity Building Foundation
Harare, Zimbabwe
Addis Ababa mobile: +251 944075465
+263 7+263-4 304663, 304622, 332002, 332014; Ext. 279
Email: A.Ticha@acbf-pact.org
About the African Capacity Building Foundation
Established in 1991, ACBF builds human and institutional capacity for good governance and economic development in Africa. To date the Foundation has empowered people in governments, parliaments, civil society, private sector and higher education institutions in more than 45 countries and 6 regional economic communities. ACBF supports capacity development across Africa through mobilization and leveraging of resources for capacity development; grants, investments and fund management; knowledge services; promoting innovation in capacity development and capacity development advisory services. The establishment of ACBF was in response to the severity of Africa’s capacity needs, and the challenges of investing in indigenous human capital and institutions in Africa. ACBF interventions are premised on four principles: the centrality of capacity to the development process in Africa; the critical role of a partnership and demand-driven approach in tackling capacity challenges; African ownership and leadership in the capacity development process; and a systematic, sequenced and coordinated approach to the capacity development process that pays attention to capacity retention and utilization. For further information go to: www.acbf-pact.org
