African Community of Practice (AfCoP)

The African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results (AfCoP) is a bilingual community launched in February 2007 at the third International Roundtable on Managing for Development Results in Hanoi, Vietnam. The community was established in response to a call by African governments and practitioners to share lessons learned and good practice in Managing for Development Results (MfDR) in Africa. The initial objective of AfCoP was to enhance the capacity of its members in MfDR by establishing a platform to exchange experiences and knowledge among development practitioners across Africa.

With an initial membership of thirty people, AfCoP has grown into a dynamic community of over 4,000 members from 41 African countries and around the world. The tremendous growth of the community is by and large as a result of the successful implementation of the first AfCoP project which included the development of a bilingual knowledge platform,[1] and implementation of country and regional level outreach activities including the Annual Delegates Conference.

In 2012, the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a grant of UA 9.98 million over a three-year period to support the implementation of phase two of the AfCoP project. The aim of the project is to mainstream results-based practices into the policies and strategies of RMCs and RECs and has the following components: (i) Knowledge sharing on MfDR; (ii) Linking MfDR knowledge to Regional processes; (iii) Synergies between Regional and National processes and (iv) Project Management.

The Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) is partnering with the AfDB to manage the project. The ACBF is responsible for the coordination of Component one - Knowledge sharing on MfDR aimed at promoting the exchange of experiences and sharing of good practices on MfDR through the bilingual (French and English) AfCoP online platforms. ACBF also manages the development of country and thematic case studies, guidelines, analytical work and tools on emerging good practices on MfDR, trade facilitation and on policy convergence, including gender and youth related issues.

Further, the AfDB, in partnership with ACBF, supports the AfCoP to mainstream results-based practices into the policies and strategies of countries and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). It also aims to enhance the capacity of the (RECs) and their member countries to facilitate the implementation of regional policies and programs through MfDR, and thereby to promote regional integration.

To ensure effective implementation and achievement of intended results, the ACBF has established a dedicated secretariat for the AfCoP project located in the Knowledge and Learning Department.