The Executive Secretary for the African Capacity Building Foundation, Professor Emmanuel Nnadozie, paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Finance for the Republic of Kenya, Honorable Henry Rotich, on Thursday, 21 July, 2016. The purpose of the visit was to discuss areas of mutual interest and the continued collaboration between the two organizations.
In their discussions, Professor Nnadozie expressed his gratitude to the support that the Foundation has received from the Government of Kenya, as one of the co-founders of this Pan African organization. He also took the opportunity to update, Minister Rotich on the endorsement of ACBF’s New Strategy for 2017 to 2021, by the Board of Governors at the recently held Pledging conference in Cote d’ Ivoire. The new Strategy is anchored on four pillars he explained. These are (i) Enabling effective delivery of continental development priorities; (ii) Supporting countries to achieve tangible development results; (iii) Enhancing private sector and civil society contributions to sustainable development and (iv) Leveraging knowledge and learning to increase development effectiveness. These strategic pillars will be achieved through four programmatic areas which will use customized combinations of five service lines.
These service lines are (i) Resource Mobilization Services (ii) Knowledge Services (iii) Capacity Development Advisory Services (iv)Investment in innovative capacity development initiatives and systematic documentation and sharing of innovative and promising practices; and (v) Investment and fund management.
The Minister reaffirmed the Government of Kenya’s support on the decisions and outcomes of the Pledging Conference and the Meeting of the Board of Governors and also its commitment to support the financing of the new strategic plan. In the past, Kenya has pledged and contributed about $1.95 million to the Foundation, while a total of USD43.4 million in grants has so far been provided to Kenyan and East African regional institutions based in the country, by ACBF.
Honorable Rotich also added that as ACBF moves towards implementing 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, “Capacity building should be properly targeted, monitored, evaluated and sustained; otherwise it will not result in any significant impact”. He also explained that Kenya like most African countries would want to see ACBF through its new strategy building negotiation capacities in the continent for effective engagement to ensure that international agreements reflect the interests of the continent. This is key to the achievement of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Professor Nnadozie, assured the ACBF Governor, that the Foundation stands ready and is committed to assist African countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the aspirations of Agenda 2063. However political and financial support from member states will be key in empowering the Foundation to deliver on its mandate.
The role of ACBF will be even more critical in this dispensation, as Africa steps up efforts to industrialize for structural transformation and sustainable development. The Foundation plans to roll out programmes and projects that are centered on developing implementation capacities for African countries to be able to deliver on national regional and continental targets.
