ACBF HOLDS ITS FIFTH ANNUAL
TAP-NETs MEETING, 1-3 APRIL 2008, GABORONE,
BOTSWANA
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| Group photograph of
the 5th Annual Meeting of Technical
Advisory Panels and Networks (TAP-NETs),
Gaborone, Botswana, 1-3 April 2008 |
INTRODUCTION
On April 1-3, 2008 ACBF held the Fifth
Annual Meeting of the Technical Advisory
Panels and Networks (TAP-NETs) in Gaborone,
Botswana, in partnership with the Government
of Botswana. This meeting was co-hosted
by the Botswana Institute for Development
and Policy Analysis (BIDPA), Botswana.
Dignitaries at the meeting include representatives
from the Government of Botswana who included
Mr. Ndabano, representative of the Minister
of Finance and Development Planning, Mr.
S.S.G. Tumelo, Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Finance and Development Planning,
Mr. Kelapile, Deputy Secretary for Economic
Affairs, H.E. Mr. Vishnu Hade, High Commissioner
of India to Botswana and Special Envoy
to SADC, H.E. Mr. Phillipe Felisberto Monimanbu,
Ambassador of Angola to Zimbabwe, Ambassador
Kristina Svensson, former Ambassador of
Sweden to Malawi. Mauritius, Zimbabwe and
Zambia, Dr. Niami Mohammed, African Union
Commission (AUC), Professor John C. Anyanwu
African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr. Sennye
Obuseng, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), Mr. Robert Hawkins, World Bank
Institute (WBI) and Mrs. Malebogo Karekang,
Deputy Government Statistician, Government
of the Republic of Botswana. Other participants
comprised members of the ACBF supported
institutions in Botswana, Coordinators
of ACBF supported Country Level Knowledge
Networks (CLK-NETs) and members of the
ACBF supported Africa Policy Institutes
Forum (APIF). In total some 100 people
attend the Opening Session.
ACBF TECHNICAL
ADVISORY PANELS AND NETWORKS (TAP-NETs)
- Economic Policy Analysis & Management
- EPANET
- Financial Management & Accountability
- FIMANET
- Public Administration and Management
- PAMNET
- National Parliaments & Parliamentary
Institutions – PARLIANET
-
National Statistics – STATNET
- Professionalization of the Voices of
the Private Sector and Civil
Society - VOICENET
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THE
OPENING SESSION
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| From left to right:
Dr. Edwin Forlemu, ACBF Executive Secretary
a.i. delivering the welcoming address
and Dr. Mohammed Niami, representative
of the African Union Commission (AUC) |
Dr. Edwin N. Forlemu, ACBF Executive
Secretary a.i. gave the welcoming remarks,
where
he emphasized the importance of knowledge
networks in the African development agenda. “The
generation and harvesting of knowledge
is a process that is poised to play an
increasingly crucial role in on-going efforts
to tackle Africa’s development challenges”,
he emphasized. Dr Forlemu emphasized
that within the ACBF institutional structure
the TAP-NETs constitute an important
instrument
for the knowledge management strategy, “… we
want to take a step forward in fulfilling
our promise to be change agents who apply
our expertise, mine our experiences, and
distil lessons in order to force the spring
of new and usable perspectives on capacity
building. We want to listen intently and
honestly to ourselves in order to chart
the way forward for others to follow. We
want to escape the enclaves of ivory-tower
thinking and conversation, and become active
vectors for re-tooling, reinvention and
collaborative innovation. In short, we
want to think outside the box and help
ACBF make effective contributions to capacity
building and sustainable development in
Africa – in partnership with other
partners”.
Representatives of ACBF partner institutions
delivered brief opening remarks:
The Africa Union Commission (AUC): Dr.
Mohammed Naimi represented the African
Union Commission at the Meeting. In his
brief remarks he outlined that the TAP-NETs
as a knowledge network is integral to the
development agenda of Africa. He outlined
the role of the AU in the development agenda
of Africa and emphasized that partnership
is the key to coming up with solutions
for Africa’s challenges.
 |
| From left to right:
Mr. Sennye Obuseng, representative
of UNDP Country Office, Botswana; Ambassador
Kristina Svensson, former Ambassador
of Sweden to Mauritius, Malawi, Zambia & Zimbabwe;
and Dr. Edwin Forlemu, ACBF Executive
Secretary a.i. |
The African Development Bank (AfDB): Professor
John C. Anyanwu, Chief Research Economist
represented AfDB at the meeting. He gave
a brief on the progress of the AfDB venture
into branding the Bank as the first port
of call in knowledge management. He also
emphasized the need for continued partnerships
with the African Capacity Building Foundation
in particular, for strengthening capacity
development in Africa.
United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), Botswana: Mr. Sennye Obuseng, Senior Economist
at the UNDP Country Office, Botswana, represented
the UNDP Country Representative at the
meeting. In his brief comments he emphasized
the need to develop sound policies and
good governance. He commented that the
TAP-NETs, which bring together different
African skills and intellectuals, forcefully
argue for a partnership approach to be
able to resolve the challenges we face
as a Continent.
THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Mr. Duncan Mlazie, Assistant Minister
of Finance and Development Planning
on behalf
of Dr. Baledzi Gaolathe, Minister of
Finance and Development Planning, Republic
of Botswana delivered the keynote address.
With knowledge emerging as a key driver
of international competitiveness with
globalization, Mr. Mlazie noted that
African countries need to transition
to knowledge-based economies that offer
policymakers, policy analysts and development
manager tools for harvesting ideas,
seek timely responses to development
policy
issues with information on best practices
and lessons learnt in development management.
The speech emphasized that Africa desperately
needs learning institutions and organizations
that can effectively increase productivity,
and in turn change the lives of the
African people. “…the
depth of the inequities that Africa
has to
respond
to its international trade and relations
implies that considerably more efforts
are needed to improve all aspects of
governance and reform international
trade practices. The Continent must
invest
substantially more resources to raise
standards and sustain a high quality
of education, as well as strengthen
its ability to take advantage of new
technologies,
develop the culture of knowledge and
information sharing, and be prepared
to develop and actively support the
emergence of organizations that can
be regarded
as learning organizations.”
The speech underscored that a learning
organization, like a country, opens up
opportunities and room for growth, hence,
improving the lives of people. The speech
acknowledged that there are capacity gaps
in the creation of knowledge management
centers and their frameworks in Africa.
However, the evidence of the viability
of networks such as the TAP-NETs is a step
in the right direction.
WORKING SESSIONS
The program for the meeting consisted
of open plenary, presentations of progress
reports on the TAP-NETs Annual Work
Program
for 2007- 2008, and breakaway sessions
to permit along the disparate TAP-NETs
to permit in-depth discussions of network-specific
business.
The following papers were presented in
the Open Plenary Sessions:
-
“The future
of Bilateral Aid in Africa – Size
Flow, Conditionalities and Relative
Importance in Countries’ National
Budgets” by
Ambassador Svensson, a member of
the ACBF Senior Policymakers’ Program
-
Update
on the ACBF-AERC Project on Assessment
of the Delivery of African Public
Services – Concept & Implementation
Plan by Professor Olu Ajakaiye,
Director Research, Africa Economic
Research
Consortium, Nairobi, Kenya
- Progress Report on the Implementation
of the Zimbabwe Baseline Corruption
Survey supported by FIMANET, by
Mrs. Irene Doroh, Statistician/Research
Officer, National Statistical Office,
Government of Zimbabwe
 |
| From left to right:
Dr. Mohammed Niami, representative
of the African Union Commission (AUC);
Mrs. Malebogo Karekang, Deputy Government
Statistician, Government of the Republic
of Botswana; and Professor John Anyanwu,
representative of the African Development
Bank (AfDB) |
Progress
reports on the Annual Position Papers
and Working Papers were presented by
each of the six TAP-NETs, in the following
order:
- Areas of Focus of Capacity
Building Interventions in Trade Policy
Development
and Trade Negotiations in Africa Over
the Medium Term, by Professor Michael
Plummer
and Mr. Tadeaus Chifamba, Members,
EPANET;
- Capacity Issues in the Formulation
and Implementation of the Next Generation
of PRSP's - Proposals in the Design of an
Appropriate Growth Strategy for Poverty
Reduction in Africa, by Professors
Mike Obadan and Sylvanus Ikhide, Members, EPANET;
- Capacity Implications of Public
Financial Management Reforms in Developing
Reforms in Developing Countries, by Mr. Andy
Wynne, Member, FIMANET.
- Leadership and Governance —Proposal
on Strategies for Productive Engagement
of 'Disengaging' Leaders, Senior
Policy Makers and Development Managers,
by
Professors Gelase Mutahaba and Jide
Balogun, Member,
PAMNET;
- An Assessment of Continuing
Capacity Challenges in Governance:
A Review of the Parliamentary
Scorecard, presented by Hon.
Jeewansing Ramlugun, on behalf of
Hon. John
Bosley, PARLIANET;
- Best Practice Countries with Effective
National Statistical Systems in Africa,
Dr. Peter Wingfield Digby, Member,
STATNET
- Reactivation of the African Statistical
Association, by Nicholas Biekpe,
Member, STATNET
- Best-Practice Schemes in the Financing
of National Statistical Agencies,
Prof. E.M. Koffi-Tessio, Member, STATNET
- State-Civil Society Relations in
Africa -- Building Capacity for Productive
Partnership Among Development Stakeholders, by Professor
John Ayoade, Member, VOICENET;
- Gender
Budgeting as Tool for Poverty Reduction —Concept,
Practices and Capacity Implications,
by Dr. Gloria Braxton, Member, VOICENET;
The group sessions were
devised for discussion of 2008 work plans
for each of the TAP-NETs. One of the objectives
was to choose the Chairperson, Vice Chairperson
and Coordinating Secretary for each of
the networks for 2008.
 |
| From left to right:
Dr. Elizabeth Amukugo, Chair, PARLIANET;
Professor Gelasi Mutahaba, Chair,
PAMNET; Mr. Sennye Obuseng, Chair
of the Session; Dr. Gloria Braxton,
Chair, VOICENET; and Professor Mike
Obadan, Chair EPANET |
EPANET:
-
Professor Mike
Obadan (Chair)
-
Professor Abdrahamane
Sanogo (Vice Chair)
-
Mr. Tadeous Chifamba
(Coordinating Secretary)
-
Dr. Elizabeth Amukugo
(Chair)
-
Professor Severine
Rugumamu (Vice Chair)
-
Mr. Jeewansing
Ramlugun (Coordinating Secretary)
-
Professor G. Mutahaba
(Chair)
-
Professor J.M. Balogun
(Vice Chair)
-
Professor Jerry
Kuye ( Secretary)
-
Professor
Koffi-Tessio Egnonto (Chair)
-
Professor
Milton Iyoha (Vice Chair)
-
Mr. Cyril
Parirenyatwa (Coordinating Secretary)
VOICENET
- Dr. Gloria Braxton (Chair)
- Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey (Vice-Chair)
- Mrs. Laurah Harrison-Bachnack (Secretary)
Mrs. Malebogo Karekang, Deputy Government
Statistician, gave the Closing Remarks
on behalf of the Minister of Finance and
Development Planning. Special thanks must
be also extended to Mrs. Nthoyapelo Motshwane,
Coordinator, Health & Safety Department,
Ministry of Finance & Development Planning,
and her team of protocol officers and drivers
who greatly facilitated logistics and assisted
participants with immigration formalities,
and excellent in-country logistical support.
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