ACBF’s Executive Secretary, Prof Emmanuel Nnadozie, met with the Rwandan Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ambassador Claver Gatete on 19 March. Prof Nnadozie was in Kigali, Rwanda to attend the African Development Bank (AfDB) 50th anniversary and annual meetings.
The two discussed about the support ACBF has been giving to Rwanda, the ongoing projects funded by the Foundation in the country as well as further cooperation between Rwanda and ACBF.
Minister Gatete was very thankful for the ACBF support, and said that the Foundation has been there when Rwanda needed it most.
“ACBF is one of the organizations that came early on after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis, and helped the government and the people of Rwanda in establishing high level institutions that were building human capacity that supported the public sector whether in economic policy analysis, financial management and public administration” he said.
The Foundation’s funding channeled through the Rwandan public sector is over since the year 2012, but ACBF is still working with the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research Rwanda (IPAR), a not-for-profit Think Tank on a project ending in 2016.
Prof Nnadozie indicated that working together with the National Capacity Building Secretariat (NCBS), the ACBF is seeking to ascertain the remaining and new capacity gaps in Rwanda.
“That is to do a countrywide capacity building development profile that will help us to understand the capacity gaps, so that we can properly structure some new programs that can continue to support Rwanda in building capacity” Prof Nnadozie said.
Rwanda is one of the countries that have benefited much from ACBF programs. Since 1999, the Foundation has funded several public sector projects worth more than 10 Million US dollars.
It has also helped the Rwandan Private Sector Federation, in building capacity to be able to properly engage the government in policy making including building their own capacity to become a more effective private sector body.
Prof Nnadozie also took the opportunity to update Honourable Gatete, as the Rwanda Governor to the ACBF Board of Governors on the forthcoming annual meeting to be held in Dakar, Senegal on 26 and 27 June 2014. . The theme of the annual meeting is “Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization in Africa.” The Board of Governors constitutes Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning, and it is the highest governing body for the Foundation.
