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Africa needs coherent and coordinated strategy towards international partners

Harare
Zimbabwe
21 Dec, 2017

 … AUC and ACBF start ball rolling by launching African Partnership Coordination Platform

Harare, 21 December 2017 (ACBF) – Multiple stakeholders convened to aninaugural meeting of the African Partnership Coordination Platform which has rounded-off in Harare, Zimbabwe, have started a process to lump together a coherent and coordinated African strategy to enable the continent to reap maximum benefit from its international partnerships.  The meeting which was co-hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) was motivated by the reality thatAfrica has not responded in a well-articulated, comprehensive, coherent and strategic manner, towards its global partnerships and this has become the key obstacle to thy continent optimally benefiting from such partnerships. Even worse, the situation is compounded by the lack of coordination and competition between national interest and regional interest, hence weakening Africa’s voice in its partnerships.

Welcoming the delegates, ACBF’s Executive Secretary, Professor Emmanuel Nnadozie, said with the growing interest in the development potential of Africa and the expansion and fragmentation of the international field of operators, it was important to ensure that three crucial things happen: (i) the interactions work for the benefit of Africa; (ii) cooperation with partners leads to economic diversification and sustainable development in Africa; and (iii) Africa’s partners support the continent’s integration into the global economy, as espoused in Agenda 2063.

Prof Nnadozie looked back at what has happened in recent years, and was happy to note that there had been a remarkable growth in the interest in Africa by traditional, new, and emerging development partners, and these interests have varied depending on the partner but generally they have ranged from political, social to economical nature.

“The Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), Africa-EU Partnership, the Africa-Arab States, the Tokyo International Conference of Africa's Development (TICAD), Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the various bilateral investment treaties (BIT) are a witness of the growing interest and willingness to partner with Africa,” the Head of ACBF explained.

“However, it has been observed that the key obstacle to Africa’s partnerships is the lack of a coherent strategy towards partners,” Prof Nnadozie said. As a result, “the growing number of agencies operating in Africa and the multiplicity of coordinating, steering, working committees and groups throughout the African Union system, are increasingly posing serious challenges to the ability of the AU to carry out its overarching international role to ensure effective partnerships for Africa’s development.

“This fragmented approach to international partnerships has in a way also created a leeway for some partners to impose programs and priorities on the AU that do not come properly structured to systematically address Africa’s challenges.”

This, Prof Nnadozie said, should not be the case because “whilst countries may be different, the continent has common development challenges, which are tackled under the auspices of the African Union Strategic Partnerships.”

“All this,” Prof Nnadozie said, “is in the spirit of carefully managing our interactions with our partners, maximize our bargaining power, and develop a strategic focus so that partnerships with the rest of the world benefit Africa.”

He pledged ACBF’s unstinting commitment to support initiatives that ensure that Africa is better capacitated to progress faster into its development – initiatives that work closely with the AUC’s leadership, commissions and departments, especially the Partnership Management and Coordination Division (PMCD), to ensure that the PMCD effectively spearheads strategic partnerships between the AU and its global partners.

Supporting Prof Nnadozie’s concerns, Dr. Levi Madueke, Head of the AUC’s Partnership Management and Coordination Division, said it was critical to accelerate the process of continental development and integration, and as a result, it waspart of the AU’s mandate to drive continental development and integration by building synergies with other parts of the world, especially where maximum mutual benefits were derivable.

“It is in this spirit that the AU, soon after its establishment, began to engage the international community to seek cooperation aimed at advancing the process of achieving its development and integration agenda,” Dr. Madueke explained. “This motivation resulted in the establishment of relationships with various international bodies and groups, countries, and continents.”

Mr Chakurangeyi Mutodza, a Zimbabwean Foreign Ministry official who deputized for the new Foreign Minister, Major-General Sibusiso Moyo, agreed that the proliferation of partnerships over the years called for a unified and coordinated African approach, and therefore there was a critical need, as Prof Nnadozie had earlier submitted, to address the current lack of coordination and synergetic linkages between Africa and its foreign partners.

“What is now needed in order for the African Union to derive maximum benefits from its strategic partnerships,” Mr Mutodza said, “is to develop a clear engagement strategy. In this regard the task of this conference is to establish a platform, which enables all relevant stakeholders to develop a common understanding and a common approach on how Africa can harness the opportunities and address the challenges associated with the strategic partnerships.”

-ENDS HERE-

 

For more information, please contact:

Abel Akara Ticha – Senior Communication Officer
The African Capacity Building Foundation
Harare, Zimbabwe
+263 7+263-4 304663, 304622, 332002, 332014; Ext. 279
Email: A.Ticha@acbf-pact.org

 

ABOUT the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)

Having spearheaded and robustly coordinated capacity development programs worth over 700 million US dollars across 45 countries and 8 regional economic communities (RECs) in Africa since 1991, ACBF has gathered the requisite experience that makes it the go-to institution for expert knowledge and human resources to advise and support African countries, regional economic communities and institutions on decisive steps to take to develop the practical skills urgently required for the continent’s economic transformation.

Evidence from our cutting-edge work (constituting hundreds of knowledge publications) and the work of several partners show that Africa's development efforts are being hobbled by severe capacity deficits often in the form of shortage of critical skills, deficits in leadership, inhibiting mindsets and weak institutions. The continent’s practical skills shortage is acute in key areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Agriculture.

At ACBF, we will continue using our unmatched track record in managing financial facilities for development, our vast knowledge gathering experience thanks to the exceptional skills mix of our core staff as well as our strong strategic partnerships and networks to help countries and institutions identify their capacity needs, advise them on how to plug these capacity weaknesses and on where to find the knowledge and resources to develop the requisite capacity resources, effectively use them and retain them to achieve their short and long-term development objectives.

ACBF’s vision is an Africa capable of achieving its own development.

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Thomas Kwesi Quartey

ACBF has been granted the status of a specialized agency because of the potential to transform Africa through capacity development.


H.E. Thomas Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson, AU Commission
Erastus Mwencha

The recognition of ACBF as the African Union’s Specialized Agency for Capacity Development launches the beginning of a new era for capacity building by ACBF, which will require an appropriate level of political commitment and financial support from all stakeholders.


H.E. Erastus Mwencha, Chair, ACBF Executive Board
Lamin Momodou

The remarkable achievements ACBF has registered over the past 26 years is not by accident in our opinion. They have come through hard work, dedication, commitment, purposeful leadership, support from the member countries as well as productive partnership building.


Mr. Lamin Momodou MANNEH, Director, UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa
Goodall Gondwe

Africa needs ACBF as much, probably more now, than at the time it was created in 1991.


Hon. Goodall Gondwe, former Chair of the ACBF Board of Governors and Minister of Finance – Malawi
Ken Ofori Atta

Ghana’s partnership with ACBF is a tremendous blessing for us and therefore the opportunity for Ghana to host the 26th ACBF Board of Governors Meeting is something that we treasure.


Hon Ken Ofori Atta, Chair of the ACBF Board of Governors and Minister of Finance - Ghana
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