Professor Emmanuel Nnadozie, the Executive Secretary for the African Capacity Building Foundation, met with H.E. Boima Kamara, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning for the Democratic Republic of Liberia, in Monrovia , on 10th April 2017. This was a follow up of a previous meeting in Addis Ababa on the side-lines of the 30th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union.
The Executive Secretary took this opportunity to express his gratitude to the President through the Minister for her continuous political support to the Foundation as well as being a Champion of the Empowering Women in Agriculture (EWA). He also expressed gratitude to the Minister for keeping his word and revising Liberia’s financial pledge for the ACBF new Strategy, from $100,000 initially pledged to $500,000. He mentioned that Liberia is a priority Country for the Foundation and expressed that the investments on Liberia by ACBF is about US$3 million, mainly through support to the Liberia Macroeconomic Policy Analysis Centre (LIMPAC), and from Liberians benefiting from Regional Training Programs such as the Economic Policy Management Training Program (EPM Program) and the Public Sector Management Training Program (PSMTP) in Ghana.
The ES expressed that in the near future, ACBF will be undertaking several interventions in Liberia including (i) Support to LIMPAC; (ii) support the country resource mobilization efforts through the conduct of a Capacity Needs Assessment which will be preceded by an initial mapping of previous needs assessments conducted; and (iii) provide advisory support services on Capacity retention and Utilization.
The ES informed the Minister on the ACBF strategy 2017-2021 and the modality for implementation through the service lines which are:Mobilization and leveraging resources for capacity development; Knowledge services; Capacity development advisory services; Promoting innovation in capacity development; and Investment in capacity development initiatives and fund management. He stated that ACBF is ready to support Liberia through any of these service lines.
On that note, the ES appealed to the Minister regarding the payment of pledges for SMTP III and the current strategy of ACBF.
Following the Minister’s confirmation of participation at the annual World Bank Spring Meetings, the ES requested the Minister to join the African Ministers that will be meeting with the World Bank African Executive Directors, as part of the Foundation’s dialogue for the continued support of the World Bank.
The ES also invited the Minister to the ACBF Board of Governors meeting in September 2017 in Accra, Ghana.
In his response, the Minister expressed willingness of the Liberian Government to continue with its present investments and partnership with ACBF despite the prevailing financial and economic challenges, in order to reap the benefits in the future.
The Minister also reciprocated his gratitude and reiterated the continued support of the Liberian Government to ACBF. He appreciated Liberia being on the ACBF’s priority list and welcomed the new business model of the Foundation. He conveyed the government’s commitment to taking a lead in promoting the Foundation activities which are key in spearheading Africa’s development. He also reiterated his commitment to ensuring that LIMPAC is autonomous and operational to undertake its mandate and beyond.
The Minister advised he will be in Washington for the Spring Meetings and confirmed his readiness and support to the ACBF engagements with the World Bank.
