The first Forum was hosted by the Government of Mali in Bamako on 22-24 October 2001 while the Government of Mozambique hosted the second in Maputo on 1-3 August 2007. On both occasions, the Forum represented a major high level gathering, each involving more than 500 delegates, including Heads of State and Government, high-level African and international country delegations, African and non-African resource persons, national and international organizations, as well as representatives of the public sector, private sector and civil society organizations.
At the end of the first forum, a declaration was adopted and a draft resolution, promoted by President Omar Bongo Ondimba, former President of Gabon, submitted to the African Union (AU), urging it to adopt a resolution on capacity building. The first ordinary session of the African Union Assembly held at Durban, South Africa, on 09-10 July 2002, indeed proclaimed the period 2002-2011 as the “Decade for Capacity Building in Africa”.
The AU Council of Ministers was mandated to monitor the implementation of this resolution. The holding of the Second Forum helped to lobby non-African donors to provide support to ACBF, while the third underscored the key role of capacity building in the development strategies of African countries. The Forums offered an opportunity to assess the progress made in capacity development in Africa and issued recommendations to boost the effectiveness of capacity development programmes so as to better respond to Africa’s development priorities.
