ACBF, the African Union’s specialized agency for capacity building spread its wings further in 2018 to support a number of continental and regional initiatives and programs that enhanced the implementation of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while putting the continent further on the road for achieving the goal of the “Africa We Want”.
A year of significant milestones, 2018, will be remembered for many high points, including the following:
- At the continental level, the Foundation supported the institutional reform of the African Union (AU) by contributing to three major studies on: (i) policy coherence between AUC and AU organs, (ii) a baseline consultation study with regional economic communities assessing convergence and coherence with flagship projects of Agenda 2063, and (iii) an evaluative study of AUC specialized agencies.
- The AUC leadership highly appreciated the studies as providing solutions to policy coherence regarding the rationalization and improvement of the functions of not only the AU and its organs, but of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the specialized agencies, especially in terms of enhancing their contribution to the implementation of Agenda 2063.
- At the regional level, ACBF supported capacity building activities in partnership with regional institutions such as the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa, (MEFMI); West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, (WAIFEM) and National Institute for Legislative Study, (NILS); for improved governance, gender policy, debt management, macroeconomic policy, and financial sector management.
In addition, the Foundation collaborated with Afreximbank and the Trade Policy Training Center in Africa (TRAPCA) to guide the development of a regional training program on trade finance that gave birth to three regional projects, namely: (i) a training program on regional integration in partnership with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA); (ii) a capacity development project in trade policy analysis and research at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, (COMESA) and (Iii) an initiative promoting the participation and influence of women farmers in policy processes in partnership with the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network, (FANRPAN)
The Foundation also developed two policy think tanks, one in Gabon and the other in Cameroon while launching two organizational capacity building projects, one at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) and the other at the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in Ethiopia, which enabled them to effectively deliver on their mandates.
During the 2018, ACBF also continued to successfully implement its organizational capacity building program elsewhere on the continent to enhance non-state actors’ contribution to sustainable development. ACBF also advanced its Tobacco Control (TC) agenda supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which led to significant achievements, including: (i) the adoption of TC law in Mauritania, and (ii) awards received by the Government of Senegal on best practices on pictorial warning at the 2018 World Conference of Health and Tobacco Control. The Foundation’s work on tobacco control was recognized with an observer status at the 2018 Conference of Parties of World Health Organization Framework Convention for Tobacco Control.
Finally, the Foundation’s program to Empower Women in Agriculture (EWA), supported by BADEA, contributed to the building of leadership and entrepreneurship skills of women in Liberia, Malawi and Rwanda, and enabled them to advocate for policies that increase the income of women farmers.
