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ACBF
15th Annual Board of Governors meeting approves the Strategic Medium
Term Plan II (2007-2011)
African
Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
June 29, 2006
Harare
- The African Capacity Building Foundation held the 15th
Annual Meeting of its Board of Governors in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Government of Denmark hosted the meeting. Denmark is a member
of ACBF. A total of 90 delegates attended the meeting and these
included African Ministers of Civil Service, Finance, Planning and
Economic Affairs; Ambassadors/High Commissioners accredited to Denmark;
bilateral donors from Africa, Europe and North America; major multilateral
agencies and partners of the Foundation, including the African Development
Bank, The United Nations Development Programme, the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank; observers from potential member
countries and institutions; the Chairman of ACBF Executive Board;
ACBF Executive Secretary; and ACBF Secretariat Staff. The Meeting
was officially opened on behalf of the Danish Minister of Development
Cooperation by the Acting Permanent Secretary, Mr. Ib Petersen.
In
addressing delegates at a welcome reception in the eve of the Meeting,
the Minister of Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of Denmark,
Mrs. Ulla Tørnæs, emphasized that the building of capacity
for sustainable development in Africa requires organizations like
the ACBF to play the vital role of bringing African countries together
to address not only capacity development challenges, but also the
other many challenges that Africa faces. She went further to stress
the need for the intensification of efforts to put all African countries
on the path towards democratic and sustainable development.
The
Meeting agenda consisted of the Annual Report and Audited Financial
Statements for 2005; a review of the Report of the Independent External
Evaluation of ACBF; Approval of the ACBF Strategic Medium Term Plan
(2007-2011) and discussion of resources mobilization issues; and
presentation of a Concept Paper on the Second Pan African Capacity
Building Forum planned for January 2007.
The
Board approved the 2005 Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements.
The Foundation has continued to maintain a clean audit report due
to strict adherence to very rigorous financial management standards
and practices both at the level of the Secretariat and its projects
and programs. Central to the 15th Annual Meeting was
the consideration of the second Strategic Medium Term Plan, which
covers the period 2007-2011. The Board approved the Plan, subject
to slight adjustments to reflect some proposals emanating from the
report of the external evaluation exercise on the performance of
the Foundation under the Strategic Medium Term Plan, 2002-2006.
Broadly, the report of the evaluation was very positive on the performance
of ACBF during the period the first medium term plan was implemented.
The
Strategic Medium Term Plan II (2007-2011): "Towards the Achievements
of the Millennium Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa",
takes capacity building to a significant new height with a focus
on capacity challenges facing the African continent in the six core
competency areas in which ACBF intervenes in capacity building.
The core competency areas, which were endorsed by the meeting remained
as: Economic Policy Analysis and Management, Financial Management
and Accountability, Public Administration and Management, Strengthening
and Monitoring of National Statistics and Statistical Systems, Strengthening
of Policy Analysis Capacity of National Parliaments and Parliamentary
Systems, and Professionalization of the Voices of the Private Sector
and Civil Society. SMTP II presents an exciting challenge for ACBF.
ACBF as an African organization wishes to call on African stakeholders
and development partners to assist in the realization of the objectives
of this plan to enable the continent to show development results
by 2015 when the MDGs come up for assessment.
With
regards to the 2007 Second Pan Africa Capacity Building Forum, the
Board approved the concept of the Forum. The Second Pan African
Capacity Building Forum will be guided by two main objectives. These
are to: provide a platform for Africa's development stakeholders
to discuss Africa's development challenges and their capacity-building
dimensions; and to share information on capacity-building results
within the context of ongoing efforts to achieve the MDGs and to
improve political and economic governance in sub-Saharan Africa.
The themes and topics of the Forum will broadly reflect the current
capacity and development management concerns and agenda facing the
continent. The Forum is expected to generate renewed, enhanced and
sustained commitment to the development as well as effective utilization
and retention of capacities required for the achievement of the
MDGs in Africa and for addressing other development challenges facing
the continent in a fast globalizing world.
On
the issue of governance of the Board itself, the Governor for Canada
Mr. Paul Hunt was elected as the new Chair. Mr. Hunt is the Vice
President for Africa at the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA). He takes over from Mr. Jean-Christophe Deberre the Governor
for France. The next Board meeting will be held in June 2007.
The Board of Governors is the highest policy making organ of the
ACBF. Its current membership comprises three sponsoring agencies
(the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme
and the World Bank), the International Monetary Fund, 33 African
and non-African countries namely, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Denmark, Finland, France, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ireland,
Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, The Netherlands, Niger,
Nigeria, Norway, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, United
Kingdom, United States of America, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The African
Union is an honorary member of the Board.
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