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Africa
Africa's Capacity to Evolve
 | VOL.9 September 2017 ·2017-09-05

It is not lack of funds that is hampering Africa's development but the dearth of human and institutional capacity, according to Emmanuel Nnadozie, Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). The ACBF, founded in 1991 and headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe, is now harnessed to Agenda 2063, Africa's development blueprint. Besides building institutional capacity, it is also working to transform the capacity of people for industrialization, manufacturing and job creation. Nnadozie explained the need for capacity development and China's engagement in it to ChinAfrica  contributor Kiram Tadesse in Addis Ababa. This is an edited excerpt of his views:

ChinAfrica : What does capacity development mean for Africa?

Emmanuel Nnadozie: We have all these fancy programs starting from the Lagos Plan of Action [the 20-year economic development plan agreed upon by 50 African countries in 1980] to the Abuja Treaty [the 1991 agreement that aims to create a single currency for the continent and an African central bank], to the African Peer Review Mechanism [created in 2003 by the New Partnership for Africa's Development to monitor the performance of the member state governments], and even the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.

One of the key reasons the continent was not able to achieve the desired development results was because of lack of capacity; so capacity was a missing link. Now that we have been designated the African Union's (AU) specialized agency for capacity development, the ACBF has been working across the continent, helping the private sector, the regional economic communities and the African Union Commission (AUC) to deliver on these programs and projects. We are now in a position to mobilize partners and resources to focus on the issue of capacity and work across all member countries of the AU.

Capacity development is a continuous process. We have to continuously train people, build institutions and strengthen the existing ones.

The problem with African countries is that, especially after they got independence, they started from a very low capacity base. So it takes a very long time for them to be able to get the sufficient numbers [and the] kind of technical skills they need, as well as the type of institutions they need to be able to implement their development agenda.

Africa is in the process of [addressing] that, but there are still some serious gaps based on the studies we have done for the capacities needed for Agenda 2063. We have determined that there are serious gaps in critical technical skills that are needed, especially if the continent wants to bring about economic transformation, industrialization and agricultural modernization, and development in the areas of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and innovation.

So, a lot of effort has to be put into building vocational education institutions and making sure that the universities are actually paying more attention to producing these kinds of skills.

What are the urgent actions that need to be taken to make the first 10-year plan successful?

When you have something like Agenda 2063, which is a framework, it has to be followed by an implementation plan. Otherwise it will simply remain a framework. That is why you have the 10-year implementation plan. To be able to implement this plan, you need also to develop specific projects to realize specific objectives. Milestones have been set in Agenda 2063 - achieving peace and security, gender equality, regional integration, infrastructure development and agricultural modernization.

If you want to achieve structural transformation within 10 years, you need to produce larger numbers of technicians and engineers, and retain and fully utilize them. Paying attention to this capacity development strategy and implementing it are where we help them to move forward. To continue this important work, it requires a lot of support from the member states, from the AU and from our external partners and multilateral organizations, as well as bilateral partners including China and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

What is the financial need for boosting such capacities?

It's significant. When the ACBF was formed in 1991, it was estimated that we should have an endowment of $1 billion - that is what it would take to transform Africa's capacity landscape. I believe that amount is still the same but, of course, we know that it is going to be difficult to be able to mobilize that amount.

For the next five years, If we can get anything from $250 million to $300 million, that should be able to make a significant impact.

How do you see China's engagement in realizing Agenda 2063?

The last Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Johannesburg in 2015 came up with a 10-point cooperation plan whereby the Chinese Government pledged $60 billion to support Africa's development. Those areas are not divergent from what Africa wants in terms of infrastructure, agriculture or capacity development. What we are doing now is to retain the Chinese support, whether it is through concessional loans or grants. The ACBF is working with the AUC to develop specific projects that can be implemented very quickly in the areas that we think can make an impact.

What is your take on the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013?

It is a very ambitious initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative goes with the need to have a roadmap that will help in developing infrastructure and development corridors that will propel the global economy in a way never seen before.

I think it is a welcome development and African countries need to pay attention to this initiative and organize themselves accordingly. Each time African countries are united, they are better coordinated and achieve maximum benefit.

Therefore in any initiatives such as this one, it would benefit us to have a joint approach so that we don't run into a case where there are all kinds of competition or duplication, but instead, there is better understanding of how everybody fits into the picture and how people can maximize their benefits.

(Reporting from Ethiopia)

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