EMMANUEL Nnadozie, executive secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation, ACBF, told journalists covering the 31st session of the Executive Council meetings preceding the 29th African Union Ordinary Summit that unlike what most observers think, inadequate financing is not always the major challenge to implementing Agenda 2063, Africa’s mega 50-year plan for its development transformation.

The head of the ACBF, now the African Union Specialised Agency for Capacity Development, was quizzed on the grounds covered and the challenges and opportunities of the Agenda, which is coming under strong review at the Summit deliberations in the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Financing is a constraint in every endeavour but sometimes people tend to have ‘the illusion of lack of finance’ even when the case is not so,” Nnadozie told the press. He stressed that as a near-trillion dollar economy, the African continent could very well finance the programmes of Agenda 2063 which comprises programs for inclusive economic growth, forging continental unity, ossifying good governance, abating conflicts, entrenching African values, domesticating development priorities and strengthening the continent’s voice on global matters affecting it.

He indicated several potential sources for financing Africa’s mega development plan, including the appropriation of countries’ foreign reserves and optimal use of pension funds, among others while emphasizing the real need for drawing up bankable projects for development.

“You would agree therefore that financing is not always the number one challenge, but rather human and institutional capacity to drive these plans to success,” he said.

The most important capacity challenges for implementing Agenda 2063 now being addressed by the ACBF, include: cultivating transformative leadership and changing mindsets in order to build self-confidence, pan-African solidarity and strong work ethics; building institutional capacity, where it is weak or non-existent and, transforming the capacity of people to bring about industrialization, massive manufacturing and profitable job creation especially in crucial areas such as development management as well as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM.

The ACBF is practically approaching this effort through diligent studies on capacity needs at continental, sub-regional and country levels. Working with the AUC, the foundation has produced a comprehensive trilogy of capacity imperatives for achieving agenda 2063. The first of the three working documents lays down the general capacity requirements for achieving Agenda 2063, the second outlines a capacity development plan framework for actioning the first ten year plan of the Agenda, and the third document spells out the critical technical skills that Africa should quickly develop to roll out the first ten-year plan of the Agenda.

It is, therefore in the above context that Nnadozie told the press covering the Addis Ababa meetings “we need massive effort from everybody, especially our African member States, development organizations, donors, the private sector and civil society to fructify this mega plan.”

—  Jul 3, 2017 @ 18:00 GMT