Africa faces various challenges including highest number of its people living in extreme poverty. These challenges make it hard for the continent to be on target of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
However, through concerted efforts, Africa can start enjoying steady economic growth that may lead to achievement of the MDGs by the target of 2015.
In view of this, The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) will be holding its Annual Meeting of Board of Governors to celebrate 20 years of capacity development, with the theme Repositioning Africa for the 21st Century: Progress, Prospects and Challenges.
The meeting scheduled to take place in Paris, France from September 28th – October 1st, will include various activities that are part of the Foundation’s build-up towards its 20th Anniversary, which falls on February 9th 2011.
Some of the activities include a High Level Forum (HLF) scheduled for 28-29 September that will focus on “Repositioning Africa for the 21st Century: Progress, Prospects and Challenges”. The Forum will shed light on the implications of the emerging world order for capacity development in Africa especially new finance regulation issues, new international competition, crisis exit strategies and future technologies.
The sessions will also be centered on pertinent issues that have arisen as a result of emerging challenges facing the continent. These include the global financial crisis; governance and transformative leadership in Africa; rethinking regional integration in Africa and revisiting Africa’s strategic development partnerships for the 21st century and beyond.
As Africa continues to grapple with a myriad of challenges, the Paris HLF is aimed at fostering dialogue in order to mobilize the attention of African leaders and development partners on the importance of adopting innovative solutions to capacity development on the continent.
ACBF Executive Secretary, Dr. Frannie A. Léautier, says the forum brings together key players from the public and private sector, as well as leading development experts and delegates from ACBF partner organizations.
“The private sector has an increasingly important role to play. Transforming the African continent requires a mix of policies, strategies and institutional steps and a real paradigm shift in how we approach the development agenda, she says.
Among speakers lined up for the forum include John Agyekum Kufuor, Former President of the Republic of Ghana on good governance and leadership, and Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, who will address the gathering on “50 years of independence in Africa: looking back and looking forward’.
This is the third forum in 2010, the first being held in Accra in February, with the theme ‘Unearthing the next twenty years of capacity development in Africa’. The second discussion forum was held in March, in Tunis, and focused on invigorating dialogue at the highest levels on the importance of building capacity in post-conflict countries.
The official launch of the ACBF Development Memoirs Series on 29th September, entitled ‘Harnessing experiential knowledge for Africa’s development’, will focus on the importance of learning from past
experiences and the vital links between knowledge capital and Africa’s development.
Dr. Léautier says the premise is that Africa’s competitiveness rests on its access to, and utilization of knowledge. “By speaking to the importance of knowledge as it relates to Africa’s development, particularly how Africa can utilize the experience and knowledge capital of seasoned development practitioners from the region, the continent will be able to bridge its knowledge deficit,” she says.
ACBF was established in February 1991. It is the outcome of collaboration between African governments and the international donor community. Its mission is to build sustainable human and institutional capacity for sustainable growth and poverty reduction in Africa.
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