NEPAD as a Framework for Sustainable Development in Africa

1. NEPAD as a Framework for Sustainable Development in Africa An ECA presentation at the Workshop on Institutional and Strategic Frameworks for Sustainable Development Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 8 March 2011

2. Outline • Background • NEPAD Priority Areas and Frameworks • Sustainable Development of NEPAD as a Programme • Sustainable Development of the NEPAD Infrastructure Programme • Conclusions and Way Forward

3. BackgroundNEPAD • Adopted as socio-economic development framework in 2001 • Commitment by African leaders to pursue new socio-economic transformation approaches • Seeks to eradicate poverty, place African countries on path of sustainable growth & development • Following 2010 AU Decision, NEPAD now integrated into AU structure and processes • NEPAD Secretariat transformed to NPCA (NEPAD Agency)

4. NEPAD Principles • Good governance (APRM) • African ownership and leadership (High level governing mechanism) • Broad participation by all sectors of society • Anchoring development on Africa’s resources and resourcefulness of its people • Partnerships • Accelerating regional integration • Linking all partnerships with MDGs and IADGs

5. NEPAD Priority Areas • Agriculture and food security • Education and training • Environment and tourism • Infrastructure • Health • Trade and Market Access • Science and Technology • Governance • Gender and Civil Society

6. Major NEPAD Frameworks/Programmes • CAADP • African Science and Technology Consolidated Action Plan • Action Plan for Environment Initiative • Infrastructure Short Term Action Plan (STAP); PIDA, AU/NEPAD African Action Plan • Framework for Water and Energy • Capacity Development Strategic Framework • Frameworks on Education, Health and ICT

7. NPCA Strategic Framework/ Thematic Areas • Agriculture and Food Security • Climate Change and Natural Resources Management • Regional Integration and Infrastructure • Human Development • Economic and Cooperate Governance • Crosscutting Issues (Capacity Development, Gender)

8. What is Sustainable Development? • Adherence to the following principles • Country ownership and commitment • Integrated economic, social and environmental objectives across sectors, territories and generations • Broad participation and effective partnerships • Develop capacity and enabling environment • Focus on outcomes and means of implementation

9. Overall Sustainability of NEPAD Programme • African led and owned (initiated by Heads of State of Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt and Algeria….AU Mandate) • Active participation of CSOs, private sector, although with variations across priority areas • Strong partnerships (UN system; donor community – G8; African sub-regional and continental organisations; South-South cooperation) • Human resources development, including reversing brain drain is one of the priority areas • Overall, NEPAD was designed as a sustainable programme

10. NEPAD Infrastructure Programme • Objectives • Improve access, affordability, reliability of infrastructure • Enhance regional cooperation and trade • Elements of Infrastructure Programme • STAP established in 2002 (facilitation, capacity building, physical and capital projects, studies) • AU/NEPAD African Action Plan (2010-2015): contains projects in all NEPAD priority areas including infrastructure • PIDA (aims at developing regional and continental infrastructure policies, programmes, implementation strategies)

11. Country Ownership and Commitment (attributes) • Country driven; multi-stakeholder; strong political commitment • Sound leadership and good governance • Based on long-term shared strategic vision • Strong institutional leadership and technical capacity for coordination • Institutions and people at local level as strong driving force • Ensuring continuity of strategy development and implementation

12. Country Ownership and Commitment (assessment) • Countries/RECs involved in selection of projects • Champions (Heads of State) identified for selected projects • Low implementation questions political commitment • Capacity for coordination not very strong • Institutions and people at local level have not generally acted as strong driving force (low awareness) • Overall mixed result

13. Integrated Socio-Economic Objectives Across Sectors, Territories (attributes) • Comprehensive, well integrated strategy process • Linking short to medium and long term • Linking local, national and regional priorities • Consensus building and transparent trade-offs

14. Integrated Socio-Economic Objectives Across Sectors, Territories (assessment) • Comprehensive and well integrated • Linked to poverty reduction (accessibility, affordability); trade issues, etc • STAP feeds into PIDA (linking short and long term) • Clear and transparent criteria for selecting projects • Good overall performance

15. Broad Participation and Effective Partnerships (attributes) • Broad public participation including CSOs; private sector in decision making • Communication and wide information dissemination • Promoting and building partnerships, including with external organisations • Governments to create enabling environment for participation

16. Broad Participation and Effective Partnerships (assessment) • Efforts to involve the private sector (NEPAD Foundation; NEPAD Business Round Table, etc) • UN system support (RCM-Africa, UN Resolutions; Section 11; OSAA, ECA, DPI) • Infrastructure Consortium for Africa • More effort needed to communicate NEPAD • Overall performance is mixed

17. Develop Capacity and Enabling Environment (attributes) • Strong human and institutional capacity • Building on existing knowledge and expertise; optimising local skills and capacity both within and outside government • Giving recognition to local knowledge and institutions

18. Develop Capacity and Enabling Environment (assessment) • NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparatory Facility (IPPF) • Capacity of national and regional institutions still generally weak • Strategic Capacity Development Framework • Ten-Year Capacity Building Programme for the AU • Overall performance not very good

19. Focus on Outcomes and Means of Implementation (attributes) • Aiming to achieve results • Build on existing strategies , policies and processes • Setting realistic but flexible targets • Building coherence between budget and priorities • Mechanisms for monitoring, evaluating, follow-up, etc.

20. Focus on Outcomes and Means of Implementation (assessment) • No clear targets and objective performance monitoring plan developed for STAP • AU/NEPAD African Action Plan has perfomance indicators, resource requirements, tracking mechanism, identified key actors • PIDA builds on STAP and the African Action Plan • Overall, focus on results is improving but monitoring and evaluation has been weak

21. Lessons learned and the way forward • Analysis of NEPAD Infrastructure Programme presents a mixed picture in terms of sustainability • In particular, ownership at national level; focus on results; and monitoring and evaluation have to be improved • Identification of Champions is a welcome development and should be extended to more projects • Sustained effort is needed in communicating the achievement of the Programme

22. THANK YOU