An interview with Anthony Nyong Manager, AfDB Compliance and Safeguards Division
One of the landmarks in the Bank's efforts to implement more environmentally and socially sustainable programs and projects in support Africa's transformation to a green economy is the update of its Integrated Safeguards System. Central to this is the need to update the Bank's Strategic Impact Assessment Guidelines adopted in 2003. Toward this end, the Bank will from 21-22 March 2011 host an international seminar on the theme "Strategic Environmental and Social Assessments for policy-based lending operations" The seminar brings together MDBs, several bilateral donors and regional participants, In an interview, Mr Anthony Nyong, Manager, Compliance and Safeguards Division, highlights the importance of the seminar in the Bank's efforts to promote environmentally and socially sustainable development in its operations.
What is the seminar on Strategic Environmental and Social Assessments for policy-based lending operations all about?
The purpose of the conference and subsequent activities of the Working Group is clearly to provide AfDB with the knowledge and opportunity to account for the potential influence of climate change as well as social issues on development effectiveness in relation to the sustainability of AfDB-supported interventions. The SESA WG will therefore develop activities directed at addressing climate change adaptation through SEA/SESA application to national policies, programs, plans and overarching strategies, and pilot and evaluate SEA/SESA in sector reforms and country/regional strategies.
The nature of demand for support emanating from RMCs has also turned to more structured investment in macroeconomic and sector support budget as revealed by related review exercise performed under the ADF-11. On top of this situation, transition economies in some African countries have growing needs for basic infrastructure in energy, transport and extractive industries that involve heavy investment and development of Public and Private Partnerships. In view of those findings, the Bank has developed new strategic focus on regional integration as well as new financial instruments such as Policy-Based Lending operations which enable the Bank to adequately provide broader macroeconomic and sectoral support to its Regional Member Countries.
The Bank is expanding its regional operations and consequently adopting a more programmatic and policy based approach to its lending. The cumulative environmental and social changes and opportunities and the potential interactions between different sectors need to be considered upstream in the design and implementation of development and sector policies and programmes. Currently, effort is concentrated downstream through project management where attention is paid to potential impacts of projects on the environmental and social strata of the society. Strategic Environmental and Social assessment tools provide the opportunities to do this. Earlier attempts by the Bank completely ignored the social dimension and this has been the trend among the MDBs. The seminar will bring together organizations that have successfully included social dimensions into their strategic assessments to share experiences with the Bank.
The Bank is also fostering a green economy transformation on the African continent. Green economy measures mean the development of national and regional green economy strategies as well as the provision of platforms for national consultations, building partnerships and enhancing synergy with existing policies. The SESA can be used in this context as an instrument to enhance sustainability and to reduce environmental risks and ecological scarcity. This conference is a unique opportunity for AfDB to mobilize its own resources as a working group, which will deal with technical issues and institutional aspects related to SESA implementation.
Who are participating in the seminar and what are the main items on the agenda?
The most active international agencies in this area, including OECD/DAC, CIDA, NCEA, and the World Bank have been invited to give presentations. The Bank's regional and sector departments, the African Union and RECs will be participating as important actors for driving the SEA/SESA mainstreaming process in Africa.
However, SEA is not new in the Bank as we have an SIA Guidelines that was adopted in 2003. The Bank will present lessons learned thus far in the implementation of the assessment and what needs to be done to improve on its implementation. The invited participants will share their experiences and, in all, we capture best practices that will support the revision of the SESA guidelines and the development of the Integrated Safeguards System (ISS). Climate change is a major driving force for SESA and will be addressed through the tool as well as through the roundtable which will conclude the conference on the second day. It is important for AfDB to capture experience and knowledge collected by international organizations as well as deliver and share its own experience with other MDBs. Information exchange is a critical path for all MDBs especially in a situation where despite the large amount of experience accumulated so far, no agreement has yet been reached on how to conduct such assessment or on the scope and coverage for SESA.
What are the expected outcomes of the seminar and how will they be integrated in Bank Group operations especially with regards to climate change?
The conference is an important milestone toward implementation of the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda of Action on Aid effectiveness and harmonization among multilateral Finance Institutions (MFIs), since it will enable the Bank identify how international best practice and AfDB lessons learned can be mainstreamed into Bank operations, especially policy-based lending and will therefore foster harmonization and alignment on a common minimal platform from which MDBs can draw for their safeguard system. The revision of the SESA instrument is therefore an important input to the design of an Integrated Safeguard System (ISS) which is an important commitment the Bank made during the negotiations of ADF and General Capital Increase. The conference will generate knowledge on how the Bank can use SESA for strengthening environmental governance and institutions, for screening and greening country and regional strategies and, for mainstreaming climate change considerations in national and/or regional policies, programs plans and strategies.
Contacts
Ernest Achonu
