Regional Community of Practice to Strengthen Results Management in COMESA Region

16 May 2013
Content from a Premium Partner
African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

To overcome challenges in achieving regional integration results, 150 delegates from eighteen countries met in Lusaka, Zambia, from May 14-17, 2013, and established the Regional Community of Practice on Results of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

This Regional Community of Practice (CoP) will strengthen the results management capacity of COMESA member countries and accelerate the implementation of regional policies through Managing for Development Results (MfDR).

This CoP aims specifically at accelerated regional integration in three key areas: (i) trade facilitation and mobility of factors, (ii) business climate, and (iii) the promotion of an MfDR culture within COMESA and its member states.

To that effect, countries will establish a national CoP, conduct readiness assessment for regional integration results, develop and implement action plans, as well as hold workshops at the highest level of the government to instill a results culture and provide clear leadership for regional integration.

This initiative will bring about a stronger commitment for regional integration through building leadership, strengthening institutional capacity to deliver better results and empowering non-state actors to hold decision-makers accountable for achieving tangible outcomes. It unites representatives from the public sector, the private sector and the civil society.

In his opening statement, Zambia's Deputy Minister of Finance, Keith Mukata, best emphasized the overarching meeting goal: "managing for development results, as a change management process, is expected to contribute to overcoming challenges being experienced in regional integration efforts".

He echoed the words of the African Development Bank Resident Representative for Zambia, Freddie Kwesiga, who stated that "the Africa for Results initiative is to me one of the responses to these challenges and could contribute to the transformation of the continent for the benefit of all our people."

This event is part of the broader support provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB), in partnership with the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), to the African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results (AfCoP-MfDR).

AfCoP is a coalition of over 2,500 leaders whose main objective is to improve the lives of people in Africa through managing for results.

Read the original article on African Development Bank (AfDB).

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