The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a governance strategy framework and action plan to guide its operations in the regional members countries over the next five years.
The Governance Strategic Framework and Action Plan (GAP II) 2014-2018, approved by the Board on Thursday, 15 May in Tunis, aims to promote good governance and accountability with a view to enhancing Africa's transformation.
Presenting the document to the Board, the Bank's Governance Director, Lobe Ndoumbe, said that the strategy, which is based on the "One Bank" concept, benefitted from wide-ranging external consultations with various stakeholders.
GAP II vision is that of "Africa governed by transparent, accountable and responsive governments and strong institutions, capable of driving inclusive and sustainable growth." Consequently, its three core objectives are to:
Strengthen governments' capacity for transparent and accountable use of public resources and citizens' ability to hold governments to account;
Improve outcomes in the sectors and citizens' ability to monitor them;
Promote a business enabling environment which supports Africa's socio-economic transformation, job creation and financial inclusion.
What's more, the Strategy is built on three pillars:
- Public sector and economic management;
- Sector governance; and
- Investment and business climate.
Finally, it also has three cross-cutting issues:
- Anti-corruption;
- Gender; and
- Regional integration.
Within these three strategic pillars, the Bank will build on the achievements of GAP I in the areas of Public Financial Management, Business Enabling Environment and sector governance. Regional integration will be mainstreamed in all the three strategic pillars.
The strategy will be implemented in the context of the "One Bank" approach and the Decentralization Road Map. While the former will necessitate a collective cross-departmental effort in mainstreaming governance across all Bank operations, the Decentralization Roadmap will further bring the Bank closer to its clients, enhance policy dialogue and facilitate responsiveness and feedback.
According to the document, policy dialogue will act as an enabler of reforms and as an essential tool for sustainable development. It will enable the Bank to engage with its RMCs on a continuous basis and to understand their development challenges and reform priorities. The Bank Group franchise value as a "preferred and trusted" partner, in view of its African character, gives it legitimacy to act on issues affecting Africa and in engaging RMCs in sensitive governance policy dialogue.
To this end, the Bank, through its field offices, will step up country level governance policy dialogue. It will also leverage analytical work to solidly understand the contexts, including the political economy dimensions, to inform Country Strategy Papers, Regional Integration Strategy Papers, Program Based Operations, and policy dialogue, to provide a robust knowledge base for these engagements. The Bank's Ten-Year Strategy 2013-2022, with its twin objectives of inclusive growth and gradual transition to green growth together with its Governance and Accountability core priority areas, will provide the strategic platform for GAP II.
