Technical Cooperation - The United Kingdom to Provide AfDB With Additional Resources to Benefit Regional Member Countries

26 June 2014
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African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a Framework Technical Cooperation Agreement (FTCA) between the AfDB and the Government of the United Kingdom. Under this agreement, the United Kingdom will donate two million GBP (US$ 3.35 million) in untied funds to AfDB over a five-year period. This donation will cover all cooperation activities of a technical assistance nature between the two partners.

The new Framework Technical Cooperation Agreement will finance activities in support of the Bank and regional member countries (RMCs). The resources of the main FTCA contribution will be used exclusively to improve the effectiveness of the Fund's and the Bank's activities in the field of economic empowerment. They will be used to finance, among others, the following areas:

  • Improving the Bank's performance in the field of gender equality;
  • Enhancing the effectiveness of programmes in fragile states;
  • Supporting implementation of the climate change action plan;
  • Improving the Bank's culture with regard to results management.

This FTCA will replace the 2007 Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and will facilitate ongoing technical cooperation between the Bank and the United Kingdom, by broadening its scope and further increasing the flexibility of its implementation procedures.

Benoît Chervalier, Head of Unit at the AfDB's Resource Mobilization and External Finance Department, said that the FTCA proposal differs from a standard technical cooperation agreement in that it does not merely provide a main contribution (similar to a standard technical cooperation trust fund). The new framework agreement also creates the possibility of the United Kingdom providing additional funds for specific activities through ad hoc administrative agreements.

"This new feature has been introduced to take account of the highly decentralised structure of the Department for International Development (DFID). DFID country offices are able to commit funds without referring the matter to their central office," he said.

The United Kingdom, through the Department for International Development (DFID) is one of the main donors to the Bank's trust funds, with a total contribution of GBP 113 million, equivalent to US$ 189.05 million, over the period 2006-2013. In June 1973, it became a member of the African Development Fund (ADF) and of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1983.

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

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