The African Development Bank's "10,000 Communities in 1,000 Days" Initiative was launched by Bank President Akinwumi Adesina during the inaugural African Resilience Forum in January 2017.
Rural poverty, youth unemployment and environmental degradation referred to by President Adesina as the "Triangle of Disaster" continues to be the main driver of rural-urban, intra-African or international migrations, leading to significant local and international challenges. More than 645 million Africans do not have electricity, 319 million people are without access to improved and reliable drinking water sources, and 695 million of a global 2.4 billion people without improved sanitation facilities live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, 233 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa suffered from hunger or were undernourished between 2014 and 2016.
To address this, the "10,000 Communities in 1,000 Days" Initiative provides a platform for delivering the High 5s in vulnerable communities in countries facing fragility. It is aimed at implementing quick yet impactful interventions to address fragility and build resilience. The initiative brings the governments, private sector, non-governmental organizations, local community organizations and traditional development actors to work together in partnership using development solutions that have a proven record to meet the needs of the people at the bottom of the pyramid and at risk of being left out in the development process.
The initiative will target vulnerable communities in transition states that do not have access to basic services such as energy, clean water, and who suffer from food insecurity, unemployment, or other critical issues. The Bank acknowledges that the demands of vulnerable communities are far greater than what it is able to provide on its own and therefore seeks to leverage more resources through partnerships to implement the High 5s at the grassroots level with a particular focus on vulnerable communities.
In his remarks to African Ministers of Finance on April 19, 2017 in Washington, DC, President Adesina reaffirmed the Bank's commitment to ensure that no one is left behind in the development agenda, hence the importance of the "10,000 Communities in 1,000 Days" Initiative. He called upon all partners to support the initiative and work together in delivering the basic needs of most affected communities in Africa.
