Five innovative projects in the High 5 areas have been awarded the Africa Development Impact Award
Morocco received the Light up and power Africa category with an innovative solar power plant project to scale up renewable energy capacity; Mauritania won the Feed Africa category for an irrigation project to increase resilience to climate change.
A total of 22 submissions were received on all of the High 5 areas covering the continent and rigorously assessed by experts.
Making a difference in people's lives requires effective and high quality operations for long-term impacts. Effective tracking and transparency in achieving impact are instrumental to achieve the High 5 goals.
To scale up its impact, the African Development Bank announced the winners of the Africa Development Impact during its Annual Meetings in Ahmedabad, India, on May 24, 2017, with Lerato Mbele acting as master of ceremony and Nollywood actress Omotola J. Ekeinde handing over the awards.
This put a spotlight on the Bank's ability to change people's lives and celebrate its ability in doing so in key areas: Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.
The African Development Bank's President Akinumwi Adesina underlined that "our business is to deliver lasting changes in people's lives and this award is a recognition of our effectiveness." He went on to congratulate the Ministers and dignitaries who collected trophies on behalf of their countries in front of an audience of 2,300 people.
Task managers and country managers from all sectors and regions across the African Development Bank shared data on projects that delivered the biggest impact.
The Africa Development Bank appointed an assessment group to rank the nominees of the Africa Development Impact Award. Winners and finalists were selected through a thorough process that involved assessment at regional level and in sector departments.
Given the quality and the quantity of proposals received, the selection committee had a difficult time selecting the winners, but the Bank announced the winners in Wednesday evening's ceremony.
Winners:
The award in the category of Light up and power Africa goes to the Ouarzazate Solar Project in Morocco: This highly visible innovative solar power project contributed to carbon neutral growth in Africa. The public-private partnership operation scored high on innovation and sustainability.
The award in the category of Feed Africa goes to the Hydro-Agriculture Project in Mauritania: This operation enhanced food security by improving agricultural production. The project scored high on the impact on farmers and had a strong results-based monitoring system.
The award in the Industrialise Africa category goes to the East African Telecommunication project: a private sector operation that provided financing to a Special Purpose Vehicle. This entity financed an underwater submarine cable along the Eastern Coast of Africa. This project scored high on innovation, impact on the private sector and sustainability.
The award in the Integrate Africa category goes to the Fufulso-Sawla road project in Ghana: This road project was part of the regional corridor and had a wider developmental impact by improving mobility of people and goods. This project scored high on impact on the local population and sustainability.
And finally the award in the category of Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa goes to the Tanzania rural water supply and sanitation programmme which improved the health and quality of life in rural parts of Tanzania through the provision of water and sanitation services. The project scored high on impact by improving the lives of rural poor and sustainability. Some best practices were also replicated in other Bank projects.
