The African Development Bank Group is intensifying efforts to mobilise co-financing to scale up development impact across the continent, amid an estimated annual financing gap of around $400 billion.
During the 17th replenishment of the African Development Fund in December 2025, the Bank Group strengthened its concessional financing window through direct contributions from 44 development finance partners, including 24 African countries, 20 of them for the first time. In parallel, the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa announced up to $2 billion and $800 million, respectively, in complementary co-financing over the 2026-2028 period. While these commitments do not constitute contributions to the Fund, they expand the pool of concessional and blended finance available to support investments in infrastructure, agriculture, energy and other priority sectors across ADF-eligible countries.
At the centre of this push is the African Development Bank Group's President, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, who assumed office in September 2025. He has placed partnerships at the heart of his Four Cardinal Points vision, emphasising the need to mobilise greater resources and deliver development impact at scale.
"The African Development Bank Group cannot do everything by itself," he has stressed, noting that the institution's approvals account for less than 10% of the continent's overall financing needs.
By financing projects independently, the African Development Bank Group is transforming the daily lives of millions across the continent. However, deeper collaboration with development partners is seen as essential to amplifying impact. Over the past two decades, the Bank has significantly broadened its partnership base, supported by institutional credibility, growing visibility and status as Africa's leading triple-A-rated development finance institution.
In a speech earlier this year, Dr Ould Tah has underscored the importance of more structured and strategic partnerships to reduce fragmentation and maximise results, calling for a shift towards coordinated, large-scale approaches to development financing.
Marking the dawn of a new era in resource mobilisation, the World Bank Group and the Arab Coordination Group launched a new phase of their partnership in Abidjan in mid-January 2026, aimed at increasing co-financing, mobilising private capital and accelerating Africa's economic transformation. This strategic partnership paves the way for a shared platform to move from fragmented cooperation to large-scale, programmatic co-investment. The Bank Group's objective is to ensure that every dollar invested generates greater leverage in co-financing to support sustainable growth and regional integration.
High-impact partnerships
The African Development Bank Group and the World Bank Group, alongside partners including the Rockefeller Foundation, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), launched 'Mission 300' in early 2025 -- an initiative aimed at accelerating electrification across sub-Saharan Africa and providing 300 million people with reliable electricity.
The Bank Group and the European Union have maintained a close partnership since signing a memorandum of understanding in 2025. The European Commission and the Bank Group have aligned their priorities under the EU's 'Global Gateway' strategy, with co-financing operations between the two institutions increasing significantly between 2022 and 2024, reaching €972 million in joint operations and guarantees. In 2024, the two parties signed a new financial partnership framework agreement designed to stimulate investment in infrastructure across the continent, and they are also collaborating to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa.
In November 2025, EIB Global -- a financing arm of the European Investment Bank Group -- and the African Development Bank signed an agreement to invest $275 million in modernising Mauritania's main railway corridor. This major project aims to extend and upgrade the line between Zouérat and Nouadhibou, boost the country's competitiveness, support green growth and advance regional integration.
The African Development Bank Group's co-financing partnerships span a range of sectors: energy, resilience, regional integration, private-sector development, and access to water and sanitation.
In May 2022, the African Development Bank Group approved the $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility to address the consequences of Russia's war against Ukraine, helping around 30 African countries increase their cereal production rice, maize and cassava. Japan joined the initiative with a €224 million co-financing contribution.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 325 tonnes of rice, 388 tonnes of maize and 1.4 million linear metres of cassava cuttings were distributed to farming communities. A total of 49,749 farming households were reached, majority of them women, who are often on the front line of feeding their families. As a result, rural communities in the provinces of Kwilu, Kasai and Tshopo have since returned to their land with renewed vigour.
In Burkina Faso, sorghum yields rose from 900 kg per hectare at the project's outset to 1.2 tonnes per hectare upon completion. Soybean yields exceeded forecasts, rising from 900 kg per hectare to 1.6 tonnes per hectare, against a target of 1.5 tonnes.
The Islamic Development Bank and the Bank Group strengthened their strategic partnership in 2025 to step up their collective efforts to address fragility and build resilience in Africa.
Requests for partnerships - spanning trust funds, co-financing, technical cooperation, secondments, staff exchanges, special initiatives, and research and knowledge partnerships-- are increasing year on year.
The issue of partnerships will feature in discussions at the Bank Group's 2026 Annual Meetings, scheduled for 25-29 May in Brazzaville, Congo, under the theme: 'Mobilising Africa's Development Financing at Scale in a Multi-Polar World'.
The Bank's active co-financing agreements
