The African Development Bank Group recently hosted a high-level delegation from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), led by Under Secretary General Nena Stoiljkovic. The engagement aimed at moving the two institutions' decade-long partnership from framework to structured co-creation and delivery.
The mission, held on Africa Integration Day, brought IFRC leadership together with senior Bank management across fragility, climate, agriculture, natural resource management, regional integration and human capital.
In his welcoming remarks to the delegation Dr Yero Baldeh, Director of the Bank's Transition States Coordination Office said: "Climate shocks, displacement, food and water insecurity, public health emergencies and persistent fragility continue to affect hundreds of millions of people across the continent."
According to Dr Baldeh, "These challenges require integrated solutions that combine development finance, humanitarian action, climate adaptation and community resilience."
The AfDB-IFRC relationship dates to a 2013 Memorandum of Understanding. The mission provided a critical opportunity for both institutions to augment areas where comparative advantage could be leveraged. This includes pairing the Bank's financing, policy reach and government as well as private sector relationships, with the trusted presence of the IFRC across all 54 African countries.
"Thirteen years into this partnership, the task before us is simple: move from a broad framework to concrete, joint delivery at scale," The Bank Group's Senior Vice President Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade said. "The Bank brings financing, convening power and policy reach. IFRC brings trusted presence in every community on this continent. Combined, that is how we get development impact to the last mile."
The discussions identified opportunities for compounding impact where the Bank's capital and technical investment meet IFRC's presence in communities, leveraging each institution's comparative advantage. This includes matching the Bank's investment in risk knowledge and forecasting which features support to national meteorological services in 17 countries with IFRC's leadership on community preparedness and response. It also combines the Bank's investment in infrastructure, human capital and systems with IFRC's community-level workforce, continent-wide reach, and role as an implementing entity for the Pandemic Fund.
"Our volunteers are in African communities before, during and after every crisis, and we will remain engaged," said Ms. Stoiljkovic. "These exchanges showed us exactly where that presence can be matched with the Bank's financing and reach across key sectors-- particularly in addressing drivers of fragility, climate early warning, community health and food security -- to take this partnership from a small number of pilot projects to real scale."
Both institutions identified vital areas where their work intersects within vulnerable and fragile contexts. This includes areas of concern like the Horn of Africa, Sahel and other areas, where the systems approach of the Bank connects directly with the on-the-ground operations of the IFRC. Joint operations continue to grow driven by flexible and catalytic financing instruments such as the Bank's Transition Support Facility (TSF).
The mission concluded with both institutions adopting a refined Joint Action Plan 2026-2028. This plan, built around a targeted set of actionable, multi-sectorial priorities.
"This strengthened partnership aligns well with the Bank's Ten-year Strategy, 4 Cardinal Points and New Financial Architecture for Africa's Development (NAFAD), with the evolving Action Plan being a clear roadmap for accelerated delivery." said Dr Baldeh.
