World Bank to launch Africa development strategy
World Bank to launch Africa development strategyBy Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Sun 23 Jan. 2011, 03:59 CAT
THE World Bank will this year launch a new strategy that has recognised that African ownership of the design and implementation of development programmes is necessary to foster economic growth and poverty reduction in their countries.
The strategy, dubbed ‘Africa’s future and the World Bank support to it’, has been formulated with input and feedback from more than 2,000 Africans and others who participated in the eight-month series of face-to-face and consultations.
It is projected that the new strategy would outline how the World Bank plans to revise its approach and deepen its partnership with Africa in the next five years to 2016.
Commenting on the development, World Bank chief economist for Africa Shanta Devarajan stated that the response from stakeholders who participated in the process was overwhelming.
“The comments we received proved what we have known for some time … that Africans are best placed to determine their development needs and the interventions necessary to foster economic growth and poverty reduction in their countries. Based on the feedback from the consultations, the World Bank's engagement in support of Africa's development will henceforth be organised along the two pillars identified in the draft strategy, that is competitiveness and employment and secondly, vulnerability and resilience,” Devarajan stated.
“The foundation of work done along these two cross-cutting themes is governance and public sector capacity. The pillars and foundation recognise the current challenges, priorities and opportunities, including the onset of rapid economic growth and the potential for Africa to become a global growth pole.”
And World Bank vice-president for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili stated that partnerships would be the main instrument for implementing the strategy.
“We need to leverage the private sector, development actors and most importantly, African society in designing development solutions going forward, and to ensure that our knowledge and financial resources are much more productive and effective,” she stated.
The World Bank Group has operations in 47 Sub-Saharan African countries where its funding is mainly provided through the International Development Association (IDA) the Bank's fund for the world's 79 poorest countries and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Bank's private sector arm.
In 2010, the World Bank Group committed a record US$11.5 billion in loans, near-zero-interest credits, grants, equity investments and guarantees to Africa.
Labels: SHANTA DEVARAJAN, World Bank
posted by MrK @ 12:18 PM
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