Facing the challenges to NEPAD implementation

September 1, 2006

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While significant progress has been recorded in the implementation of NEPAD programmes, many constraints have been identified over the past five years. These challenges need to be confronted in order to accelerate implementation and deepen ownership of NEPAD.

The first challenge is to strengthen and sustain progressive political leadership. South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal and other pioneers of the African renewal must continue to strengthen the political leadership of the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities.

The second challenge is building the capacity of African institutions – national governments, Regional Economic Communities and the African Union. Unless capacity building is given increased priority, African countries will not be able to take advantage of improved access to resources nor deliver increased social services to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Improvement in governance will also be at risk.

The third challenge is speeding up the integration of NEPAD plans into national development programmes including NEPAD programmes in agriculture, health, education and skills development, water and sanitation, science and technology and SMME development. Unless this happens, African countries will not be in a position to achieve the Millennium Development Goals or their sustainable development.

The fourth challenge is changing the manner in which the multilateral development-finance institutions, in particular the African Development Bank, World Bank, IMF and the European Union Commission support infrastructure development in African countries. Special mechanisms must be created to facilitate cross-border projects and to support project preparation.

The fifth challenge is strengthening the private sector in Africa and attracting increased foreign direct investment. At the same time, African countries should give increased attention to the development of domestic debt and equity markets. This requires accelerated policy and regulatory reforms to create a more conducive climate for business as well as for support to small and medium enterprises.

The sixth challenge is speeding up the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism. This is an important instrument for fostering political, economic and corporate good governance and improving efficiency and effectiveness of governments in delivering goods and service to the citizens.

The seventh challenge is converting the promises of the highly industrialised countries into concrete actions – significant increases in development assistance flows, harmonisation and simplification of AID procedures, and phasing out of trade distorting agricultural subsidies. African countries will not achieve the MDGs on current levels of development assistance.

The eighth challenge is to address the impediments to effectiveness of development assistance. At the heart of the problem is the fact that funding has often been done piecemeal by individual donors for short-term single programmes that carry heavy transaction costs and often require parallel infrastructure to be set up.

The key changes required in the architecture of funding are to move towards streamlined applications to pooled funds, based on national plans with harmonisation of resources.

NEPAD’s call is that substantial portions of development assistance should go to core budget funding to build the delivery capacity on which all public services and economic growth depend. This should be tied to greater predictability, longer donor cycles and greater African ownership.

African priority programmes have been developed, and are ready for implementation.

– What then needs to be done to accelerate implementation, and how should it be done?
– What institutional arrangements should be put in place?
– Having identified the need for domestic resource mobilisation as a priority, what strategies should be implemented to ensure that Africa does not depend on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA)?
– What strategic partnerships should Africans be forging among themselves in order to deliver on NEPAD objectives?

In response to the call by NEPAD leaders on the need to build the capacity of African institutions for project implementation, the international community has responded positively by establishing facilities such as the Infrastructure Consortium. The challenge is to ensure that these facilities are effectively utilised by African countries to accelerate implementation.

The future success of NEPAD largely depends on the extent to which actions are taken to overcome constraints that currently hinder implementation. These actions include:

– Consolidating and widening ownership and leadership of NEPAD at all levels;

– Ensuring more effective engagement and participation by all stakeholders, particularly civil society, the private sector as well as parliamentarians;

– Mobilising domestic resources by encouraging production, fighting waste and corruption, promoting better resource control and management, initiating productive projects, and encouraging savings;

– Continuing advocacy for expanded and substantial debt relief, increases in direct foreign investment, improved terms of trade and greater access to the markets of industrialised countries including the removal of distorting tariff and non-tariff barriers;

– Establishing implementation networks between member states and RECs; and identifying targeted sub-regional and national programmes and ensure predictable and sustainable financing mechanism to sustain coordination;

– Strengthening regional integration particularly through enhanced investment in infrastructures;
– Expanding inter-African trade to consolidate African regional markets;
Branding of NEPAD to facilitate the tracking of its activities and impact;
– Strengthening the institutional and human capacities of RECs to fulfil their mandates in implementing NEPAD;
– Ensuring wider participation in the African Peer Review Mechanism.

Action is also needed to strengthen NEPAD structures, including the finalisation of their integration into the African Union in a manner that ensures holistic and coordinated implementation of NEPAD programmes without compromising NEPAD principles and values or the momentum gained. It is also important that the integration process does not undermine current stakeholder and international goodwill and support to Africa through NEPAD.

A Summit of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee is to be convened in Abuja, Nigeria, in October 2006 to brainstorm a review of the achievements of NEPAD and possible improvements of its programs and operations.

Source : nepad news, 1er September 2006