Partnerships - Regional Partnerships/Strategic Alliances

Regional coordination partnerships and strategic alliances with governments, civil society, donors and international organizations have become increasing central to the work of the World Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following is a partial list with links to some of the most important ones:

African Development Bank (AfDB): In 2000 the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining a Strategic Partnership between the two institutions. In 2003 the two institutions drafted a set of action plans that delineated their planned cooperation in a set of sectors/themes (e.g., capacity building, governance) and African countries. Read more...
The Africa Partnership Forum (APF) brings together development partners and African governments under a forum that seeks to hold both parties to account with respect to commitments made in promoting Africa’s development. Findings would serve to better identify current or future challenges and priorities for the effective use of development resources. The APF membership consists of Africa’s development partners, members of the NEPAD implementation committee, the AU, heads of Africa’s Regional Economic Communities, the EC, the UN, the IMF the AFDB, the World Bank, the OECD and the WTO. Read more ...
African Union (AU). The African Union was launched in 2002 as the successor to the Organization of African Unity. It is the pre-eminent African political organization, and has as its overall objective the accelerated political and economic integration of the continent. The AU’s Constitutive Act embraces democracy, good governance and integration into the global economy, and recognizes the importance of peace and stability. It has a mandate to promote peace on the continent and has been actively engaged in conflict management, including peacekeeping operations. Read more ...
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was adopted in 2001 by the Organization of Africa Unity (now the African Union) as an African owned, integrated, socio-economic development framework and vision for Africa’s renewal. NEPAD’s four primary objectives are to eradicate poverty, promote sustainable growth and development, integrate Africa in the world economy, and to accelerate the empowerment of women. Read more ...
The Department for International Development (DFID) is part of the UK Government that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty. It is headed by a Cabinet minister, one of the senior ministers in the Government. This reflects how important the Government sees reducing poverty around the world. DFID is a major player in international development in general and in Africa, in particular, and is the second leading bilateral donor in providing assistance to Africa (after the U.S.). Read more...
European Commission (EC): The EC ( Limelette Process) and the World Bank, the two largest development assistance contributors in Sub-Saharan Africa, have been collaborating to improve the effectiveness of their combined aid efforts by capitalizing on synergies and comparative advantages. In April 2003 the two partners met to develop ways to intensify their cooperation. One outcome of the meeting was the development of a set of principles to guide their support to the PRSP process. Read more...
France The Africa Region of the World Bank (AFR) and the Government of France initiated partnership consultations in June 2004 to explore ways of strengthening cooperation on supporting African development. France is one of Africa’s foremost bilateral partners and already cooperates extensively with AFR in project co-financing, particularly in Francophone Africa. Read more...
Germany is a major bilateral donor in Africa, assistance through two agencies: The Africa Region’s cooperation with Germany was greatly enhanced in 2007 when Germany had the Presidency of the G8. In May 2007, prior to the G8 summit, the World Bank and Germany co-hosted a major development forum on Africa in Berlin. The Forum concentrated on supporting private sector development in Africa and showcased the cooperation between Germany and the World Bank in infrastructure and finance. Read more...
Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA): SPA is an informal association of donors and African partners whose goal is to support poverty reduction in Africa by working to improve the quality and increase the quantity of assistance to Africa. The substantive work of SPA centers around three objectives: (a) gaining more donor funds to support PRSP countries; (b) aligning quick-disbursing assistance with national strategies, and (c) aligning sector and other forms of assistance to national strategies. Read more...
United Nations Development Program (UNDP): The UNDP is a principal interlocutor between the World Bank's Africa Region and the UN to harmonize the programs and procedures of the Bank's work in Africa with complementary activities of the UN. Read more...
UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA): The UNECA, the regional arm of the UN in Africa, has a development agenda which coincides with that of the World Bank. The work of this agency is focused on supporting the economic and social development of its 53 member States, foster regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development. An example of recent cooperation with the Bank is UNECA's assistance in disseminating information about the Bank-Fund Poverty Reduction Strategy process. Read more...
TICAD The World Bank is a co-organizer, along with the Government of Japan, the United Nations and UNDP, of TICAD – the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. TICAD was launched in 1993 with the intention of keeping Africa on the international agenda, facilitating high-level policy dialogue between African countries and their development partners, and promoting closer relations between Asia and Africa. Since then, TICAD has evolved into an on-going process that has been instrumental in encouraging a more equitable development partnership. To date there have been three TICAD meetings, and TICAD IV will be held in Yokohama in May 2008. Read more ...