Nils Tcheyan

The World Bank (WB) and the European Commission (EC) organized a meeting with civil society on their collaboration on cooperation with Africa in Brussels on 26 April involving Mr. Nils Tcheyan, Director Operations for Africa of the World Bank, and Mr. Bernard Petit, Deputy Director General in the Directorate for Development, EC. 

They shared information with civil society on the WB/EC partnerships in support of African development, and discussed

Bernard Petit

the objectives and strategic orientations of the WB/EC framework for reviewing operational collaboration in Africa, i.e. the Limelette process. 

The meeting brought together a select group of representatives from European civil society organizations and African Diaspora groups. The civil society representatives welcomed the cooperation between the EC and the WB on Africa as well as their first engagement on that process.

 
Peter Craig Mcquaide

Throughout the discussion, representatives focused on mechanisms to improve accountability for the delivery and use of development assistance. Amongst the proposals put forward by the civil society groups were for the WB and the EC to:better support and engage with civil society and the private sector in Africa,

•         work towards the development of a more results based approach to their cooperation with Africa,

•         give stronger focus to institution building in Africa and,

•         review the social and environmental impact of their projects in Africa.

Taking account of these proposals, Mr. Tcheyan and Mr. Petit, expressed their interest in further and wider engagement with civil society on their collaboration on Africa in the future. High level meetings between the WB and the EC on their collaboration on Africa are foreseen in the latter part of the year.