African capacity building initiatives

In the 4-year pilot phase, the program will concentrate on about 8 countries. The thrust of the program will be national, though it may support limited, highly regional approaches to building policy analysis capability. The use of African talent, leadership, and priorities will be stressed, and expatriate TA and offshore graduate training de-emphasized. The program, which will be implemented by the ACB Foundation, will begin assistance to a country by helping it to assess existing capacities in policy analysis and economic administration and to develop a long-term national action plan in accordance with the needs of the government and other institutions, including the private sector. Capacity building efforts will include: (1) upgrading existing institutions (e.g., a university economics department, a research or management institute); (2) building or strengthening a small number of regional institutions, primarily as training institutions and sources of policy information and advice; (3) strengthening/creating government policy units, e.g., in Offices of the President, Ministries of Finance and Planning, and Central Banks; (4) providing fellowships; (5) expanding in-service training and work experiences for African professionals; and (6) strengthening local consulting firms, professional associations and other private organizations. Along with other multilateral donors, A.I.D. will contribute to a core ACB Fund which will be managed on behalf of the ACB Foundation by the World Bank; A.I.D."s contribution will support long- and short-term TA, local studies, workshops, commodities, and participant training. Program donors will include Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Norway, Canada, the Netherlands, and Austria. In addition, considerable cofinancing by other donors will be provided for related projects.