Partnership For African Development Research Articles

The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), Profits and Poverty: Historicizing A Persisting Dilemma

This paper surveyed the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), its agenda, strength and weaknesses vis-à-vis the raison d’etre for its establishment. It appraised the gains accruing to Africa in contradistinction to that of the developed world which discerned a yearning disparity. For Tony Blair (a former British Prime Minister), this partnership was not just about aid in its totality, it was not only about what we give, Africa needed our support and we needed Africa to succeed. It was how altruistic the likes of Tony Blair were that necessitated the review of the activities of NEPAD and its effect on Africa that claimed its patent. This was against the background of a persisting underdevelopment, especially the economic, of African countries and the poverty of their citizens. The manipulative operations of International Financial Institutions (IMF, World Bank-IBRD, among others) opened up African economies to exploitation with the unarguable connivance of rich multinational corporations and consultancy firms who maximized their profits from Africa’s misery and helplessness. The paper concluded that Western corporate power in Africa was a monster with a thousand stomachs, insatiable for profits. For Africans, this was a hard stuff to swallow - but corporate greed knew no limits. The comparative and the analytical were adopted.

Nigeria’s Foreign Policy towards African Union’s Integration: Challenges & Advantages (2002 – 2020)

This study investigates the nexus between Nigeria’s foreign policy and African Union Integration towards collaboration and cooperation. Since Nigeria’s independence, its foreign policy has been Afrocentric, as it has made Africa the centre-piece in external relations with other countries in the continent. Nigeria has been one of the principal founders of organization of African Unity (OAU) and its transformation into the African Union (AU) and its integration initiative programmes like New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) in which it has contributed greatly through her foreign policy disposition. The study identifies some challenges like most African economies suffered from harsh macro-economic disequilibrium, foreign debt services/burden, narrow tax base with custom duty, limited and national regional capacity, Nigeria’s domestic challenges, intra – African crises, lack of common language to facilitate integration while the study proposes benefits and prospects such as regionalization of economies, monetary integration, trade creation, communication and transportation linkage to aid collaboration and cooperation. The study therefore adopted qualitative, historical and descriptive methods through the use of secondary source to collect and analyse data, while it makes use of integration theory as its theoretical framework to navigate the study. Keywords: African Union: Domestic Politics: Diplomacy: Foreign Policy: Integration: National Interest.

Locally-Procured Fish Is Essential in School Feeding Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Fish make an important contribution to micronutrient intake, long-chained polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFAS), and animal protein, as well as ensuring food and nutrition security and livelihoods for fishing communities. Micronutrient deficiencies are persistent in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), contributing to public health issues not only in the first 1000 days but throughout adolescence and into adulthood. School feeding programs (SFPs) and home-grown school feeding programs (HGSF), which source foods from local producers, particularly fisherfolk, offer an entry point for encouraging healthy diets and delivering essential macro- and micronutrients to schoolchildren, which are important for the continued cognitive development of children and adolescents and can contribute to the realization of sustainable development goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 3, 5, and 14. The importance of HGSF for poverty alleviation (SDG1) and zero hunger (SDG 2) have been recognized by the United Nations Hunger Task Force and the African Union Development Agency–New Partnership for African Development (AUDA-NEPAD), which formulated a strategy for HGSF to improve nutrition for the growing youth population across Africa. A scoping review was conducted to understand the lessons learned from SFPs, which included fish and fish products from small-scale producers, identifying the challenges and best practices for the inclusion of fish, opportunities for improvements across the supply chain, and gaps in nutritional requirements for schoolchildren which could be improved through the inclusion of fish. Challenges to the inclusion fish in SFPs include food safety, supply and access to raw materials, organizational capacity, and cost, while good practices include the engagement of various stakeholders in creating and testing fish products, and repurposing fisheries by-products or using underutilized species to ensure cost-effective solutions. This study builds evidence of the inclusion of nutritious fish and fish products in SFPs, highlighting the need to replicate and scale good practices to ensure sustainable, community-centred, and demand-driven solutions for alleviating poverty, malnutrition, and contributing to greater health and wellbeing in adolescence.

NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN NIGERIA, 2009 - 2019

Development strategies are judged by results. Over the years, Africa’s political leadership adopted and pursued various development initiatives to translate the immense natural resources of the continent into prosperity for the benefits of her teeming population. Unfortunately, the outcomes of these efforts have been abysmal. This study assessed the achievement of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) in curtailing poverty in Nigeria from 1999-2015. The paper adopted the theory of the postcolonial state of Africa to explain the increasing rate of poverty in Nigeria, despite the NEPAD poverty reduction ambition. The study is anchored on documentary methods of data collection. The paper concludes that genuine poverty reduction can only be realized when Nigeria political leadership sincerely invests in her human resources in terms of genuine empowerment of the populace through skill acquisition.

Bolstering African strategy for sustainable development and its diaspora’s influence on African development renaissance

ABSTRACT African diaspora can be a potent force for development in Africa through the promotion of trade, investments, research, innovation, knowledge and technology transfers. Billions in African diaspora savings could bolster growth in Africa. For example, if one in every 10 members of the diaspora could be persuaded to invest $1000 in his or her country of origin, Africa could raise $3 billion a year for development financing. This paper delves into one of the approaches via which sustainable development can be achieved across Africa. It identifies that the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) will play a significant role in attaining this goal. In addition, recognizing that so much of Africa’s brainpower is found ‘off-shore’, NEPAD has made a start in bringing resources to bear on African Development. Nonetheless, the study observed that lack of patriotic leadership has been a major challenge towards sustainable development in Africa. The study views Diaspora’s alignment with NEPAD as the pivot for fresh partnership between Africa and the world beacons on the international community, especially the emerging economies such as China, to help bridge the development gap that has widened over the years of unequal relations; to achieve Africa’s development renaissance.

PO 8300 REGIONAL CENTER FOR REGULATORY EXCELLENCE IN CLINICAL TRIAL OVERSIGHT – TRAINING 2017

BackgroundThe competencies of the various national medicines regulatory agencies (NMRAs) in Africa vary which leads to generally porous regulatory systems for clinical trial oversight. Consequently, many trials have been conducted under unacceptable conditions compromising participants’ safety and data credibility and resulted in questionable outcomes that are used for making scientific judgement in addressing issues of public health in Africa.To improve the safety and quality of health technologies in Africa, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) agency launched a programme to designate Regional Centres of Regulatory Excellence (RCOREs) with the specific objective of bridging existing gaps between African NMRAs through strengthening regulatory capacity of African Union member states. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Ghana, was designated as RCORE for Clinical Trials oversight in May 2014.MethodsTo achieve the RCORE objectives, the FDA collaborated with the School of Public Health (SPH), University of Ghana to develop a training manual and piloted a training programme with funds from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) through NEPAD.The programme, consisting of 4 compulsory modules, was organised from 6–30 November 2017 for 10 participants from Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda and Ghana. Interactive training methods in the form of theoretical and practical sessions were employed.ResultsThe pilot RCORE training was successful with expected training objectives achieved. Participants gained hands-on experience through activities like observing Good Clinical Practice inspection and a Technical Advisory Committee Meeting. Participants were given template tools to assist in developing regulatory guidelines and forms in their respective countries.A follow-up questionnaire was circulated to participants to assess the impact of the training on their work. Feedback „indicates that regulation of clinical trials has improved in their respective institutions.ConclusionThis pilot fellowship training was successful, „leading to the improvement of clinical trial regulation in the participating countries.

A bumpy road: Maximising the value of a resource corridor

Resource corridors are not new concepts. Corridors such as the Maputo Development Corridor, the Walvis Bay Development Corridor and TRIDOM have been active in different regions in Africa. The potential for shared infrastructure to support sustainable development has been widely discussed and debated by spatial and development partners. These initiatives present a vehicle to transform and ensure equitable distribution of benefits from sector specific operations. This is evident in the recent resurgence of interest in resource corridors, as highlighted by their position in numerous development and regional strategies. Those featuring resource corridors include the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), the mining policy framework developed for the United Nations by the Inter-Governmental forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development and more recently the Africa Mining Vision 2050, developed for the African Union by UNECA. Corridors are also on the agendas of regional entities, such as the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the East African and Southern African Development Communities.

NEPAD: Talking from the South, governing from the West

ABSTRACTThe formation of the New Partnership for African Development (NePAD) in 2001 at the African Union (AU) Summit in Lusaka, Zambia, marked the advent of what is regarded as a novel development strategy crafted by Africans for Africa. Rooted in former South African President thabo Mbeki’s call for an African renaissance, the initiative seeks to trigger the continent’s economic development by encouraging African states to explore the prevailing international economic order or globalisation. this article explores NePAD’s capacity to foster economic development in Africa, assesses the reasons for its establishment, reviews its mandate and examines institutional mechanisms for achieving its goals. the article takes issue with the ‘westernisation’ of the ‘discourse’ of Africa and calls for the revitalisation of NePAD’s strategy for sustainable African development.

The language factor in development goals

Although development goals are usually set as targets that must be achieved in a development process, experience with development goals in Africa has tended to underscore underperformance either in terms of a shortfall in the targets attained or in terms of inadequate pursuit of specific goals. To illustrate this syndrome, the African Union's New Partnership for African Development and the Millennium Development Goals will be used as a case study. Neither of them includes language as a significant factor in the realization of the expected goals. In fact, most of the inadequacies observed are often attributed to socioeconomic causes. In this paper, I argue that these inadequacies cannot be fully accounted for without reference to the role of language coupled with attendant sociocultural constraints. By their very nature, virtually all the goals require participation by the populace, and the most effective means of ensuring their inclusion is the use of a language or languages which will facilitate and maximise such participation.

Unlocking Mineral Resource Potential in Southern African Countries: Is Rail Infrastructure up to the Challenge?

In recent years, there has been new coal, iron-ore and manganese discoveries in southern African countries, and increased trade with emerging economies. However, a key concern is market access and critical infrastructure challenges regarding railways and ports. These factors combine to hinder expansion of trade within Africa and globally. As a result of historic underinvestment in transport infrastructure, these countries are facing an “infrastructure gap”. Most of the railway systems in southern Africa are not functioning as they should. Hence, economic development and regional integration in Southern African countries hinges on rehabilitation of existing rail infrastructure and on building new rail infrastructure. Following a review of corridors and railway projects, this paper identifies the strategic challenges with regard to rail infrastructure provision. In the policy context, the gauge and inter-operability issue i.e. Standard Gauge vs Cape Gauge, taking into account the requirements for interconnections with other regional railways is examined. Some of the other enablement issues are promotion of green technologies, and a robust institutional framework for providing clear guidelines on balanced regulation for ownership and operational structures, promotion of principle of multiple users, and access agreements. Moving forward, an overview of plans and programmes viz.; the Southern African Development Community (SADC) - Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan, the forthcoming Programme of Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) by the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), and the key to policy transfer are discussed.

The Dilemma of Public–Private Partnerships as a Vehicle for the Provision of Regional Transport Infrastructure Development in Africa

AbstractWith regional economic integration (REI) as a major strategy for development, the African continent hosts a plethora of regional economic communities of varying ambition longevity and success. While in the 1970s, political-economic ideas built mainly on the “developmental state” informed the design of most of these agreements, the change in economic thought in the 1980s which ushered in the “neoliberal turn” has since influenced the design of most REI schemes in Africa, including the New Partnership for African Development. However, among other factors, inadequate transport infrastructure linking regions poses a major impediment to regional trade and development in Africa. The more so as most African governments are not able to meet up with the financial burden, pace and managerial capability for the efficient provision and management of regional transport infrastructure. The article explores the dilemma associated with the adoption of Public–Private Partnerships (“PPP”) as a mechanism for the provision of regional transport infrastructure in Africa. While sourcing infrastructure provision through the PPP mechanism has significant advantages, it is however also embedded with a complex financial, contractual and legal process. First, it explores the theoretical assumptions which inform PPP based on ideologies within law and development debates. It argues that theoretically, PPPs are reflective of the neoliberal policy set. Against the trajectory of governance in Africa, it critically foregrounds insights that are derivable from an application of Path Dependency theory to the institutional change which comes with the planned adoption of PPP at the regional level. These insights are essential considerations for policy experts to bear in mind both while designing the regional institutional framework for PPP and during the implementation stage. Secondly, although most of the past initiatives for the provision of regional infrastructure have fallen short of their flamboyant development policy goals, the article argues that the recently initiated Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (“PIDA”) provides a new hope for the future of infrastructure development in the continent. The article contends that PIDA offers a legitimate platform which with the requisite support of the regional economic initiatives can generate the enabling environment for the implementation of successful regional PPP infrastructure projects.

Re-thinking the power transmission model for sub-Saharan Africa

A vision for a United States of Africa has been advocated since the dawn of independence by, among others, pioneers like Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Julius Nyerere. More recently the idea gained new momentum, through such initiatives as the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) to create a single market of Africa’s 750 million people that is competitive within itself and within the global economy. This would be achieved through a deliberate, systematic and concerted effort to integrate, upgrade and modernize infrastructure that would offer the required catalyst for economic growth. However, the prioritization by African policy makers of a grand plan to link up the entire African continent’s electric power grid networks would appear to be incompatible with 21st century thinking. The specifications for a centrally managed power grid were made by Nicola Tesla in 1883 and have served the power industry for over 125 years but are now obsolete in the era of digital micro-electronics and smart grid concepts. This paper examines some issues that surround the evolution of sub-Sahara African regional power pools and highlights the anomalies and perhaps wrong timing around the conceptualization and prioritization of grand inter-state power grids. The authors then propose an alternative model that conforms to a new and more sustainable paradigm in electricity supply economics. The proposals are however not meant to provide a panacea but it is hoped that the article will ignite a debate that will lead to a lasting solution.

Perspectives on Higher Education in Africa: Fieldnotes on Trends, Themes, Challenges and Opportunities

These reflections are the result of interviews with several individuals who have taught and studied at the university level in Africa. These observations are concerned with the profession of both student and professor in higher education in Africa. An analysis of higher education from both the student and professor perspective follows. It goes on to examine the historical origins of African universities, from colonial-era to present. The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the issues NEPAD seeks to redress to understand historical trends as well as contemporary challenges and opportunities for the university professor and student in Africa are explored.

An African Pioneer Comes of Age: Evolution of Information and Communication Technologies in Uganda

Introduction A specific international discourse dominated development theory and practice in much of the 1990s. The issues were framed around the utility of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for socioeconomic development. This attracted the attention of many developing countries especially in Africa still reeling from the effects of the lost decade of the 1980s and structural adjustment programs. Also, there was continental interest in the prospects of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D). This was expressed by organizations such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). Unlike many countries in Africa, Uganda responded to the ICT4D debates early on. However, while it was pioneer by getting head start through its various initiatives and programs, it was not until 2005 that it finally articulated systematic policy on ICTs as fundamental tools for socioeconomic development. The began with the Ugandan Communication Act, enacted in 1997. It was response to the 1996 mandate of the UNECA-sponsored African Information Society Initiatives (AISI) for African countries to formulate policies that would accelerate their advancement toward the global information society. For many countries, the interest in creating an information society immediately led to the deregulation of the telecommunication sector. Policies on the telecommunication also provided oversight to the Internet sector at the initial stage. The creation of an appropriate policy framework for both the telecommunication and Internet sectors was the central purpose of the Ugandan Communication Act. The Act was itself implemented through the highly influential Ugandan Communications Commission (UCC). Uganda presents an interesting case for an examination of the application of ICTs for development in an African for two major reasons. First, the was one of the earliest to respond to the discourse that made the connection between ICTs and socioeconomic development. While some countries were still trying to understand the substance of the debates, the Ugandan government had already enacted the Communication Act to provide a framework for the development of telecommunication sector in the country (UNECA, 2009). That act unwittingly set model for ICT policymaking in other African countries where telecommunication policies became the proxies of state interventions in the sector. An important part of the Communication Act was the role that it assigned to the Ugandan Communications Commission (UCC) The UCC implements the provisions of the Ugandan Communication Act by controlling and promoting developments in the partially deregulated telecommunication sector (broadly defined to include all ICTs). The Commission's major mandate was the integration of universal access provisions in the delivery of communication and information services in the country. The Commission works to improve communication services generally and to ensure equitable distribution of services throughout the country (Ugandan Communications Commission [UCC], 2008, p. 10). Another aspect of its mandate was the establishment of the Rural Communication Development Fund (RCDF) which was expected to prevail on telecommunication operators to provide 2.5% of their growth revenues for rural communication services. The evolution of ICTs in Uganda and the gradual journey toward an information society--at least going by the standards of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)--raise important issues for research, some of which we explore in this article. Arguably, there is nothing significantly remarkable about the growth of ICTs in Uganda. Yet there is sense of measured and progressive steps toward the future as the different technologies continue to diffuse widely over the years. Our study examines this spread of ICTs in Uganda with an emphasis on Internet connectivity and the manner in which access to the Internet has become coping mechanism, if not conflict resolution strategy, in war-torn Northern Uganda. …

Who owns African ownership? The Africanisation of security and its limits

Over the last couple of years, ‘African ownership’ has become a buzzword in many fields. Economic development initiatives like the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) are based on it, partnership agreements like the Joint AU–EU Africa Strategy are built around it and its central concept of Africanisation guides virtually all external relations of the continent. African leaders (rightly) insist on it, international organisations (rightly) preach it and many non-African actors are (unsurprisingly) hiding behind it. The concept of African ownership is so omnipresent today that it is more than surprising that the simple question of who actually owns it has not yet been asked. It is the declared purpose of this paper to disentangle rhetoric from reality and identify the owner as well as the limits of African ownership in the sphere of peace and security.

Health research agenda for East AFrica in the new millennium: Looking ahead

The Regional East African Health Research agenda was presented as a keynote speech during the first East African Health and Scientific Conference, held in Kampala, Uganda from 28th to 30th March 2007. The agenda was developed through a critical analysis of the global, African and Regional East African health challenges and mitigating strategies, taking into account the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the Abuja declaration and the New Partnership for African Development as background environment, within which the agenda will operate. It is proposed to establish a joint mechanism for research coordination, promotion and regulation; establish stronger collaborative mechanisms for research and training; create a joint Regional East African Community health research and development fund; create joint intellectual property rights protection mechanism; enhance patenting and link research to industry; create a mechanism to enhance translation of research to policy and practice; strengthen clinical research capacities; and strengthen innovation and discovery research capacities. Effective implementation of this agenda will greatly raise the profile and quality of research in the region and improve the health status of the East African populations.

Engineering Research to Improve Cassava Processing Technology

Cassava is an important food crop, and equipment development for processing it in the developing world requires more research as industrial processing of cassava is still limited. Research efforts made by local engineers need scientific improvement to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed at poverty reduction over a stipulated period of time with globally defined measurable indicators of progress. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the Report of the Commission for Africa (popularly referred to as the Tony Blair Report), and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) are targeted at re-positioning Africa in the world economy. The need for rapid cassava processing equipment and new equipment development to significantly improve stages involved in its production process is highlighted in this paper.

“Crimes of History” Senegalese Soccer and the Forensics of Slavery

In describing the coercive security measures that characterized George W. Bush's 2003 visit to Gorée Island residents complained that, “It was like slavery had returned.” Despite, in his speech, referring to the Transatlantic Slave Trade as a “crime of history” Bush, that day, traded on the spectral capital afforded by captive Senegalese to diminish the legacy of U.S. involvement in this earlier moment of human trafficking by inadvertently re-staging the exchange of bonded Africans. The Gorée fiasco occurred as a result of events set in motion several decades before, but which catalyzed with the tragic September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Immediately afterward, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade created an African coalition “contre le terrorisme,” which the U.S. supported rhetorically and, ultimately, financially. Senegal was perhaps a likely candidate for African leadership in this regard one of the primary architects of Africa's newest neoliberal solution to economic crisis, NEPAD (the New Partnership for African Development), Senegal was also, during the Cold War-era, an outspoken critic of Soviet assistance in African liberation struggles. With its long history of political participation achieved through exceptional status the French colonial government granted Senegal, the country has a long history of republicanism. Still, the widespread idea that Senegal is more democratic than other African nations camouflages a pragmatic politics whose benefits are unclear to a population faced with a weakening currency and unprecedented rates of unemployment. Senegal is, despite this, celebrated as an African success story, both because vendors abroad typify the austere work ethic privileged in meritocratic narratives as the solution to economic distress, and because the government maintains close ties to the United States, especially in the post-9/11 period, since its status as an Islamic country makes it, from the standpoint of the U.S., a valuable ally.

A Framework for the Strategic Design of Science and Technology Policy for African Development*

Abstract: The key role of science and technology and the ways in which it can be developed and deployed to achieve the identified goals of development in Africa are articulated in this paper. Notable projects, programmes, declarations etc. addressing issues of development of Africa are: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed at poverty reduction over a stipulated period of time with globally defined measurable indicators of progress; the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD); the Blair Commission Report for Africa; and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) targeted at repositioning Africa in the world economy. During the WSSD Summit process, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) identified the three pillars of sustainable development as the economic, environmental and social pillars, and emphasized the fact that ‘science and technology must be placed at the heart of policies to promote sustainable development’.

African Elites, NEPAD and Institutional Confidence: Findings from a Seven Nation Survey

The important role that needs to be played by African elites in implementing developmental initiatives such as the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) has been widely recognized. This article focuses on the confidence which African elites have in NEPAD and the AU, as well as in the state institutions which are ultimately responsible for the successful implementation of these initiatives. Data is obtained from a study of elite perceptions conducted in 2002 by the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at the University of Stellenbosch in seven African countries. Our analysis shows that there is a significant discrepancy between high levels of elite confidence in the AU and NEPAD and their low levels of confidence in state structures. It is shown that the relatively low confidence levels in the state are directly correlated with low levels of confidence in civil society. If Africa places its hopes on the AU and NEPAD to point it in the direction of political stability and growth, she will have to create a political climate where confidence in the state can grow significantly. In this context, the role which civil society can play in bringing about greater state accountability and thereby increasing state capacity should not be underestimated.