The African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank have agreed to coordinate their operations on the continent in an effort to avoid duplication and achieve greater value for money, a statement from their promoter indicates.
The two institutions reached a landmark agreement in July this year to bring together some 2 billion dollars in joint project financing for the next three years.
Although the agreement to cooperate covers all sectors across the continent, the two institutions have agreed to start with a few priority sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation. According to a statement from the African Press Group, the two institutions will initially cooperate on three projects in Nigeria, Somalia and Uganda.
“Stronger ties between AfDB and IsDB will help ramp up agricultural production along important crop and livestock value chains while preventing and mitigating climate change induced droughts will help achieve the objectives of “Say No To Famine/Alliance to End Famine in Africa,” the statement noted.
“The investments are complemented with institutional capacity building to develop enabling environments for sustainable, green and inclusive growth.
“It is good to see this strong partnership between the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank further evolving, in terms of depth, breath, resource commitments, leverage and speed of delivery“ says AfDB Vice-President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, Khaled Sherif.
VP Sherif recalled that the Presidents of the two institutions recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding that clearly outlines the way forward to strengthen the partnership.
“While the MOU is continent-wide and cross-sectoral, we jointly identified immediate synergies in the broader FEED Africa and Say No To Famine domain, which cover varying levels of short-term, medium-term and long-term interventions, to deliver even more efficiently and effectively to the benefit of communities in the three countries,” VP Sherif added.
IsDB Vice President, Mansur Muhtar added: “Indeed, there is much to gain from the collaboration between our organizations. It is here that we can utilize our respective competitive advantages best and maximize the utilization of available resources.”
“This can be achieved in particular by avoiding duplication and concentrating the stipulated initiatives in support of our member countries in the identified sectors and areas that promise to be most impactful for local populations. We will also expand this partnership throughout the operationalization of upcoming initiatives by bringing in additional partners, especially the private sector,” VP Muhtar added.
In Nigeria, the Plateau State Potato Value Chain Support Project of the AfDB and the planned IsDB’s Agro Pastoral Development Project in Kano State will promote higher household incomes through productive agro-pastoral activities.
In Somalia, AfDB’s Say No To Famine project approved earlier this year is providing emergency assistance support and facilitating drought resilience building through the restoration of community assets which is complemented by IsDB’s ongoing Drylands Development Project.
Both at appraisal stages and a prime example of parallel co-financing, IsDB’s Irrigation Development Project and AfDB’s Agriculture Value Chain Development Programme showcase their commitment to help Ugandans benefit from the tremendous business opportunities that exist in agriculture, from the primary sector through manufacturing to agriculture produce-related services in collaboration with the government.
Discussions are also ongoing to scale up several projects, among them, the Strategic Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Uganda, which will be appraised later this year and presented to the AfDB Board of Directors for approval in early 2018.
Key-Words: FEED Africa; Say No To Famine; Nigeria; Somalia; Uganda; Say No To Famine – Short Term Regional Emergency Response Project – STRERP
Contact: Jerome Berndt
