The African Development Bank strives to support sustainable socio-economic development in Africa. The Bank’s latest ten-year investment strategy aims to achieve inclusive and green growth across the continent by scaling up investments across five priority areas (the High 5s). In 2019 alone, the AfDB backed 52 projects worth US$40.1 billion that targeted the economic, social, infrastructural, environmental, and industrial domains.
Taking into consideration the myriad of funding opportunities as well as the difficulties that companies/experts may encounter when preparing for forthcoming bids, DevelopmentAid has decided to host a webinar with the Lead Procurement Policy Officer from AfDB to discuss the Bank’s procurement policy, investment strategy and the best practices for preparing successful proposals.
The African Development Bank (AfDB), one of the five major multilateral development banks in the world, was founded on August 4, 1963, and is headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Since its establishment, the Bank has aimed to contribute to sustainable regional economic and social progress and to reduce poverty across the African continent. As of 2018, the AfDB comprised 80 member countries, of which 54 are from Africa (regional members) and the other 26 countries are from outside the African continent (non-regional members).
The AfDB mobilizes the majority of its resources from the subscribed shares of the authorized capital submitted by the members. Nonetheless, the Bank is able to raise additional resources through borrowing on international capital markets and by establishing special funds (e.g., the African Development Fund, the Arab Oil Fund, the Special Relief Fund) that are designed to achieve specific objectives consistent with AfDB’s purposes and functions.
AfDB’s Mission and Investment Strategy
The AfDB’s foremost mission is to fight poverty and promote sustainable socio-economic development among its regional member countries (RMCs). It does so by allocating resources for investment in RMCs and by providing the necessary technical assistance designed to effectively support development efforts. Moreover, the Bank builds its operational strategy around the Sustainable Development Goals commonly agreed by all the major international development institutions.
Back in 2013, the AfDB’s board approved its Ten Year Strategy (2013-2022) in which it stated two overarching global objectives that would govern its operations specifically, the achievement of inclusive growth and the transition to green growth across Africa. The Bank plans to succeed in these objectives by scaling-up investments and implementation efforts across five priority areas (also referred to as the High 5s) which relate to infrastructure development, regional economic integration, private sector development, governance and accountability, and skills and technology.
Fig.1. AfDB’s five priority areas (the High 5s)
The Bank has taken a number of steps designed to increase the transparency of its operations. One example is MapAfrica, a geocoding tool that allows users to view interactively the number, nature, location, status, and allocated funding of projects funded by the AfDB based on the High 5 priority areas. For instance, between 2017 and 2019 the Bank completed 393 projects in 1762 locations across all five priority areas.
Fig.2. Projects completed by the AfDB’s between 2017 and 2019 across the High 5s
Invitation to a Webinar
DevelopmentAid is inviting you to attend an exciting webinar on “An Overview of the AfDB’s Procurement Policy: How to Prepare Correctly for Upcoming Bids” that will take place on 29 July 2021 at 4 pm (Brussels Time)/10 am (Washington DC Time).
Speaker: Ashraf Ayad, Lead Procurement Policy Officer at the African Development Bank
Host: The webinar will be hosted by Ion Ilasco, External Relations & Events at DevelopmentAid.
During the webinar, it will be possible to learn about AfDB’s profile, procurement policy, and investment strategy. Moreover, Ashraf will provide several tips on how to properly prepare for forthcoming bids.
Ashraf Ayad has amassed over 22 years of experience in procurement and project management which includes involvement in many development projects in Africa and the Middle East. He possesses a deep understanding of the procurement policies of international development institutions e.g., the AfDB, WB, IsDB, and the EU. Before joining the Bank, Ashraf worked as a business development and procurement expert in Egypt, Namibia, and Swaziland where he held many roles. Ashraf holds an MBA from the American University in Cairo and he was also certified by the Project Management Institute, Pennsylvania, USA as a Project Manager Professional (PMP) in June 2002 as well as having earned a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Cairo University in 1992.
