16th Africa Day Lecture: AUDA Nepad at 25 - CEO of AUDA-NEPAD Mrs Nardos Bekele-Thomas

African Renaissance Podcast brings you the sit down with the CEO of AUDA-NEPAD Mrs Nardos Bekele-Thomas to mark it's 25th anniversary, as part of our coverage of the Africa Day Celebration.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Uh thank you so much, uh Your Excellency, for uh giving us time on your busy schedule. Um I think what we would really like is a masterclass uh on the anniversary, a quarter of a century uh of the new partnership for Africa's development nepard and specifically uh the development agency that that you lead. Um perhaps then the opening question for you know African audiences that uh have not paid as much attention, ordinary audiences. Um what is the institution that you lead and its relationship to the African Union?

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thank you very much. I think if we go back to 2001, the axe of the new partnership for African Development, the five, you know, uh leaders of Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Egypt, they got together and they decided that yes, we're politically liberated now, with apartheid gone, but certainly our economic liberation is yet to be achieved. And political liberation without economic liberation will not have any meaning. And therefore they decided that after the structural adjustment program, that really, in a way, this is my own opinion, in a way, dumb the whole, you know, aspiration, independence, self-reliance, self-determination, it Daphne is. They said, you know, we have to surmount that, and we have to really know that, you know, Africa will rise, Africa shall rise, and Africa can only rise if it is independent and if it can finance its own development and really do our socioeconomic transformation in a very dignified way without begging others to do it for us. Because nothing that we want could be achieved if we have to mortgage it to others. So, you know, so you know, these five visionary leaders came out with this new partnership for African Development based on the Lagos Plan of Action, which was in 1977. Colloquium was there in Liberia, Morrovia, uh, then 1979 was the time when they came out with the priority areas uh for Africa, priority development, you know, very catalytic development programs for Africa, and they built on that. So, you know, from 2001 to 2026, it was mainly alignment, it was mainly planning, it was strategy, it was a little bit of mind shift, you know, what do we do and how do we do it? So these new partnership uh for African Development, the Nepal, uh, which was you know graciously hosted by South Africa and actually actually DBSA was funding everything, literally everything, you know, started slowly and slowly growing. Thanks to the push from President Becky. When he left power, that push and that support, you know, reduced, you know, to some extent, but the institution survived, which is very important. It transformed itself from being the program-oriented, very centric into certain programs, to being coordination because they felt that there is a need for development cooperation. In Africa, the development space is overcrowded because everybody benefits in the name of Africa, you know. So we need to really have a coordinating mechanism. So it changed to being a coordinating mechanism, and later on, with the vision 2063 in 2013, um, there was a need to implement that vision. Uh, and therefore, then the whole thinking came into making this organization to being the development organization for Africa. And in 2018, the nepad became the African Union Development Agency. But it still put Nepad because the spirit of new partnership for Africa's development is very important. It's not really aid, it's not a colonial colonialist approach, it's more of a partnership. And that partnership evolves. So we kept the neighborhood as a spirit that yes, Africa will be, you know, the um the owner, the leader, but in partnership with others. So it changed to be the African Union Development Agency. And in being the African Union Development Agency, it translated that vision into um implementation plans and 10-year implementation plan. We finished the first 10-year implementation plan. We came to the second 10-year implementation plan when I joined. I joined in 2022. And in 2022, the first thing I was asked was, Oh, you have to design, you have to help us design the second implementation, the second 10-year implementation plan. My question then was, listen, have we reviewed the first 10-year implementation plan? Because it's the deficiency, what worked and what didn't work that will inform the second 10-year implementation plan. I went into the whole document of the 10-year implementation plan and uh we reviewed it, but there was just one year. And I said, how do we review this thing? So I was told, oh, you know, there are consultants that work around the 10-year implementation. Doesn't work that way. This has to be a consultative process. African member states should review. And therefore, I want to work with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Plan, Ministries of Plan. This is, you can't do that. I mean, it's such a short period. I said, well, the webinar. So we organized anyway, you know, uh the 55 member states and said, listen, you have to review the 10-year implementation plan. Believe it or not, some of them didn't even know that it existed. But nonetheless, there was a review. Um, the highlights of that review revealed to us, one, the first 10-year implementation plan was not even costed. Second, the first 10-year implementation plan, you know, the implementation was only 37%, because it never, never planned for the shocks. You know, there was no foresight planning. So they were planning for, you know, what existed, and that's not what defines your 10-year, because in 10 years so many changes uh occur. So we said, okay, foresight planning, costing, okay. And the third part was the fact that, you know, it was just it was a result-based, you know, so we made it to be results-based. So, you know, the second 10-year implementation plan is by far, you know, better than the second, the second 10-year plan is far uh by far better than the first 10-year implementation plan. The second 10-year implementation plan was costed. When we costed it, it was $8.3 trillion. And I'm not surprised. Because on a yearly basis, we need $170 billion just for infrastructure. Okay. Cut up another $100 billion. Health, another $50 billion per year. So if you adapt this, you know. But then we said, listen, okay, it's point three trillion. But countries, you know, are doing something, so why don't you go and examine the developed floods of countries? And it was realized that if countries, if the 55 member states implement the development plan, we would have at least covered the $5 trillion. So the remaining is $3.3 trillion. So the gap is $3.3 trillion. So that's where we went throughout this process. And then we developed also a monitoring and evaluation framework so that in real time each member state would really account the progress it has made. So it was more of a planning strategy, putting the instruments and tools in place, in addition to implementing the already existing programs like the PIDA, the program for infrastructure development for Africa, the CADEB, the Comprehensive Agricultural Development Program, the STISA, which designs technology and innovation, all these frameworks that already existed, implementing them, making sure that we have got also plans for the one electricity, single electricity market, which was in the flagship priority programs in the Vision 2063. So literally the 25 years were spent in putting in place the planning or whatever and trying to realize in the meantime also the different programs. But in all these, what I have found in 2022, when I came to my surprise after working in the UN, and I was so excited to be really leading an African organization, was the fact, yes, the commitments are there, political statements are there, and Africa in principle shows the signs of commitment, but when it comes to funding, they fall short. And in actual terms, it's so pathetic. I mean, you know, to just put, for example, six million dollars for Africa's development in our agency. The structure of the African Union Development Agency, you know, was 166 people. Yeah. And what is being funded is only 33% of that. And, you know, I was really frustrated. I said, what does this mean? You know. I mean, you can't, when I arrived, it was $30 million all in all. Program and operations. What do you do with 30 million to implement a gap of $3.3 trillion? So it was frustrating, but then I said, okay, fine. It means that we have to really redouble our efforts and do more with less to the extent possible and try to make a difference, right? So we, you know, collected ourselves and tried to mobilize the resources that we needed. Luckily, with the contacts I have, networks I have, and the agenda, which is really appealing. I mean, when you talk about a development agency continent-wide, others are so envious about it, right? So, you know, with that, you know, we're able to mobilize resources to be able to implement. But implementation is not really going into implementing road construction or whatever. Yeah. It's really doing the de-risking aspect of it so that investors can come and invest. And that we successfully did in the last uh four years. We have mobilized, you know, like what has been said, $86 billion for infrastructure by de-risking, by making sure that we work together with the development finance institutions, making sure that, you know, the other partners understand the bilateral partners also are now more and more coming to us, making sure that our efficiencies and effectiveness and our business processes are re-engineered for that purpose. And we passed the EU assessment, we passed all the other assessments in terms of our systems. Um, and therefore we garner at least the trust of others. But where is the trust of Africa? It's not there because it has to be expressed in terms of the funding that Africa would put uh to its own development, to its own development agency that it has created, and it's not there. And that's where the challenge is, and that's why we were discussing that aspect today. And um South Africa, the host country, did not contribute to the agency. It was lagging behind after, of course, DBSA, after we got independent from DBSA, went to the AU and now it's coming back. And I'm so glad that the uh deputy president promised uh that you know they will do something about it. The only country, two countries that have been consistent in giving us voluntary contributions to complement the six million dollars we get we get from AU, Nigeria, and Angola. And to some extent, Equatorial Guinea. So, you know, now at least, you know, with South Africa that was committed, and they said we are the founding country, so we would support you, we would mobilize other countries. Um, so you know, hopefully, you know, we'll be able to achieve that. But I would like to add that this organization, the way it's conceived, is incredible because of the fact that it has a very um strong political muscle in its Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee. The Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee consists of 33 presidents and heads of state, which meet every year to discuss the progress that's made, you know, by the African Union Development Agency. And therefore, that muscle, as strong as it is, has not been used properly. And now, you know, together with uh in the past, you know, for the last three years, it was Egypt. Egypt's strength was really advocating for us, uh advocating for a development fund that should be put in place for this purpose, making sure that the development financing institutions come together and work with us because ultimately it's the same objective. Making sure now with the business forum, the private sector comes and supports its continent's development, right? Understanding the fact that yes, progress has been realized in many countries, in many instances, with countries two-digit growth. But this growth has never been translated in terms of development. It left inequality getting deeper and deeper and deeper in Africa. And that inequality is the source of instability, you know. So, you know, the there is a real need to do. Because, like we said, you know, all this raw material exportation leaves us with unemployment. Because in any case, even the crude oil, can you imagine? You export crude oil and you get resources, but that resources is eroded when you import the uh refined oil. So, you know, it's it's all this thinking is in there. So we have um made progress, yes, but there is so much to do. And now is the time for implementation, as has been said, in the platform: execution, implementation, mind shift, understanding that there is no way that others could develop Africa. Africa can only be developed by Africans, and our leaders should be cognizant of that.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

There is this uh several impediments that came from the session. I'd like to uh ask to traverse them. First one, are these difficulties in uh protocols or laws in order to build, for instance, a business that must connect different countries, uh, whether it relates to gas, whether it relates to fuel, whether it relates to a simple road. There were many examples given about uh from across the continent, about just to get a consensus for an actual infrastructure project uh to occur uh like uh the bridge that was connecting uh in Sadek, uh, Namibia, uh Botswana, um uh uh I think it was uh Zambia and uh and and Zimbabwe. Question of how long it takes. Yeah. How how in this implement, implement stage, how are you going to deal with the first striking of this harmonization process?

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Yeah, certainly, you know, um there are two aspects of it. The first one is what we have realized in the review of our program for infrastructure development in the PDAP one, the first phase, was the fact that building roads will not add anything. You're gonna have the physical infrastructure. If you don't build economies around it, it doesn't yield to job creation and all this. So that was one transformative thing that we took action in 2022. And we said, no, when you build roads, our feasibility study should look at the ecosystem in general. Okay. But we looked at that infrastructure and around it, having agro parks be based on the ecology of that area, having the special economic zones built in there, you know, so that we can build around it the value chains and whatever. So, you know, then you will have return, you know, to it. And then you will have, you know, jobs created. Then you can transform, you know. So that was one aspect. So our service delivery mechanism, which looks at the development of feasibility studies, pre-feasibility studies or whatever, has transformed itself in looking at not that physical uh, you know, um infrastructure, but the entire economic infrastructure around those. That was done. Once we did that, then we realized that there is also another trouble, which is, you know, like you said, the harmonization of policies, harmonization of legal and regulatory frameworks, uh, the laws and bylaws of each country is um, you know, the actors that are diverse in a country, but also in the region. So bringing that, you know, consensus and you know, concerted, you know, and harmonized policies or whatever is now the biggest challenge that we have. That's what we realized. Because we would mobilize resources, the funds are there, everything is there. Then you know, it takes ages to realize that. So, yes, we we are looking at that, and that is one of our challenges. The first thing to do was to acknowledge and um and accept the fact that. The regional economic communities are our pillars, okay, for implementation. So we created what we call the Africa team. And this Africa team is the African Union Development Agency, but also all these eight regional economic communities working together. So we built a program together. For example, when we talk about infrastructure, then we don't do it just as AUDA, but we bring them along and we see the division, who does what. Okay. The second thing that we have done is we have come with one resource mobilization program for the Africa team. Because when I go out, when I was in China, I did not talk about AUDA alone. I talked about the entire continent. In there are the eight regional economic communities. So, you know, so this is now organization, and we have done that, and there has been really an effort going in that direction. But each regional economic community has its own regime. It's amazing how you know the colonial powers, you know, because remember, the regional economic communities came from the, you know, uh, which we called Mulpak, the multilateral partnership or whatever cooperation, which was created by ECA. Okay, so these are the ones, so you know, the system is the same. We're using the system, you know, of others to transform ourselves. So we need to dismantle all these things to be able to build something new, African, you know. So we're working with the regional economic communities in terms of harmonization of legal regulatory frameworks, our policies, our regimes. Okay, so that is ongoing, and it is with the support of our leaders. Hopefully, we'll move in that direction. But also when we come to countries, it's the same thing. Like they said, Ethiopia, Kenya. To construct anything between the two, you know, not only do we see the national policies, legal regulatory frameworks, and all this, but we have to also make sure that the parliamentarians talk, the, you know, the ministers of infrastructure talk, the ministers of finance talk, and all this. We have to develop that community of practice, you know, at all levels, so that they talk, they harmonize, and there is set standard, minimum standards that are set for anything that we do for integration to happen. So, you know, this is what we are going. But to give you a good example of where we succeeded, we have we had a program called the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization. This was really to bring all these regulatory bodies of the health sector, the health sector, to sit together, to look at their legal regulatory frameworks, harmonize them, and come out with a model law. And we succeeded in that. And that's how the African Medicine Agency was created. Now the African Medicine Agency is taking care of that, but you know, it was our baby. You know, we did bring all the uh regulatory bodies to talk together. The same way we should do it in all the sectors. Okay. Um, and it's not easy, it requires money. If we did it for uh the African Medicine Regulatory Harmonization, it's because other partners came. Emilias, you know, Bill Gates, you know, um, Susan Buffett Foundation uh and other bilaterals came and they supported us. And we we are able to do that. So for all these other things, we need to do that. But the private sector should also understand that it is a risky measure. It's an investment for the future, it's an investment for their growth. And we are also appealing to the private sector and foundations to come and support in that thing. But unless we do that, there is no integration. It will take ages, and we don't have that luxury and that time.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

But how do you unlock these capital investments in even more creative ways? Some of the speakers were speaking about pension funds, some of them were referring to the potential that lies with the informal economy. If it's well organized, there might be uh pockets of capital uh that is needed if there's coordination of some sort. Uh, on the one hand. But on the other, there was a problem that your bigger partners ignore these blends and they will work with three, four countries, open their own infrastructure or corridors uh on top, or that disrupt the programs uh of the development agency that you preside over. I mean, I'm I'm I'm sure that you've heard of those examples. Uh sometimes it's EU, sometimes it's uh Chinese. Even Chinese Chinese, yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

No, um absolutely. Um, one is that you know, it we are our own enemies. I don't think we should blame others because they have the right, the prerogative to do what they want, right? You know, and to set their own conditions, their priorities or whatever. But we should be able to have that guts of saying, no, this is the way we should go, right? You know, so I think you know, um the commitment should always be translated in terms of action, in terms of really real commitment, you know, not just you know, words and not just you know uh declarations, but we should be able to stand on our foot and have confidence in ourselves. It's the confidence. We have to really have confidence, we have to trust ourselves, we have to understand ourselves and and really make sure that what we say, the promises we make are fulfilled in a way, to our people. We're accountable to our people, we're not accountable to others, right? And and that is the biggest challenge that we have. Trust in the institutions that you create, trust in your multilateral financial institutions, bring the pension fund, you know, put them in these MDPs. You are, they are all shareholders in these, you know, MDPs. You know, it's just a lack of confidence. I don't know where that, you know, lack of trust comes from. When it is African, we are always reluctant. And and you know, I don't know, well, that is a colonial mindset. We still we're still colonized. I'm sorry to say that, you know, so we have to have trust in our financial institutions so that we put our institutional finances in there, you know, and we are shareholders of these MDBs. And, you know, we have to make sure that there is proper accountability. And there is, they're thriving, they're okay, right? So, what we have done, for example, just you know, in Luanda, when we had Rwanda Financing Summit for Infrastructure, is put together 13 to 15 MDBs. They're called the Alliance of African Multilateral Development Banks, and told them, listen, here are the 69 projects, choose at least 13 projects, which you are going to fund, and you're going to promise in front of our leaders that you're going to mobilize and fund these projects. And they were really willing. They chose 13 projects and they committed $1.2 billion, and they committed, in addition to that, $100 million to go into preparatory work. Okay. And it's this is a big achievement for the MDPs to come together, create an alliance, bring their assets together, okay, and and and also pledge to develop the the projects uh of uh for Africa. And that's the way we should go. But one of the appeals they said is that listen, tell African member states to invest in their own institutions, individually, collectively, but also bring these pension funds, the sovereign world, to invest in our MDBs. This is how we grow. So I think you know, it's it's really so many layers of obstacles that we have to really unlock and to be able to reach where we're going. But the most important thing is to have that shift in mindset, to have confidence in Africa, to have trust in our institutions, and to translate to commitment in terms of action.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

What is the thinking, I mean, around uh outbreaks and diseases from a development and industrialization point of view? Already there is, as we speak, the problem of Ebola that has re-emerged. Uh, but in the developmental work that you're engaged in, you've got a very important pillar about uh health. Uh, but just walk us through the thinking about health, development, and industrialization, uh and how do we score that in the continent?

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Um the first thing is that we have got the CDC that is in charge of communicable diseases. But mind you, during the COVID, okay, it has revealed to us that you know we are lacking in terms of the basics. The basics primary health care, you know, that used to be there are now depleted, they're not there. Okay. Our inequality has exasperated this whole issue. I mean, it's not only here, but also in the entire world. You see, even you know, um in countries like even America, when you go to the black community, the health services are so wanting, really. Education the same. All the social services, you know, follow, you know, where wealthy communities get the best, and then, you know. So we need to design something, in my opinion, something that is completely, completely um radical in terms of you know our approach to social services, to social protection. And it shouldn't be the ones that the Europeans use, whatever. It has to be an African-based African-grown, informed by the realities. And we need to make a surgical change in terms of our systems. So the comical diseases, you know, will still remain with us until the time we improve our primary service, you know, primary healthcare services until we start going back and educating our children from kindergarten in terms of you know, basic hygiene, basic health care, you know. So it's very it has to be really that goes through, you know, uh, from education to health, to, you know, our ministers of finances should be able to give the resources where um the needs of the population are. You know, the basic foundation should be made. Social services. Look at what is happening out to our national health insurance here in this country. The problems we're facing. Why? A national health insurance would have really leveled all these inequalities because once you have your health insurance, you know, anyone can go anywhere and get. It can be private, it can be public. Public, yes. Yeah. And then if you make the public uh health providers accountable and say, listen, you know, a certain percentage of your income should come from the insurance, then they will up their game. So it can be a transformative uh public service agent. Um so I think you know there is all this. And development without health. There is no development without health. It's one and the same. But also health is industry. The pharmaceutical industries, okay. You know, all these are industry. Our industrialization policy has got four major, you know, orientation or major uh focus areas. One is the pharmaceutical industry, which is so important because we have identified already 24 medical products from antiviral, you know, anti-uh retroviral, you know, uh medication to antibiotics, to these, you know, hypertension medication, to the basic fundamental ones. 24 of them. And we have already said, you know, we have put um um what what did we call it? A health medical atlas for investment, an investment atlas. So, and promoting pharmaceutical industries is critical and very important. Even the whole um the money that we spent, you know, going out in search of you know, medical health service is just enormous. So we're we're promoting that. So it is industry, it is economy, you know, and it is a great investment. So we're appealing to the private sector to be interested in these uh pharmaceutical industries. So, you know, they are all intertwined, interlinked. I mean, a human being needs are just opportunities for the private sector, to be honest with you. Education, I don't know see why people should not go into, you know, building primary schools, you know, secondary schools, and you know, universities. In Ethiopia, when we were really lacking all this infrastructure, what we did was just call the diaspora and give them incentives. You know, tax holidays. Because I was supporting the whole investment code in the 90s. And we said, you know, in any case, no one would have confidence and trust and association with Etiochia. It's only the diaspora that could come and support. Call the diaspora. They went into services, build all these hotels, build all these health services, education, you know, universities. Have we reached there? Not yet. But still there is a massive investment that came from Ethiopians abroad. Look at the dam. When World Bank and all these financing institutions refused. There was a bond, and what the bond? Ethiopians in the diaspora. Each one of us had a bound 10,000, 10,000, 10,000 to build a dam that is the huge dam in Africa. So I think you know, this collective, you know, commitment and whatever would help us surmount all our problems. And therefore, just to answer briefly, there is no difference between health, you know, there will not be any development without health. Yes, sovereignty is very important. There is no economy without health. The workforce of the uh um business is when there is health. So it's they're so intertwined. We cannot have these separate, fragmented approaches. We have to have that holistic approach to develop naturality.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Speculate, Thomas. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for having me. Uh, what would the term in uh your local language be for thank you?

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Exiaber Easterling. Exiaber That would be too difficult for you. Exiaber is the link. Let God you know reciprocate.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Let God reciprocate. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Thank you so much.