Despite the negative and debilitating consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on African economies, ACBF’s member states made their highest annual contribution to the Foundation in 2021, achieving 94% of their target. The strong support by the member states spurred on other partners to continue supporting and engaging the Foundation.
This was disclosed by the Chair of the ACBF Board of Governors, H.E. Ken Ofori Atta, who is also the Finance Minister of Ghana, at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG) in Accra, Ghana, on 23 May.
Opening the 31st BoG, H.E. Ofori Atta heaped special praise on 9 countries - Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe - that fully paid their contributions to the Foundation’s current Strategic Plan, which ends this year. These countries, H.E. Ofori Atta said, deserve a special mention, and thanked the governors from the 9 countries for leading by example.
Still on financial matters, the Chair of the Board of Governors lauded ACBF’s longstanding virtue of financial probity, adding that “the Annual Report for FY2021 tells a story of a well-managed and well-governed organization that is delivering results. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the leadership of the Executive Board and the Secretariat for delivering the results highlighted in the FY2021 Annual Report”.
H.E. Ofori Atta, however, reminded his fellow governors to facilitate timely payment of all outstanding contributions to the Foundation so that the Secretariat, can conclude the remaining key activities under the current Strategic Plan and to plan for the new strategy without constraints.
Turning to the achievements of the Foundation in the recent past, H.E. Ofori Atta was particularly pleased that although the Covid-19 pandemic brought about panic and uncertainty, and threatened the Foundation’s operations, “our agile Secretariat was equal to the task”.
He said the Secretariat continued to make an impact in transforming Africa, particularly in building resilience to deal with internal and external shocks.
According to him, the Secretariat’s interventions had been both effective and efficient, anchored on strategic partnerships with key pan-African institutions and other partners committed to the continental developmental agenda.
What is more, despite limited resources, the synergy with the Foundation’s partners made it possible to scale up knowledge and learning activities. These are being shared among member countries.
“I am particularly pleased,” H.E. Ofori Atta continued, “that as we conclude the Strategy 2017 to 2022, we do so on a very strong note. The reforms implemented under the current strategy have made our organization more agile, and better prepared to respond to the changing and diverse demands of member countries. To this end, the relevance of the Foundation has become more apparent. It has demonstrated how strategic the decision to change the business model of the Foundation beyond just grant-making has been.
Concluding, H.E. Ofori Atta joined the ACBF Executive Board in welcoming Mr. Mamadou Biteye as the new Executive Secretary (ES) of the Foundation.
He said the new ES was a seasoned and experienced leader whose competencies would be key in steering the Foundation into the future.
“His immediate and pressing task is to develop a new strategy for the Foundation,” the Chair of the Board of Governors said. “I look forward to listening to him on his initial thoughts on the key issues and the approach in developing the new strategy. I hope you will all engage him actively in discussing this important issue as policy direction for the Foundation is the primary responsibility of this forum.”
