What is the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency)?
NEPAD has strengthened its programme by transforming its secretariat into a more focused implementation agency, namely the NEPAD Agency.
This development is the result of NEPAD's integration into the structures and processes of the African Union (AU) as per the AU Assembly decision at the February 2010 14th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Click here [1] to access the decision.
This is the first time that an African regional initiative has been institutionalised in the form of a development agency within the AU family. The Agency is the institutional vehicle for implementing the AU development agenda of NEPAD.
The Agency – whose offices will carry on being based in South Africa as was the case with the Secretariat – offers a more practical and technical focus on the NEPAD goals and on important development projects across the continent.
What is the mandate of the NEPAD Agency?
Designated as the technical body of the African Union, the core mandate of the NEPAD Agency is to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of regional and continental priority programmes and projects and to push for partnerships, resource mobilisation and research and knowledge management.
The strategic direction of the NEPAD Agency is based on the following thematic areas:
- Agriculture and food security;
- Climate change and natural resource management;
- Regional integration and infrastructure;
- Human development;
- Economic and corporate governance; and
- Cross-cutting issues of gender and capacity development.
The Agency is financed through the statutory budgets of the African Union Commission (AUC), voluntary contributions from AU member states, and additional budgetary support from development partners and the private sector.
The NEPAD Agency within Africa's institutional architecture
The agenda of the NEPAD Agency includes promoting enhanced state capacity in Africa to drive the continental development processes and assisting in creating an enabling environment to stimulate private sector engagement for sustainable growth and development, including implementing investment programmes and projects.
The NEPAD Agency functions and intervenes in the African development agenda by building institutional linkages and tapping into existing technical resources in support of the NEPAD agenda. In providing support to the NEPAD Agency, the core implementers for the NEPAD programme are AU Member States, regional institutions, particularly RECs, and multilateral and bilateral development agencies.
The NEPAD Agency mobilises expert knowledge and resources to support the development and design of investment programmes for wealth creation and socio-economic growth, and is committed to becoming a learning and results-oriented institution.
In advocating and promoting the AU of Africa ownership and leadership of the continent's development process, the Agency robustly engages African and global stakeholders in closer and value-driven partnerships for the implementation of the NEPAD programme, particularly civil society organisations.
NEPAD Agency's operating model
The management structure of the Agency revolves around five key interlinked functions: strategy and knowledge management; Ppolicy alignment and programme development; programme implementation and coordination; partnerships, resource mobilisation and communication; and corporate services.
What are the desired key outcomes of the NEPAD Agency's interventions?
The Agency's objectives include:
- Strengthened regional and continental integration to achieve sustainable economic growth and development;
- Enhanced capacity of member states and RECs to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the NEPAD programme;
- Implementation of effective growth strategies and poverty eradication programmes to accelerate African development goals through high-quality sector and cross-sector programmes and projects;
- That Africa achieves desired implementing capacities for active engagement on the global stage in all respects;
- That the NEPAD Agency becomes the knowledge hub on the continent;
- Partnerships based on equality, mutual respect, accountability and responsiveness are forged between Africa and development partners for better delivery of AU/NEPAD development goals; and
- Civil society and the private sector become an integral part of the development processes.
Click here [2] to download the 'What is the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency?' brochure
