ACBF’s Executive Secretary’s Country visit to Kenya

ACBF - The Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Development Foundation (ACBF), Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, will begin a three-day official visit to Kenya from Wednesday, Nov. 12 to Friday, Nov. 14 to meet with senior government officials, partners and representatives of ACBF supported institutes in the East African country.

During the visit, he will be meeting with Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury Mr. Henry Rotich to discuss issues of mutual interest to both Kenya and the Foundation. Mr. Rotich is Kenya’s representative on the ACBF’s Board of Governors, the Foundation’s highest decision-making body. The Board is composed of Ministers of Finance, some Ministers of Economic Planning, Director Generals or Permanent Secretaries of core economic Ministries or Agencies of member countries. The Executive Secretary will also hold similar talks with the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u. Prof. Nnadozie’s other engagements include meeting with the board of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), officials of the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and meeting the head of the Australian mission in Kenya, Geoff Tooth, to discuss ACBF’s continued support in Australia’s development projects in Africa.

Kenya is among the highest recipients of ACBF grants mainly because it is the seat of many International organizations with regional focus.  A total of USD43.4 million in grants has so far been provided to Kenyan and East African regional institutions based in the country. The AERC and KIPPRA are institutes that have been able to successfully achieve results due to the support of an ACBF grant. Prof. Nnadozie will be attending a special board meeting of the AERC in Nairobi. The Consortium was established in 1988 as a public not-for-profit organization devoted to building capacity for economic policy research into problems pertinent to the management of economies in sub-Saharan Africa. With ACBF’s support, AERC is executing three regional training programs - the Collaborative Master’s Program in Economics for Anglophone Africa, the Collaborative Ph.D. Program in Economics for sub-Saharan Africa, and the Collaborative Master’s Degree in Agriculture and Applied Economics Program. The institute has produced more than 3,200 Masters and over 400 Ph.D. graduates in the past 20 years, who are contributing to the development of the East African region. The Executive Secretary is also scheduled to meet with officials of KIPPRA. The talks will focus on progress made on projects currently being executed by KIPPRA and the challenges they are facing.

Before departing for Harare, Prof. Nnadozie is expected to discuss with the Australian High Commissioner to Kenya partnership opportunities in implementing Australia’s aid program in Africa. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in January 2012 contracted ACBF as the Resource Facility Manager for the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES). The AACES program is focused on reaching the most marginalized groups with particular attention to women, children, people with disabilities and people vulnerable to disasters.