The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the African Union’s specialised agency for capacity development will hold its 29th Annual Meeting of its Board of Governors during the African Union’s Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration, running under the theme, “Leveraging the 4th Industrial Revolution in Addressing Youth Unemployment”. This Board Meeting will take place between 13 and 14 March 2020 at the Accra National Conference Centre.
The Board of Governors of ACBF consists of Ministers of Finance and/or Economic Planning from its 40 African Member states as well as representatives of its bilateral and multi-lateral members. The Constitution of ACBF provides for one annual meeting of Governors to review ACBF’s work and provide short to medium term strategic direction. The annual meeting includes high level forums which provide a platform to deliberate on key issues affecting Africa’s growth and development. In addition to the main theme, the meeting will provide a platform to deliberate on key issues affecting Africa’s growth and development such as;
- Designing the work skills for the future;
- The role of government and regulatory frameworks for the 4th Industrial Revolution;
- Harnessing 4th Industrial Revolution for effective taxation and governance; and
- Financial technology, digital currency and financial inclusion.
There will also be a presentation of the report from the High-Level panel on Illicit Financial Flows, which will be delivered by His Excellency, Thabo Mbeki, former President of the Republic of South Africa.
The Board of Governors of ACBF is currently chaired by Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Minister for Finance.
-ENDS-
For more information, contact:
Tsitsi Chakonza
The African Capacity Building Foundation
Harare, Zimbabwe
+263-4 304663, 304622, 332002, 332014; Ext. 273
Email: [email protected]
ABOUT the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Having spearheaded and robustly coordinated capacity development programs worth over 700 million US dollars across 45 countries and 8 regional economic communities (RECs) in Africa since 1991, ACBF has gathered the requisite experience that makes it the go-to institution for expert knowledge and human resources to advise and support African countries, regional economic communities and institutions on decisive steps to take to develop the practical skills urgently required for the continent’s economic transformation.
Evidence from our cutting-edge work (constituting hundreds of knowledge publications) and the work of several partners show that Africa's development efforts are being hobbled by severe capacity deficits often in the form of shortage of critical skills, deficits in leadership, inhibiting mindsets and weak institutions. The continent’s practical skills shortage is acute in key areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Agriculture.
At ACBF, we will continue using our unmatched track record in managing financial facilities for development, our vast knowledge gathering experience thanks to the exceptional skills mix of our core staff as well as our strong strategic partnerships and networks to help countries and institutions identify their capacity needs, advise them on how to plug these capacity weaknesses and on where to find the knowledge and resources to develop the requisite capacity resources, effectively use them and retain them to achieve their short and long-term development objectives.
ACBF’s vision is an Africa capable of achieving its own development.