International financial institutions

UNDP and the African Development Bank

The African Development Bank is the leading financial development institution exclusively for Africa. Its mission is to promote economic and social development through loans, equity investments, and technical assistance. It focuses primarily on poverty reduction, improving the lives of people of the continent and mobilizing resources towards the economic and social progress of its Member Countries.

Established in 1964, its shareholders are the 53 countries in Africa as well as 24 countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Its principal functions include:

• Making loans and equity investments for the economic and social advancement of its member states;
• Providing technical assistance for the preparation and execution of development projects and programs;
• Promoting investment of public and private capital for development purposes;
• Responding to requests for assistance in coordinating development policies and plans of member states, and,
• Giving special attention to national and multinational projects and programs which promote regional integration.

The priority sectors for ADB, most of which are in line with UNDP priority MYFF 2004-2007 goals, are:

• Agriculture,
• Public utilities,
• Transport,
• Industry,
• Health and education, and
• Cross-cutting sectors, such as poverty reduction, environmental management, gender mainstreaming, and population activities.

Most resources provided by ADB are channeled through specific projects, although it also provides program, sector, and policy-based loans to enhance national economic management.

Strengthening the partnership

ADB prepared its first Strategic Plan for the period 2003-2007 in December 2002, which became effective in January 2003. Key elements of this plan for UNDP include: a) focus on improved effectiveness, with the goal of establishing 25 new field offices (at country and regional level) and b) the importance of partnerships, with UNDP clearly identified as one of the organizations with which the ADB will develop a strong partnership.

In order to facilitate and enhance collaboration between the parties towards the achievement of their common objectives, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 6 February 2001, building upon the earlier agreement. Among other things, this MOU identifies the areas of cooperation, as follows:

• co-financing of development activities;
• private sector promotion,
• capacity building,
• poverty reduction strategy,
• good governance,
• post-conflict situations,
• information,
• technology and Communication for Development,
• energy and environment,
• HIV/AIDS,
• gender in development,
• micro-finance,
• aid coordination,
• information exchange,
• staff training, and
• other areas of cooperation as may be agreed upon between the parties from time to time.

The MoU has triggered several developments:

UNDP is increasingly supporting AfDB regular field and country strategy formulation missions. In addition, the two partners are collaborating in the preparation of "Country Governance Profiles" (CGP) including in Chad, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal and Gabon, and UNDP is supporting ADB in developing the corporate scorecard.

While most of this cooperation has focused at the country office level (Action Matrix), the MoU equally presents an opportunity for strategic partnership at the corporate level on specific issues. One of the important steps will also be an increased partnership in the Arab region.