African infrastructure development - a nutcracker suite (Part 1 of I'm not sure how many yet)
Change of pace! The great Beck Trek through France, a bit of Belgium and the Netherlands is well and truly done, dusted and documented on the blockchain (for the full list of posts on that epic journey, check out the end of the last post I wrote about it), so now it's time to get back to the business of cracking the African infrastructure nut.
First, a bit of background
Because this is complicated...and simple at the same time. It's complicated because there is a multiplicity of players involved and the processes for identifying, developing and financing infrastructure projects are complex, probably overly complex for what is really needed. This could be considered a hangover from the days when aid was "input" driven rather than "outcomes" or "results" driven. It can be difficult for a business looking to invest in Africa to understand the landscape, which can appear opaque and therefore intimidating to the uninitiated.
Some key players and initiatives
The African Union (AU) is the overarching body which provides political mandate to entities involved in African development. It works through the African Union Commission (AUC). NEPAD is an AU initiative. The NEPAD Secretariat, along with the AUC and the African Development Bank (AfDB), are leading the Programme for Infrastructure Development for Africa (PIDA).
What's NEPAD?
That's an acronym for the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Okay, it's not so new any more - it was President Thabo Mbeki's brainchild with President Wade of Senegal back in...2001, I think. Before that it a rather unapproachable name like the Millennium Partnership for Africa's Recovery (MARP). In development, if your acronym isn't strong...no, I'm being unfair. It was considered new, because it was premised on resetting the relationships between Africa and her development partners from a donor/recipient paradigm to a more balanced one, arguably setting the scene for landmark agreements such as the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action, which enshrined the concept of countries owning their own development.
NEPAD has come a long way from its early days at the turn of the millennium and is now one of the most visible initiatives of the AU. The NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, based in Midrand, South Africa (basically just off the highway between Johannesburg and Pretoria), capitalises on the presence of the Development Bank of Southern Africa as well as a number of private sector financial insitutions, and has a small team of in-house professionals and specialists.
Agenda 2063
In one of my much earlier posts on strategic thinking, I emphasised the importance of a strategy being rooted in knowing where we are going. I'll add to that it's important to know why we are going there - purpose is critical to mission. Agenda 2063 is a "strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years [it was launched in 2013]. Its (sic) builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development."
Driven by strategic thinking, the AU has developed Agenda 2063 through consultation at national and sub-national levels across the African continent, building on other initiatives and National and Regional development plans.
What’s PIDA?
PIDA is a continent-wide programme with an emphasis on regional integration to catalyse and spur socio-economic development. Its Priority Action Plan (PAP, I kid you not) to 2020 comprised projects selected ostensibly on the basis of their ability to contribute to an overall GDP growth target of 6%. These projects were selected in part based on their ability to contribute to intra-African trade, which is a whole topic in itself – but compared to trade with partners beyond the continent, African countries still struggle to exchange goods and services with each other. In reality, the original PIDA PAP project list had a lot of political favourites on it which Heads of state were reluctant to give up, but the team which drew up the
There are plenty of other players
Mostly in the public sector - multilateral financial institutions, bilateral development agencies, donors, non-governmental organisations, Regional Economic Communities...anything you can shake an acronym at.
There is a growing voice in the private sector to be part of Africa's sustainable development through investment, and that's what I'd like to talk more about this week. Today's post is just a scene-setter for some of the exciting work that's going on in the background.
Where infrastructure fits in to Africa's development
There is nothing like the proverbial "plan in a page", and the AfDB's 2016 Annual Report summarises the context of African infrastructure development particularly well - kudos to their graphics team for communicating the complexity of the plan for Africa's transformation on a single page, and bigger kudos to their leadership team for coming up with the High 5 initiative.
As you can see, the AfDB is taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals, the AU Agenda 2063 and their own 10-year action plan, already underway when the new AfDB president took on the job.
As part of its infrastructure development responsibilities in Africa, the AfDB is the Executing Agency for PIDA, with responsibility for “contractual, financial, technical and administrative management of the programme including responsibility for procurement procedures, in conformity with its existing regulations, budget management and disbursements”.
PIDA isn't the only infrastructure initiative the Bank is involved in. When we get to the Bank's 10-year strategy, we'll unpack the extent of infrastructure initiatives being funded at that level (if you're wondering where to find Infrastructure, look at the top line in the green circle at the centre of the 10-year plan down on the bottom right of the figure).
Where to from here?
This week I'll be unpacking some of the critical elements on that graphic in a broader examination of where the private sector can/does/should fit into African infrastructure development, and how we might be able to assist the African public sector and their development partners to achieve better results.
I hope this will lead us into some interesting discussions on where advances in technology and finance, especially cryptocurrency solutions and convergence with technology (yes, I do mean the Internet of Things among others) could take Africa's infrastructure development.
Why leapfrog, when we can transform instead?
issues related to african infrastructural development is a complex topic ...many post independent countries have entered into bogus national development plans which has failed for various reasons which includes but not limited to lack of appropriate policy frameworks from the policy initiation to feedback, corruption, cognitive melodrame, lack of strong institutions, lack of continuity from past administrations which revolves to political issues, bad planning, lack of involvement of local people which leads to issues of sustainability and felt needs, more of imposition of projects by donor agencies like IMF, World bank and other international agencies for their selfish needs, political instability , etc... this may be said to be related to africans peculiar socio cultural milieu centered on prebendalism of which Richard Joseph beautifully explained in his book... of all the beautiful names and acronyms used in garnishing the African development initiative like NEPAD, VISION 2020, SAP, etc... as long we there are no good institutional mechanisms to monitor, plan, ensure sustainability by making sure those projects are not paternalistic imposed to the local communities and full involvement of the local people and strong leadership garnished by political will... such will never last... and Africa will ever remain indebted to the donor agencies like Paris and London club and use their common wealth to settle accrued interests... nice posts as always... following for more... thanks for sharing this
Wow - sounds like I should ask you to write my next posts! Yes, yes, and yes. You saw how I snuck in the private sector as one of the players - while companies are not the only answer to development challenges, entrepreneurial development within the framework of a sustainable socio-economic development plan of a country would be a heckuva good start. I saw some promising developments in Botswana last year and am looking forward to catching up with their progress. Thanks so much for your comment - I appreciate it.
welcome ma'am and am elated for your response and will follow for more episodes... yes...Bostwana is a model as regards sustainable development plans in Africa as the government of bostwana involves the local communities and goes out doing proper consultations plus honesty and political will... One of the best model which should have worked is the one which eliminates to a great extent imposition from donor agencies wit their ulterior selfish motives of ensuring post colonial economy ... Tanzanias Nyerere ...The Arusha Declaration or ‘Ujamaa’, or brotherhood centered on community involvement to the grass root...ensuring the local peasants takes up their development initiatives bringing to fore their felt needs and how to solve it.. look it up... i think it should guide better basis on what sustainable development is... remember the days after post 2nd world war... on development administration... when some American scholars went to understudy why developments which was applied in post world war 2 Europe worked very well and is not working or delayed in Africa... from their success in Europe they tried in Africa and want as successful as in Europe as such their studies found out that for development to take place, one should look at the Socio cultural milieu which revolves around the environment of public administration in Africa... a lot of religious, cultural, social impediments which must be understudied... and understand why Max Weber model of bureaucracy cannot work same in African setting... get it right and get development right as its the govt bureaucracy that manages developments...
Phew, @kenhudoy, that's quite a response. Botswana's success will lie in their ability to diversify their economy from diamond mining, which actually hasn't contributed as much to their coffers the last few years as in previous decades. On Nyerere, tough call, but ultimately I have to go with the outcome of his policies - Tanzanians starved. Centrist/socialist systems don't work to the benefit of individuals and especially rural dwellers. We have to look at the gross misuse of public funds, and as a resident of South Africa, I don't have to look any further than my front door for how well one family and their group of companies has worked so effectively for over a decade to bleed the South African state dry. No wonder the poor here are still poor. Their money is in the hands of that family, their companies and the corrupt politicians who have been working with them. So I agree with you that effective institutions and development administration are important.
Sure...Nyereres Ujamaa worked for sometime but was not sustainable...of course the capitalist nation's will not allow any form of African socialism to last the test of time... Like Zimbabwe...former Rhodesia... Mugabe started well but who knows why he is ending poorly...some say it's after the death of his first wife and when he married his second wife 😕...look at Zambia... for S.Africa...calls for Zuma to resign due to issues of corruption....When you come to Nigeria it's a pitiable state where the country celebrated her 57th independence yesterday as a confused nation with clueless leadership with calls of secession and shouts of restructuring... Gradually heading into serious internal crisis...why... bad leadership, bad policies with their NEPAD, NEEDS, SAP, Vision 2020s etc forced on them by international donor agencies, weak institutions and deep culture of impunity... A classic eg of Joseph's prebendalism...
The problem of Africa lies not only in bad leadership...after all Obama said in his Kenya speech that Africa doesn't need strong men or leaders but strong institutions...without strengthening existing institutions.. (i love the Japanese Kaizan Model of continuous improvements ) through innovations so as to tackle corruption...which is the root of underdevelopment in Africa...then Africa will still be struggling...using Fred Riggs Prismatic model...Africa is still struggling and confused whether they are in fused...Prismatic or defracted zone.. More of sala bureucracy... where patron clientelism reigns...practising spoils politics.. with recycled leaders mostly old expired men who seized power from the days of their independence and still cling onto power at all cost...
We need strong leadership , good policies and strong institutions. And shy away from predatory dispositions where people still see government work like the pre dependence era of the white man's job and where the public service belongs to no body and where to enrich them self and immediate family... We need proper reorientation of our young ones... And if i May go too extreme the Chinese model of punitive punishment for corrupt person's... Thanks for this wonderful opportunity to write my views...
Spot on, @kenhudoy. And for what it's worth, at least NEPAD was not foisted on Africa by donors - it was an African grown plan for Africa. Strong institutions are the bulwark against corruption! For what it's worth, earlier this year, former South African parliamentarian Lindiwe Mazibuko blasted the old guard of African leadership for being completely irrelevant to the majority of Africans - who are under the age of 30! She said something like "you don't understand us, you don't care about our futures, you care only about yourselves and your croniers and you should step down now to let responsible youth leaders take over the reins!" Talk about speaking truth to power! It was electric.
it is... talk about old men in power who took care of their destinies in their 20's... took care of their kids destinies in their 40's and taking care of their grand kids destinies in their 70's and some grea nd kids destinies in their 90's... nice one maam... this discourse can go on ending as talks about ills in africa is soo many..... Best to garnish it with some good natural home remedies... check out my blog for some ;)
thanks for sharing this excellent post
Cheers, @kenhudoy! 😊😊
Hmm...very interesting post @kiligirl. I think I come at it a bit differently; I don't believe we really should be asking the question of where the private sector can, does, should fit into African infrastructure development and how we might be able to assist public institutions and their partners achieve better results. Rather, I think, we should flip this on its head. Seeing market opportunities in the infrastructure space, we should be developing our plans that are based on sound financial and economic fundamentals that we know will be viable and sustainable over the longer term--generally (though not always for sure), I think, private business is pretty good at allocating financial and other resources. Then we can go to these public institutions and determine how and where the resources they have may fit into our developments. And, it may well be (in many cases and for a variety of reasons), they do not or cannot. And, from my perspective, that is OK!
I hear you, @beantownboy, but I think we have to acknowledge there are some kinds of infrastructure which the private sector just doesn't have the means and wherewithal to develop, and yet it's still important to a functioning society. Both enabling and social infrastructure can be provided by the private sector where there's a business case, but sometimes there just isn't a business case - do we let those people go without? In the power sector, where I know you're strong, there are good opportunities for business to create viable, sustainable solutions. Similarly in ICT, as we've seen from the explosive penetration of mobile phones into, well, everywhere. I'm not convinced the transport and water sectors hold such great opportunities, particularly in rural areas; same with rural electricity, but I do think that energy services could become viable with innovations such as crypto-based payment mechanisms...so I'm open to persuasion :-).
Africa really need good leadership first as that to me is the only thing we need now. We have the natural and human resources to be great but political will to achieve plans are grossly inadequate. Yet am very positive Africa.
Hi, @dubem-eu, I'm glad to hear you're positive about Africa - so am I, or I wouldn't have chosen to live and stay here.
To your point on leadership: good leadership and good governance go hand in hand. Good governance attracts investment, both internal and external. Investment creates conditions for improved quality of life, in a context where good governance prevails.
I agree with you that political will in Africa leaves something to be desired, but I've been hearing that for over two decades. At some point the governed have to stand up and demand better from those who are supposed to be accountable to them. One of the words which truly drives me around the bend in Africa is "ruling", as in the ruling party. If the party thought of itself as the party governing in terms of the constitution rather than ruling to dispense resources in a politically palatable way, we'd make some progress.
Yes the led must stand up to their right but like you rightly pointed out 'ruling' is still in our leadership mentality and that term 'rule' is and remains a military term hence I ask how many African Country is or are practicing real democracy? I believe we will still get there soon.
If only I was a political expert and not a humble engineer, I might be able to respond with insight to your question...I'm not sure how many countries anywhere are practicing "real" democracy....
Thanks for this, if there's a way to cooperate productively that is probably the way to go...
Ah, there's where the fun starts. Don't touch me on my studio or my vested interests....
Studio?
I was being facetious. A host on eNews said this after one of their guests got up and behaved in a threatening way - have a look after 32 seconds at this clip.
O yeah I think I've seen that. Does that guy live in Orania? 😀 😃 😄 😁 😆 Thanks again for sharing...and don't forget to keep steeming OK?
Probably he does! Wherever he lives, I don't want to go near there - a scary dude for a simple little Canadian like me. Thanks for the support and the cool questions/comments.
My roommate during my MBA in Hamburg was from Canada. He said aboot instead of about.
He was probably from Halifax, then :-). Did he say eh, too? (Not et tu, like in Brute...) 🤣🤣
@kiligirl, I suppose our own National Development Plan (vision 2030) also speaks to Agenda 2063. The NDP is supported by the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) which breaks it down into five year chunks. The MTSF has 14 specific outcomes and One talks to infrastructure development. I am not to sure which one but will try to find out. This will give us a South African perspective.
Hi Marcel, thanks for a really interesting comment.
As far as I know, Agenda 2063 was originally informed by the National Development Plans at the time (which as you know are generally on a shorter timeframe than 50 years), as well as the regional development plans prepared by the RECs (which is usually where it goes pear-shaped - ownership at REC level is confusing and it's not clear that they all speak to national or continental level planning) and updated NDPs should be informed by Agenda 2063, and there should be a virtuous circle of convergence on goals, so top down/bottom up/integrative dynamic planning in action.
I think our NDP was developed before Agenda 2063 but could have the timing wrong. I believe the National Planning Commission was in touch with the AUC about Agenda 2063 - Trevor Manuel et al did an excellent job of consultation on putting the plan together.
Agenda 2063 truly has to speak to outcomes rather than to specific structures to be built, and I don't think anyone would be terribly upset if we achieved these outcomes earlier than 2063! 😉
Indeed, RSA's planning framework incorporates the MTSF and the infrastructure related outcome would be an important one for the DBSA to support, amongst other financial partners. Those 5 year plans are much more specific in terms of outputs expected rather than outcomes which are generated by the longer term plans which aggregate the medium term plans. Countries need to budget for specific timeframes in terms of their governance requirements and set up monitoring and evaluation of the outputs produced to check the plans are being implemented, well, as planned.
It will be really interesting if you could post on South Africa's expected MTSF infrastructure outcomes, and how they speak to our own NDP as well as Agenda 2063. 😊😊
Following this series... as an African. The very bottom line, however, is/should be strong institutions. Great work!
Thanks for your support, @wachera! I checked out your introductory posts - well-written and engaging. Looking forward to more from you! 😊😊
Thank you so much - you're kind!
😊😊
rise Africa rise.....thanks for your love...lets do it here on steemit too.... #steemitghana upped
Thank you, @mcsamm! Great to see #steemitghana active here 😊😊
sure...there are lots of ghanains doing marvelously great job here on steemit..we hope to bring more make this platform the best it could ever be..thanks for passing by #steemitghana
Great stuff! 😊😊
Informative post..although I don't have much knowledge about it but I think for sustainable development of a country public and private sector progess simultaneously .Public sector is needed to eradicate inequalities among masses and private sector is needed to accelerate the growth rate .
Upvoted and resteemed.
Hi, @momi5, I'll bet you have more knowledge than you think as a consumer of infrastructure services! I agree with you, it's important for the public and private sectors to co-develop as they can support each other. The private sector can also do a lot to help with inequality. I'm thinking of writing a piece about that, possibly next week. Thank you as always for your support - I so appreciate it.
Waiting for your writing ...here,private sectors are profit oriented as they have to maintain a large number of employees...without government support.I think if government cooperates a lot,private sector can definitely initiate some programmes for the welfare of masses.
I think you're right, @momi5 - certainly there is a spectrum among private companies operating in Africa. Some operate purely in the interests of their shareholders, but that tends to be an unsustainable model here as stakeholders find ways to have influence over corporate decision-making. As we've discussed before, leadership in both the public and private sectors can play a pivotal role. There is no reason to believe that helping to address inequality is bad for business!
Agenda 2063 :
I have a question about this. Why do you thinking a short time ?? America UK Australia all they have long term agenda to develop their country. I am just incling you about the world thinking. Thanks for your valuable post.
Good question, @currentnews, but I must say I wasn't aware that any Western countries had 50 year development plans. I thought they were more limited to their political parties' plans. I would appreciate understanding more about how they develop their long term plans. Now China and Japan - different story. Their plans span centuries. Thank you for a thought-provoking question!
Excelent Post! Realy interested to read! Waiting the next ones! Greets!
Thank you so much, @biofibromialgia!