Africa Working Group

Issues: Help Bridge the gap between OD and CD We have few OD practitioners in Africa They need to interact with public sector, private sector and CSOs Low of capacity for African experts to network Few attempts to come together most of the time failed IODA – International Organisation of Development Association (international network)

Issues How do we help each other to be a learning group, to mentor each other, etc? Governance in Africa – this has nothing to do with public sector. How d we bring issues of governance, leadership, accountability from local level to state level Where do MPs come from – from the community. If they are educated at the local level, they will come to the house informed, and there will be better oversight

Issues Civil society is supposed to provide oversight. But they are not good New phenomena – donors providing resources for capacity development. How do we learn and exchange ideas – there is a big picture Natural resources, extractive industry, no safety nets, the government supposed to protect, they are the ones evicting them. They parliamentarians, not defending them.

Issues How do we get the communities to engage and get more empowered. Knowledge gaps? Policy, laws, are software Build a more coherent community of practice and also community of learning.

Issues Difference between policy and practice. The practitioners are not involved. If we don’t engage those of the ground, it is difficult Organisational capacities

WHAT DO WE HAVE CURRENTLY?

CD expert; regional expert pool... Expand the network ApDev Don’t have capacity development experts per say we have OD experts. We need to look at CD broader perspective (MDIs – management development Institutes) – skills training with the bigger picture. Build a team of CD experts – CSOs getting less power or legitimacy

Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Transformative leadership program needs to be linked to the APRM; National Program of Action (NPAs) can be pursued. The peer reviews approved at the national level – therefore when it goes to AU, it Not just governance but systems and processes APRM are legitimate and credible. We need to be very pragmatic – where citizens are happy with. E.g. Ghana happy with the report Nigeria has a good result

E-learning Course on Capacity Development Its a space – the learning package is building on the basic concept of CD. If we all accept as the basic concept that its the basic concept of CD. If we got all them to do the curse, then we are beginning to bring Its designing, practice,... Each cohort has a joint project. FAO people to take the course. Capacity Development in CAADP project – capacities in investment planning in CAADP (DRC, Chad, Lesotho, cameroon, Tanzania...)

CABRI – in PFM CABRI – public finance issues. Network sectoral and institutional. They also tend to be ministry officials. Dont have think tanks, CABRI thinks of country systems as PFM – therefore may miss a mark. Institutional reform – accountability angle. Revenue, accountability institutions, etc Political messaging – reform (on CABRI... Political economics)

AWG - ApDev Opportunities are there... We need to rally around APDEV and get our voices loud After the session engage with Brian, Jason and Florence – a platform we can use. Len-CD bring it to the international level Virtual and physical – platform for discourse on some of the issues that have been raised. Opportunity with ApDev (continental steering group) Meant to mobilise experts for capacity development everythign happening around it in connecting energy, etc. Pillar 5 – build capacity of capacity builders

What change do we want to see? System, institution, individual that are progressively improving. [Change management and making reforms happen.]

What change do we want to see? Capacity Development approaches should be systemic and wholistic – not sector specific! However donors give money sectorally! We need to change this thinking.

How? 1.Develop CD experts – Multisectoral approach/systematic/cross- sectorally/bottom up/ – Mapping out – Handle strategic levers – which ones will help in others (pool & also sector/issues (food sec & pfm) – Use the e-learning to increase the pool 2.Use available Channels/platforms: NEPAD, FAO, OECD/EIP platforms – NEPAD did profile for 18 countries. Went down from national to local level – what came out is that there is need to strengthen local levels. Community leadership is necessary to strengthen the demand side. Empowerment of Communities

How? 3.Change the business cycles :CD practitioners need to articulate what they want and what works for them. Appreciative Inquiry... practitioner, advocate and change person. we must affect the system; make reform happen. Keep interrogating the systems until they work. Change the business cycles of our government in our countries. 4.Empowerment: Need to accompany the local organisations beyond the needs assessment. Coaching, mentoring... Etc. We need to use the tool box.

How? 5.APRM/ACBF indicator: Countries developing their own indicators and are measuring. CD practitioners engage in the APRM – Entry point... To define how we shall intervene. Translate it to CD – what does it mean to systems and processes. – So that the organisation can deliver on its results. The OD should help deliver the results – in most cases dev results.

Conclusion: What we can offer as Africa Do we have an ideal position that we want to sell? – Solidify the middle – the interphase (of practitioners).. – Whole practice in the middle that is not at the table – Need to be recognised, and their input sort... – They have to generate a demand. – The CD facilitators