A high-level panel of experts reviewed progress in and constraints to green growth in Africa during a knowledge event at the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Annual Meetings took place in Lusaka, Zambia, during the last week of May. The side event was held on Thursday, May 26, 2016 from 15:30 – 17:00 PM at Mulungushi International Conference Centre, venue of the Annual Meetings, and was organized by Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV), the evaluation function of the AfDB.
The Bank’s Annual Meetings are its largest annual event. They bring together thousands of delegates and participants, and feature some 40 official events in addition to the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, which constitutes the core purpose of the Meetings. This year’s event focuses on energy and climate change.
Drawing on an independent assessment of 45 Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) and five Regional Integration Strategy Papers (RISPs) prepared by IDEV in 2014, panelists will discuss practical pathways to greener economies and measurement of green growth initiatives in a bid to inform the transition to greener growth. Green growth is at the heart of the Strategy for 2013-2022 of the AfDB.
IDEV has assembled high-level government representatives, subject matter experts, and development partners to exchange cutting edge solutions and practices to mainstream green growth into national development processes.
Speakers include: Alice Akinyi Kaudia, Environment Secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources; Jay Ireland, President and CEO of General Electric Africa; Mthuli Ncube, Professor of Public Policy at Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and former Chief Economist of the AfDB; and Rakesh Nangia, Evaluator General of the AfDB. The event will be moderated by Namakau Mukelabai, a former TV News-anchor at Zambia’s National Broadcasting Corporation.
IDEV’s independent assessment concludes that although some African countries have made progress in undertaking strategic work to mainstream inclusive green growth into development plans, overall, implementation of green growth objectives remains a challenge – including for the AfDB itself. The assessment finds that although many CSPs mention the challenges of inclusiveness and green growth in the background diagnostics, few of them have taken the next step to articulate the sector, institutional and macro policy challenges which need to be addressed to move forward with inclusive green growth strategies. Such evidence from CSPs is particularly useful as CSPs articulate how AfDB corporate objectives and priorities are to be achieved in any particular country through the Bank’s activities and investments, and are therefore a good starting point for planning successful implementation of green growth objectives.
Contact: Felicia Avwomtom, Principal Knowledge Management Officer, IDEV, Tel. +225 77309636, Email: f.avwomtom@afdb.org
Links:
- Strategizing for the “Africa We Want”: An Independent Evaluation of the Quality at Entry of Country and Regional Integration Strategies
- Looking ahead – Inclusive Growth and Transitioning to Green Growth in Country Strategy Papers: Progress and Challenges
- Supporting Africa’s Transition to Green Growth: Snapshot of AfDB's Activities
- AfDB's Strategy for 2013–2022
- AfDB’s High 5s: A game changer in Africa’s development discourse