OREANDA-NEWS. The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 in Abidjan approved the establishment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Trust Fund to be hosted by the Bank.

The Fund’s US \\$2.4 million initial contribution will support forward-thinking on the issue of concessional finance in development by an African Development Fund (ADF)Policy Lab. It would also support other future Bank activities.

It is the first bilateral fund with a non-sovereign entity, and the first bilateral fund with the Foundation aimed to provide structure to the long-standing collaboration with the Bank and scale up areas of intervention. African Development Fund (ADF)

The Bank currently manages about 39 trust funds most of which are depleted.

There was overwhelming support for the collaboration, which fits squarely with the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy. The Strategy looks to engage in strategic partnerships to disseminate knowledge and lead new policy initiatives.

The ADF Policy Lab will complement the Mid-Term Review of the ADF, which is the pool of concessional resources dedicated to less endowed Regional Member Countries.

The Bank has been involved in multiple interactions with the Gates Foundation. In 2011, the Foundation contributed US \\$12 million to the African Water Facility (AWF) to support sanitation services to some of Africa’s urban poor. It also contributed US \\$15 million towards implementation of the Action Plan for improved statistics for food security in Africa in 2013.