OREANDA-NEWS. Executive Directors of the African Development Bank Group on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 in Abidjan approved the institution’s 2016-2018 Work Programme and Budget which envisages a cumulative lending objective of US $33.55 billion in 620 projects.

The Board also approved US $492 million (UA 358.5 million) for the Bank’s administrative budget for 2016. This would help scale up and accelerate the implementation of the institution’s Ten Year Strategy, with emphasis on five priority areas known as the High 5s: Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the quality of life for Africans. This budget will give the Bank the means to implement its work programme and meet the growing needs of its clients, in the context of the challenges articulated through the Sustainable Development Goals, COP21 and the Financing for Development conference.

Under the Programme, the annual lending volume for the ADB window alone is expected to exceed the target of US $4.04 billion - $5.21 billion (UA 3.6 billion - 3.8 billion) per year.

It would enable the Bank to promote stronger partnerships and leverage additional co-financing resources to help its regional member countries (RMCs) meet their development finance requirements. Over 2016-2018, it is expected that US $517.31 million (UA 377 million) will be made available as technical cooperation funds to cover costs related to technical assistance personnel, project execution, studies, training and other institutional capacity-building activities in RMCs.

Overall, the Programme is geared towards significantly scaling up the implementation of the Bank’s 2013-2022 Ten Year Strategy (TYS), especially in key areas, and will help the Bank sharpen its operational focus and interventions, respond to the new business environment, and strengthen its capacity and effectiveness.

The 142-page document, which emerged from a year-long formal and informal Board sessions as well as interactions between Board members and Management, focuses on selectivity, operational quality, decentralization, internal capacity and financial sustainability.

Special emphasis will be given to five specific areas highlighted in the High 5s: lighting up Africa by augmenting support for the energy sector, as part of the Bank’s priority to support infrastructure development on the continent; feeding the continent through accelerated support for the agriculture sector; integrating Africa; industrialising the continent, as part of the broader strategy to develop the continent’s private sector; and improving the quality of life of Africans, notably the youth and women.

The Programme underscores also the Bank’s new business model, which would involve reinforcing the resource and human capacities of operation departments and support services that are critical in developing quality projects and programs, accelerating project implementation and delivering expected development results; streamlining business processes and enhancing institutional reforms to become more effective, efficient and responsive to clients’ changing needs; improving portfolio management and results reporting; implement innovative initiatives and strengthen co-development partnerships to create more lending headroom and leverage additional resources to support RMCs in achieving their development objectives; and seeking efficiency gains and trade-offs by enhancing a performance based culture.

Commending the Board for its high-level engagement in the preparation of the Programme, President Akinwumi Adesina said the 2016-2018 programme and budget would enable the Bank to continue delivering strong development results while reinforcing its financial sustainability.

“The Ten Year Strategy provides the roadmap and the architecture while the High 5s provide a measure of the sharp development outcomes of the TYS through which we can gauge our success,” he emphasized.