200 Days Countdown Event to the 2021 World Forestry Congress

 

AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

• Forests are at the heart of a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

23-Nov-2020

Forests are at the heart of a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic – that was the key message that emerged in the 200 Days Countdown Event to the 15th World Forestry Congress.

The event, organised on 9 November by the Korea Forest Service, sought to draw international attention to the upcoming 2021 Congress in Seoul, themed, “Building a green, healthy and resilient future with forests”.

In a video message,(link is external) former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged nations to “take decisive action” on climate change, which is fuelled by forest destruction. He noted that “COVID-19 may be one of nature’s responses to the climate crisis.”

In his opening ceremony(link is external) remarks Park Chong, the Minister of the Korea Forest Service, said: “Forests can be an imperative solution to the climate crisis…The world should work together to achieve sustainable development.”

Julius Chupezi Tieguhong, Chief Forestry Officer of the African Development Bank’s African Natural Resources Centre, urged leaders to respond to the socio-economic impact of forest destruction. “This requires sustainable solutions at the local, national, regional and international levels,” he said. 

“The effectiveness of desirable climate outcomes will be dependent on adequate allocation of human, financial and material resources, in which case, the role of multilateral development (institutions) cannot be underestimated,” he added.

As countries respond to challenges created by the pandemic, they are also recognising the opportunities such a crisis presents to shift the global development paradigm towards greater sustainability and greener, more inclusive economies.

Sustainable forest management can play a vital role in building resilient economies and societies that can withstand pandemics, climate change and other global challenges.

The World Forestry Congress(link is external), the largest and most significant gathering of the world’s forestry sector, is held every six years. It will take place 24 to 28 May 2021.

Africa Industrialization Day: Unlocking Africa’s “value-added” industrial potential

 AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

20-Nov-2020

Africa Industrialisation Day(link is external), which falls on Friday, mobilizes the commitment of the international community to the continent’s industrialisation and gives us the opportunity to reflect on the Bank’s impact in this sector, one of its High 5 priorities. 

From oil to cocoa, cotton to vanilla, Africa is rich in naturual resources but its heavy dependence on commodity exports means it has yet to take full advantage of the added value that processing raw materials and manufacturing can bring.

The African Development Bank is working to change this by promoting successful industrial policies, attracting funding to infrastructure and industry and supporting the growth of capital markets to create quality employment that alleviates poverty.

The last decade has seen progress, with manufacturing growth in Africa outpacing the global growth rate. In 2019, Africa’s industrial GDP expanded by 17% to $731 billion (in 2010 dollars), with the value-added of manufacturing surging by 39%, according to the Bank’s 2020 Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER).

But Africa’s industrialisation is geographically limited, with around two-thirds of value-added manufacturing taking place in just five nations: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.

This year, progress has been reversed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended economic growth, disrupted trade and financial flows and triggered losses of millions of jobs.

The economic and social impact of the pandemic has injected more urgency into the drive to industrialise Africa, just as the African Continental Free Trade Area is set to reshape the continent into a singular market of 2.5 billion people by 2050.

As the African Development Bank joins the international community to mark Industrialization Day, some stories of women and men turning the tables on Africa’s industrialisation front merit all our attention.

 

PROCESSING, MANUFACTURING AND TECH

Just outside Cairo, the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), a greenfield petroleum refinery, is one of the largest industrial units of its kind in Africa.

With nearly $222 million in funding from the Bank, the refinery converts the lowest-value fuel into 4.7 million tons of refined products and high-quality oil derivatives per year, meeting domestic consumption needs, cutting emissions from dirty fuels and reducing Egypt’s balance of payment deficit.

The huge project created more than 15,000 jobs at peak construction and 1,000 permanent local job opportunities.

“From day one they were able to see that this project, which has been 12 years in the making, was going to have a transformative effect on Egypt’s economy,” said Ahmed Heikal, chairman and founder of ERC’s parent company, Qalaa Holdings.

In 2019, 1 million people across Africa benefited from the Bank’s industrial investee projects. Turnover from Bank investments in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) almost trebled, reaching $1 billion and far exceeding targets.

Some of the best opportunities for Africa’s industrialization lie in agriculture. Crucial to this sector is the Bank’s support of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs), which strengthen African countries’ ability to attract private sector investment by bringing policy, investment and infrastructure together, usually in a rural area with high agricultural output.

Take South Africa, where the Bank is supporting the development of 22 SAPZs. One of them, Bokomoso Ba Rona SAPZ, aims to rehabilitate an area and develop a post-mining economy on a 30,000-hectare site owned by mining company Sibanye-Stillwater.

“We are aiming to attract private sector investment, which will drive agro-processing and build a strong value chain,” said Noxolo Mtembu, Project Manager at the Gauteng Infrastructure Financing Agency, which is responsible for developing the SAPZ.

Africa’s emerging connectivity and a workforce increasingly familiar with the digital world and new technologies will make it possible for the continent to take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution to improve productivity, create jobs, and extend social welfare.

New industries have transformed the fabric of local economies, for example in Nabeul, in north-eastern Tunisia, once most famous as a craft and tourist centre.

Now Nabeul is becoming as well known for its high-tech industries. With financing from the Bank, the MEDIS pharmaceutical laboratory was established to produce generic medicines, creating thousands of skilled jobs and becoming one of the region’s biggest employers.

The laboratory has provided formal, secure jobs for many who otherwise would have been confined to informal work or unemployment.

“My job with MEDIS has given me freedom and dignity. I’m not asking for a handout and I’m not asking anything of anyone,” said employee Sabra Gmati.

“If MEDIS or a business like it wasn’t in Nabeul, I’d be unemployed and I would stay at home.”

COVID-19 is a ‘wake-up command’ to address Africa’s challenges - Tony Blair

 

AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

• We have the same problems but what we also have is vastly increased urgency - Blair
• Agriculture offers Africa its best opportunity for industrialization…the key is how does Africa raise productivity, develop the integrated technology in rural areas? - Adesina

16-Nov-2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the challenges and opportunities of Africa’s development landscape, former British prime minister Tony Blair said on Monday in a lecture organized by the African Development Institute in Abidjan.

“We have the same problems but what we also have is vastly increased urgency…not so much a wake-up call but a wake-up command,” Blair said.

The former UK prime minister addressed a virtual audience on the topic Building Back Better in Post COVID-19 Africa: The Role of Technology and Governance, as part of the Kofi A. Annan Lecture Series. The series, launched by the African Development Bank’s African Development Institute in 2006, has covered a range of African and global development topics, including economics, finance, regional integration, human development and the environment. The lectures have been a forum for eminent persons to share policy insights on development challenges in Africa.

Over 4,500 delegates from across the globe including Government Officials, Governors and Executive Directors of the Bank Group, the Bank’s Senior Management, and leading experts and heads of institutions tuned in to the lecture.

In opening remarks, Rabah Arezki, Chief Economist and Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management of the Bank described the task ahead as “vast and challenging.”

Mr. Blair, in his first ever virtual lecture, outlined three aspects which in his words would make a big difference to Africa: investing in industrialization, accelerating technological innovations, and building capacity for institutions to get things done. “There are components to the Bank’s High 5 priorities. All of those things which define the challenges that Africa has – all of those are now given added urgency by Covid and its impact,” Blair said.

To build back better, West Africa, for instance, could capitalize on its rich source of cotton for garment production and the textile industry. Elsewhere on the continent, Africa was already leading in the digital technology space which can be scaled up.

“Around the world you are seeing governments use technology effectively…I know this is a great ambition of the African Development Bank. This is critical,” Blair said.

Blair highlighted the four Ps of government delivery – prioritization, policy, personnel and performance management. On prioritization, Mr. Blair called on African governments to identify and focus on their comparative advantages and delivery. “In the end…only Africa can do it… we are partners in Africa’s story...in Africa’s progress,” Blair said.

His speech was followed by a conversation with Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina, who said the lecture series brought global and national perspectives to the development issues discussed.

“We need to constantly push the frontiers of dialogue in the public sphere,” Adesina said. “Nothing is more topical today than the challenges posed by COVID-19. The pandemic has upended economic growth.” Mr. Adesina noted.

Agreeing with Mr. Blair about the importance of the culture of delivery, Adesina said agriculture offered Africa its best opportunity for industrialization. “The key is: how does Africa raise productivity in agriculture…how does it develop the integrated infrastructure in those rural areas…that will allow the creation of new economic sources of prosperity out of what it has?” Adesina asked.

Although the Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative had allowed it to reach millions of farmers with agricultural technology and is boosting yields in wheat, there is still the need to scale up. “We have a lot of pilots...The name of the game is scale,” Adesina said.

Adesina cited other key interventions by the Bank, including a $10 billion COVID-19 Response Facility to provide budget support to African countries and its innovative $3 billion COVID-19 social bond, to save livelihoods.

After retiring from office, Blair launched the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which works on some of the most difficult challenges in the world today, primarily in three areas: supporting governments to deliver effectively for their people, working for peace in the Middle East, and countering extremism.

Speaking after the seminar, Prof. Kevin Urama, Senior Director of the ADI said the priorities are well mapped out for Africa to build back better. The African Development Institute (ADI) has been at the forefront of accelerating capacity development, technical assistance and policy dialogue on the continent.

Senegal: the restoration of the ecosystem of Lake Guiers, financed by the African Development Bank, benefits local residents

 AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

16-Nov-2020

After five years of work, the Project to Restore the Ecological and Economic Functions of Lake Guiers, in northern Senegal, expired in 2019. It restored optimal conditions for the operation of the lake, while allowing development of the Ndiaël special avifauna reserve, according to the conclusions of a report by the African Development Bank published on November 3.

The project, which has amply benefited local populations, was financed to the tune of US $ 21.71 million by the Bank. Indeed, $ 20.55 million comes from a loan from the African Development Fund and $ 1.16 million from a grant from the Global Environment Fund.

As part of the rehabilitation of the lake's management infrastructure, 17 kilometers of curé channel lines were built, ten kilometers of dyke lines rehabilitated and 30 hectares of areas infested by typha cleaned. For the development upstream of the Ndiaël (Yetti Yone), 16 kilometers of curated channel lines and 110.8 kilometers of firebreak lines have been installed. On the large pond of Ndiaël, ten kilometers of access roads have been created, as well as 8.4 kilometers of linear evacuation channel, 32.7 kilometers of supply channel and 10.9 kilometers of navigation channel.

“Better control of the hydrological situation of the Lac de Guiers system has contributed to a greater and more controlled filling of the large Ndiaël pond. The availability of water has led to the revival of socio-economic activities, considerably improving income from agriculture and fishing, ”states the Implementation Status and Results (EER) report of the bank.

"The drinking water supply program for localities bordering Lake Guiers has above all substantially improved the rate of access to drinking water in the area," the report emphasizes. At the level of the Ndiaël reserve, the works relating to the construction of the ecotourism camp, the fish ponds and the mini-dairy are almost completed ”. Arrangements are underway to formalize the legal existence of the ecotourism camp in order to ensure its sustainable management. The capacities of beneficiaries in the ecotourism professions have been strengthened (management, catering, reception, guidance, boat driving, etc.).

For the populations living around Lake Guiers, the impact of the project is significant: income from livestock rose from $ 272,000 in 2014 to $ 2.04 million in 2018; those of agricultural production reached 37.06 million dollars (against 4.43 million dollars before the implementation of the project); fishing has also experienced an upturn in activity, generating increasing income for the populations (from 212,000 to 918,000 dollars).

With the increase in available water resources (from 1.2 billion m3 to 2.34 billion m3), the irrigable areas have increased from 20,000 to 57,000 hectares. The construction of 166 sanitation structures along the Taouey has contributed to better access to sanitation services (from 34% to 70%). Access to drinking water now concerns 90% of the population, compared to 48% in 2014.

“The involvement and commitment of local populations, from assessment to implementation, contributes significantly to the execution of the Ndiaël management plan. In addition, the implementation of the project by the Office of Lakes and Rivers and the Department of Water, Forests, Hunting and Soil Conservation (national structures responsible respectively for the management of the lake system and that of the Ndiaël reserve) reassures about the sustainability of the achievements ”, concludes the report of the African Development Bank.

Africa Youth Month: Catching up with Agripreneur winners at the African Development Bank AgriPitch competition

AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

13-Nov-2020

AgroSupply started product motorcycle delivery to farmers to comply with COVID-19 lockdown measures at its distribution centers.

The African Development Bank’s virtual African Youth Agripreneur Forum and AgriPitch Competition (AYAF/AgriPitch 2020) – currently underway – coincides with the African Union’s Africa Youth Month.(link is external) Both celebrate the positive impact that youth-led innovation is having on Africa’s development.

AYAF/AgriPitch 2020 kicked off on 3 November with the first of three weekly webinars, and will run through 17 November when it closes with the AgriPitch competition winners’ ceremony. The competition rewards youth agripreneurs with a combined $120,000 in prizes, investment opportunities, and post-competition mentorship and training.

The event draws participation by hundreds of youth agripreneurs, government agencies, development partners, private sector leaders and potential investors from across the continent to help young entrepreneurs in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors to scale up their businesses.

Horticulture business founder Paul Sheppard of South Africa and Ugandan agritech entrepreneur Joseph Ogwal were among the winners of $74,000 in prizes in last year’s AgriPitch competition.

We asked Sheppard and Ogwai about how their start-ups have evolved since last year’s AYAF in Cape Town, South Africa. Questions and Answers have been edited for clarity.

 

Q: How did you apply the AgriPitch prize money to your business?

Future Farms(link is external) co-founder Paul Sheppard, who won $10,000 in AgriPitch’s early start-up category: The money eased our cash flow so we could buy stock in greater volumes and upgrade our indoor [hydroponics] farm in Johannesburg. We added more grow units and grow systems, and that increased our ability to produce more crops. It increased our investment in our food systems, resulting in a 15-20% increase in Future Farms’ output.

Agro-Supply(link is external) co-founder Joseph Ogwal, who placed third in the early start-up category, took home $6,000: That money came at the right time - we were able to hire a full-time sales and marketing person. Fundraising and marketing were the parts we were struggling with before AYAF, I was doing it by myself. With the sales and marketing hire, we doubled the number of small-holder farmers using our mobile app’s lay-away [pay in installments] system to 10,000.

Paul Sheppard celebrates his ApriPitch win with Joyene Isaacs, then Head of Department of Agriculture, Western Cape Government, South Africa.

 

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted your start-up’s operations?

Sheppard: After winning the AgriPitch prize, we got a lot of publicity that led to many companies approaching us to invest in Future Farms. We actually got to a stage with a company that had all but signed the commitment to invest … then COVID-19 struck and it hamstrung the money from moving. Because the company paused investments, our deal won’t go ahead until after we’ve gotten through this pandemic. We’ll survive, but COVID-19 is going to slow down our growth.

Ogwal: Farmers using our mobile lay-away system would go to a local store or agent to purchase a scratch card, and then use that to add money to their account [to purchase seeds, fertilizers, etc.]. When coronavirus started, there was a lot of social distancing, so we had to innovate our operations to match social distancing norms.  So, we incorporated a mobile money digital platform allowing farmers to directly add lay-away funds, without the store or agent interaction. We implemented individual appointments for farmers to pick seed, fertilizer and chemicals [pesticides] from our distribution centres to reducing crowding. We even started using motorcycles to deliver small packages to each small holder farmer who completed lay-away payments.

AgriPitch winner Joseph Ogwal, center, at the Bank’s AYAF and AgriPitch conference in 2019.

 

Q: How did you change your business model as a result of the AYAF prize?

Sheppard: We realized through the AYAF business training sessions that we needed to create a deeper case study, deeper examples of how our [hydroponic agriculture] systems work and why they are feasible. Now, we know that when you go to an investor, a potential client or partner, and they ask, “Where is the proof?” – you will have done your proof and you have data to prove it. That was a bit of a learning curve for us.

Ogwal: We learned to transform the way were operating, to focus more on the way we are marketing ourselves and our concept of a lay-away system for farmers who were used to taking out loans. We want farmers to understand the importance of using their own money to invest in agriculture rather than taking loans from financial institutions. The AgriPitch prize money also helped us pay for a radio marketing campaign that reached more than 20,000 smallholder famers in Uganda - and that was really great.

 

Future Farms says they are building new hydroponic systems, despite COVID-19 slowing down business 

 

To learn more about AgriPitch, register for AYAF webinars and take part in the AgriPitch winners’ ceremony, please log on to: https://www.afdb.org/en/african-youth-agripreneurs-forum/ayaf-2020

A whole of society approach: Women are key to building resilient communities beyond COVID-19 - A joint Op-Ed by Vanessa Moungar and Yero Baldeh

 AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

12-Nov-2020

By Vanessa Moungar and Yero Baldeh

In Africa’s fragile contexts, the burden of conflict, poverty and climate change falls most heavily on already marginalized groups. If we do not significantly and collectively step up our efforts, the continent’s share of the world’s poor will rise to over 90% by 2030, and 8 of the world’s 10 poorest countries will be in Africa and in situations of fragility. We need to act decisively to reset this trajectory. Today, pockets of fragility are increasingly spreading within and across borders, exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak with its health and socio-economic consequences. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted women and girls living in fragile contexts with ripple effects on education, livelihoods and nutrition, among others.

However, women are the backbones of African economies and can be key drivers of transformation as we strive to build back better, more resilient societies. It is women, if empowered and provided with adequate support, who can help rebuild communities once the crisis has passed.

Studies demonstrate that in Africa, women reinvest up to 90% of their income in providing a social safety net for their families, with a positive impact on health, education, and nutrition. Investing in women generates higher development returns.

 

Challenges of Vulnerability and Fragility

Fragility and its manifestations are complex, multi-dimensional and evolving as a result of dramatic social, economic, political and environmental changes that exacerbate patterns of inequality, exclusion and marginalisation. Women have been for far too long – and are unfortunately too often still – confined to unpaid carework and low paying jobs, which results in unpredictable and inadequate sources of income and social protection.

The COVID-19 crisis has deepened these inequalities. A study carried out by ImpactHer and UN Women across 30 African countries  in July 2020 revealed that 80% of female small- and medium-sized (SME) buisness owners had to temporarily or permanently shut down their businesses due to pandemic restrictions.

The effect of an economic retrenchment in women-led businesses is being felt across society as women-led businesses account for about 40% of Africa’s SMEs. This has resulted in reduced access to basic services, including food security, nutrition, health, education and housing, to mention a few, rising fragility pressures across the continent. At the same time, governments’ fiscal space is narrowing, as a result of diminished economic activity and rising budgetary demands for social protection amid the pandemic. This leaves fewer resources for development finance.

 

Tapping the Potential of Women to Stimulate Resilience Building

Women are at the center of our economies and societies, and their access to more opportunity results in collateral benefits for all – and magnifies impact. If women are empowered and provided with adequate support, transformation to inclusive communities with shared prosperty and reduced poverty is possible on the African continent.

The African Development Bank remains on the frontline of the challenge to reach the continent’s most vulnerable and to bolster resilient communities.

Specifically, the Bank is working with partners to address some of the root causes of fragility and vulnerability among women, youth and other marginalized groups such as forcibly displaced and hosting communities, through key strategic and operational policies. We do this through expanding analytics, knowledge work and tools that underpin our strategies, policies and operations across the African continent.

One example is the Bank’s support for income-generating activities in the Sahel, in areas such as Timbuktu in Mali, Diffa and Agadez in Niger and Kishira in Chad, with the aim of breaking long-term cycles of crisis and vulnerability. While responsiveness and flexibility guide the Bank Group’s approach to addressing fragility, more emphasis is to be given to early warning of risks, mitigation and prevention efforts.

 

Innovative Partnerships

While a lot of ground has been covered, many challenges still lie ahead. These should be addressed through an integrated approach across all sectors, for specific interventions to be identified, performance monitored and reported.

We need innovative partnerships that break the silos of development and humanitarian interventions along the peace-development-humanitarian nexus. We need to bring in the private sector and leverage our comparative advantages to have the desired impact at scale on the ground and break the cycle of poverty and fragility.

Some of the most effective ways to invest in the resilience of women, youth and vulnerable communities will be spotlighted from 11 to 12 November at the virtual Finance in Common (FiC) Summit (for example, but not limited to, High-Level Event 3 on Human Security in Fragile Settings: Scaling-Up Humanitarian and Resilience Investment and High-Level Event 7 on Development Banks as Actors for Change Towards Gender Equality). The Summit brings together 450 public development banks for the first time, with the aim of promoting new forms of investment to foster inclusive and sustainable growth. Join us online (https://financeincommon.org/(link is external)).

The time has come to invest in women, harness their strength and resilience to build more prosperous communities.

Because where women succeed, everyone benefits.

Benin: a project financed by the African Development Bank enables a significant increase in agricultural yields and farmers' income

 AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

11-Nov-2020

Implemented from 2015 in Benin, the Food Production Support and Resilience Building Project in the Departments of Alibori, Borgou and Collines ( PAPVIRE-ABC ) has made it possible to improve significant farm yields.

The project, funded to the tune of US $ 24 million by the Global Program for Agriculture and Food Security (“GAFSP”) via the African Development Bank, has set itself the objective of improving security. food and nutrition and reduce the poverty of the populations of Benin. It has notably made it possible to increase agricultural productivity on more than 24,000 hectares in the country, according to the report on the status of implementation and results (EER) published on November 2 by the African Development Bank.

The establishment of high-performance seed varieties, the combined training of leader producers and supervisory staff and close monitoring-support-advice have thus boosted yields in the corn and rice fields. In fact, the average maize productivity rose from 1.5 tonnes per hectare in 2016 to 2.6 tonnes, an increase of 73%. That of rice reached 4.2 tons per hectare, against 3.3 tons in 2016. As for the volume of food production marketed, it reached almost 83,000 tons in 2020, while it was less than 5,000 tons. in 2016.

This performance has a positive impact on the annual income per food farm, underlines the Bank report. This is $ 345 and could reach $ 458 by the completion of the project in 2021. In 2016, this income was $ 238.

"The levels of productivity and production recorded as well as the marketing mechanism for producers and the organizational mechanism of the territorial agricultural development agencies have made it possible to improve incomes," explains the report. The enhancement of infrastructure will allow actors to create more added value. "

In order to ensure the follow-up of the project and its sustainability, 222 young entrepreneurs were trained in the incubation centers. Ultimately, the objective is to increase this number to 400. In addition, 90 technicians have attended various workshops and training in monitoring and evaluation, while 18,260 farmers have been trained in resilient technologies. In addition, 150 producer organizations and women's economic interest groups benefited from post-harvest equipment. This equipment is made up of a rice kit (two threshing machines, a huller, a husked rice sizer and two seamers) and a maize kit (two gins, two sizers and a mill).

"The effective start of rehabilitation works for water reservoirs, downstream facilities and labor-intensive investments, coupled with scaling up of the results obtained at the level of demonstration units and field schools for farmers, will consolidate the achievements and act significantly on food security and poverty reduction in the project intervention area ”, concludes the African Development Bank report.

Integration: the road corridor between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, financed by the African Development Bank, improves the mobility of goods and people

 

AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

09-Nov-2020

At the Ivorian-Malian border, work on the road corridor between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali is almost complete. But even before its completion, the infrastructure is already relieving transporters and neighboring populations in both countries.

The Bamako-San Pedro Corridor, whose works were launched in 2015 for completion scheduled for June 2021, has been funded to the tune of US $ 233 million by the African Development Bank, including US $ 198 million from its window. concessional rate loan, the African Development Fund. The book is part of the implementation of the Program of roads development and transport facilitation on the Bamako corridor Zantiébougou-Boundiali San Pedro.

Work on the Zantiébougou-Ivorian border route (140 km) on the Mali side has been completed and provisionally delivered. On the Ivory Coast side, the works of the Kani-Fadjadougou section (lot 1) have been finalized and those of lot 2 (Fadiadougou-Boundiali section) are 86% completed. The two lots represent a distance of 135 km.

According to an execution and results report (EER) published on October 27 by the Bank, the impact of the project is already being felt on the beneficiary populations with regard to the volume of traffic on the roads completed or in progress. Classes.

Travel times, which were six hours in 2014 on each of the sections going from Zantiébougou to the border with Côte d'Ivoire and from Boundiali to Kani, were now reduced to between 1 hour 40 minutes and 2 hours last May. . This represents a total gain of $ 3.6 million per year for carriers.

According to the report, the processing time for container traffic at the port of San-Pedro, Côte d'Ivoire, will drop to three days compared to ten days in 2014, once the interconnection of customs IT systems, the establishment of a single port window at the port of San-Pedro and an electronic tracking system for goods and vehicles along this corridor will have been implemented. In addition, the transit time of a freight truck at the border between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali is expected to drop from a full day to around three hours after the construction of the single border checkpoint.

As for the operating cost of three-axle vehicles, it has been cut in half, from $ 1.8 per kilometer in 2014 to almost 90 cents. The rural access index in the project intervention area is close to 60% in 2020, which concerns, for half, women, against 25% in 2015. This index measures the proportion of the rural population under two kilometers of a passable road in all seasons.

By the end of the project, four centers and six multifunctional platforms dedicated to women will be built. In addition, five schools, five health centers and two bus stations will be renovated, as well as five local markets and a border cattle market.

The project also provides for the construction of twenty boreholes (ten per country), managed 100% by women. Ten solar lighting systems will be installed, ten processing tool kits and intermediate means of transporting agricultural products will be provided to the populations, 80% of which will be women. Twenty tricycle vehicles and four ambulances for transporting sick and pregnant women will be delivered to ten health centers. Finally, around 200 kilometers of rural tracks will be rehabilitated in various localities on both sides of the two countries.

"At the end of the works, the project will notably allow an increase in the volume of trade crossing the land borders between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali from 59,200 tonnes to 392,400 tonnes, ie a growth rate of 34%" , concludes the report of the African Development Bank.

African Development Bank Group approves $440,000 emergency relief assistance for flood victims in South Sudan and Sudan

 AfDB NEWS & EVENTS

31-Oct-2020

The African Development Bank Group has approved an emergency assistance relief package of $440,000 to fund ongoing humanitarian and emergency relief efforts in areas recently hit by floods in South Sudan and Sudan.

The package, from the Bank’s Special Relief Fund, will be split nearly equally between the two countries and will be used to purchase food items and water, and to cover the implementation costs to be incurred by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The funding is part of a multinational emergency response to provide relief to flood victims in both countries, where torrential rains have caused rivers to overflow their dykes and banks, disrupting trade routes, damaging crops, killing livestock and submerging houses.

By the end of September, the Food Security Technical Secretariat reported that heavy rains and flooding had affected more than 860,000 people (over 480,000 of them children) in Sudan. Over 125,000 refugees and internally displaced people are among those affected in that country since the start of the rainy season in July. The states most affected by floods are Khartoum, North Darfur, Blue Nile, West Darfur and Sennar. More than 100 people have reportedly died as a result of the flooding.

In South Sudan, the UN has estimated that more than $80 million is needed for the overall flood response, including $46 million for immediate assistance to 360,000 people until the end of the year. Vast areas of the country along the River Nile are now under water, affecting more than 600,000 people since July in Jonglei, Lakes, Unity, Upper Nile, and Central and Western Equatoria. Entire communities have fled to higher ground to escape the rising waters.

African Development Bank Country Manager for South Sudan, Benedict Kanu, said more than 100 people died through the disaster in the country, with about 25,000 internally displaced.

“The situation is particularly critical given the COVID-19 preventive measures in place, insecurity in some of the affected states and the financial constraints faced by the government and humanitarian agencies, despite the growing needs of the flood-affected communities,” Kanu said.

The FAO, the implementing partner for the Bank’s emergency relief assistance operation, already has a well-established network and long-standing operational presence in both countries for food relief assistance.