Madzwamuse, other continent’s Civil Society Leads Join AfDB Committee

Masego Madzwamuse, other continent’s Civil Society Leads Join AfDB Committee

The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) has held the first virtual statutory meeting of the new African Development Bank-Civil Society Committee ahead of the Civil Society Forum to be held on 26-27 November 2020.

The committee, which met on Tuesday, aims to build stronger partnerships with the African civil society community by enhancing communications and raising awareness on the Bank’s work in their respective regions and sectors.

Building on the positive results from the previous committee, the Bank’s Civil Society and Community Engagement Division, which serves as the committee’s secretariat, facilitated the renewal of the Bank-Civil Society Committee for the next term, from 2020 to 2022.

“The Bank is counting on the active support, participation and contributions of the renewed committee over the next two years that will further reinforce civil society engagement and ensure the civil society community is contributing effectively to inclusive growth in the continent in line with the Bank’s 2013-2022 Ten-Year Strategy,” Vanessa Moungar, Bank Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society, told online participants.

The main objectives of the statutory meeting were to agree on the internal operational processes, prepare the committee work program, and discuss the role of civil society in the delivery of the High 5 (https://bit.ly/365fVX0) development priorities.

The renewed committee will build on the work of the 2018-2020 committee. The Bank named 11 civil society representatives from across the continent to the committee as follows (to sit alongside 11 Bank staff):

Regional Representatives

1. MASEGO MADZWAMUSE, CEO, Southern Africa Trust
2. MASHETI MASINJILA, Executive Director, East African Civil Society Organizations Forum
3. NANA ASANTEWA AFADZINU, Executive Director, West Africa Civil Society Institute
4. HANY IBRAHIM, Founder and Director, El-Mahrousa Participatory Development Solutions– North Africa
5. ROBERT MABALA KASONGO, CEO, the Network of National NGO Platforms in Central Africa

Thematic Representatives

1. EMMANUEL GYIMAH BOADI, Chair of the Board, AFROBAROMETER
2. ELIZABETH NSIMADALA, President, Pan Africa Farmers Organization
3. CHEICK FAYCAL TRAORE, Executive Director of the Youth Association for Sustainable Development / African Youth & Adolescents Network
4. SHUNGU GWARINDA, Interim CEO & Director of Programmes, Graça Machel Trust
5. AMY GILIAM, Branch Manager Africa Climate Reality Project

International NGO Representative

1. PATRICK YOUSSEF, Africa Regional Director, International Committee of the Red Cross