ECA, UNDP form a partnership to scale-up capacity development in Africa

02 February 2007

The United Nations Economic Commission (ECA) for Africa and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) have formed a strategic partnership to jointly leverage their resources to scale-up capacity development in Africa, according to a “Compact for Collaboration” signed yesterday in Addis Ababa.

The Compact was signed by Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Abdoulie Janneh and Gilbert Houngbo, UNDP's Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for the Bureau for Africa.

The two organizations say their priority areas of collaboration would include monitoring the progress made by Africa to achieve the MDGs, fostering regional integration, promoting trade, rendering assistance to NEPAD and the APRM, and advancing governance.

“The two institutions agreed to exploit synergies arising from their mandates and enhance collaboration in a more structured and systematic manner through functional rationalization, strengthened programme coherence and complementarity; efficiency in programme delivery, and effective mechanisms of coordination and consultation at national, sub-regional, and regional levels,” the Compact says.

Both organizations also committed to gender and ICT as “key vehicles for accelerating human development. “The two institutions will ensure the full integration of gender in all thematic areas and operational activities of this cooperation,” the Compact says.