Africa's political will must be matched with capacity-building drivers, says ECA's NEPAD Support Chief

14 September 2007 - The abundant political will in Africa needs to be matched with necessary capacity building drivers to make a difference, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, Chief of the NEPAD Support Unit of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said today.

In a panel discussion on an SABC program, African Views , Prof Nnadozie said such drivers included mobilizing African people behind NEPAD, utilizing existing African Diaspora skills mix; and matching Africa's capacity gaps with existing local human resources.

He said the African Union (AU) vision and the NEPAD initiative, which emphasize the need for capacity building, were an indication that African political leadership understands the need to build capacity at all levels on the continent.

“But understanding capacity building is one thing; knowing what to do about it is another and actually doing those things, is yet another issue,” he said.

He said apart from capacity building, African countries need to pay attention to capacity retention because “you can produce thousands of nurses, for example, unless you figure out a way to keep them at home, then you'd have a problem.”

Nnadozie said ECA was assisting in implementing NEPAD by coordinating the efforts of various UN agencies through the regional consultation mechanism and as a strategic partner of the NEPAD Secretariat and the APRM Secretariat.

“ECA has assisted NEPAD Secretariat in developing the “Capacity Development Strategic Framework” and the 10-year capacity building program of the African Union to enhance AU's capacity to achieve peace and security as well as foster social and economic development in Africa,” said Prof Nnadozie.

He said within the framework of NEPAD, ECA had also contributed to capacity building in ICT, trade negotiations, agriculture and infrastructure.