AfDB to Launch Virtual Academy for African Countries, Promises Technical Assistance

African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday approved the creation of a virtual academy to build public financial management capacity in African countries.

Prof. Kevin Chika Urama, Acting Chief Economist and Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management of the African Development Bank, said:

“The establishment of the Public Finance Management Academy will go a long way in addressing the long-standing capacity gaps in public financial management practices across African countries.

“It will enable the Bank to leverage resources (skills, competencies, and finance) from sister multilateral development banks, international and African public financial management institutions to provide cutting-edge training, technical assistance and policy advice, embedded in the local realities of African countries. I am very grateful to all partners who worked with us to design this transformative academy for Africa.”

Accordingly, Investors King gathered that technical assistance will be provided to countries through structured, focused, devoted, and local training, as well as policy dialogue.

Furthermore, the academy’s training, technical support, and policy discourse will address both upstream and downstream challenges in the public financial management cycle, and will be adapted to African countries’ individual needs.

The technical support component will also focus on appropriate public institutions or their units, civil society groups, and think tanks, as well as the media, that are active in public financial management initiatives throughout Africa.

Evidently, the program’s policy discussion component will bring together high-level decision-makers and policymakers in charge of creating and promoting the anticipated shift in African public finance management systems.

In the same vein, AfDB-sponsor Municipal Chief Financial Officers’ (CFO) Initiative was revealed to begin in September 2022, with ten localities taking part.

Information gathered by Investors King reveals that participants will learn about finance, accounting, debt management, and risk management in order to increase their cities’ creditworthiness. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit African stock exchanges such as the Johannesburg and Abidjan Stock Exchanges.