New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

P.O. Box 1234, Halfway House, Midrand, 1685, Johannesburg, South Africa, South Africa

Phone : +27 (0) 11 256 3600 / Fax : +27 (0) 11 206 3762

Web site : www.nepad.org

Experts : Saul Kaye, Geoffrey OMEDO

The NEPAD offices were established with the formal adoption of The NEPAD Strategic Framework at the 37th Summit of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) in July 2001, as a programme of the OAU. The document arose from a mandate given to the five initiating Heads of State (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa) by the OAU to develop an integrated socio-economic development framework for Africa.

NEPAD’s Primary Objectives are to eradicate poverty; to place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development; to halt the marginalization of Africa in the globalization process and enhance its full and beneficial integration into the global economy; to accelerate the empowerment of women.

As part of the process to integrate NEPAD into the African Union structures and processes, the NEPAD Secretariat was recently transformed into the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA).

The NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (or NEPAD Agency) was established by the 14th African Union Summit decision as the institutional vehicle for implementing the African Union Development agenda.

Designated as the technical body of the African Union, the core mandate of the NEPAD Agency is to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of regional and continental priority programmes and projects and to push for partnerships, resource mobilisation and research and knowledge management.

The strategic direction of the NEPAD Agency is based on the following thematic areas: (a) Agriculture and Food Security; (b) Climate Change and Natural Resource Management; (c) Regional Integration and Infrastructure; (d) Human Development; (e) Economic and Corporate Governance; and (f) Crosscutting Issues of Gender and Capacity Development.

The Agency is financed through the statutory budgets of the African Union Commission (AUC); voluntary contributions from AU Member States; and additional budgetary support from development partners and the private sector.