ADDIS ABABA – The Director of the Economic Development and NEPAD Division Economic Commission for Africa has said that officials and experts working on the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) owe the public clear explanations on what the initiative has achieved in the 10 years of its existence.

Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie

Addressing an expert group meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on August 16, 2012 Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie said that the production of a landmark report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa on how the continental initiative has fared 10 years later has heightened and renewed public enthusiasm in the initiative.

He said that the report and the Ten- Year Capacity Building Program for the African Union that had been invigorated by the development of a comprehensive work program to back its implementation have combined to heightened demands from the public for concrete results, according to ECA’s Information and Communication Service (ICS).

“After the high-profile activities marking the 10th anniversary of the Program, the question is being asked, build capacity to do what?” he reported.

To seek a comprehensive answer to that question, participants at the Addis Ababa expert group meeting have been addressing issues such as, what the main achievements of NEPAD are;  the challenges that continue to hamper the implementation of NEPAD; what can be done to better accelerate its implementation; how the capacity building program could better support efforts to accelerate that implementation process.

Other questions were the role that Regional Coordination Mechanism of UN system support to

AU and its NEPAD program (RCM-Africa) can play in addressing the challenges to the implementation of NEPAD.

Agencies