NEPAD Today 11 September 2013
11 September 2013
African countries want ownership of energy projects – NEPAD official
NEPAD Agency had established that countries in Africa wanted to take ownership of the energy projects in their regions, said NEPAD head of energy programmes, Professor Mosad Elmissiry at the Africa EnergyIndaba Ambassador Briefing, in Sandton.
This comes after the organisation held three workshops in Gaborone, Botswana, to assess the needs of the implementation of the UN Secretary General’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative.
The SE4ALL initiative was launched in 2011 and significant progress was made in 2012 with the engagement of Africa in the three workshops, resulting in a set of recommendations that were endorsed by the Conference of Energy Ministers of Africa (Cema) in November. Cema’s resolution requires that NEPAD’s Planning and Coordinating Agency, AUC and the AfDB coordinate SE4ALL, using the recommendations as a guideline.
The top three guidelines are the Africa SE4ALL action plans, the Africa strategy for decentralized energy services and the Africa steering committee policy framework. Read More
NEPAD Nigeria calls on government to speed up efforts toward achieving MDG’s
NEPAD has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to intensify its efforts in achieving the millennium development goals to eradicate poverty and improve the standard of living in the country.
The special adviser to the president on NEPAD, Ambassador Tunji Olagunju made the demands of the group known while speaking at a meeting organised for state coordinators in Lokoja. He highlighted agriculture and food security, energy infrastructure, human capacity in health and education as ‘critical sectorial priorities’.
While delivering his speech at the programme, themed ‘NEPAD as Tool for Good Governance,’ Mr Olagunju said that the event was aimed at revealing the fact that the absence of good governance has become the most critical missing link in the quest for sustainable development.
He pointed out that a recent study revealed that the Africa region has not benefited from global decrease in the proportion of people living in poverty and hunger in spite of its natural endowment. Read More
Debating the best way to improve water and sanitation post-MDGs
A leading water think tank issued a call for a post-2015 development target on water aimed at making better use of scarce water supplies, realising the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, and increasing resilience to droughts and floods by 2030.
The appeal, from the Stockholm International Water Institute, came after a week of discussions and consultations with aid agencies, development organizations and water experts on how to build on the MDGs, which set a 2015 target to improve access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
“The MDGs have provided an incredible focus for the international development agenda and served as a rallying cry at a time when support for international goals was waning,” said Michel Jarraud, chair of UN-Water. “Water-related challenges hit the poor the hardest – this is where we should focus our efforts. We now need to build on what we already have and how to make the next goals even better.” Read More
Integrating nutrition in national agriculture and food security investment plans
NEPAD Agency through its flagship programme the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in collaboration with the Botswana Government, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Development partners, will be hosting the Southern Africa Regional CAADP Nutrition Capacity Development Workshop from 9 to 11 September in Gaborone, Botswana.
Under the theme ‘’ Building capacity to mainstream Nutrition in National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans in Africa’ and, as nutrition is a cross-cutting issue, the workshop will bring together a range of country-focused participants from 14 countries, versed in Nutrition and other key multi-sectoral issues, including CAADP Country Focal Points, and delegates from Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education, Finance, Civil Society and the Private Sector with the common objective of addressing the challenges of malnutrition and exploring how best to coordinate efforts to effectively deliver nutrition services where they are most needed. Read More
Upcoming events (some dates or venue may change)
1. Mining and Power Synergy, 9 October 2013, Fleuve Congo Hotel, Kinshasa, DRC
2. Africa-NEPAD Week at 69th UN General Assembly (mid-October 2013)
3. 21st Africa Partnership Forum – Dakar (tbc) November 2013
4. High Level Summit and Business Conference on Africa’s Domestic Resource Mobilzation (DRM) November 2013)
5. 5th GEO Health & Environment Community of Practice (CoP), 23-25 July 2013, Washington D.C., USA
6. 48th NEPAD Steering Committee meeting – Dakar, End of August/Sept 2013