The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the African Union’s specialized agency for capacity development, has urged African countries to revive their leadership development institutions and give them the necessary structural and budgetary support for implementing industrial development objectives.
At an international economic forum of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday in Paris, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, ACBF’s Executive Secretary, said the skilled people, the right institutions, transformative leadership and mindset change were key to driving the industrialization agenda of countries.
“Having the resources, policies or strategies, conducive environment, are necessary but not sufficient for Africa to industrialize. If you don’t have the entrepreneurs, the right institutions – in particular the institutions of accountability – for making sure that these fantastic strategies yield results, there would always be implementation gaps,” he added.
Still giving his homespun analysis on Africa’s industrialization, Prof. Nnadozie noted that “leadership capacity is also very important but far more important is a change in mindset – for Africans to believe in their own ability to industrialize, leading to ‘an Africa capable of achieving is own development’ which is the vision of the African Capacity Building Foundation”.
African countries will also have to build their own capacity development units to enable them coordinate capacity building efforts. Equally important is the need for a monitoring and evaluation department inside all projects being implemented by public institutions.