The duo has stressed the “importance of strategic partnerships” to reduce medium and long-term humanitarian funding gaps in Africa.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are embracing co-creation to strengthen resilience in Africa.
Following the signing of an agreement in December 2023, representatives of the two institutions met in Abidjan to review progress and further strengthen the strategic partnership.
At the end of the meeting, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, AfDB Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery, said the financial institution and the ICRC were committed to building on their “collective strengths.”
The protocol includes jointly scaling up effective programmes that build resilience and make a tangible difference in the lives of the most vulnerable people affected by fragility, food insecurity and climate change in Africa, according to a press release to APA on Thursday.
“At a time when conflicts, displacement and humanitarian needs are intensifying in several parts of the African continent, our partnership to find sustainable solutions to new and protracted crises is increasingly relevant,” stressed ICRC Regional Director for Africa, Patrick Youssef, who visited the Bank’s headquarters on 21 May.
Yero Baldeh, Director of the African Development Bank’s Coordination Office for States in Transition, said that in line with the AfDB’s fragility and resilience agenda, he and the ICRC share a sense of urgency to promote innovative, bolder, context-specific and conflict-sensitive interventions with scalable solutions.
“We value this partnership not only in terms of the ICRC’s neutrality and capabilities, but also in terms of its presence, access and essential protection – of people and investments – in situations of active conflict,” he said.
Discussions highlighted the “importance of strategic partnerships” to reduce humanitarian funding shortfalls in the medium and long term through a joint approach to prevention and resilience building. The two organisations also stressed “the essential role of advanced technologies” in improving the effectiveness and quality of the Bank’s programming through remote assessment, supervision, monitoring and evaluation using satellite imagery.
The AfDB and the ICRC reiterated their efforts to “expand cooperation in the areas of knowledge and analysis, policy dialogue, capacity building and joint training opportunities, as well as to stimulate resource mobilisation and concrete co-financing opportunities,” the statement said.
ODL/ac/lb/as/APA