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From Africa Recovery, Vol.11#4 (March 1998), page 6 (part of Special Feature on the 2-year review of UNSIA)

Sound programmes will attract funding

"It is not always easy to coordinate and coordinate effectively within the UN system, and between the UN system and the Bretton Woods institutions," says Mr. Callisto Madavo, one of the World Bank's two Vice-Presidents for Africa. This is the first lesson after two years of the UN Special Initiative on Africa. The second is the continuing "challenge for us to find ways of coordinating effectively at the country level where the action takes place."

Asked about the differences in nature between World Bank and UN operations, Mr. Madavo told Africa Recovery in a late February interview that "there is no conflict" between the Bank's lending-based operations and the Initiative. He says that "we can in fact align the lending that we are doing to support the core objectives of the Initiative."

Ethiopia, he says, is a good example of the Bank working with other donors to provide funding for sector investment programmes in education and health. The Special Initiative "is not just about money," he adds. "It is also about working upstream with countries to reform their policies, to prepare programmes."

Turning to African "ownership" of the Initiative, Mr. Madavo says it is "not as strong as it should be." When the Initiative was being put together, he adds, "we did not follow the kind of participatory approach that should have taken place. We did not talk to the Africans.... Africans could have fed in their own views, their own ideas and therefore felt a sense of ownership." He says, "We have to do a much better job of going out, reaching out to Africa and African countries and listening to them, talking about the Initiative. Even at this late hour we should cultivate and develop this ownership." He wants as many sub-Saharan countries in the Initiative "as can in fact be ready for it," but finds it "very difficult" to say how many countries will be covered during its 10-year span. He feels "very encouraged" by progress in such countries as Ethiopia, Zambia, Mozambique and Uganda, as well as by Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania.

Calmly addressing the vexing question of resource mobilization, Mr. Madavo says it is "fairly obvious" in this early period that "for those countries that have sound programmes, we have not had difficulty raising money to support them." He cannot give a figure for resources raised so far, pointing out that fund-raising is linked to country-specific programmes, as in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. But the Bank is confident that for sound programmes, "we will find the money." But he points out that the money raised externally is only "a fraction" of the money being used. "So to the extent that the Initiative encourages the preparation of sound programmes, it improves the effectiveness not just of the externally mobilized resources but the effectiveness of domestically mobilized resources as well."

The Initiative also makes it easier to mobilize resources, Mr. Madavo says, citing one original objective of ensuring that "we maintained the priority of African development on the world agenda." The result, he says, is the "tremendous interest" in Africa being seen today in the Group of Seven or Eight, and in the private sector. He says this "should enable us to raise the resources that are required much more easily than would otherwise be the case."

To make the Special Initiative more effective, Mr. Madavo firmly supports the proposal of the early February retreat of Initiative participants to refocus efforts on five core areas -- education, health, information technology, governance, and population and gender. "If we want this Initiative to really show results, to have impact, we have to go with those things where we are making progress, where something is happening." Still, this re-focusing is not exclusive, he points out, adding that continued efforts are needed in the other components of the Initiative.

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