NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT (NEPAD)

AT A GLANCE
Chief Executive Officer: Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki
Created: 2001
Secretariat: Midrand, South Africa
Member Countries: African Union Member States
Objectives: NEPAD is a programme of the African Union with the objective to enhance Africa's growth, development and participation in the global economy.

Strategic Framework and Operational Plan for the NEPAD African Biosciences Initiative

Status: Operational
Local Organization: New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
Canadian Expert: Frank Schwartz

In 2005, the African Union (AU), through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), established the African Biosciences Initiative, a cluster of three of the 13 programs in the continent-wide Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action focusing on biodiversity, biotechnology and indigenous knowledge systems and technology. Early consultations with a wide range of stakeholders and strategic partners concluded that ABI activities should be concentrated in the areas of food security, and improving human and livestock health, strengthening of ABI’s technology regulation and policy development, as well as the enhancement and expansion of its network approach.

In early 2011, DDD received a request for assisting the ABI with facilitating more collaborative research and increasing their development partner funding. As befits a rapid-response mechanism, in late February DDD consultant Frank Schwartz completed a needs assessment to map out the technical assistance that would assist the ABI to strengthen its strategic framework, governance, and organizational management and network structures, with an ultimate outcome of a positive contribution of bioscience to NEPAD’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The first mission of the initiative took place in April 2011.