$7.6bn aimed at lighting 250 million Africans

Donors to the African Development Fund (ADF) have agreed to commit $7.6bn to speed up growth in Africa’s poorest nations and help lift millions out of poverty.

This fifteenth replenishment of the ADF (ADF-15), up 32% from the previous cycle, sends a strong signal of trust in the Fund which is the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB.org), comprises 32 contributing states, is replenished every three years and benefits 37 countries – including those experiencing higher growth rates, headed towards new emerging markets, and fragile states needing special support for basic service delivery.

ADF-15 will support Africa’s most vulnerable countries by tackling the root causes of fragility, strengthening resilience and mainstreaming cross-cutting issues. These include gender, climate change, governance, private sector development and decent job creation.

Over the past 45 years, the ADF has played an important role in the development journey of African low-income countries.

In just nine years, it has made a difference and positively impacted the lives of millions by improving access to electricity for 10.9 million people, providing agriculture infrastructure and inputs for 90 million people—including 43 million women, improved access to markets and connections between countries for 66.6 million people; contributed to the continent’s regional integration agenda by rehabilitating more than 2,300km of cross-border roads; and improved access to water and sanitation for 35.8 million people.

ADF-15 covers the period 2020-2022 and will build on the successes of the fourteenth replenishment by being more selective and focused.

It’ll address the root causes of vulnerability by systematically applying a fragility lens in all its operations. This will be specifically targeted at regions such as the Sahel which will see a 23% increase in resources from the ADF over the next period.

During the next three years, it’ll scale up its interventions with bold and profoundly transformative projects such as Desert to Power stretching across the Sahel region. This flagship programme aims at transforming the Sahel into the world’s largest solar production zone with up to 10,000 MW of solar generation capacity and 250 million people connected to electricity.

As part of the initiative, the Yeleen Rural Electrification Project in Burkina Faso is set to provide electricity to 150,000 households, while the Djermaya Project in Chad will generate 10% of Chad’s power capacity.