Panel 1
Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, Executive Vice President, African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET)
Serah Makka, Africa Executive Director, ONE Campaign
Hannah Ryder, Founder and CEO, Development Reimagined
Gyude Moore (moderator), Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development
Panel 2
Clemence Landers, Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development
Daouda Sembene, Founder and CEO, AfriCatalyst
Valerie Dabady, Division Manager, African Development Bank (AfDB)
Amy Dodd (moderator), Consultant and former Policy Director at the ONE Campaign
The Center for Global Development (CGD), together with the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), Partnership for Economic Policy Network (PEP), the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), and REPOA, are holding a workshop alongside the African Development Bank’s annual meetings in Nairobi, Kenya. The workshop will explore how the MDB reform agenda could better accommodate the needs and priorities of client countries, particularly those in Africa. The event will be an opportunity for think tanks, civil society organizations, MDB officials, and government officials to explore issues at the center of the MDB reform agenda, including climate financing, debt crises, and access to concessional finance.
A few of the sessions from the workshop will be streamed.
Fireside Chat
9:00-9:15 a.m. EAT
Hassatou Diop N’Sele, Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and CGD's Gyude Moore will discuss the AfDB reform agenda and the key themes and objectives for this year's annual meetings.
Panel 1 - State of Play: the Global Economy and Low-Income Economies
9:15-10:30 a.m. EAT
This session will explore the impact of global economic trends on low-income countries. The 75 poorest and most vulnerable countries are facing exceptional challenges, setting the stage for historic economic reversals. According to the World Bank, one in three low income countries is poorer today than before the global pandemic, and the number of people facing hunger or malnutrition has doubled. As a result, the gap between rich and poor countries is widening, a trend that is projected to continue. Deteriorating debt dynamics, a high interest rate environment and increased prevalence and intensity of natural disasters are among the factors that are curtailing more robust recoveries in the poorest countries. Panelists will discuss these factors as well as how the international development community should respond.
Panel 2 - The State of Global Concessional Finance
13:30-14:30 EAT
The claims on concessional and grant finance are fast increasing. Over the next 24 months, close to a dozen concessional finance entities – including the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) or health funds like Gavi —could aim to raise a record $100 billion. But there is a real risk that donors will not keep pace with these big financing asks just as they launch new entities that will also need funding like the Loss and Damage Fund and the World Bank’s Livable Planet Fund. This session will dive into the increasingly crowded constellation of concessional financing entities, explore the coherence and financial sustainability of this architecture and attempt to distill what a more organized and effective system could look like.
