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1.     Background

In February 2008, the Development bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) signed an MOU with Agence Francaise de Développement (AFD), for the Pan African Capacity Building Programme (PACBP), for a five-year period ending 2012.

AFD is a financial institution that is at the heart of France’s development assistance policy.  Its mission is to finance development. It supports public entities, the private sector and local associate networks in implementing a wide range of socio- economic development projects covering  five continents.

 The DBSA is one of southern Africa’s leading development finance institutions. The bank is wholly- owned by the South African government (sole shareholder). Among other things, the organisation’s mandate is to provide funding for infrastructure development within South Africa and in the broader southern African region. The Bank has established itself over its 28-year history as a leading development advisor and partner on the African continent.  It  is known for its knowledge contribution and capacity building through its training and capacity building academy (Vulindlela Academy).

 The rationale for the partnership was that the DBSA and AFD had identified a professional skills gap in the current African educational and professional training landscape that was preventing the continent from meeting its infrastructural development objectives. That gap was seen as the main obstacle to an efficient and timely delivery of adequate basic infrastructure throughout the continent. Hence, the PACBP came into existence.

In 2009, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa  also formally joined the partnership thereby  making  it a tripartite arrangement. The IDC is a self-financed  national development finance institution  which  contributes to sustainable economic growth in Africa and to the economic empowerment of the South Africans.  The IDC achieves this by promoting entrepreneurship through  building competitive industries and enterprises based on sound business principles.

2.     The Three Pillars of the PACBP

The PACBP has three training and capacity building interventions. :

2.1    Masters in Infrastructure Management

This programme is intended for  people in the  water and sanitation, energy, roads and transportation infrastructure sectors. The programme will be led by AgroParisTech University in France, but will make use of  university partners on the African continent, namely:

• University of Pretoria (Johannesburg, South Africa)
• Makerere University and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (Kampala, Uganda)
•  International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE) (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso).

The programme aims to strengthen leadership capacity building and enhance the requisite managerial skills in strategy planning and sector reforming in water, waste and sanitation urban services. It is designed for regional public authorities’ executives and/or water, sanitation and waste services professionals in West African and SADC countries. The first intake will be in September 2011.

 It is envisioned that this degree  will become an international programme based in Africa that will attract people from other continents as well. It will cover topics such as health risks ; water resource planning; non-revenue water; social management; stakeholder management; etc. The training format is through a combination of  classroom training, workplace training, and coaching/tutoring.

2.2    Young Professionals’ secondments to  French municipalities

The DBSA has over 150 young professionals (YPs) deployed into municipalities across the country, as part of the  Siyenza Manje programme. YPs come from one of three disciplines, namely civil engineering, town planning, or finance. The intention of the YP programme is to see that all the YPs are able to register with their respective statutory bodies (ie, Engineering Council of South Africa, ) and to then take up full- time employment in municipalities where they can become future municipal leaders.

As part of the PACBP, these YPs are  placed into municipalities in France for a period of three months to  gain first-hand experience of what it means to work in a world-class municipality. The first cohort  of 15 YPs were placed in France in March 2010, following five months of intensive French language training to ensure that they would have a relatively seamless integration into the French culture. The plan is to grow this pillar into an intensive exchange programme with graduates and Young Professionals from across the African continent participating in it.

2.3  Short Courses for Professionals’ Skills Enhancement

 The PACBP has committed to rolling out four short skills programmes per annum  to address other critical skills gaps that exist on the continent. The following courses are among the suit of offerings earmarked for rollout during 2011/2012 to train professionals in DFIs, utilities and government departments from across the African continent:

•  Project Finance
• Financial Management
• Risk Management
• Fundamentals of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
•  Advanced Project Management
• Financial Modelling
• Fundamentals of Road Construction and Repair
• Professionals’ Leadership and Management skills development
• Contracts Management and Ethics for the public sector
• Business Finance for Built Environment Professionals
• Critical Energy issues in Africa
• Fundamentals of Water and Sanitation Management in the public service

3.     Governance Structure

 The PACBP is governed through the following structure:

 ·         PACBP Advisory Board  which consists of one member from each of three partner organisations (shareholders), the DBSA, AFD and IDC. The role of the Board is to provide strategic guidance, direction and oversight to the programme in order to achieve the overall objectives and to protect the interests of partner organisations.

·         PACBP Management Committee (MANCO) consists of managers from different business units from within the  CDD Division. The overall objective of the MANCO is to ensure that the programme is run according to sound business principles so as to achieve its stated business objectives. It also ensures quality documents are prepared for the Advisory Board and on time.

4.     Geographic Coverage

The programme is aimed at covering the sub-Sahara part of the African continent. The first phase of implementation will be devoted to interventions in the SADC region as well as  in East, Central and West Africa.

5.     Target Sectors

The programme will reach out to younger upwardly mobile professionals and those older but willing to learn new ways of being effective in their roles and responsibilities. Targeted areas are the public and private sectors, which includes local authorities, utilities, regional development finance institutions, and government departments.  

6.     Contact Details

The PACBP can be contacted through the following:

Ms. Patience Mthembu (PACBP Programme Coordinator)

Telephone: +27-11-313 3918

Email: patiencem@dbsa.org