DBSA and the Agence Francaise De Developpement (AFD) signed a five-year agreement that will regulate their working relationship in the creation of a joint pan-African capacity building platform.
The focus of this agreement is a professional training programme in infrastructure project management, with specific focus on the energy, water and sanitation, and transport sectors.
The major constraint in African infrastructure development is no longer access to finance – it is the availability of skilled personnel to successfully plan, structure and implement projects. This professional skills gap is now viewed as Africa’s main obstacle to an efficient and timely delivery of adequate basic infrastructure.
The training programme, which aims to narrow this skills gap, intends to train 500 students at a post-graduate level, who are presently employed by local authorities, utilities, regional development finance institutions and government. 
The training course content covers public-private partnerships, project appraisal skills, management, monitoring and evaluation. The first phase of implementation will include 100 applicants from SADC countries and West Africa, with the ultimate goal being to cover the whole continent.
DBSA will offer the programmes through its Vulindlela Academy training unit, and AFD through its Centre for Finance, Economics and Banking Studies (CEFEB). These two training institutions will play various roles such as branding and marketing the training course, determining target candidates, customising the course to suit participants’ working environments, providing and arranging training venues, managing budgets and distributing high quality training materials.

Training programmes are for one year and candidates attend three formal study blocks of one month each (when lectures are attended) and three informal study blocks of three months, each with on-the-job application. Participants will undergo their training at the CEFEB in Marseilles, France and/or at the DBSA’s Vulindlela Academy in Midrand, Gauteng.
DBSA and AFD, whose relationship spans 15 years, are contributing €1.5 million per year for a period of five years with DBSA committing one third and AFD two thirds.