The African Development Bank (ADB) is a financial institution that supports economic and social development among its regional member countries (RMCs). Its RMCs comprises 54 African and 26 non-African countries. African Development Bank does this through equity investments, loans, and other technical assistance.
Since its establishment in 1964, the African Development Bank has helped fight poverty and improve living conditions across Africa. In the larger scale of things, the African Development Bank Group comprises African Development Fund, Nigeria Trust Fund, and the African Development Bank.
The bank has its headquarters in Tunisia.
African Development Bank Goals
Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security, and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
African Development Bank – sectors and focus
The African Development Bank focuses on the following sectors across its Regional member countries:
- Agriculture and agro-industries
- Climate change
- Economic and financial governance
- Education
- Energy and power
- Environment
- Human capital development
- Health
- Information and communication technology
- Infrastructure
- Gender
- Private sector
- Transport
- Water supply and sanitation
And also the following topics in its RMCs
- Civil society
- Ebola
- Employment
- Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
- Financial crisis
- Food production
- Independent development evaluation
- Independent review mechanism (IRM)
- Industrialization
- Millennium development goals (MDGs)
- Nutrition
- Partnership and poverty reduction
- Quality assurance and results
- Regional integration
- Sanctions system
- Structural transformation
- Youth
Projects embarked on by the African Development Bank
Although, there are close to 100 projects ongoing and concluded by the ADB, we would just be listing a few (most recent). They are:
- Desert to power program (DtP):
The ADB initiated this program back in 2017 and has an aim to light up and power the Sahel. The goal is to build a 10GW power capacity through photovoltaic solar systems.
- Partnership with Korea to boost rural economies:
This initiative provides loans to local village farmers to help expand their businesses.
- Clean water, and sanitation services in rural Somalia:
Somalia is an arid nation and is why this initiative is based there. It provides clean water for rural and urban residents to help ease arid conditions and famine.
Conclusion
The African Development Bank has done investment so much in its regional country members (RMCs). For example, helping economic growth at large.
They are a major force in the public and private sector and provided significant development of infrastructure across the continent.