The African Development Bank: a Review of UK Support
A Review on behalf of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (2020/21)
OpenCities Ltd provided the team leader (Dr Marc Stephens) for a recent review by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) of the UK’s support to the African Development Bank Group, a regional development bank active in all 54 countries in Africa. ICAI is an advisory non-departmental public body in the UK sponsored by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). It is responsible for scrutinising UK aid, focusing on delivery of value for money for UK taxpayers and maximising impact for the intended beneficiaries. The review considered the contribution of the FCDO (previously Department for International Development (DFID)) to the Bank Group, and the Bank’s performance at strategic and corporate-level, and at country level through five country case studies.
The review included a self-standing review of the academic literature relating to the Bank; a corporate level review of documentation; country visits (to Uganda and Nigeria as well as the headquarters of the Bank in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire) and 3 additional country cases. The final report is available on the ICAI website: https://icai.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-UKs-support-to-the-AfDB-Group-ICAI.pdf. A webinar hosted by the Overseas Development Institute, with a panel including Dr Marc Stephens and attended by over 65 participants from 15 countries, discussed the report and is available on the ODI website: https://www.odi.org/events/17337-uk-s-support-african-development-bank-group. The report was discussed at the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Committee of the House of Commons.
