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| The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) - An Initial Commentary - Ravi Kanbur |
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| 6. Conclusion |
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| As the implementation of NEPAD gathers steam, there will be more
demands on it than can be satisfied-by a vast margin. The needs of the
continent are so great, the diagnosis of the causes of African poverty
are so complex and so interlinked, and the financial and technical resources
of NEPAD will be so attractive, that this is bound to be the case. But, apart
from simple operational overload, there is a danger that in satisfying too
many demands NEPAD will squander its most precious resource-its position as
a regional institution that draws its regional and global legitimacy from its
democratic roots and aspirations. It is suggested in this initial commentary
that in the next phase of the discussion and development of NEPAD each
proposed action or program be put to a three pronged test-whether the
action makes efficient use of NEPAD's regional status without duplicating
what other regional agencies are already doing, whether the action
particularly and peculiarly needs the special authority of NEPAD that stems
from its claim to speak for the people of Africa through democratically
elected heads of state, and whether the action will have not only a medium
term but an immediate and direct benefit to the poor of Africa. It is hoped
that these criteria would help in prioritizing among the vast array of actions
that are already suggested and will further be suggested for NEPAD. But a
stronger hope is that as the debate develops NEPAD will proactively generate
actions and programs that are peculiarly suited to it. If that happens, then
the framework suggested here will have been useful not simply in performing
a gatekeeper role, but may also prove useful more positively for making the
most of NEPAD's very special strengths.
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