AfDB organizes workshop to improve project management capabilities in Niger

This workshop, under the coordination of the African Development Institute (ECAD), was organized in collaboration with the Bank's office in Niger and several key departments concerned with the themes (acquisitions, disbursements, financial management, fight against corruption , quality assurance).

As part of its cooperation with the Government of Niger, the African Development Bank organized the 1 st to 3 December last year, a virtual workshop Institutional capacity and fiduciary clinic (RICF).

This workshop, under the coordination of the African Development Institute (ECAD), was organized in collaboration with the Bank's office in Niger and several key departments concerned with the themes (acquisitions, disbursements, financial management, fight against corruption, quality assurance). It aimed to strengthen the project management capacities of the various stakeholders, in this case, the staff of the project implementation units (PIUs) in order to increase the performance of the country portfolio and improve the efficiency of the project. development in Niger.

Around fifty people took part in this webinar, including senior government officials, leaders of the public procurement regulatory authority, project supervision officers in the line ministries concerned, project coordinators as well as those responsible for procurement, financial management, disbursements, and monitoring and evaluation of PIUs.

The Chief Capacity Building Coordinator at ECAD, Ann Sow Dao, who provided the overall coordination of the workshop, presented the concept of the fiduciary clinic and its background, as well as the objectives and practical details of the workshop. She indicated that the organization of the RICF was intended to be preventive and participatory in order to maximize the impact of development in Niger. According to Ann Sow Dao, the African Development Institute thus intends to contribute to the creation of a framework for dialogue between the stakeholders in the management of the portfolio through the mastery of the rules, procedures, norms, standards, and principles of the Bank.

The head of the Bank's office in Niger, Nouridine Kane-Dia, welcomed the participants and the Bank team, indicating the importance of the workshop to achieve the expected results more quickly. Oumarou Ousmane, Director of Investment Monitoring and Evaluation at the Nigerien Ministry in charge of Planning, thanked the Bank for the initiative, stressing the good cooperation between the Bank and Niger, before officially opening the workshop.

At the end of the three days, the participants expressed their satisfaction and formulated recommendations with regard to the difficulties resolved and those identified during the workshop.

The workshop ended with a thank-you speech from Habibatou Ibrahim, Head of the African Development Bank Cooperation Department in the Investment Finance Department at the Ministry of Planning of Niger.