Dakar Financing Summit

The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD works to expedite the implementation of important regional infrastructure projects, and the Dakar Summit attempts to rally key stakeholders around these initiatives. Members of the African Union, the private sector, development finance institutions (DFIs), institutional investors, and development partners are some of these players.

Infrastructure development is a major enabler of sustainable and inclusive economic growth and a driver of success for the African continent. Its crucial contribution to raising the continent's competitiveness and economic integration is beyond a doubt. Inadequate infrastructure can be a significant barrier to Africa's long-term progress, but it can also be a significant opportunity.

Africa still has significant infrastructure gaps in every sector, both in terms of access and quality, despite advancements in connecting regional infrastructure since the founding of the African Union and the start of its NEPAD program in the early 2000s.

The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the continent's master plan for infrastructure development for the years 2012–2040, was adopted by African leaders in July 2012 as a response to these difficulties. PIDA offers a strategic framework for priority projects with the goal of transforming Africa by building cutting-edge infrastructure to increase Africa's competitiveness and economic integration.

His Excellency President Macky Sall hosted a special summit of Heads of State and partners, dubbed the 1^st Dakar Summit for Infrastructure Financing, in June 2014 in his capacity as President of the Republic of Senegal and then Chairman of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC). The summit's goal was to hasten the mobilization of resources from national and international financial support for the implementation of PIDA regional infrastructure projects with high social impact.

The 1^st Dakar Summit, through the "Dakar Agenda for Action" provided concerted solutions to accelerate the implementation of PIDA's priority action plan, providing a unique opportunity to bring together and collaborate with African leaders, business leaders, regulators and policy makers on specific topics that   hindered the deployment of regional projects aimed at transforming the continent.

The first PIDA Priority Action Plan (PIDA PAP 1)'s implementation received major momentum from DFS-1, and the creation of PIDA PAP 2 was influenced by it. The second PIDA Priority Action Plan (PIDA PAP 2), a collection of 69 projects with an estimated investment of $160 billion and covering the sectors of energy, ICT, transport, and water, was accepted by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2021. In order to accelerate the implementation of the second PIDA Priority Action Plan, the new Dakar Summit will act as a catalyst for assistance from governments, the private sector, development partners, and financial institutions.

The second PIDA Priority Action Plan (PIDA PAP 2), a collection of 69 projects with an estimated investment of $160 billion, was adopted by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2021. These projects span the energy, ICT, transport, and water sectors. The initial PIDA Priority Action Plan (PIDA PAP 1) was significantly accelerated by DFS-1, and PIDA PAP 2 was designed with its help. The integrated corridor approach, which serves as the framework for PIDA PAP 2, aims to support multi-sectoral and cross-sectoral approaches to infrastructure development by concentrating on initiatives that maximize job creation and economic opportunities, encourage respect for the environment, and advance economic integration across the continent.

The implementation of these projects by AUDA-NEPAD started with a thorough examination of projects utilizing the Service Delivery Mechanism (SDM) for project preparation once PAP 2 was adopted. The type of help and resources required to advance initiatives toward bankability were indicated by the SDM evaluation of the projects. Many projects have been able to acquire the PIDA quality label for outstanding preparation thanks to the SDM procedure.

In order to promote the implementation of the second PIDA Priority Action Plan, a new Dakar Summit on African Infrastructure Financing would serve as a vehicle for support from governments, the private sector, development partners, and financial institutions.

Implementing the Dakar Agenda for Action

Following DFS-1, the XXIII African Union General Assembly decisions tasked the AUDA-NEPAD to design and develop appropriate modalities to fully implement the Dakar Agenda for Action and regularly report to the NEPAD Heads of State and Orientation Committee on progress being made.

This resulted in the following Project Preparation Instruments being created to support PIDA Implementation

Service Delivery Mechanism for Early-stage Project Preparation (SDM)

• Creation of a PIDA Quality Label for Excellence in project preparation
• Establishment of an Experts Service Pool dedicated to filling the technical capacity gap in project preparation.
• Catalyzed over $22 million in projects preparation funding
• Assistance to over 41 PIDA projects

PIDA Job creation Toolkit

• Estimate direct, indirect and induced jobs creatthe ion during planning, construction, operation and maintenance phases
• Estimate secondary jobs created due to improvement of infrastructure service delivery
• Highlight the driving sectors for the secondary job creation

Africa Infrastructure Database and VPIC

• Collect, store and manage information on all infrastructure projects in Africa, focusing on PIDA
• Enable the tracking of progress in PIDA-PAP-implementation against the PIDA results frameworks
• Facilitate information sharing and promote investment opportunities offered by PIDA projects

Furthermore, the AUDA-NEPAD in conjunction with ECA, RECs, AfDB, UNDP, World Bank and the NEPAD Business Groups/Foundation were to strengthen engagement with the private sector on taking forward the Dakar Agenda.

The following private Sector Engagement Initiative were launched to Support PIDA Implementation:

• Continental Business Network for Infrastructure Financing (CBN)
• NEPAD 5 % Agenda Campaign for Institutional Investment in Infrastructure projects
• Africa Infrastructure Guarantee Mechanism (AIGM)
• Africa Co-guarantee Platform (CGP), a joint initiative and partnership with AfDB, Afreximbank, Africa Trade Insurance (ATI), ICIEC, and Guarantco.