Partnership For Capacity Building In Africa

This compendium showcases the ongoing trends and challenges in South-South cooperation between India and select countries in Africa, for achieving food security and poverty reduction. Scholars and practitioners share diverse perspectives on the role of India’s development compact; aid, trade, private sector driven Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), and concessional Lines of Credit (LOCs) to the agricultural and agro-processing sector in Africa. India- Africa cooperation also underscores that the sharing of knowledge and capabilities- technical and financial, along with North- South partnerships- through trilateral and multilateral mechanisms, can upscale agriculture and agro-processing sectors to centre stage the food security agenda and reduce poverty. Arguments made through the volume critically highlight hegemonic neo-liberal economic policies, structural adjustment programmes, import substitution practices, and the denationalization of food production, and illustrate the need for sustainable and cost effective agro-ecological practices, in the face of ongoing global challenges, such as the climate emergency and degradation of biodiversity and habitats. The axial questions addressed are; how does cooperation between countries of the Global South- India and Africa - impact intra-South trading, capacity building, and the investment landscape. Scientists, academics, development professionals, government officials, NGOs and international organizations, offer the readers; empirical case studies, policy perspectives, the limitations and challenges, and the way forward in an analytical manner.

* A refreshing study of capacity building through various local perspectives* Includes studies from Mozambique, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Haiti, and GuatemalaStrengthening local capacity is more difficult than one might expect; there are significant trade-offs between outsiders providing assistance in the midst of an emergency, and encouraging the building of long-term local skills. By critically examining the dilemma from local perspectives, "Patronage or Partnership" finds genuine hope amidst the prevailing rhetoric and confusion.

The research and policy dialogue of Tanzania's National Capacity Assessment Team, a World Bank initiated body, forms the basis of this analysis. The assessment team's remit was to identify strategic capacity needs, when capacity is understood as the human and institutional resources necessary for development. The study identifies that capacity needs are interlinked and require an integrated approach: strengthening government agencies is impossible in the long term without improvement in professional training; private sector growth requires access to business information, communication and regulatory and judicial institutions. Accordingly, the analysis provides an overview, and formulates strategies for public and private sector institutions and infrastructures, civil society and education. Particular regard is given to: finance and economic management of the public sector; the civil service; the role of donors and the need for corrective action in local and regional administration and across the education system.