Driving development through innovation
Each year the African Development Bank publishes the Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER) to provide an overview of how it contributes to Africa’s development. This fifth edition of the ADER has innovation as its theme. Innovation means not only taking ideas from around the world and adapting them to Africa’s unique conditions, but also using new home-grown ideas from across the continent to improve lives.
The ADER addresses three broad questions: What development progress is Africa making? How well is AfDB contributing to Africa’s development? And how well is AfDB managing itself to better support Africa’s development?
The report shows how the Bank’s work is in many aspects central to innovation, such as expanding markets through regional integration, promoting skills development in science and technology and, above all, supporting creation of the backbone infrastructure on which innovation depends.
The ADER provides evidence of the Bank’s contribution to Africa’s development and discusses how well it manages its portfolio and itself as an organisation. The ADER openly discusses its strengths and weaknesses and notes the reforms it is undertaking to become a stronger partner in development.
Through such initiatives as the Annual Development Effectiveness Review, it demonstrates accountability for the results of its efforts.