Thus, further pointed out, the Platform needs to support current efforts aimed at the promotion of evidence-based policy design and decision-making.

Janneh emphasized, knowledge- and experience-sharing are already taking place on different scales among African countries, but that there was a need for coordination among these initiatives and with national development plans and processes.

The Platform will provide the required space for all multi-stakeholders in Africa to generate, synthesize, harness and utilize knowledge as a means of addressing Africa’s challenges.

Calling on all stakeholders to support the work of the Platform, Janneh said as a stage for coordinated consultation, dialogue and knowledge sharing among stakeholders, APDev would support African countries and RECs in the implementation of the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action.

Mr Janneh stated, the Platform would provide a knowledge base of issues, practices, experiences and cases on Aid Effectiveness, South-South Cooperation and Capacity Development and, therefore, facilitate African common perspectives and voice on issues in development cooperation.

The three pillars of the platform, capacity development, aid effectiveness, and south-south cooperation, are all geared towards the effectiveness of development and matching internal and external resources with African priorities
“We can no longer afford fragmented agendas and less than effective approaches,” said Nils Boesen, Director of Capacity Building Group at UNDP.

Mr Boesen said that aid could not do development directly no matter how it is designed, owned and delivered. “It is at best catalyst to development,” he said.

Mr. Boesen pointed out,” That is why we need to look beyond aid and ask … how can you strengthen your capacity to act more coherently and achieve sustainable impact that reinforces the progress that Africa has already achieved over the last decade?”

APDev aims to be a multi-stakeholder forum, a knowledge base and mutual learning hub, an African-country-led mechanism with an active role for MECs, a network for knowledge, policy and practice links and an integrated community of practice, according to a presentation from the Agency.

APDev’s initiators, the African Union Commission and the NEPAD Agency expect the platform to guide Africa through principles, policies and practices related to the three pillars. Already, one of its anticipated outcomes for the coming year includes a report on the state of capacity building in Africa.

The platform (www.africa-platform.org) is a physical and virtual multi-stakeholder platform and organizing mechanism for mobilizing African policy makers and practitioners toward achieving sustainable development results, according to a document issued by the Agency, said Bankole Adeoye, Chief of Staff at NEPAD Agency who made a presentation on behalf of the CEO of NEPAD Agency, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki.

The Information and Communication Service (ICS) of Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) reports that one of the major challenges ahead for the platform is the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, and the need to consolidate Africa’s voice in reshaping the global development cooperation architecture.