Joint Africa Institute (JAI)

The Joint Africa Institute (JAI) was created in 1999 as a partnership among the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and was set up to capitalize on the synergies and complementarities among the three partners in supporting capacity enhancement in Africa, particularly through policy-related trainings and high-level policy dialogue. In its ten years of operation, the JAI has provided learning and knowledge sharing opportunities for well over 5,000 participants from all parts of Africa.

The JAI is a small, but dynamic Institute, drawing on the best expertise and knowledge from the three partner organizations, as well as other development partners, both regional and non-regional.

Most training events, organised through the JAI, are designed for middle to high level officials in the RMCs and, to a lesser extent, representatives of the private sector and the civil society in the same countries.  In contrast, high level seminars are orientated towards policy-makers and seek to foster dialogue on issues of common interest to RMCs.

In programmatic terms, the JAI focuses on some key areas of high importance for Africa, including macro-economic policy and management, development issues in the social sectors, private sector development and, of course, important areas such as fiscal transparency and natural resource taxation.

How the JAI Functions

Administratively, the JAI is controlled by an ‘Oversight Committee’ (OC) consisting of representatives from each partner institution, the Chair rotating between the institutions on a tri-annual basis.  Meetings are held annually, either in person or by video-link, and occasionally supplementary meetings are held to discuss major issues. The OC is responsible for all major decisions concerning the JAI, including oversight of the JAI’s budget and approving the program of training events the JAI is offering each year.

The JAI Director is assisted by a Chief Training Officer and a Chief Training Economist (currently vacant), an Administrative Assistant and other support staff to ensure that the training events provided by the three partner institutions through the JAI run smoothly.  At present, this include four training associates responsible for the administration of individual training events, one secretary, one protocol assistant and one technician.