Artists should be on the frontline of Africa’s development, given their pivotal role as communicators, Youssou N’Dour, musician, businessman and former Culture and Tourism Minister of Senegal, said at the opening of the 2020 African Development Bank Civil Society Forum.

The two-day CSO Forum kicked off on Thursday under the theme “Engaging Civil Society in building back better after COVID-19”.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank have approved a $120 million loan to fund the construction of a 50 MW hydropower plant in Western Tanzania that will provide reliable renewable energy to households, schools, clinics and small and medium-sized enterprises in the Kigoma Region.

Industry experts meeting this week for a virtual discussion focused on resetting, retooling and restarting regional integration in Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, underscored the importance of putting small scale traders at the heart of any initiatives.

The African Development Bank has held the first virtual statutory meeting of the new African Development Bank-Civil Society Committee ahead of the Civil Society Forum to be held on 26-27 November 2020. 

The committee, which met on Tuesday, aims to build stronger partnerships with the African civil society community by enhancing communications and raising awareness on the Bank’s work in their respective regions and sectors.

Le Conseil administration de la Banque africaine de développement a accordé, le 25 novembre à Abidjan, un don de 20,55 millions de dollars américains au Burundi afin de renforcer la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle de 2,7 millions de personnes installées dans trois provinces du nord du pays.