Today the Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub) and Meridiam announced the commencement of training for the first cohort of fellows of the Africa Infrastructure Fellowship Program (AIFP), a public-private initiative designed to upskill African government infrastructure specialists and enable them to facilitate increased investment in a pipeline of new sustainable infrastructure developments.
The inaugural cohort includes 10 Fellows from five partner countries: Ethiopia, Gabon, Namibia, Cameroon, and Senegal, who will undertake a three-month capability building program in Paris, France comprising of academic training at the Ecole des Ponts ParisTech. The training includes a series of workshops by multilateral development banks and other public and private entities, the APMG Public-Private Partnerships Certification Program and an internship with one of the program’s private or public sector partners.
Timeline of the AIFP program
Partners of the program include the International Finance Corporation, MIGA (World Bank Group), the French Development Agency, Société Générale, the African Legal Support Facility, Colas among many others.
“We are thrilled to launch the first cohort of this important training program. Africa’s unmet infrastructure need is estimated at nearly $3 trillion by 2040 and this program plays an important role in developing greater capacity to deliver infrastructure investment and reform in Africa. I wish the fellows all the best over the next three months and look forward to the impact that this next generation will bring to their home countries,” the GI Hub’s CEO, Marie Lam-Frendo said.
The AIFP is the first pan African training program and offers a unique approach focused on practical knowledge, sharing of expertise and cooperation between the private and the public sector for infrastructure projects with a tangible social and economic impact within communities.
“We have long been thinking about contributing more directly to the capacity building roadblock in Africa. With all the partners of the program, we have felt that a mix between a purely academic training and a leadership program would best be suited to support the rise of a new generation of high-level public sector decision-makers”, Meridiam’s CEO and AIFP Chairman, Thierry Déau, said.
The program will focus on sustainable and inclusive approaches to infrastructure projects and procurement while pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by contributing to the improvement and promotion of sustainable infrastructure projects across the continent.
