Established in 1972, the African Development Fund (ADF) became operational in 1974. It is administrated by the African Development Bank and comprises State Participants (donor countries) and recipient countries. Its main objective is to reduce poverty in Regional Member Countries (RMCs) by providing loans and grants.
The Fund emerged as the solution to two major constraints which became apparent after the Bank had commenced operations
i) the limited amount of resources which the Bank could provide and
ii) the nature as well as the terms of the loans, which were not fully appropriate for the poorest of its member countries, especially for projects with long-term maturities or non-financial returns.
The Agreement establishing the African Development Fund designates the Board of Governors as the Fund’s highest policy-making organ. The Fund’s resources are replenished every three years by 26 donor countries.
The ADF contributes to the promotion of economic and social development in 40 least developed African (77% of Africa’s population) countries by providing concessional funding for projects and programs, as well as technical assistance for studies and capacity-building activities.
Total resources for the ADF-12 period (2011–2013) amount to UA 6.097 billion.
The Fund’s core strategic priorities for ADF-11 are:
Infrastructure
Governance
Fragile States
Regional Integration
To date, the ADF has financed a total of 2293 operations, for UA 23.5 billion (US$ 36.2 billion). The Fund is the lead donor for regional integration and regional public goods in Africa - providing approximately 20 percent of total ODA for regional operations since 2003.
The ADF contributes to development results on the ground. In the past three years, 12,800 km of roads built or maintained have provided 41.5 million people with improved access to transport. More than 3,000 km of transmission lines built and 200 MW of power capacity installed have given 16.6 million people a new electricity connection. Constructing 400 health centers and training 8000 health workers has improved 13 million people’s access to health services.
Recipient Countries Eligibility criteria
Country eligibility to the African Development Fund (ADF) is based on IDA eligibility criteria namely:
Per capita income
Lack of creditworthiness
The ceiling of per capita income for eligibility has been fixed at USD1,135 in 2009 by IDA (in fiscal year 2010) on the basis of the World Bank Atlas methodology. Creditworthiness is the ability of a country to borrow on capital market and thus to be able to service its new debt at market interest rate such as the terms of loans provided by ADB or IBRD.
ADF eligible countries:
Angola
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo Republic of
Democratic Rep. of Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Sao Tome & Principe
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Top ADF Recipients (1974-2009)
ADF cumulative approvals for the period 1974-2009 totaled UA 21.3 billion (including multinational operations). Ethiopia (8.2 percent), Tanzania (7.5 percent), Uganda (6.4 percent), Ghana (5.3 percent), and Mozambique (5.3 percent) are the top five ADF recipient countries for the period.
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