The new partnership for Africa’s development: problems and prospects

Abstract

The paper examines the previous African development initiatives in its historical context, the theoretical framework on which NEPAD is predicated, the organizational structure, objectives, problems and prospects. The aim of the paper is to portray the view that NEPAD is not a marshal plan for Africa like the European marshal plan after the Second World War. In addition, the NEPAD’s main goal is to reach a new and substantially higher level of development. The significance of the study is that NEPAD is not a blue print like other African development initiatives to be implemented in the context of national development strategies of individual African countries. Rather, it is a programme through which African leaders are setting an agenda for the renewal of African frame of interaction with the rest of the world. Our finding is that despite the progress made by an increasing number of African countries toward macro-economic stability and reform since the mid 1980’s, Africa’s overall growth performance had remained in adequate and poverty is still wide spread in Africa. The methodology has been the use of primary and secondary source materials.

Keywords: Development, Marshall Plan, Problems, Prospects and Poverty