Egypt’s Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad, and Nardos Bekele-Thomas, Executive Director of the African Union Development Agency’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), conducted a video conference on Sunday to discuss the establishment of the African Centre of Excellence for Resilience and Adaptation, to be hosted in Cairo.
The dialogue focused on leveraging past discussions to formulate an action plan that expedites the centre’s creation. This includes finalizing funding strategies, resource management, and setting criteria for the selection of the centre’s team.
Minister Fouad expressed eagerness to visit AUDA-NEPAD’s team to align on the centre’s establishment procedures and assess the headquarters’ initial requirements.
She emphasized the upcoming African international forums as pivotal in dialoguing with development partners and securing sustainable support for the centre’s mission, ensuring the sustainability of funding sources and capacity building, and exchanging technology and lessons learned from the experiences of the communities most affected by the effects of climate change, and how to replicate and build on them.
The centre’s goal is to endow Africa with the resilience and adaptability needed for the sustainable development of its sectors. It will serve as a knowledge hub for adaptation strategies, foster innovative research on community livelihoods, and support the integration of regional, national, and local efforts.
Furthermore, the centre will advocate for the inclusion of women in all facets of social and economic development.
The Executive Director of AUDA-NEPAD reiterated her commitment to collaborating with Egypt’s Ministry of Environment to outline future actions, secure funding, and forge partnerships to bolster the centre’s role in Africa’s adaptation and resilience initiatives.
