Remarks by Thabo Thamane, Chairman of AADFI/WFDFI and CEO of CEDA, Botswana, at the AADFI-SSCI Session

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  • Mr. Arshad Rab, Chairman of the International Council of Sustainability Standards and CEO of the European Organization for Sustainable Development (EOSD),
  • Mr. Tom Hoyem, Board Member of the EOSD & International Council of Sustainability Standards, Germany, and Former Cabinet Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark,
  • Colleagues and Members of the AADFI Board,
  • Chairpersons of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) and the Association of National Development Finance Institutions in Member Countries of the Islamic Development Bank (ADFIMI),
  • Secretary Generals of the ADFIAP and the ADFIMI and our Secretary-General of AADFI,
  • Distinguished colleagues,
  • Ladies and Gentlemen,
  1. It is my pleasure, on behalf of the AADFI Board of Directors, to welcome you to this very historic moment in the life of our Association – the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI).
  2. As you are aware, AADFI was created in 1975, with the primary objective of promoting social and economic development through collaboration among development finance institutions and development partners.
  3. Over the past four decades of the existence of the Association, the development finance landscape and the general operating business environment have gone through a metamorphosis.
  4. The Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), over these periods, were confronted with some internal and external challenges which at a point called to question their relevance in addressing the challenges of development.
  5. However, this perception no longer holds, as the importance and pivotal role of DFIs in scaling up sustainable development is widely acknowledged.
  6. Emerging from the historical challenges, the DFIs are caught again in the disruptive nature of the global business environment.
  7. Currently, we are all grappling with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic which took the world by surprise. The pandemic has a devastating impact on the social and business environment, and the way the DFIs operate. While the impact of the pandemic is expected to worsen the economic conditions of countries worldwide, in our part of the world that was already grappling with chronic economic crises, the economic conditions will only get worse.
  8. This very situation must get us to rethink our relevance to our economies and to reinvent our Association and ultimately our members so that our economies can come out of the crisis better and stronger.
  9. The question that has often been raised is whether most national DFIs in their current form can efficiently support and finance productive sectors that are critical for sustainable development, in the light of the pre-covid world economic challenges, as well as current and future unanticipated disruptions.
  10. The most likely answer is that most national DFIs are still grappling with some of their historical challenges which include: poor governance, poor risk management, poor business model, weak financial base, weak asset quality, increase in non-performing loans, among others. Therefore, they may not be well-positioned in their current state to support meaningful development.
  11. Recognizing this fact, the current Board of the AADFI, under my leadership, has set as prime task, to ensure that African national DFIs are transformed to be strong and financially sustainable, as this is the only option in ensuring that they contribute optimally to achieving sustainable development in their countries.
  12. Thus, the need to embrace transformative and innovative solutions for repositioning our national DFIs is our cardinal focus. This requires new thinking, new business models, new knowledge which is indigenous and practical. The traditional approaches around us have been with us for decades, but what change have they created for our people and our societies?
  13. Ladies and Gentlemen, in further response to the need to be more relevant to our members, the AADFI Board recently adopted a new vision and mission to drive our actions in this direction.  
  14. To demonstrate our resolve in this direction, we believe that an efficient AADFI Secretariat that is sustainability-driven will help support the AADFI member DFIs to achieve their mandates.
  15. Therefore, the Board approved that the AADFI Secretariat should also apply the Sustainability Standards for Value-driven Associations as a comprehensive framework for creating an association that would be relevant in the present global social, environmental, and economic circumstances.
  16. The reason for taking this step is that Associations around the world, including AADFI, are being confronted with the challenge of serving their members in the face of the growing socio-economic and environmental challenges.
  17. As such, we expect that the Sustainability-Certified AADFI will
    1. Effectively serve the changing needs of its members;
    2. Create a sustainable business model for itself; and
    3. Be a strong player in achieving sustainability agendas and promoting sustainable business practices across its members.
  18. It is, thus, timely that the AADFI should undergo this process, not only for its own good, but more so for its member institutions.
  19. As a Sustainability-Certified AADFI, it will be our duty to make our member institutions sustainable so that they can be the leaders in financing sustainable development in their countries.
  20. Therefore, the sustainability certification process of AADFI is in the name and for the benefit of our members, and the association’s board consider it a key milestone in the history of the DFI community in Africa.
  21. It marks the beginning of a process which will fully modernize our member institutions and make them fit for the challenges of today and tomorrow.
  22. We will ensure that this process is inclusive and the voice of our member institutions is heard as we prepare AADFI for the challenges which the association and the DFIs face.
  23. In the days ahead, we will reach out to you, to our members, to be part of this journey, for shaping your association and making your own institutions sustainability certified.
  24. Let me once again thank the International Council of Sustainability Standards, chaired by Mr. Arshad Rab, who is also the CEO of the European Organization for Sustainable Development (EOSD), for the commitment to the sustainability agenda of national DFIs.
  25. Our partnership with EOSD as an association is a decade old and highly productive as it has led to creation of new ideas and opening of doors to new possibilities for the association and its members.
  26. Above all, our partnership enabled us to be part of groundbreaking programs, such as the Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiative, which is now set to create a strong and sustainable AADFI and DFIs working together for bringing the desired change in our economies.
  27. We are proud that together, we can create and implement solutions that serve our purpose well.
  28. I thank you colleagues for being part of this session, and invite you to seize this opportunity by joining your association’s sustainability journey and making your DFIs value-driven and sustainability-certified development finance institutions.
  29. Finally, let me reach out to my colleagues from our sister associations, ADFIAP & ADFIMI, and assure them that as Chair of the World Federation of Development Finance Institutions, we will share with them our experiences of becoming sustainability certified. Please know that we are committed to do our part in advancing the sustainability agenda globally from which all of us will only benefit.

Thank you for your attention!

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