The African Development Bank Group plays a key role in spurring
regional sustainable development. Its vice-president, Arunma Oteh,
shares her views on the growth of the bank in a recent interview
with China Daily.
Q: The African Development Bank Group has been
reorganised to better position itself to achieve its mandates. How
has your bank group been impacted by the reorganisation?
A: The president, the Board of Directors and
the shareholders have essentially been focusing on how they can
transform our bank group to ensure that we are able to scale up
support whether it be with respect to volume or the quality of
assistance that we provide Africa.
These are crucial times for the bank because there is concerted
interest in moving Africa's agenda forward; most African countries
are making progress whether it be with respect to sustained
economic growth, macro-economic stability or improved
governance.
Clearly the stage is set for us as an institution given our
achievements as a triple "A" rated, premier institution for
Africa's development. We have also been working very closely with
the board to develop a human resource strategy.
Secondly, we have been very much focused on enhancing the bank's
capacity to deliver its development mandate.
We have basically renewed 50 percent of the management team,
bringing in talent in terms of technical expertise, having a much
more diverse workforce, given the business case for our
institution.
Also important are the changes that our administration
department is introducing to ensure that we have the tools to
adequately respond to Africa's needs.
Beyond providing financing to our client countries and being the
preferred vehicle for funds from donor countries, we are in the
business of selling credibility.
Also, decentralization is a key element of the president's
strategy given the importance of being close to our clients.
We would not be able to do this without leveraging information
and communications technology (ICT) as ICT facilitates connectivity
across our 22 offices.
So these are the things that I would say, in terms of impact,
whether it is with respect to human resources, ICT, language
services or administration, especially since upgrading your
corporate services function is at the heart of a transformation to
scale up the Bank's response to Africa's needs.
Q: Diversity within an organisation like your
bank strengthens it. However, some people hold the view that the
focus on diversity could be a good recipe for incompetence. What is
your take on this?
A: Diversity and competence or quality are not
mutually exclusive. In fact, a more diverse workforce strengthens
our capacity to be more responsive to our clients and
stakeholders.
All organizations around the world today have realized that
having a diverse workforce enhances performance whether it be with
respect to age, gender, geographical representation.
We believe, and the president has said this often, that there is
clearly a business case for the bank to foster diversity.
Development is fostered by broadening participation which in
turn enhances creativity, cooperation and innovation.
We are an organisation that brings together 77 nations around
the world to support Africa's development efforts. Our workforce
must reflect this diversity.
Q: What are the burning issues and how are you
dealing with them?
A: I have already mentioned that having a human
resource framework that is aligned to the current business
environment and our business strategy is extremely critical.
Also important is to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to
respond to the huge demands of the continent.
We recently completed the recruitment and promotion process for
management and leading expert positions. We are currently working
on filling all the vacancies at the support and non-managerial
professional levels.
Also critical is the need to ensure that we create an
environment that fosters excellence, encourages a focus on
development effectiveness and links reward and recognition to each
staff member's contribution.
We believe that a good performance management system does enable
us to do this. For this reason, we are also upgrading performance
management system.
(China Daily May 14, 2007)
