The flagship economic report Africa’s Development Dynamics 2022: Regional value chains for a sustainable recovery was jointly prepared by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the OECD Development Centre. It is published under the aegis of H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the AUC, and H.E. Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the OECD. It was guided by H.E. Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining of the African Union, and by Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir, Director of the OECD Development Centre. Special thanks to H.E. Victor Harison, former Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the African Union, and Mario Pezzini, former Director of the OECD Development Centre, for kickstarting this edition. It was supervised by Dossina Yeo, Acting Director of Economic Development, Integration and Trade Directorate, Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining, and by Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Economist, Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining, along with Federico Bonaglia, Deputy Director of the OECD Development Centre, and Arthur Minsat, Head of the OECD Development Centre’s Africa Unit and Senior Economist.
The drafting team of the AUC was led by Dossina Yeo, Acting Director of Economic Development, Integration and Trade Directorate (Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining) with Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Economist, and Ndinaye Sekwi Charumbira, Policy Officer. The members of the team included Désiré Avom (University of Yaoundé II-Soa), Chrysost Bangaké (Université d’Artois), Aram Belhadj (University of Carthage), Anthony Black (University of Cape Town), Arnold Blondel Njike (Université Paris-Dauphine), Jude Eggoh (University of Abomey-Calavi), Kouadio Clément Kouakou (Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny), Vincent Leyaro (University of Dar es Salaam), Yselle F. Malah Kuete (University of Yaounde II), Eyerusalem Siba (International Consultant) and John Stuart (Trade Law Center). The team at the OECD Development Centre, led by Arthur Minsat, Head of Africa Unit, with Thắng Nguyễn-Quốc and Bakary Traoré, Economists, included Keiko Alvarez, Diana Ayoub, Adrien Corneille, Katharina Gugerell, Samantha Kunz, Mariana Lopes, Sébastien Markley, Francesco Napolitano, Clémence Pougue Biyong, Pierre-Léo Rouat, Elisa Saint-Martin and Samory-Robby Touré. Chapters 1 and 2 benefited from contributions from Ji-Yeun Rim (OECD Development Centre), Joseph Stead (OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration), Rafal Méndez (Consultant), Rana Roy (Consultant) and José Pineda Salazar (University of British Columbia).
The report drew from the following AUC-OECD Development Centre meetings held on line throughout 2021: the kick-off meeting (March), two peer review meetings on the initial draft chapters (May and June) and the AUC-OECD Development Centre Scientific Committee meeting (June). The report benefited from consultations during the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration on the theme, “Developing Integrated and Complementary Value Chains for Sustainable Recovery and Reinforcing Operationalization of the AfCFTA” (May), and from consultations during the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Trade, Industry and Minerals on the theme “Industrializing Africa through sustainable Regional Value Chains development under the AfCFTA” (September). The report’s preliminary findings were also discussed within the OECD and with Kako Nubupko, Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources of the West African Economic and Monetray Union (September).
The chapters benefited from comments from the following experts: Grace Khoza and Themba Khumalo (AfCFTA Secretariat); Barassou Diawara (African Capacity Building Foundation [ACBF]); Rob Floyd (African Center for Economic Transformation [ACET]); Martin Bwalya, Pamla Gopaul, Simon Kisira and Lukovi Seke (African Union Development Agency [AUDA-NEPAD]); Jeanne Lätt and Casjen Ohnesorge (Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung [BMZ]); Jocelina Graça and Filipa Sousa (Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P); Guillaume Lescuyer (CIFOR); San Bilal and Bruce Byiers (ECDPM); Koffi Simeon (ECOWAS); Gaëlle Doléans, Sonia Lopez-Villar, Michela Tomasella, Ilektra Tsakalidou, Paula Vazquez Horyaans and Paz Velasco-Velazquez (European Commission); Patrick Plane (FERDI); Anzetse Were (FSD Kenya); Jean-Baptiste Damestoy, Niklas Malchow, Arumugam Pillay, Lisa Roob, Karin Wedig and Nanny Wiechert (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit [GIZ]); Nadim Abillama and Ali Al-Saffar (IEA); Jakkie Cilliers (ISS); Tim Heinemann (KfW); Gonçalo Marques (Permanent Delegation of Portugal to the OECD); Larabi Jaïdi (Policy Center for the New South); Golvine De Rochambeau (Sciences Po); Zoubir Benhamouche and Andrew Mold (UNECA); Michele Clara (UNIDO); Sami Bensassi (University of Birmingham); David Kaplan (University of Cape Town); Leila Baghdadi (University of Tunis); Simon Kennedy and James MacGregor (University of Surrey); Laurent Bossard and Sarah Lawan (SWAC/OECD); Mariya Aleksynska, Celia Becherel, Antoine Bonnet, Olivier Cattaneo, Claire Charbit, Pierre De Boisséson, Majda Eddaifi, Paul Horrocks, Benjamin Katz, Iza Lajarraga, Estelle Loiseau, Vasiliki Mavroeidi, Sébastien Miroudot, Luis Padilla, Lorenzo Pavone, Jan Rielaender, Rolf Schwarz, Henri-Bernard Solignac-Lecomte, Colin Webb and Gabrielle Woleske (OECD). All chapters benefited from an additional review by José Pineda Salazar (University of British Columbia). Julia Peppino (OECD) and Yamrot Kifle (AUC) very aptly supported the research, production, logistics and administrative work.
The report benefited from external consultations held in 2021 at the South Africa Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) event on Macroeconomic Impact of Covid-19 in Africa (February); the FPConnect Conference on food and pharmaceutical value chains (March); the OECD technical meeting on financing and scaling up bankable pipelines of quality infrastructure projects in Africa ahead of the Summit on Financing African Economies (April); the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) event on Using Long-term Scenario Forecasts to Navigate Africa’s Post-Crisis Future (May); the Annual Investment Meeting organised by the Ministry of Economy of United Arab Emirates (June); the 61st Annual Meeting of the European Trade Promotion Organisations organised by Enterprise Greece (October); GIZ’s Networking Event 2021 of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation; ECA’s Experts’ Group Meeting on the Potential of Regional Value Chains in North Africa and Pitch World Fast session on developing regional value chains for Africa’s recovery (November); the ACBF’s 8th Think Tank Summit on Digital Transformation in post-COVID-19 Africa: Opportunities, Challenges and Options for Building Back Better; the OECD EMnet session on the Future of Regional Value Chains in Africa; and the UNECA Experts’ Group Meeting on the Potential of Regional Value Chains in North Africa (December).
The involvement of the editing, translation and proofreading team was crucial to producing the report on time. It was edited by Sabine Cessou (for chapters drafted in French) and Jill Gaston (for chapters drafted in English), with inputs from Elizabeth Holbourne, and translated by Catherine Nallet-Lugaz, Marika Boiron and the OECD Translation Services. Delphine Grandrieux, Elizabeth Nash and Anne Thomas supervised the production, and JOUVE was responsible for page layout. Aida Buendía created the graphic design and the cover, and Irit Perry developed the infographics.
The African Union and the OECD Development Centre are grateful to the ACBF, the AUDA-NEPAD, and the AfCFTA Secretariat for their engagement in this report. The OECD Development Centre is grateful to the European Commission (DG INTPA), Germany (BMZ/GIZ), Italy (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation) and Portugal (Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P., and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for their additional support and valuable feedback on this fourth annual edition of Africa’s Development Dynamics.