AUDA-NEPAD Launches Silver Jubilee Celebrations in Johannesburg
“The celebration comes after 25 years since, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, and his peers; President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, launched NEPAD as Africa’s answer to its own development challenge”
Mrs. Nardos Bakele Thomas chief Executive officer of AUDA NEPAD.
By Lydia Makina
The African Union Development Agency – NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) officially launched its Silver Jubilee celebrations this Thursday, 14 May 2026, with a Gala Dinner in Johannesburg, followed by a Business Breakfast with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation in Cape Town on 21 May 2026, marking the start of a year-long continent-wide commemoration of Africa’s foremost development agency.
The celebration comes after 25 years since, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, and his peers; President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, launched NEPAD as Africa’s answer to its own development challenge.
What is today known as AUDA-NEPAD emerged from Africa’s determination to shape its own development trajectory at the turn of the century. The Millennium Africa Recovery Plan and the Omega Plan, two ambitious African visions for renewal and transformation, were brought together to form the New African Initiative, which evolved into the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in 2001.
With the establishment of the African Union in 2002, from Organisation of African Unity (OAU), African leaders positioned NEPAD at the centre of the continent’s development agenda and created the NEPAD Secretariat to drive implementation and continental coordination.
As Africa’s ambitions grew more demanding, the African Union in 2010 established the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, strengthening the institution’s operational capacity and embedding it more firmly within the AU system.
In July 2018, the AU Assembly went further, transforming the NEPAD Agency into the African Union Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD: the continent’s first dedicated development agency, built to turn Agenda 2063 from a continental vision into measurable reality.
Speaking at the launch, AUDA-NEPAD Chief Executive Officer Mrs. Nardos Bekele-Thomas said: “We gather to honour a choice made in 2001, a deliberate, political and intellectual choice by a generation of African leaders who believed that Africa could no longer be spoken for, planned for, or developed from the outside.”
Over the past 25 years, AUDA-NEPAD has overseen the transformation of NEPAD into AUDA-NEPAD, decisively strengthening its mandate as the technical arm of the African Union and sharpening its role in implementing Agenda 2063.
The agency facilitated the establishment of Africa’s home-grown governance accountability framework, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), now embraced by 44 Member States as a model of African-led democratic self-assessment.
It also established the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) to unlock transformative cross-border connectivity in energy, transport, water, and ICT, providing the continental blueprint for closing Africa’s infrastructure deficit.
Through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the agency has driven agriculture-led growth, food security, and rural livelihoods transformation for millions of Africans, making CAADP a cornerstone of the continent’s sustainable development architecture.
AUDA-NEPAD’s Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA) has promoted demand-driven skills development and vocational training, empowering African youth, improving employability, and aligning human capital investment with labour market realities.
The agency also provided technical expertise to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), boosting intra-African trade, deepening industrialisation, and advancing Africa’s economic self-sufficiency.
Through the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), AUDA-NEPAD has mobilised innovative financing solutions, including blended finance and public-private partnerships, to close Africa’s infrastructure gap and attract long-term development capital.
The agency has further strengthened strategic collaboration with Regional Economic Communities (RECs) across the continent, ensuring alignment of continental priorities with regional and national development agendas for coherent, integrated delivery.
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