To build capacity for senior officials within the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) and the African Union Commission (AUC), the NPCA has partnered with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Pardee Centre for International Futures, University of Denver, to organise a weeklong training workshop on the International Futures Model at the Cape Town offices of the ISS.  The Model is a large-scale, long-term, integrated global system which represents demographic, economic, energy, agricultural, socio-political, and environmental subsystems for 183 countries interacting in the global system.

The five-day training, which began on Monday 20 August 2012, focuses on the analysis of Africa’s current development trajectory, with the intention of eventually being able to set attainable development goals for individual countries to achieve and monitor their progress over time. 

The training is a first step in accordance with a decision of the Executive Council of the African Union for the NPCA to develop a Union-wide long-term African Growth and Development Plan (AG&DP). Participants focused on specific thematic areas, such as infrastructure, agriculture and development as well as state fragility and performance.  The workshop will conclude with a public seminar on the exploration of the potential and impact of a Green Revolution in Africa.

Partners utilise a software system, called the International Futures (IFs) model- a tool for long-term thinking around country, regional, national and global futures.  It enables policy-makers to understand the long-term impact of their decisions.  The model can create alternative scenarios, by asking ‘what-if’ questions and map out trajectories on a range of thematic issues, by looking at current trends and historic data.

The NPCA works closely with the African Union Commission (AUC), regional economic communities (RECs), national governments, civil society and the private sector to support programmes and projects that focus on improving the lives of all African people. 

The NPCA has been mandated to facilitate the implementation of continental and regional priority programmes and projects and to mobilise resources and partners to support their implementation. The partnership presents the first phase of a long-term engagement intended to support the NPCA in establishing a new development trajectory for Africa.

Funding was provided by the Hanns-Seidel Foundation and the German government.