Common problems in institution-building in planning,statistics and demography

Abstract

The need for the creation of institutions which individual African countries are too poor to establish and operate on their own, but which are indispensable to the accelerated economic and social development of the African continent through collective self-reliance or which for reasons of nature, scale and optimality are best established at regional level, was the first important philosophy professed by ECA. The African Development Bank (ADB), the Association of African Central Banks CAACB) and the Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) were among the first multinational institutions to be established or sponsored by ECA at the request of African Governments. Since then, the number of such institutions has increased so that today there are very many of them operating in various strategic economic and social fields.

The experience of nearly all of these institutions over the years has brought into focus certain common problems which should be considered and solved. As multinational institutions and in their own specialized fields of competence, these institutions have a crucial role to play in the implementation of the Lagos Plan of Action and in the achievement of the objectives of the Final Act of Lagos. That was why a Conference of the Chief Executives of ECA-sponsored Regional and Subregional Institutions has now been inaugurated. The Inaugural Meeting of the Conference was held from 15 to 20 December 1980.