Caleb Fundanga: Farewell Ellias Ngalande

REMARKS BY DR CALEB FUNDANGA, MEFMI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AT THE FAREWELL DINNER FOR DR ELLIAS NGALANDE ON 25TH JULY 2014, MEIKLES HOTEL, HARARE, ZIMBABWE

• Your Excellences, the Ambassadors present here
• MEFMI Executive Committee Alternate Chairman, Dr. Gondwe
• Representative of the Vice Chairman of the Board, Mr. Ricardo Viegas de Abreu
• Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor,
• Dr. Mangudya
• Deputy Minister and PS, Ministry of Finance, Zimbabwe
• Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Zimbabwe
• Distinguished Cooperating Partners
• Dr and Mrs Ngalande
• Ladies and gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to be with all of you at this occasion where we bid farewell and express our gratitude to Dr. Ellias Ngalande for the distinguished service he has offered to MEFMI in the last 8 years.

Albert Einstein said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” 

Ladies and gentlemen, this in deed is what I shall do in order to keep the MEFMI brand alive as it has been passed on to me by Dr Ngalande.

I am happy that Dr. Ngalande has handed over to me a very vibrant institution focused on fulfilling its obligations to the member countries.  In my years as Governor of the Bank of Zambia and as Chairman of MEFMI Board of Governors, I have witnessed a steady growth of the Institute.

A lot of improvements have taken place in the delivery mechanism employed by the Programmes as well as other critical operational aspects of the Institute.

Through the able leadership of Dr. Ngalande and the wise counsel of the Board members, the institute has firmly stamped its footprint in the member countries and become a highly acknowledged and sought after capacity building organisation.

Acknowledgement of the quality of the MEFMI brand is evident from the numerous requests for technical assistance by both member and non-member countries.

This stature has been achieved mainly because the Institute has been able to transform its capacity building initiatives to keep pace with the changing times and the dynamic needs of our member states.

Going forward, our ability to survive in the current competitive environment will depend mainly on the continued relevance and quality of the capacity building interventions we offer.  This implies that we have to offer home-grown solutions to our client institutions.

In addition, we will have to encourage our very own MEFMI Fellows, who are familiar with their country circumstances, to play a leading role in capacity building in their countries.

They will also continue to be a major source of expertise for the regional capacity building initiatives. Thanks to Dr. Ngalande and the MEFMI team we have seen a sizeable increase in the number of Fellows in the last 8 years.

In my humble opinion, ladies and gentlemen, the best way for us to remain relevant is to be proactive while at the same time being responsive to the needs of our client institutions.

The Impact and Needs Assessment which was concluded in June 2014 will, therefore, be very important in guiding our products offering to client institutions for the remainder of Phase IV which comes to a conclusion in 2016.

Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you today that, the achievements and strides that have been made by the Institute this far are indeed very important and they provide my team and I the leverage to propel MEFMI to greater heights.

Together as Team MEFMI, it is our responsibility to continue making positive contributions to the processes and tools used in policy formulation and implementation in our region and thus making our contribution towards the attainment of the millennium development goals.

Going forward, the institute will need to adopt innovative approaches for delivering its services. I see MEFMI focusing on e-learning as a cost effective delivery mechanism. Given the high cost of administering residential workshops, it is critical that we develop

E-learning for building capacity in the MEFMI region.

We will explore the possibilities of establishing an E-learning centre during my tenure as Executive Director. 

I also see the Fellows Development Programme achieving higher recognition not only within client institutions, but also amongst stakeholders who draw on us for expert advice and use our Fellows as resource persons. In that respect it is my hope that the Fellows Development Programme is twinned with a respectable institute of higher learning in the region or beyond.

Furthermore, I look forward to strengthening the relationship with the existing and potential partners, both financial and technical.

The Institute continues to enjoy high level of cooperation with regional and international macroeconomic and financial management institutions. 

This has created an opportunity for provision of technical assistance and a lot of it on gratis terms, thus saving the Institute a substantial amount of money in consultancy fees.

The role of MEFMI in influencing evidence-based economic policy formulation and implementation is not disputable. The challenge, however, is to ensure that whatever we develop for client institutions remains practically relevant, in so far as helping policy analysts and decision makers to have a comprehensive picture. 

In that regard, I see the Institute growing into a formidable economic research base that is viewed as a voice of authority in economic policy formulation in the region and beyond.

With these few remarks, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my fervent hope that by the end of my tour of duty I will have led the MEFMI team in a manner that will ensure that its quest to make a difference on issues that confront our nations is achieved. I have no doubt that with the continued support of the Board, Management and staff, I will make the appropriate contribution in fulfilling MEFMI’s mandate, of enhancing economic management capacity in the region, and enable the economies of member countries meet the numerous economic and social challenges. 

To Dr. Ngalande I want to assure you that the enormous contributions you have made to MEFMI over the last 8 years will be preserved and built upon.

On behalf of myself, and indeed that of the MEFMI Management and staff, I wish Dr. Ngalande and his family well in all their future endeavors.

I thank you.