Statement by Dr Caleb Fundanga at the MEFMI 20th Anniversary Dinner

MEFMI 20^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

STATEMENT BY MEFMI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DR CALEB M. FUNDANGA

6 OCTOBER 2014

HAMILTON CROWNE PLAZA, WASHINGTON D.C.

• Honourable Ministers;
• Central Bank Governors;
• Permanent Secretaries;
• Chief Executive Officer of Investec Asset Management, Mr. Hendrik du Toit and other representatives of Investec;
• Senior Officials of EY;
• Representatives of the donor community;
• Distinguished Speakers;
• Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure to be with you all at this auspicious occasion where we celebrate MEFMI’s 20 years of existence.

I am privileged to lead a very vibrant institution focused on fulfilling its obligations towards its member countries.  In my years as Governor of the Bank of Zambia and as Chairman of MEFMI Board of Governors, I 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 stewardship of my predecessors 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 we receive 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 its 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 through the use of modern and emerging Information Technology tools, amongst others.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I see MEFMI focusing on E-learning as a cost effective, fast, intuitive and broad-based 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. The need for E-learning has been widely expressed by most of the client institutions as captured by several Institute documents over the years, such as the 2009 and 2014 Impact and Needs Assessment Reports, the 2010 Mid-Term Review and the 2012 – 2016 Strategic Plan.

In 2010, the Institute piloted E-learning through collaboration between the Debt Management Programme and our technical partners, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The Pilot was very successful and participation was good.

Going forward, I also see the Fellows Development Programme achieving higher recognition not only within client institutions, but other stakeholders who draw on the Programme for expert advice and use of its 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, to certify our Fellows with regionally and globally recognised degrees.

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. They will also continue to be a major source of expertise and agents of change for our regional capacity building initiatives. Thanks to my predecessors and the MEFMI team, we have seen a sizeable increase in the number of Fellows over the years. Today, the Institute has enrolled over 130 fellows on the Fellows Development Programme (FDP); some of the fellows are active, some departed, while others inactive. We shall therefore track all our fellows through various means, particularly through the establishment of a Fellows Alumni.

Furthermore, I look forward to strengthening the relationship with the existing and potential partners, both financial and technical. The Institute continues to enjoy a high level of cooperation from the regional and international macroeconomic and financial management institutions.  This has created greater opportunity for provision of technical assistance.

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 our client institutions, remains practically relevant.  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.

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

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.

I THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.