ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by considering the historical context of Africanicity of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and then examines how the AfDB responded to changing norms and policy priorities in development assistance after the Cold War. It examine four of these change areas in turn; environmental sustainability; civil society engagement; gender; and good governance in member states and the bank. While governance was permanently on the agenda, it was only in 2005 that governance began to include anticorruption, as introduced by the then World Bank (WB) president, Paul Wolfowitz. In all policy areas the AfDB trailed the World Bank in the introduction of new development practices whether environmental sustainability, incorporation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and gender concerns, or good governance. To be a leader, the bank aims to be a knowledge hub for innovation and technology and an institutional broker for an increasing number of partnerships.
