DRC and Zambia among countries to benefit from ADF projects

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the world's most water-rich areas. However, nearly 70% of its rural population has no access to drinking water and 96% lack access to sanitation.

These dire statistics do not just describe the rural areas of the DRC but many other regions of Africa. Governments lack resources and know-how to address these challenges, but this has been slowly changing with strategic investments aimed at transforming countries, communities, and businesses and building resilience and self sufficiency.

The change is being led by the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional arm of the African Development Bank, which has been investing in impactful projects around the continent for decades.

In 2013, it launched the Project for the Reinforcement of Socioeconomic Infrastructure (PRISE) in the Central Region of the DRC with an investment of $161.46m.

The aim was to provide access to water and sanitation facilities, as well as health centres, schools and other facilities to transform peoples' daily lives and build resilience.

The output was significant. The first phase of the project resulted in the building of 60 schools, 60 health centres, 504 latrines, and 60 drinking water supply systems in five provinces as well as the urban areas of Tshikapa and Mbuji-Mayi. Capacity building to support the new infrastructure formed part of the project.

For the first time, thousands of families were able to drink safer water, send their children to school in dignified conditions, and receive medical care in appropriate facilities. The project created more than 2,000 permanent jobs, more than half of them for women, and many temporary jobs. Over 1,000 women were trained to develop income-generating activities.

The success of the programme prompted the DRC government and AfDB to roll out a similar programme in 26 other provinces. A second phase of PRISE was approved by the AfDB and ADF, with a budget of $69.74m, 95% financed by the ADF.

These targeted interventions have delivered results with 22 new water supply systems, 41 schools, 40 health centres and about 160 latrines under construction or completed. One school principal in Kasaï Oriental province said before the PRISE programme, the facility only had 60 to 80 students while today it has more than 280.

The project highlights the ADF's mandate to transform lives through strategic investments rather than replicating the patterns of aid that created dependency, rather than self sufficiency.

An AfDB statement on the project sums up the approach.

"The project is not only about water, schools or healthcare - it's a vision of a Congo where every family can live with dignity and hope. In the Kasaï provinces, every tap, classroom and health centre is proof of a collective movement towards a fairer, more sustainable future."

Transforming Zambia's fertiliser industry

In Zambia, an ADF investment has driven a different kind of transformation.

In 2022, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia sent shockwaves through agricultural markets across the world dependent on the two giant nations for fertiliser and food. Zambia was one of them.

It faced an uncertain future as supply chains for the import of more than $110m worth of fertiliser annually from the war-torn region were disrupted. To meet demand for the 2022 season, the country needed to source more than 600,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser.

But the ADF saw an opportunity in this crisis, and found a way to sustainably address the longstanding fertiliser deficits.

As part of a $14.73m financing package for the Zambia Emergency Food Production Facility (ZEFPF), a stand-alone emergency project to mitigate the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it provided a grant of $1.25m to the country's state-owned fertiliser monopoly, Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia.

Grace Nyirongo Phiri working at her farm in Kafue district. Phiri is one of the beneficiary of the Zambia Emergency Food Production Facility funded by the African Development Bank.

The funds were used to provide raw materials to jumpstart production at the company's newly constructed $5.5m plant built to address a long decline in production levels resulting from decades of under investment.

This strategic intervention in a critical part of the value chain has been a game-changer, not just for the company but for the country.

The ADF investment came at just the right time, says Chanda M Mongo, CEO of Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia. "This backing has made possible the commissioning of our new state-of-the-art blending and granulating plant. This is a transformational investment for our nation."

The impact on the business, and the country, has been dramatic. The company's capacity has grown from 70,000 MT to 432,880 MT, a six-fold increase in just a few years. This, together with the output of two other recently commissioned private sector plants, will enable Zambia to achieve fertiliser self-sufficiency by 2026 and begin regional exports.

The boost to the market has also led fertiliser prices to plummet by 40%, making inputs affordable for farmers.

Returns on investment

New AfDB Group President Sidi Ould Tah has expressed his wish to accelerate and scale up the work of the ADF.

He has appealed to its development partners to reimagine development funding as investment with measurable returns, stressing that it is not aid in the traditional sense. This, he maintains, will help to plug the critical financing gap the continent faces.

At the bank's 17th replenishment meeting (ADF-17) in Zambia earlier this year, he highlighted an ambitious framework where each donor dollar is projected to unlock $2.50 in additional capital, leveraging private capital and co-financing in a strategic drive to build resilience and prosperity across Africa.

The meeting brought together development partners, governments of ADF recipient countries, and the AfDB's leadership to define the Fund's priorities, financing framework, and implementation strategies for the 2026-2028 cycle.

The ADF is seeking a change to its charter to enable an 85% market borrowing threshold. Currently, the fund cannot borrow or lend from non-concessional sources. Tah says without it, "öur capacity to serve will be fundamentally limited".

The Bank is convening a strategic dialogue in the UK this month on the sidelines of the Replenishment Meetings with export credit agencies and development finance institutions to establish new partnerships for mobilising private sector investment in ADF countries.

Making an impact

During the last cycle (2023-2025), the ADF says its investments have helped 2.9 million people gain access to clean water services, connected 500,761 people to electricity (including 251,766 women), and improved health services for 1.2 million people.

Operations also supported 24,403 agribusinesses, over 520,000 farmers with climate-resilient technologies, and constructed or rehabilitated 614 km of roads improving transport access for 3.5 million people. Access to basic ICT services was improved for 1.3 million people.

The Fund, through independent audits, is said to have created or supported 115,564 direct jobs and 449,224 indirect jobs.

This article has been produced with the support of the African Development Bank. ADF Replenishment is co-hosted by the governments of Ghana and the UK and will be held in London on the 15-16 December.