KMAFRICA FINANCIAL PARTNERS

• Government of Senegal

• the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
• The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA)
• the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF)
• the African Development Bank (AfDB)
• the Islamic Development Bank (IDB)
• the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)
• the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the NEPAD.

The vision of the AU is based on a united and strong Africa and on the need to build a partnership between governments and all segments of civil society in order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among the peoples of Africa. As a continental organisation, it focuses on the promotion of peace, security and stability on the continent as a prerequisite for the implementation of the development and integration agenda. African leaders should therefore be held accountable by the people of Africa to deal vigorously and effectively with conflict resolution and the implementation of good governance principles. (Venter 2005, 139).

The Inaugural Summit of the AU of July 2003, in Durban, South Africa, endorsed the NEPAD progress report and initial action plan and encouraged member states to adopt the NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic, and Corporate Governance, and accede to the APRM. After years of difficulties and African pessimism, some leaders thought that it was time to act rather than wait for others to come and solve their problems. They realised that there was a need to create an atmosphere conducive to development and to create conditions that would encourage the private sector to invest in African economies.

The African Renaissance is about developing Africans and Africa. It is a call for the rebirth renewal, reinvention and repositioning of Africans and Africa in a globalizing world. Furthermore, it is a call to Africans to relearn and rediscover who they are and where they are in a global scheme of things. It is a vision bigger than the African Union, NEPAD and many other initiatives by individuals, communities, governments and multilateral organisations. It is not an effort to emulate 'world class' standards set by others but to set world standards to be followed by others. The African Renaissance is seen as the rebirth of the continent after centuries of suppression, correcting negative images. Rebirth must be through rediscovery of Africa's past, reversing the downfall into chaos. It is about planning for the future based on a new knowledge framework accommodating the ideas and philosophies that created the great empires of Ghana, Monomotapa, Songhai and Mali. (Gutto 2005).

The DBSA/KMAfrica and NEPAD Secretariat will provide financial support for a research project on the development of the framework, which will build on work done by other institutions subscribing to an African renaissance. The DBSA/KMAfrica has pledged to release R1 million towards the partial funding of the research. The second phase of the project will include raising additional funding for investigating the availability of resources and what is on the ground in the five regions, and how the identified centres will be sustained.