The Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub) and Meridian have announced the start of training for the first cohort of fellows of the Africa Infrastructure Fellowship Program (AIFP).

The AIFP is a public−private initiative designed to upskill African government infrastructure specialists and enable them to facilitate increased investment in a pipeline of new sustainable infrastructure developments.

The AIFP is the first pan-African training programme and offers a unique approach focused on practical knowledge, and the sharing of expertise and cooperation between the private and the public sectors for infrastructure projects with a tangible social and economic impact within communities.

The inaugural cohort includes ten fellows from five partner countries, namely Ethiopia, Gabon, Namibia, Cameroon and Senegal. They will undertake a three-month capability building programme in France comprising of academic training at the Ecole des Ponts ParisTech.

The training includes a series of workshops by multilateral development banks and other public and private entities, the APMG Public-Private Partnerships Certification Program and an internship with one of the programme’s private or public sector partners.

Partners of the programme include the International Finance Corporation, MIGA (World Bank Group), the French Development Agency, Société Générale, the African Legal Support Facility and Colas, besides others.

“We are thrilled to launch the first cohort of this important training programme. Africa’s unmet infrastructure need is estimated at nearly $3-trillion by 2040 and this programme plays an important role in developing greater capacity to deliver infrastructure investment and reform in Africa,” says GI Hub CEO Marie Lam-Frendo.

“We have long been thinking about contributing more directly to the capacity building roadblock in Africa. With all the partners of the programme, we have felt that a mix between a purely academic training and a leadership programme would best be suited to support the rise of a new generation of high-level public sector decision-makers,” comments MeridiamnCEO and AIFP chairperson Thierry Déau.

The programme will focus on sustainable and inclusive approaches to infrastructure projects and procurement, while pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by contributing to the improvement and promotion of sustainable infrastructure projects across the continent.