National budgets: WAIFEM lauds ACBF for capacity building

National budgets: WAIFEM lauds ACBF for capacity building

 By Udeme Clement

The West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, WAIFEM, has commended the African Capacity Building Foundation, ACBF, for its sponsorship of the just concluded workshop on ‘Gender, national accounts and the economy’, organised by WAIFEM in Accra, Ghana.

The Advisor, Business Development & Consultancy Unit, BDCU, of WAIFEM, Prof. Douglason Omotor, made this comment, said that the workshop, which drew participants from central banks within the West African sub-region, financial institutions, Universities and other relevant organisations was sponsored by ACBF.

Financial Business observed that the workshop sponsored by ACBF focused on integrating unpaid work into National Accounts and National Budgets of economies in the sub-region, as all the topics discussed had direct link on the need to ensure adequate monetary valuation of Non-Market Work (NMW).

Financial Business also learnt that WAIFEM has being in the forefront of building capacities within the sub-region since its establishment by the central banks of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone in 1996. Its mission principally is to build capacity for improved macroeconomic and financial management in the constituent member countries.

Accordingly, since its inception till now, WAIFEM has successfully executed over 650 courses and workshops, which benefitted over 17,500 officials from Central Banks, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the sub-region and beyond.

WAIFEM partners world class training organisations and capacity building institutions to ensure international standards in delivery of its programmes. Among these are ACBF, IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank (ADB), Common Wealth Secretariat, Debt Relief International (DRI), Development Finance International (DFI) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

Moreso, the Business Development and Consultancy Unit (BDCU) of WAIFEM, which anchors this workshop, was established in 2012, to cater for the training needs of the private sector, demand driven courses and consultancy programmes on a cost recovery basis.  However, the public sector also benefits from the programmes of the BDCU.

Moreover, in line with trending technology and advancement, WAIFEM has started e-learning programmes in Public Sector Debt Management, Banking Supervision and French Language. The course on French Language is intended to bridge the gap with Francophone countries while at the same time deepening regional integration process. Two e-learning Certificate courses in French have been undertaken since 2016. The French course is jointly organised by WAIFEM in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).