Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 30 May 2025 — The African Legal Support Facility (“ALSF” or “Facility”) held its 48th Meeting of the Management Board (“Board”) and 16th Governing Council (“Council” or the “GC”) Annual Meeting at Sofitel Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The Management Board and Governing Council meetings took place at the margins of the African Development Bank Group’s 2025 Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The Council expressed satisfaction with the advisory services and capacity building activities support the Facility provides to its member states to accelerate their sustainable economic development.
The Board and the Council respectively considered and approved the Facility’s 2024 Annual Report that provided details on the Facility’s key results and achievements, partnerships and outreach efforts by the Facility, corporate affairs and project-related results, and potential risks and future challenges facing its work. In 2024, ALSF approved 35 new advisory and capacity building projects. They covered various sectors, notably sovereign debt, natural resources and extractives, power, infrastructure public-private partnerships, and investment treaties and dispute resolution sectors. They also considered the Audited Financial Statements as well as the progress report on project implementation, project outliers and exceptions. The two Statutory Organs were further briefed on the forthcoming Management Board vacancies (as of July 2025), and on the activities carried out over the past year by the Goodwill. An additional update was provided on the draft ALSF Financial Sustainability Strategy. Finally, the Board and the Council considered and approved the report on the Summative Evaluation of the Medium-term Strategy 2018-2022.
The Council also recognized its outgoing members for the period 2023 to 2025 noting their competence and commitment to the Facility’s mission while approving the appointment of the new members of the Council for the period 2025 to 2027.
The Director of the Facility, Mr. Olivier Pognon, noted the dedication and accessibility of the Members of the Board and the Council over the years. He thanked the Members for the confidence reposed in the ALSF team to continue its vital work and assured them of the commitment and zeal of the team to intensify its efforts to realize the objectives of the ALSF.
The ALSF team took the opportunity to engage in several bilateral meetings with ministerial delegations from regional member countries, non-regional member countries, donors and partner institutions during the week.
The ALSF Management Board is responsible for the efficient and effective conduct of the operations of the Facility, as well as the approval of its Budget and the appointment of its director. The Board comprises five members of high integrity and competence, acting in their individual capacity, and are appointed by the Governing Council for a three-year, non-renewable term. The current members of the Board are Ms. Manisha Dookhony (Chairperson), Ms. Pippa Armerding, Dr. Roland Amoussou-Guenou, Dr. Felister Kivisi and Prof. Dr. Christoph Kohlmeyer.
The Governing Council is the supreme body of the ALSF. It is composed of twelve members representing both regional member countries and international organizations. The current Governing Council is composed of representatives from Chad, Nigeria, Mauritania, Djibouti, Mauritius, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, the African Development Bank, Belgium, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Brazil.
About the ALSF
Established by the African Development Bank in 2008, the ALSF assists African governments in negotiating complex commercial transactions and providing legal and technical assistance and developing capacity building tools in the key sectors of infrastructure and public-private partnerships, energy, natural resources and extractive industries, as well as in sovereign debt and creditor disputes.
Contact us
Eve Ehoura, Communication Officer: e.ehoura@afdb.org
ALSF Website: https://www.alsf.int
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