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By Michael Dewornu
The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD has launched celebrations to mark its 25th anniversary, highlighting a quarter-century of efforts to shape Africa’s development through infrastructure, agriculture, health, trade, and youth empowerment initiatives across the continent.
The Silver Jubilee celebrations officially began on Thursday, May 14, 2026, with a Gala Dinner in Johannesburg, South Africa, and will continue with a Business Breakfast in Cape Town on May 21 in partnership with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation.
The year-long commemoration reflects on the journey of what began in 2001 as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), an African-led initiative championed by former South African President Thabo Mbeki alongside former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
According to AUDA-NEPAD, the agency was created as Africa’s response to its own development challenges and has since evolved into the African Union’s technical body responsible for implementing continental development priorities under Agenda 2063.
Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD, Nardos Bekele-Thomas, said the anniversary celebrates a defining moment when African leaders decided the continent should lead and define its own development path.
“We gather to honour a choice made in 2001, a deliberate, political and intellectual choice by a generation of African leaders who believed that Africa could no longer be spoken for, planned for, or developed from the outside,” she stated.
Over the past 25 years, AUDA-NEPAD says it has recorded significant achievements across multiple sectors.
In agriculture, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme helped Rwanda increase maize yields by more than 228 percent, while Ghana’s agricultural sector reportedly recorded 6.2 percent growth after reforms that improved private sector participation in agricultural planning.
On infrastructure and trade, the agency said its One-Stop Border Post initiative has expanded from a single crossing between Zambia and Zimbabwe in 2009 to 32 operational border posts today, reducing waiting times and improving trade movement across borders.
The agency also highlighted progress in regional power connectivity through the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, including a 510-kilometre power line connecting electricity grids in East and Central Africa and extending electricity access to previously off-grid communities.
In the health sector, AUDA-NEPAD pointed to achievements under the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation programme, which has significantly reduced medicine registration timelines in East Africa, helping improve access to treatment for diseases such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis.
The organisation also cited gains in women and youth empowerment through programmes supporting vocational training, agribusiness cooperatives, and creative industry skills development across several African countries.
Among its landmark achievements, AUDA-NEPAD listed support for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the establishment of the African Peer Review Mechanism, and partnerships with Regional Economic Communities to strengthen continental integration.
The anniversary events are being held on the sidelines of the 74th Ordinary Session of the AUDA-NEPAD Steering Committee under the leadership of Angola, chaired by Angolan President João Lourenço.
Organisers say the celebrations will continue throughout the year with policy dialogues, youth and women’s summits, private sector engagements, and regional showcases focusing on infrastructure, digital transformation, climate adaptation, and agricultural value chains.
AUDA-NEPAD says the anniversary is not only a reflection on past achievements but also a renewed call for Africans to lead, finance, and own the continent’s development agenda.
