In a landmark show of African solidarity and reform-driven financing, Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan have jointly pledged $16 million to the next replenishment cycle of the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional arm of the African Development Bank Group.
The collective pledge, more than triple the $5 million committed in the previous cycle, was formalized at a constituency meeting on the margins of the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. This marks the first time all five countries in the constituency have contributed to the ADF. It represents a 220 percent increase in funding and a powerful signal of African ownership in shaping the continent’s development future.
Ghana committed $5 million, while Sudan, Liberia, and Sierra Leone each pledged $3 million. The Gambia followed with a $2 million pledge. The increase raises the number of contributing African countries to the ADF from 8 to 13, reflecting a 62.5 percent rise in African participation.
The meeting also served as a transition point in leadership, recognizing the efforts of outgoing Sierra Leonean Finance Minister Sheku Bangura, who chaired the constituency, and Executive Director Rufus Darkortey. Under their stewardship, the constituency deepened engagement with the Bank, strengthened reform momentum, and expanded access to development financing.
Each of the five countries has pursued bold fiscal and governance reforms that align with the Bank’s new emphasis on performance, selectivity, and co-financing. The Gambia, for instance, doubled its tax-to-GDP ratio within two years. Ghana has scaled up domestic revenue through digital compliance tools and tax reforms. Liberia has been selected to pilot the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank initiative, while Sierra Leone and Sudan have both received targeted support for infrastructure and crisis response.
Ghana and Liberia also introduced new finance ministers, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan respectively, who are expected to drive the constituency’s next phase of strategic transformation.
The constituency reaffirmed its shared commitment to reducing reliance on external aid by mobilizing domestic resources and catalyzing private sector growth. It also outlined plans to transition eligible countries from concessional ADF financing to non-concessional African Development Bank funding, attract private capital, and convert remittance flows into sustainable development instruments.
“This is our moment to position our countries not as passive recipients, but as agile reformers and credible investment destinations,” Bangura noted, urging member states to anchor domestic resource mobilization and private sector development in their national strategies.
As the constituency enters a new chapter, its united pledge and reform agenda stand as a model for African-led development. It is a message to the global community that Africa is ready to finance and shape its own future.
