The purpose of the meeting is to carry forward the outcomes of a workshop convened by the NEPAD Secretariat on 21-23 November 2006 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Johannesburg workshop focused on :

Creating a common understanding of capacity gaps and challenges that hinder development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa ;

Identifying key elements of a strategy for capacity and skills development at all levels for the short, medium and long term achievement of Africa’s development agenda ; and

Outlining a process towards the development, finalisation and implementation modalities of a capacity and skills development strategy for Africa.

The workshop in Addis Ababa will be the first step in translating the key elements of capacity and skills development into a strategy.

The NEPAD workshop in Johannesburg was supported by the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) ; the African Development Bank (ADB) ; the Southern Africa Trust (SAT) ; UNECA ; and Dimension Data.

Source : nepad news, february 2, 2007