Locations“Working in collaboration with the African Union and Regional Economic Communities, the Centre will unlock the incredible creativity, innovation and economic potential of borderland regions” - Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator
The Africa Borderlands' Centre (2021-2025) was established in 2020 as a specialized centre that treats border regions as distinct economic and political zones in their own right. The Borderlands Centre offers specialized, expert knowledge and technical advice that will enable the better design, implementation, and adaptation of development programmes for border regions across Africa. It's knowledge and innovation products will support borderland communities, national governments, inter-governmental agencies, UNDP country offices, UN agencies, development partners and other key stakeholders in addressing complex development challenges.
During the Project Initiation Plan (PIP) phase in 2020, the centre completed the formulation of its project document, recruitment of staff and implementation of some quick impact activities, It also engaged in strategic discussions with key partners including the AU, EU, the World Bank, Germany and Japan.
In preparation for the commencement of project implementation, the Borderlands Centre conducted its maiden annual retreat in December 2020, during which it decided to prioritize catalytic investments in co-creation of innovative solutions through the borderlands laboratory, research and data, partnership strengthening and technical support to ongoing and new UNDP cross-border programming, in line with the project's Multi-Year Work Plan.
The Africa Borderlands Centre operates an Area-Based Portfolio approach to programming. A portfolio approach means understanding problems from a systems perspective and leveraging linkages between interventions to achieve broader objectives.
The overall objective of the borderlands development portfolio approach for area-based programming is to enhance measurable and verifiable results of borderland programme implementation in a manner that catalyzes the beneficiaries on the path of sustainability and resilience and influences the development of appropriate policies at national and regional levels. It seeks to utilize the "analyze-to-predict" and "prototype-to-learn" approaches which assume that multiple challenges require multiple solutions and action-learning cycles, rather than linear, planning-based programming.
The specific objectives are:
a. To ensure coherence of programme design across different borderlands while providing for contextual adaptation towards developing a proven model for sustainable development in marginal spaces.
b. To facilitate dynamic programme implementation management based on a deep understanding of the complex de-localized factors, interrelated and uncertain problems, and quickly mutating challenges influencing development.
c. To accelerate learning, adaptation and continuous re-designs in a way that provides the best types of developmental model for implementing development outcomes for the ABC clients- notably the beneficiaries in the borderlands
d. To enhance the sustainability of programmatic initiatives.