Multinational - Operational and financial support to the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) under pillar iii of the Transition Support Facility (TSF)

Project Summary

Approval Date	14 Dec 2020
Signature Date	03 Feb 2021
Planned Completion Date	31 Dec 2022
Sovereign / Non-Sovereign	Sovereign
Sector	Multi-Sector
DAC Sector Code	11330
Commitment	U.A 16,000,000
Status	Implementation

Project General Description

The African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) was established by the AfDB in 2008 following appeals by African Finance ministers for technical legal assistance in dealing with vulture funds and negotiation of complex commercial transactions. The ALSF provides legal advice and technical assistance in negotiation of complex commercial transactions, creditor litigation and capacity building to African countries. This proposal outlines justifications in support of the request from the ALSF for the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund to allocate UA 16 million to the ALSF, pursuant to the ADF-15 Report. These funds are strategically aimed at providing advisory services and capacity building initiatives considered to have the greatest impact to leverage and to allow eligible countries to use funds to finance assistance from ALSF. Working with the ALSF, ADF-15 will ensure relevant capacity and advisory support to ADF countries on complex commercial negotiations, including extractive industries’ contracts, concessions and power purchase agreements. The programme will be implemented within 2 years. In order to meet the increasing demands of the RMCs, particularly in transition states, additional support will be solicited through ADF-16.

Project Objectives

The project aims to enhance the legal capacity of Regional Member countries to negotiate fair and balanced contracts and commercial negotiations. Guided by its current Medium-Term Strategy 2018-2022 (“MTS”), the ALSF operations strengthen the member countries’ legal expertise and negotiating capacities in matters pertaining to the following: (i) Debt management and vulture fund litigation; (ii) Natural resource and extractive industries management and contracting; (iii) Infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships, including Power; (iv) Investment agreements; and (v) Related commercial and business transactions.

Beneficiaries

The direct beneficiaries of support are the Bank's regional member countries.

Participating Organization

Funding

Fragile States Facility

Implementing

African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) ALSF

Information

IATI identifier	46002-P-Z1-K00-112
Last Update	01 Dec 2021

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Contact Details

Geographic Location

Country	Multinational

Project Classification

Finance Type	Aid Grant Excluding Debt Reorganisation
Flow Type	ODA
Aid Type	Other Technical Assistance

Commitments

U.A 16,000,000

Fragile States Facility

U.A 16,000,000

Disbursements

Document Type	Language	Document

Indicator	Indicator Measure	Target Year	Target Value
Number of ALSF supported contract negotiations that achieve greater financial benefit for host countries (royalty rates, development fees, taxes)	Number	2020	96
Number of ALSF supported contracts that government and investor negotiators consider to be fair	Number	2020	42
Estimated savings and revenues for governments resulting from ALSF interventions	$ billion	2020	1
Percentage of Private sector investment in countries where ALSF is providing support	%	2020	10
Number of ALSF supported contracts with gender and environment sensitive budgeted strategies in areas where resources are extracted	Number	2020	96
Percentage of ALSF supported of credit litigation cases won by RMCs against vulture funds	%	2020	100
Percentage of trained African lawyers and Legal capacity building institutions reporting enhanced capacity in Complex contract negotiations	%	2020	100
Percentage of African firms shortlisted and selected by the ALSF to negotiate complex contracts	%	2020	10
Number of African legal professional and government officials trained on negotiation of complex commercial transactions or commercial creditor litigations	Number	2020	6000
Number of annual requests from governments for support or follow-up support	Number	2020	55
Partnerships/ sponsorships established with other capacity building programs and institutions within the continent	Number	2020	30
Number of legal professionals enrolled and mentored through the ALSF academy	Number	2020	600
Knowledge products developed and distributed	Number	2020	10
Number of followers/ users on ALSF social media and supported websites AMLA, ALSF academy, ALSF website - Twitter	Number	2020	1000
Number of followers/ users on ALSF social media and supported websites AMLA, ALSF academy, ALSF website - LinkedIn	Number	2020	1000
Number of databases established and updated	Number	2020	10
Number of planned project approvals per year	Number	2020	55
Percentage of projects successfully implemented and closed within the anticipated timelines	%	2020	70
Number of RMCs who become members of the ALSF and /or Ratify the ALSF treaty	Number	2020	30
Number of RMCs who make financial contributions to the ALSF	Number	2020	3