The governments of the United Kingdom and Ghana are hosting the pledging meeting for the 17th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF-17) (www.ADF.AfDB.org) in London from 15-16 December, convening donor countries to back Africa’s next chapter of growth.

The Fund, established in 1972 as the concessional arm of the African Development Bank Group, is replenished every three years. Over the last five decades it has been instrumental in improving the lives of tens of millions across the 37 low-income countries it serves, amid mounting climate, economic and security pressures.

As funding partners gather in London for ADF-17, expectations are high for a rise in the number of contributing African countries, signalling stronger ownership of the continent’s development agenda, and growing confidence in the Fund as a driver of inclusive growth. Particularly encouraging is the interest from countries that have themselves benefited from the ADF.

A new ADF financing cycle also presents a significant opportunity that the Bank Group is boldly seizing to deploy innovative financing instruments, and to forge new and expanded partnerships with the private sector – vital efforts needed to mobilise additional financing at a time when global aid flows are tightening. Among other innovations, ADF-17 is expected to introduce the Market Borrowing Option (MBO), a new mechanism that will enable the Fund to raise financing from the capital markets. The Fund is now implementing the policy framework required to operationalise the MBO during this cycle.

African Development Bank Group President Sidi Ould Tah leads charge to mobilise capital, reform African financial architecture

ADF-17 represents a strategic new phase for the African Development Bank Group under Dr Sidi Ould Tah, who assumed office as its ninth President in September 2025. His Four Cardinal Points (4CPs) agenda aims to mobilise greater capital, reform the continent’s financial architecture, harness demographic potential, and accelerate climate-resilient infrastructure. Within this framework, the African Development Fund remains indispensable – ensuring that Africa’s most vulnerable countries are not left behind in the global development push.

For the African continent and its 1.5 billion people, the ADF-17 London meeting marks a strategic moment at which global partners must commit to match Africa’s ambition with commensurate resources, fuelling a new era of opportunity rooted in the continent’s extraordinary human capital, energy potential, mineral wealth, and arable agricultural land.