Since we began in 2008 this has been our simple yet ambitious objective. From our first three projects in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia we now have a growing presence across Africa, including countries like Guinea and Nigeria, supporting some of the continent’s leading reformers. Our practical support helps leaders to bridge the gap between their vision for a better future and their governments’ ability to achieve it. We do this by strengthening the capacity to deliver programmes that will change ordinary people’s lives for the better, from public services and rural development to infrastructure and job creation. Tony Blair draws on his ten years as Prime Minister to offer leaders the kind of advice on reform that only someone who has stood in their shoes can give, while our teams live and work shoulder-to-shoulder with counterparts in each country to put in place the ‘nuts and bolts’ needed to get things done. This booklet gives some examples of what we do. If you share our determination to make government work for some of the world’s poorest people, we want to work with you.
Nick Thompson Chief Executive
As Prime Minister, I learned that the gap between setting out a vision and seeing real change is hard to cross. But for African leaders, that gap can feel like a chasm. In the daily mechanisms of government, there is simply not the capability to make things happen. And when government doesn’t work, it’s the poor who suffer most. I believe that Africa can become in this century an engine of prosperity as powerful as Asia became in the last. That’s the goal, but it will only become a reality if Africa’s leaders are able to drive the reforms their countries need, and their governments have the capacity to deliver them. For a new generation of African leaders, this means that having a clear vision for their country is not enough. They also need to transform the capacity of their government to deliver it. I set up AGI to help them do that.
Tony Blair Founder and Patron
T O H E L P O U R PA R T N E R G O V E R N M E N T S B R I D G E T H E G A P B E T W E E N V I S I O N A N D R E S U LT S , W E F O C U S O N T H E 3 P ’ s : P R I O R I T I S AT I O N , P L A N N I N G A N D P E R F O R M A N C E M A N A G E M E N T
When a government has 130 goals, it won’t get anything done. It’s not our role to tell governments what to prioritise. But our advice on why and how to prioritise helps them focus on the things they care about most.
A brilliant 20-year vision for agriculture won’t tell you how to get cheap fertiliser to poor farmers in time for the next planting season. We strengthen planning processes so leaders know step-by-step what to do to get the results they want.
How leaders use their time and personal authority really matters. We maximise their impact by putting in place the machinery they need to stay on top of their priorities and intervene when things are off track.
Enhance skills + embed new systems + strengthen structures for driving delivery = C A PA C I T Y D E V E L O P M E N T
“ I H AV E S E E N A G I ’ S I M PA C T I N T H E W AY M Y G O V E R N M E N T F U N C T I O N S A N D I N I T S C A PA C I T Y T O I M P L E M E N T M Y P R I O R I T I E S I N H E A L T H , A G R I C U L T U R E A N D P R I V A T E S E C T O R D E V E L O P M E N T. ” PRESIDENT ERNEST BAI KOROMA
In 1991, Sierra Leone plunged into a ten-year civil war notorious for its brutality. Rape and amputation became weapons of war, children its footsoldiers. Yet just a decade after Tony Blair sent in British troops to restore peace, Sierra Leone is a country on the move. Elected President in 2007 after one of the fastest improvements in political stability of any country in the world, Ernest Bai Koroma has pledged to run his country like a business. AGI’s work, which began in 2008, has focused on improving the tracking and implementation of Koroma’s top priorities. Take health. The war left Sierra Leone with some of the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. Little wonder Koroma made his Free Healthcare
Initiative for pregnant women and children an early priority. AGI’s team in the Ministry of Health helped Koroma’s government develop a clear plan for abolishing user fees, align donors behind it, and make sure the necessary reforms to drug supply, hospital infrastructure and health workers’ salaries were undertaken. Launched in April 2010, the programme has doubled the number of women giving birth in hospital, and seen recorded deaths among children treated for malaria fall by more than 80%. Results like these show why improving government effectiveness has such a significant impact on people’s lives.
“ T HI S PA RT N E R S H I P WI T H AG I IS EXE MPLARY. IT HAS PROD U C ED SU BSTA N TIVE A N D TAN GIBL E RESU LTS.” P R E S I D E N T PA U L K A G A M E
The horror of the 1994 Rwandan genocide defies comprehension: 800,000 people killed in 100 days. Few countries have been through what Rwanda has and come out the other side – which makes the recovery under way in Rwanda all the more remarkable. What sets Rwanda apart is the scale of its ambition. It is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, and has lifted more than a million people out of poverty. But Rwanda wants to go further: to be a middle-income country by 2020 and establish Kigali, its capital, as a business hub for East Africa. Getting there will need leadership and government institutions with the capacity to make change happen.
That’s why the Government of Rwanda, working with AGI, has set up the Strategic Capacity Building Initiative. This programme focuses on achieving fast progress in four areas: access to electricity so people can light their homes and cook safely; agricultural productivity, because 80% of Rwandans work on the land; investment so businesses can grow and create jobs; and mining so that the people of Rwanda benefit from its wealth under the soil. 150 young Rwandan public servants have been recruited to implement these reforms. They work with AGI colleagues and international experts who provide training and support so they can deliver on what is needed now, and move into leadership positions in future.
“ I W A N T T O T H A N K T H E M E M B E R S O F T H E A G I T E A M B E C A U S E T H E Y ’ V E W O R K E D S O W E L L W I T H O U R S TA F F T O A C H I E V E B E T T E R R E S U L T S , N O T O N LY F O R T H E P R E S I D E N C Y B U T B E C A U S E A W E L L - P E R F O R M I N G P R E S I D E N C Y ENHANCES THE WORK OF ALL OUR MINISTRIES.” PRESIDENT ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF
Governments across the world struggle to deliver results. And many developing country governments face even bigger challenges like capacity and financing constraints. The Liberian Government’s 150-day plan at the start of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s second term is a powerful example of seizing a moment of political opportunity to address the challenge of delivery head-on. In 2011, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was re-elected President of Liberia. In the weeks that followed, President Sirleaf and her team began her second term with a 150-day plan to implement priority projects and define the President’s policy agenda for the public. It featured 85 actions which,
if completed, would have an immediate impact on the country’s development. AGI supported the Government of Liberia and its Steering Committee, chaired by the Minister of Finance, in overseeing the plan’s implementation. By the end of the 150 days – which ran from February to June 2012 – they had completed 74 per cent of the actions in the plan, including the establishment of a Trust Fund to rehabilitate the 64MW Mount Coffee hydropower station and 20MW of heavy fuel oil plants in Monrovia, the renovation of over 250km of feeder roads, and the provision of vocational and technical training for 3000 young people.
We’re grateful to the supporters who make our work possible. We have a growing and diverse funding base and are proud to work with institutions and individuals we respect for their insight as well as their financial support.
The Tony Blair Governance Initiative (which operates under the working name
AGI wants to specifically recognise those individuals and foundations who give to our Rapid Action Fund. We set it up in 2011 so we could react quickly to requests for support from African leaders. The fund has already helped us start projects in South Sudan and Nigeria. Many more countries are asking for our support, so we will keep using the fund to start and sustain new projects, to be bold and take risks that other agencies can’t.
The Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative US (TB-AGI US) has been determined
If you’d like to support the Rapid Action Fund or a specific AGI project please get in touch with our Director of Strategy and Development, Andy Ratcliffe: andy.ratcliffe@tb-agi.org
“Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative”) is registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales with the number 1132422. We are a company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales with company number 06779669. Our registered office is 50 Broadway, London SW1H 0BL.
by the IRS to be a publicly-supported, 501 (c) (3) organization which can receive tax-deductible contributions from US donors. As an independent U.S. tax-exempt organization, TB-AGI US shares the goals of and provides support to the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative based in London.
africagovernanceinitiative tonyblair_AGI
“ T O N Y B L A I R A N D H I S T E A M H A V E P E R S U A D E D M E T H A T O N LY W I T H E F F E C T I V E G O V E R N A N C E W I L L R E A L C H A N G E B E A C H I E V E D I N A R E A S L I K E A G R I C U L T U R E A N D F O O D S E C U R I T Y. ” –HOWARD G. BUFFETT–
“ I H AV E T R AV E L L E D T O A F R I C A A N D S E E N A G I ’ S W O R K I N A C T I O N S U P P O R T I N G C E N T R A L G O V E R N M E N T S DELIVER FOR THEIR PEOPLE. THE WORK THEY ARE DOING IS HELPING TO CHANGE LIVES.” – N I C L A S K J E L L S T R Ö M - M AT S E K E , C E O O F S W E D I S H P O S T C O D E L O T T E R Y –
“ W H AT T O N Y B L A I R I S D O I N G W I T H A G I I S J U S T S O I M P O R TA N T – B R I N G I N G P O L I T I C A L S K I L L S A N D C A P A C I T Y D E V E L O P M E N T T O H E L P A F R I C A N G O V E R N M E N T S A C T U A L LY D E L I V E R F O R T H E I R P E O P L E ” . – R A J S H A H , H E A D O F T H E U N I T E D S TAT E S A G E N C Y F O R I N T E R N AT I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T –
“SHOULD AGI SUCCEED IN ITS WORK, THE WORK OF THE MANY NGO’S I’VE BEEN FUNDING WOULD BE L E S S E N E D A N D M U C H E A S I E R T O A C C O M P L I S H . S O I H AV E C O M M I T T E D W I T H O U T H E S I TAT I O N T O A G I ’ S RAPID ACTION FUND AS I THINK ALL PHILANTHROPISTS INVESTED IN AFRICA SHOULD DO.” – J I M G R E E N B A U M , F O U N D E R , T H E G R E E N B A U M F O U N D AT I O N –