The African Regional Partnership for Sustainability and SDG Reporting was launched in January 2022 and held its first virtual meeting on 28 April 2022. The regional partnership is one of the practical deliverables of the Development Account 11th Tranche Project entitled Enabling policy frameworks for enterprise sustainability and SDG reporting in Africa and Latin America. It will ensure continued support to the countries in the region beyond the project duration. The Partnership will be chaired for the first 2 years by the Ministry of Finance of Cameroon, and vice-chaired by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa.
The Meeting was attended by 69 participants, including representatives of 49 member organizations and 6 observers.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Richard Bolwijn, Officer-in-charge of the Enterprise Branch Division on Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD, congratulated the Chair and the Partnership for the growing number of members and reminded all members about the importance of providing a regional feedback on the ISSB exposure draft on sustainability and climate-related disclosures. Ms. Nonyana Mokabane Chief Director of the Legislative Drafting Unit of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the DTIC), South Africa, and Mr Cliff Nyandoro, Director at the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, therefore, greeted the work of the partnership and expressed their commitment to this project.
Nairobi Securities Exchange and Kenyatta University delivered presentations on the Regulatory Framework and local practice of ESG reporting in Kenya. The presentation on Sustainability reporting practices of listed companies was made by the Financial Reporting Council, Nigeria. Nicolaas Van Wyk from Southern African Institute for Business Accountants delivered a presentation on case studies and experiences on the implementation of sustainability reporting in South Africa and proposed regional initiatives on digital reporting platforms and automated data collection. Afterwards, the Accountant General Department of Gambia presented the case studies on sustainability reporting in the Gambia. Finally, the Chair of the Regional Partnership in Latin America informed about the launch of the Latin American Partnership and explained how the platform works and developed since its creation.
