The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is a
development finance institution
A development financial institution (DFI), also known as a development bank or development finance company (DFC), is a financial institution that provides risk capital for economic development projects on a non-commercial basis.
, total commitme ...
wholly owned by the
Government of South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa.
Executive authority ...
. The bank intends to "accelerate sustainable socio-economic development in the
Southern African Development Community
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana.
Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...
(SADC) by driving financial and non-financial investments in the social and
economic infrastructure sectors".
History, mandate and vision
The Development Bank of Southern Africa is a South African development bank whose stated primary purpose is to promote
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...
and
growth,
improve the quality of lives of people and promote
regional integration
Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to enviro ...
through
infrastructure, finance and development.
The DBSA mandate focuses the banks underlying policy to play a catalytic role in delivering developmental infrastructure in South Africa and the rest of Africa. The Bank's mandate focuses the
energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
,
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
,
transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...
and
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
sectors, with a secondary focus on
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
and
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
. The DBSA is actively involved in all phases of the infrastructure development
value chain
A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was fir ...
and plays a key role in infrastructure project preparation, project funding as well as infrastructure implementation and delivery.
The ultimate vision of the DBSA is to achieve a prosperous and integrated resource-efficient region, progressively free of
poverty and dependency. Through infrastructure development, the Bank attempts to make a contribution towards people's social and economic ways of life. It also promotes the
sustainable use of scarce resources.
Promotion of
regional integration
Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to enviro ...
through infrastructure is key in Africa's growth agenda and the DBSA plays an integral role in support of this objective. It for example actively participates in programmes such as the
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
n
(REIPPPP)
and the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) Priority Action Plan.
Partnerships are a key enabler for the DBSA and the Bank has established a number of key strategic partnerships with global and regional institutions such as the
International Development Finance Club
The International Development Finance Club (IDFC) is a partnership of development banks whose aim is to complement each other's needs for a more efficient global development.
IDFC's Secretariat is headquartered in Paris, in the same building a ...
(IDFC),
SADC's Development Finance Resource Centre (DFRC),
the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI)
and the
World Economic Forum's Sustainable Development Investment Partnership (SDIP). The Bank is actively involved in managing and implementing funds that support preparation and development of regional integration infrastructure projects. It does this on behalf of national and international partners. Examples of these include SADC's Project Preparation Development Facility (PPDF)
and the Infrastructure Investment Programme for South Africa (IIPSA),
which the DBSA manages on behalf of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
.
The DBSA is guided by a number of international, regional and local policies, accords and agreements in fulfilling its mandate. It subscribes to the goals and targets of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
’ ''Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'',
is accredited to the
Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral environmental fund that provides grants and blended finance for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants (PO ...
and the
Green Climate Fund
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a fund established within the framework of the UNFCCC as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism to assist developing countries in Adaptation to global warming, adaptation and Climate change mitigation, miti ...
, and in accordance with
COP21
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Conve ...
, supports business innovation and delivering scale to the emerging
green economy.
[
]
Projects
The DBSA supports the South African government in leveraging skills and capabilities to accelerate the implementation of infrastructure programmes in the key priority sectors of education, health and housing, as well as various municipal infrastructure programmes.
Municipal Infrastructure
The DBSA provides planning, financing and implementation support to municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in sectors that include water and sanitation, electricity, roads and houses.
Supported municipal programmes include Tshwane
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane) () is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa. The Metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pr ...
Rapid Transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
Durban University of Technology
The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is a multi-campus university situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 following the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and it was initially known as the Durban Instit ...
(DUT) student village.
Economic Infrastructure
Economic or hard infrastructure
Hard infrastructure, also known as tangible or built infrastructure, is the physical infrastructure of roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, ports, and harbors, among others, as opposed to the soft infrastructure or "intangible infrastructure of ...
is all infrastructure necessary for the functioning of a modern industrial nation. DBSA aims to address capacity and bottleneck constraints in order to optimise economic growth potential by supporting the following sectors:
* Bulk water
* Transportation/logistics
* Power/energy
* Telecommunications
* Liquid fuels (oil/gas)
Past projects include the !Ka Xu Concentrated Solar Power Project.
Social Infrastructure
Social or soft infrastructure
Soft infrastructure is all the services which are required to maintain the economic, health, and cultural and social standards of a population, as opposed to the hard infrastructure which is the physical infrastructure of roads, bridges etc. It in ...
is all the institutions which are required to maintain the economic, health, cultural and social standards of a nation or region. DBSA aims to address backlogs and expedite the delivery of essential social services in support of sustainable living conditions and improved quality of life within communities by supporting planning, financing and implementation support to non-municipal infrastructure projects including:
* Higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
* Student accommodation
* Project implementation support for the construction and maintenance of houses, schools and health facilities
Past projects include emergency repairs and maintenance in health facilities in Limpopo
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...
,
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Development finance institutions
Banks of South Africa
Companies based in Johannesburg