African Legal Support Facility

Published purpose

This project aims to support sustainable economic growth in Africa by increasing the capacity of African governments to negotiate fair and better quality contracts in the extractives sector. While African governments conclude a wide range of complex contractual agreements with investors for large investments in the extractives sector, many are disadvantaged by a gap in financial and/or human resources capacity to negotiate effectively, or on an equal footing, with legal teams on the investor side. Canada is supporting the five-year Medium-Term Strategy (2013-2017) of the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), earmarking its contribution for extractives sector activities in the following areas: (i) review and negotiation of complex contracts and legal frameworks; and (ii) training African government officials to carry out these negotiations themselves. Some project activities include: (i) providing legal expertise to African governments as they negotiate and review extractives contracts; (ii) supporting the establishment of legal institutional frameworks to enable African countries to negotiate contracts effectively; (iii) providing on-the-job knowledge transfer and training to African government officials and local law firms on how to negotiate complex contracts; and (iv) establishing partnerships with academic institutions in Africa providing high-level legal training, and developing curricula for specific training. The ALSF is an independent international organization, hosted by the African Development Bank.