2023 was an exciting year for Togo, with the African Development Bank setting the stage for transformative initiatives across various sectors.

The year kicked off 2023 with the final round of the Forum of Agricultural Producers in Togo in the northern city of Kara, heralding the inauguration of the new Kara market, a project financed by the Bank and site visits to future agricultural processing centers and agricultural development planning and production zones, called ZAAPs. The event underscored Kara’s ambition to be the leading agricultural city in the country.

Back in 2013, the Kara market had been devastated by a violent fire.  Thanks to $4.7 million in Bank financing through the “Projet d’Appui à la Reconstruction des Marchés et aux Commerçants de Kara et de Lomé” (PARMCO, it benefited from renovation works which enabled its extension. The market now extends over 6 acres, featuring a 3-level building, a public green space, an open-air esplanade, and a parking lot.

Unlike the old market, it is much more modern and now contains 736 individual stalls, 72 stores, 5 bank and insurance premises, 8 wholesalers’ stores, 6 fully-equipped cold rooms, a police unit, and an infirmary. Not to mention that it now boasts an armed fire network system, a central roadway for firefighters, and the routing of equipment in the event of an explosion. In short, this market has been built and designed to react more quickly in the event of a disaster and to accommodate more traders as the acropolis is under construction in Kara.

In line with agricultural development, the Bank prioritized women’s entrepreneurship and financial inclusion. Women empowerment is everyone’s concern, and the Bank has been championing initiatives such as the Project to Support the Financial Inclusion of Vulnerable Women, which has empowered over 13,000 women across Togo, enabling them to improve their socioeconomic conditions.

Just like Adjo Bané, Kao Kohalo, or even Adjoa Agbomassi, many women have become financially independent thanks to loans granted under PAIFFV.

” In the past, I would buy vegetables in small quantities, but today, the project has given me the funding to buy larger quantities. This means I can make more profit. Now I don’t have to move from one place to another; customers come to buy from my fixed point of sale. I sell in bulk, and my customers don’t have to worry about stocking up on vegetables. I’m able to do all this thanks to the credit granted to me by the Project to support the financial inclusion of vulnerable women”, explains Adjoa Agbomassi, standing in front of her vegetable stalls.

“Today, I can pay my children’s school fees, I can cope with family contingencies and I have no difficulty in repaying my loan,” she adds. Improving the living conditions of vulnerable women in Togo is one of the key objectives of the government, supported by the AfDB.

Yet improved living conditions also mean access to water and electricity.

Indeed, under the social component of the country’s rural electrification program through the Projet d’Appui au violet social du program CIZO d’électrification rural (PRAVOST) another large-scale project supported by the bank, solar panels were installed in remote health facilities, enhancing healthcare accessibility for women and bolstering farmers’ productivity and incomes.

The Bank country office in Togo also held a training session at the end of July 2023 in Lomé for government structures on the RASME tool — a remote, real-time project supervision, monitoring, and evaluation software.

Launched in 2023 to be implemented in all countries, the RASME solution makes it possible to collect accurate, reliable project data in digital formats (data, photos, videos, audios, maps, scanned paper media, etc.), directly from the field, using mobile devices or personal computers.  The African Development Bank Group has adopted this IT solution for remote supervision of its projects to assess their implementation status and to better supervise, evaluate, and compile data on development projects throughout countries.

During the launch and training session of Lomé, Mr Dodo Gaspard, a bank consultant in charge of delivering training on this tool emphasized its importance and urged government officials to embrace it.

Adjoa Agbomassi, vegetable seller and PAIFFV beneficiary

The year ended with a comprehensive country portfolio performance review, led by the Bank’s Deputy Director General for West Africa, Joseph Ribeiro. The successful conclusion of the review culminated in the signing of an agreement with the West African Development Bank (BOAD), a strategic partner for strengthening support for the private sector in French-speaking West Africa.

The Bank aims to accelerate Togo’s structural transformation and economic diversification, fostering the creation of high-value jobs.

Togo is a West African country stretched between the Atlantic Ocean in the south, with a four-season sub-Equatorian climate, and Burkina Faso in the north, with a two-season Sudanian climate. It is bordered by Ghana to the west and Benin to the east and covers an area of 56,600 km². Togo is divided into five (5) economic regions and has thirty-nine (39) prefectures, subdivided into 117 communes. In 2023, Togo’s population is estimated at 8.1 million, with a density of 152 inhabitants/km². According to the latest population and housing census in 2022, the urban population represented 42.9%, compared with 57.1% of the rural population.

With real GDP growth estimated at 6.0% in 2023, up slightly from 5.8% in 2022, Togo’s economic activity is dominated by the dynamism of three sectors (primary, secondary, and tertiary): agriculture, forestry and fishing (1.1% of real GDP); extractive and food industries (2.2% of real GDP); and services (2.6% of GDP). Through its Country Strategy Paper (2021-2026), the Bank is supporting the Togolese government in the implementation of the Government 2025 Roadmap for a structural transformation of the economy, creating inclusive wealth and decent jobs. The Bank’s active portfolio in the country as of February 26, 2024, covered 22 active operations, including 15 national projects, 3 regional projects, and 4 private sector operations (including 3 in the financial sector), for a total commitment of US $ 548,92 million.