The African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation (AAF-SAF) originated from studies by Adebayo Adedeji and other economists at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in Addis Ababa, and was originally presented as a proposed framework in July 1989. Intended as an alternative to orthodox prescriptions presented by international agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the draft was welcomed as "a basis for constructive dialogue" by the United Nations General Assembly in November that year. Only one country, the United States, voted against the resolution.The document published here is an abridgement of A Popular Version of the AAF-SAF, published by the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa in April 1991. The wording is taken directly from the Addis Ababa edition. Omitted words or phrases are indicated in the text by ...; transitional phrases inserted by the editor for clarity are set off by brackets.
Complete versions of the AAF-SAP should be available in libraries that are depositories for documents of the United Nations. A book describing the debate around the AAF-SAP, African Development: Adebayo Adedeji's Alternative Strategies, by S. K. B. Asante, was published in 1991 in association with Hans Zell Publishers of Oxford, England.