| Pre-ADF
Symposium: Civil Society and Governance
Aide-Memoire
Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
10 October 2004
1.
Background and Justification
Over
the past two decades, the idea of "civil society"
has achieved prominence in political and developmental discourse,
particularly with respect to successive waves of democratization.
Civil society organizations (CSOs) have been widely seen as
crucial agents for limiting authoritarian government, strengthening
popular empowerment, enforcing political accountability, and
in improving the quality and inclusiveness of governance.
This has stimulated reconsideration of the limits of state
action and increased awareness of the potential role of civic
organizations in the provision of public goods and services,
separately or in relationship with state institutions.
In
the African context, civil society is playing an increasing
role in facilitation of public participation in development
activities and governance. This has led to wider recognition
of the importance of civil society as a development partner
that provides a vital link with grassroots communities, particularly
in areas that require public mobilization.
It
has also led to increasing recognition of the need to engage
civil society in pursuit of Africa's key development and governance
agendas. For instance, in July 2000, Africa's leaders committed
themselves to create an African Union (AU), committed to economic
and monetary union with regional integration at the forefront
of its agenda. To achieve this, it needs to bring African
civil society and African citizens on board to create a sense
of joint "ownership" of these initiatives. The African
Development Forum (ADF) has an important role to play in helping
to create the conditions for this.
The
New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) faces similar
problems, including a lack of public ownership, interest and
support that need to be addressed. Accelerating the pace of
economic integration in Africa is difficult and requires a
strong understanding of the significantly different specific
conditions in Africa. In both cases, the imperative of closer
collaboration with and increased participation and support
of CSOs is increasingly recognized as a central concern, crucial
to the success of key governance and development initiatives.
The
processes of integration require a wide range of relationships
at both state and non- state levels and governments need the
support of complementary action by non-state actors. They
require the broadening and deepening the ownership of these
processes, and engaging all stakeholders as fully as possible.
Civil society, by its nature, tends to be closer than most
government actors, to the grassroots, and the pulse of their
societies. CSOs often have constituencies that they can mobilize
at levels that government may find difficult to reach.
Good
governance, integration and development require wide participation,
a fundamental principle of good governance. Development needs
participation, and the wide-ranging changes essential to integration,
require getting the public on board. The ADF therefore, aims
to contribute to improved governance, inclusiveness and democracy
through helping to ensure systematic consultation and participation
of CSOs and other stakeholders in African governance and development
processes.
There
is progress in these areas at a variety of levels, but much
more needs to be done. For instance, the AU's Constitutive
Act, stresses that the African people predicate the success
of the AU on partnership with all sectors of society, and
ownership of the Union. The AU recognizes CSOs as key partners
in governance and development and recommends the strengthening
of AU linkages with all sectors of civil society, to improve
citizens' participation in governance, integration and development
in Africa. Similarly, the United Nations recognizes and involves
CSOs in programmatic and other related matters.
Similar
needs are expressed at other levels of interaction between
governance and development relevant examples of which, include
the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process and NEPAD.
For example, the PRSP, a new policy instrument approved by
the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), is a
key requirement for countries seeking highly indebted
poor country (HIPC) debt relief and concessional lending.
It lays out how the country plans to use the money freed by
debt relief, to reduce the poverty of its population, and
focuses on planning, with input from the poor through public
consultation and participation, in which CSOs may play an
important role.
In
2003, the Consensus Statement of ADF III (Addis Ababa 3-8
March 2002) was very explicit on the need to engage civil
society, especially in the pursuit of Africa's key development
and governance agendas. It stressed the value of civil society
participation both on the input side of large-scale initiatives,
in consultations and forums at all levels, and also in the
effective pursuit of goals such as achieving targets for representation,
gender equity, promoting regional integration and international
cooperation, and maintaining or restoring respect for human
rights.
The
potential for CSO contribution to African development is rapidly
increasing. The ADF has an opportunity to help set an agenda
for the enhanced participation of civil society in
governance and development towards the achievement of that
potential.
2.
Objective
The
pre-ADF "Symposium on Civil Society and Governance"
aims to catalyze an Africa-wide discussion on issues of civil
society and governance, and the contribution of civil society
to good governance in the African context. Given the prestige
of the ADF and its capacity to set an agenda for policymakers,
the special Symposium will provide added opportunity to underscore
the mutual importance of civil society and governance, and
contribute to developing practical policy recommendations.
In this respect, the Symposium intends to:
-
Bring
together civil society representatives from across Africa
to meet and interact with one another and with other stakeholders
and political leaders;
-
Form
a focus group/civil society caucus that can make substantive
contributions to ADF IV, particularly in the area of collaboration
between government and civil society;
-
Develop
a policy framework to facilitate the constructive collaboration
of government and civil society actors;
-
Initiate
follow-up processes to further explore these issues at
country level.
3.
Organization
The
symposium will be organized into plenary and breakout sessions.
Plenary session I will be devoted to opening speeches. Plenary
session II will look at organizational matters and will deliberate
on a background paper related to CSOs and governance. After
this session, participants will be organized into four (4)
breakout sessions as follows:
Breakout
Session 1: Civil society and public policy formulation
Wealthy
and socially dominant groups, exploiting their resources and
using their social status, frequently exercise considerable
influence over public policy, whether directly or by supporting
intermediary organizations that effectively represent their
interests. Conversely, the comparatively poor and socially
disadvantaged sectors of the population often have virtually
no chance of influencing public policy and resource allocations.
Institutional innovations such as decentralization of decision-making
are often advocated as doing something to redress this imbalance
and promoting more widespread popular involvement, though
how far they genuinely do so is a topic of continuing debate.
Some questions that the Symposium will consider in this connection
are:
-
Under
what socio-economic and political conditions can grassroots
mobilization be effective in influencing public policy?
-
What
kinds of strategy appear to be most effective in promoting
high rates of civic engagement in national policy formulation?
-
What
kinds of institution are conducive to achieve higher rates
of political participation? For instance, is decentralization
always, or normally, or only sometimes conducive?
Breakout
Session 2: Civil society and transparency and information
It
seems reasonable to suppose that energetic CSOs can often
have an impact on the quality of governance by increasing
the availability of information about the implementation and
monitoring of government policy. Cases will differ, however,
and there is a need for reflection upon past and recent experiences
in order to determine when and how civil society activities
most decisively promote transparency and information dissemination
about the functioning of the legislative process, public expenditure
allocations, the implementation of approved policy and programmes,
and so forth. The Symposium may consider such questions as
the following, while bearing in mind that the answers may
well vary according to national circumstances:
-
What
types of information and dissemination activities pursued
by civic organizations can help to further transparency
and accountability?
-
What
are the best ways for civil society groups to strengthen
government commitment to implement recommendations of
special inquiries, relevant legislation and programmes?
-
How
can citizens work most effectively to stem the misappropriation
of resources by bureaucrats and local elites, and to bring
about the indictment of public officials involved in malfeasance?
-
What
determines the effectiveness of public advocacy and campaigning
designed to increase governmental commitment to probity
and responsiveness across the board?
Breakout
Session 3: Civil society and enhanced delivery of public services
The
quality of public services and the effectiveness of public
expenditure are among the chief criteria of good governance.
Some familiar proposals about the possible role of civil society
in enhancing States' performance in these respects concern
the following: public-private partnerships in which CSOs work
closely with state institutions in the design and delivery
of services, and the monitoring of their quality and coverage;
CSOs' mobilizing funds among client groups and other sources;
and CSOs' directly delivering services themselves. The most
desirable outcome might be a kind of synergy, in which state
institutions acquire greater legitimacy and improve their
performance by developing responsive working relationships
with civil society, and thereby drawing on reservoirs of social
capital. However, this sort of flourishing partnership between
the State and civil society may require specific institutional
and political conditions, which are not easily replicable.
The following issues are of relevance and need further interrogation:
-
What
is the nature of the policy environment and how conducive
are these to the activities of civil society?
-
How
to strengthen the effectiveness of the various types of
institutional innovations designed to foster complementarities?
-
What
types of leadership and forms of commitment among public
officials and civic organizations can contribute to mutual
trust and a pre-disposition towards partnership?
-
How
can cooperative relationships and alliance building between
CSOs and sympathetic bureaucrats contribute to improving
the quality of public services, and the effectiveness
with which they are delivered?
Breakout
Session 4: Civil society, social justice, rights and the rule
of law
It
would seem to be true for both developed and developing countries
that an active civil society is essential for the combating
of injustice. In some countries, violations of citizens' rights
and widespread lapses from the rule of law will be a central
problem; in others, the focus might instead be the failure
of the law itself to respect human rights and social justice.
Regardless of the injustice, the potential of civil society
to reduce it must never be discounted. But the difficult questions,
of course, regard ways and means, such as:
-
What
are the conditions under which advocacy by specialist
human rights organizations, whether in pressing for the
implementation of existing laws, or for fresh legal initiatives
and institutional reforms, is most likely to improve the
functioning and accountability of state policing and security
organs?
-
How
can civil society organizations best be enabled to shelter
individuals threatened by repressive states and to arrange
for the defence of their rights through official legal
processes?
-
How
can concern sections of civil society best address instances
of inadequacy in the existing law, or low capacity of
the courts and the legal profession to ensure its implementation?
-
How
can they best deal with political obstacles to efforts
to resist injustice, or with a social environment that
likewise tends to impede such efforts?
4.
Expected Outcome
It
is expected that the Symposium's agreement on key areas of
concern and consensus on recommended actions will guide the
plenary deliberations on CSOs and governance during ADF IV.
Based on the conclusions and recommendations of the Symposium
and the deliberations in the plenary, ECA will draw up guidelines
on feasible forms of CSOs participation in development and
governance processes and conditions for their realization.
An Ad-hoc Experts Group Meeting will review the guidelines
before dissemination to member States and other stakeholders.
5.
Participants
The
symposium will assemble relevant CSO experts in and advocate
of participatory development and governance. Participants
will include policy practitioners in non-governmental and
intergovernmental organizations, the civil society and community-based
organizations and the private sector from African countries.
The selection of participants, facilitators or resource persons
will be a random selection made by the Development Policy
Management Division (DPMD) of ECA of individuals attending
the ADF IV with known activities and/or involvement in popular
participation in development and governance processes, particularly
at local and community levels.
6.
Partnerships
DPMD
will organize the Symposium within the context of Pre-ADF
IV activities, in collaboration with the African Union (AU)
Commission. Assistance and collaboration in terms of discussants,
resource persons and participants will be sought from UN agencies,
including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), development
institutions such as the African Development Bank; subregional
and national institutions (Inter-Africa Group, the Southern
African Development Community (SADC)'s Council of NGOs, the
Electoral Institute for Southern Africa, Christian Relief
and Development Association, etc.) and from other cooperating
partners, including individuals with known experience and
involvement in popular participation and participatory governance
activities.
7.
Working Languages
The
sessions will be conducted in English and French. Interpretation
will be provided both in English and French and the outcome
document will be translated.
8.
Date and venue
The
Symposium will be held at the United Nations Conference Centre
(UNCC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 10th of
October 2004.
9.
Contacts
For
further information and inquiries, please contact:
The
Director
Development Policy Management Division (DPMD)
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
P. O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: 251-1-511227/445243
Fax: 251-1-514416/511953
E-mail: kargbo.uneca@un.org
or
Mr.
Guillermo Mangue Nnandongo
Development Management Officer
Development Policy Management Division (DPMD)
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
P. O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: 251-1 445468
Fax: 251-1514416/511953
Email: gmangue@uneca.org
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