The APR Support Unit at ECA is responsible for coordinating, facilitating and implementing ECA's overall support to the APRM and to APRM-participating countries. Located at the Governance and Public Administration Division (GPAD), the Unit draws expertise from various ECA substantive divisions and the sub-regional offices.

The Unit supports the implementation of the APRM in the following ways:

•  Responding to the needs of the APR Panel and Secretariat and the AU member countries that have acceded to the Mechanism

•  Providing support at each of the five stages of the peer review process—from Country Support Missions to the finalization of the Country Review Report and to the implementation of the Program of Action

•  Providing data and documents in the areas of governance and socioeconomic development for country profiles and background reports especially from the Economic Report on Africa and the African Governance Report

•  Conducting research, analytical studies and Capacity Building Workshops to strengthen the APRM and ECA's support to the Mechanism. The Unit conducts analytical studies on various aspects of the APRM in order to improve the implementation of the process, strengthen its structures, and make ECA's support more effective.

ECA's dedication and commitment to the APRM has gone beyond its pioneering and instrumental role in the genesis of the peer review idea in Africa to significantly contributing toward the successful implementation of the APRM. Through the APR Support Unit, ECA plays an important and proactive role in APRM, anchored on well-defined machinery for planning, organizing and monitoring its support to all the phases of the APR process from the country support missions to follow-up actions.