ECA's Support to the APRM

Background

Strengthening good governance in Africa is consistent with ECA's overall mission of providing tangible support to Member States. ECA has a strong track record in providing strong support for improving governance across the continent as exemplified by its various activities and efforts geared toward good governance, including its strong support for the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

In a continuous effort to promote good governance in Africa, ECA 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 APRM. To enhance its contribution to APRM and institu, ECA established an APRM Support Unit in its Governance and Public Administration Division (GPAD) in a bid to institutionalise APRM in its programs. The Unit coordinates all ECA's APRM-related activities including providing vital support to the APR Secretariat in various phases of the APR process and providing technical assistance to individual APR-participating countries as necessary.

ECA provides support at each of the five stages of the peer review process ranging from country support mission to drafting of background documents to country review visits and drafting country report, final country report for the APR panel and APR Forum. As one of the substantive strategic partner institutions (together with ADB and UNDP), 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.

Hence, ECA provides vital technical support to the APR process. Since 2004, experts from ECA's substantive divisions have been involved in mission support, technical support in key areas of the review process, the establishment of APR database and country profiles, and research on key aspects of APRM.

1. Participation in Country Support and Review Missions

In terms of mission support, ECA participated extensively in the Country Support and Review Missions to carry out wide consultations and interviews with the relevant stakeholders—government officials, parliamentarians, opposition party members, private sector representatives, civil society groups, including the media, academia, trade unions, and non-governmental organizations to prepare the county for the review. By December 2007, ECA had participated in the 14 APR Country Support Missions, 2 Country Follow-up Support Missions and the 6 Review Missions organized by the APR Secretariat. ECA staff members participated in Support Missions to the following countries: Ghana , Rwanda , Mauritius , Kenya , Uganda , Nigeria , Algeria , South Africa , Benin , Tanzania , Burkina Faso , Mozambique , Lesotho , and Mali . In addition to participating in the Ghana , Rwanda , Kenya , South Africa , Benin and Algeria Review Missions, ECA will participate actively in upcoming Support and Review Missions. By December 2007, 23 ECA staff members participated in a total of 14 Support Missions, with ECA providing the largest number of experts in all. ECA also sent one expert to each of the Follow-up Missions to Algeria and South Africa in November and December (respectively) of 2005.

2. Technical Support

Besides participating in Support and Review Missions, ECA provides extensive technical support to the APR process, the APR Secretariat and participating countries. More specifically, the Commission has been involved in technical assessment in economic governance and management, democracy and political governance, and socio-economic development. ECA contributed in the preparation and review of documents including Background Documents, Self-Assessment Reports, and Country Plan of Action. ECA also contributed to the preparation of Issues Papers for each country based on the Self-assessment and the National Programme of Action developed by the country. ECA contributed in the production and review of documents for Ghana , Rwanda , Mauritius , Uganda , and Nigeria . ECA also provided direct support to countries preparing to start mechanism.

In line with its mandate, ECA participated in the conduct of technical assessments and professional investigations in the countries into critical issues identified by the APRM Support and Review Teams, through dialogue with all the stakeholders to harmonize the findings of the country self-assessment studies. Finally, ECA made significant contributions to the preparation of Country Review Reports for Ghana and Rwanda submitted to the APR Panel and the Heads of State Forum.

3. APR Database and Country Profile

ECA's support for the peer review process is also envisaged in terms of the establishment of an APR database of information on participating countries against which critical and credible assessment can be effected and which will also feed into country profiles. To this end, ECA has developed a robust repository of information and data on countries in the form of country profiles drawing on ECA's work on governance and on tracking performance of African economies, and pulling together the extensive and continuous work in the social and economic areas including the development of indicators (economic stance, poverty, trade competitiveness, governance, gender, and other MDG-related indicators). By developing such comprehensive profiles, ECA is now more and better prepared to play a more proactive role in facilitating the Country Support and Review Missions. The results from the country assessments will also be used as inputs to updating the country profiles. Finally, ECA will use the APR database and country profiles as a mechanism for post-peer review follow-up and monitoring.

4. Follow-up Support

As more African countries participate in and complete the APR process, ECA will contribute to the follow-up mechanism, providing periodic vital information on each country's progress in fulfilling its plan of action.

ECA will also align its programs of support to member countries with the critical needs identified through the peer review process and to each countries plan of action to address the needs.

Over the next three years ECA will work with the APR Secretariat and the other Strategic Partners in assisting many more African countries to successfully participate in the peer review process thereby assisting in strengthening good governance and socio-economic development across Africa .