Second Meeting

Provisional Agenda and Programme of Work

26-27 May 2003
Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia

I. PROVISIONAL AGENDA

Theme of the Meeting: Participation and Partnership in Africa's Development

1. Opening of the meeting

2. Election of the Bureau and other organizational matters

3. Presentation and discussion on the sub-theme "Promoting people's rights to participate in development

4. Presentations and discussions on the sub-theme "Participation and partnership in development: best practices in selected areas"

5. Working groups to formulate recommendations, including strategy to address issues raised at plenary

6. Adoption of the report and recommendations for the UNGASS panel discussion at the General Assembly in September 2003

7. Closure of the meeting of the Committee on Human Development and Civil Society

II. ANNOTATIONS

1. Opening of the meeting

(The Chairperson of the outgoing Bureau will chair this session until a new Bureau is elected.)

The opening ceremony will begin with a statement by the Representative of Namibia, the Chairperson of the outgoing Bureau. A statement by Mrs. Lalla Ben Barka, the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECA or her Representative will follow this. The representative of the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia will formally open the meeting.

2. Election of the Bureau and other organizational matters

The meeting will appoint among the representatives of member States, private sector and civil society organizations, a chairperson; first, second and third vice-chairpersons and a rapporteur to guide the plenary sessions. The participants will consider and adopt the agenda and programme of work of the meeting and decide on any other organizational matters.

3. Presentation and discussions on "Promoting peoples' rights to participate in development"

In Africa, the move towards conceptualizing human rights in the broader developmental context was articulated in the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development. The Charter established the importance of participation as both the means and an end. As an instrument of development, popular participation provides the driving force for collective responsibility and commitment to development. As self, popular participation is the fundamental right of the people to fully and effectively participate in the determination of the decisions, which affect their lives at all levels and at all times.

The United Nations Millennium Development Declaration and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) are the latest strongest acknowledgements on the importance of participation in addressing development challenges. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the programme of action of the Millennium Declaration has also identified human rights as one of the fundamental development goals. The MDGs fully establishes that true social and economic development can only be achieved with the right of people to participate in the process. The vision of NEPAD and the emphasis on participation are especially consistent with the long-standing desire for more citizens' participation in the continent's development and governance process. The development and governance challenges of Africa are daunting and solutions would require establishing participatory systems and practices involving private sector and civil society. In this regard, particular attention will be on how to address issues of ethics and accountability and discussion will zero in on enhancing ethics and accountability in public service delivery from a participatory perspective.

The meeting will examine the social, political and institutional dimensions of the issue and will define approaches to the promotion of popular participation in policy formulation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes. The analysis and recommendations will serve to reinforce governments' ability to address issues related to human rights and development and the promotion of mass participation in the development and governance process.

With respect to ethics and accountability, the severe economic crisis and the need to deliver on development have increased the need for promoting accountability and maintaining ethical standards in the delivery of services in public services. Efforts to enhance ethical standards and accountability in the public service constitute an important factor in the management of scarce development resources, institutionalization of cost effectiveness and promotion of excellence and professionalism in the public service. For example, in promoting greater citizens' participation in the promotion of ethical standards and accountability in the delivery of services, there is need to establish benchmarks against which citizens could assess and monitor deliverables. Participants will undertake the following:

• assess factors inhibiting ethics and accountability,
• explore ways and means for alternative mechanisms to strengthen existing systems of ethics and accountability for an effective service delivery in the public sector, and
• define the role of government, private sector and civil society in the development and maintenance of ethical conduct and accountability in the African public sector.

Documentation

The ECA secretariat will make presentations under this agenda item. The first paper " Human Rights and Development" (ECA/DMD/ESPD/CHDCS/02/2) will investigate the social, political, institutional and other impediments that limit the right of people to participate in development. As well as provide some recommendations on how to promote peoples rights to participate. The second paper "Ethics and Accountability for Enhanced Public Service Delivery in Africa" (ECA/DMD/CHDCS/02/3), will explore how to involve greater participation in the promotion of ethics and accountability. Panelists representing various views will further elaborate on the issues, tease out the salient points and make recommendations for discussion at the breakout session.

4. Presentation and discussions on sub-theme: "Participation and Partnership in Development: practices in selected areas"

The thrust of CHDCS' work is on improving participatory and partnership practices in the development and governance process. Specifically, it provides a forum for exchange of ideas and experiences on how to nurture a functional and mutually beneficial relationship between citizens and states.

In this respect, this session will analyze and identify best participatory and partnership practices in two areas of particular importance to Africa's development efforts. The first is on countries emerging from conflict and the role of partnership in addressing the special development challenges. The second is on, the issue of HIV/AIDS and how to broaden participation and partnership to enhance national response.

Countries emerging from conflict pose enormous challenge in easing the transition from conflict to sustainable peace and socio-economic development. This is beyond the capacity of governments alone and the process will have to rely on partnership among all stakeholders to support the transition. The discussions and conclusion will aim at actions to enhance the relationship between state and citizens to draw on the contributions of the government, private sector and civil society to address the reconstruction, rehabilitation and reintegration process. In the process, participants will recommend measures to enable the State, the private sector and civil society to develop a partnership framework for post-conflict reconstruction.

With respect to HIV/AIDS, the UNAIDS secretariat will make a presentation under this agenda item on key arguments for broadening national responses to HIV/AIDS, both in terms of players involved and sectors engaged. This presentation will aim to stimulate a discussion that reflects the experience of participants and leads to the identification of key factors that will energize national responses and facilitate full and timely implementation of the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment. Some of the key issues presented for discussion and response will be: 1) what defines an effective NGO-Government relationship and how can this be fostered? 2) What constitutes an enabling national environment that could encourage the emergence and strengthening of civil society organizations active in the area of HIV/AIDS? 3) To whom are civil society organizations accountable? How does this relate to the responsibilities that member States have under the Declaration of Commitment? 4) What should be the role of outside partners and in particular, that of the UN in the fight against HIV/AIDS? 5) To what extent should faith-based organizations be involved in the national response? 6) Are there particular approaches that have proved successful in breaking down resistance to comprehensive strategies such as A, B and C? 7) How can the business sector be persuaded to become more involved at the local level? 8) Does the business sector have any particular obligations to the societies within which they are located? 9) Do national HIV/AIDS strategic plans include strategies for these sectors and what is their current state of implementation? and, 10) Is HIV/AIDS being effectively integrated into rural development plans where these exist?

Documentation

The discussion under this sub-theme will be informed by two papers "Countries Emerging from Conflict: lessons on partnership in post-conflict reconstruction, rehabilitation and reintegration" (ECA/DMD/CHDCS/02/4), and `HIV/AIDS policies and partnerships' will be prepared by the UNAIDS secretariat. These will provide an analysis of the key issues to be discussed under this sub-theme. Brief presentations will be made based on the background papers outlined above and will be followed by discussants and open floor discussion.

5. Breakout sessions and working groups presentations

Taking into account the presentations and discussions on key issues raised during the various sub- themes at plenary, working groups will be organized to discuss further issues and make recommendations for the review and adoption at plenary on one of the following:

• Enhancement of citizen's participation in responding to HIV/AIDS, development and governance including the identification of key factors that will energize partnerships and national responses to the fight against HIV/AIDS, which will include considerations for addressing issues intertwined with HIV/AIDS in Africa, such as, food security and conflict/post-conflict situations.
• Strategies and measures for enhancing broad-based participation with special emphasis on facilitating participation and partnership in the promotion of ethics and accountability in public service delivery as well as in addressing the special needs of post-conflict reconstruction, rehabilitation and reintegration.
• Rapporteurs from the working groups will present an overview of each group's discussion and the recommendations agreed by their respective breakout sessions. There will be general discussions on the reports and for consolidating all the recommendations into synthesized report.

III. PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME OF WORK