(A Special Issue on Partnership)
The remedy for all these ills was none other than a true partnership in which the public sector, the private sector and civil society would equitably share the burden of development. A genuine partnership of this sort should, without doubt, be at the center of what is now termed as 'Good Governance'. Partnership is consequently an area which has become very popular with donors, international and regional organizations, and international business companies. The U.N. itself has a significantly big programme in Partnership and its Economic Commission for Africa, of which the Subregional Development Centre for Southern Africa is a branch, gives pride of place to Partnership through the elements of its Programme of Work. Furthermore, the Staff College of the United Nations, which is situated in Turin (Italy), has embarked on a programme of training U.N. staff on how to forge partnerships.
The short articles in these pages are meant to inform readers and increase their awareness of the need for partnerships; the kind of partnerships which ensure that partners equitably share the responsibilities, benefits and losses of their common endeavour. We hope that this objective will be realized and that the readers of this Bulletin will carry forward the torch of partnership.
Introduction
Partnership is one of the most important realities of life. Man has been described as a 'social animal' and Plato had described him early in history as a 'political animal'. Although the word 'partnership' was not used in these descriptions the underlying idea is that working with others is an essential part of the nature of Man. Are we then trying to reinvent the wheel by putting forward the 'concept of partnership' as something new?
In a very loose and generic sense any work that brings people together may be seen as partnership and so any contractual situation, such as employer/employee relationship may be said to fall within the realms of partnership. One of the definitions of 'Management' is: 'getting things done through others' and so 'Management' may be considered in a larger sense as a form of 'partnership'. But if the meaning of 'Partnership' is so stretched as to cover every conceivable human endeavour which involves more than one person, it will not only lack precision but it will also render superfluous concepts of 'cooperation' and 'collaboration'.
It is necessary, therefore, to determine the place of 'Partnership' in human collaborative relationships and to arrive, hopefully, at a useful and precise definition.
"Partnership" may be defined as a collaborative enterprise into which the constituent parties make complementary inputs, and share the risks and benefits accruing from the pursuit of mutually or commonly agreed objectives". As with all definitions this is not probably one to which everyone will subscribe. As a matter of fact the Roundtable on Partnership (see relevant pages of this Bulletin) could not arrive at an agreed definition and it was pointed out that, like "civil society", "partnership" may be defined by what it is not. It is not, then, a privatization process, or a procurement contract, or fundraising, or philanthropy or social marketing; nor is it a situation in which a partnership is said to have been struck between employees contributing their labour and technical skills or knowledge and an employer who is paying them for it.
On the other hand Partners pursue mutually agreed objectives; share the risks and benefits; establish transparent lines of communication; incorporate learning and adapt to change; and their partnership is purely voluntary and on equitable basis. Partnership is also greater than the sum total of its parts; for a distinguishing feature of it is its 'value-added'.
Until a decade or so ago it was widely held in Africa that 'development' was the exclusive preserve of national government. The business sector was small, very narrowly based (at times almost exclusively non-indigenous), purely profit-oriented and unconcerned with development. One could say that it was not even aware that it had a role to play in development. Government itself was ideologically convinced that the burden of development fell entirely on its shoulders. The public sector did not, therefore, manage the economy. It dominated it.
Decades of experience have since shown that development was too heavy a burden to be left to one sector alone and that both the private sector and civil society should shoulder their due share of that burden. The demise of Communism gave fresh impetus to this approach. It was also felt that political reforms would be necessary to enhance the feasibility of the new approach. These reforms go under the name of 'Governance' or 'Good Governance' and the international donor community provides technical and financial support to ensure that commitment is genuine and that the reforms are in the right direction.
In keeping with this healthy trend the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Subregional Development Centre for Southern Africa (ECA/SRDC-SA) organized a roundtable for the public sector, the private sector and civil society. The purpose of the roundtable was to encourage a dialogue which would lead to greater awareness of the dire need for partnership among these three parties. The Roundtable was held in the Lusaka Intercontinental Hotel on 5 and 6 April, 2001 and was well attended; the number of participants exceeding sixty. Organizing the Roundtable was itself an act of true partnership, for it would not have been possible without the collaboration of the UN Staff College in Turin, the UNDP Country office in Zambia, and the Southern Africa Enterprise Network (SAEN).
Papers on the need for partnership, the various aspects of partnership, and how to further partnership were presented in order to stimulate discussion. As a result, discussion was lively and positive. The need for partnership was appreciated and recognized. Problems were noted but could not obviously be tackled in only one session of dialogue. It was, therefore agreed that the dialogue be institutionalized and held at least once every two years to review progress and to see how further improvement could be made. To sustain the dialogue between sessions it was agreed that a newsletter to be called "Partnership" or "Partnership Dialogue" or something to that effect be established, an interim secretariat for it being based in the SRDC-SA. There was a recommendation - which was accepted - that a dialogue website be formed and it was suggested and agreed that SAEN should develop and manage the website.
Report of the proceedings is currently under preparation and will be published and distributed shortly.
"The United Nations once dealt only with Governments. By now we know that peace and prosperity cannot be achieved without partnerships involving Governments, international organizations, the business community and civil society. In today's world, we depend on each other."
With advances in technology, particularly in transport and communication, our world is shrinking and we hear too often people talking about the 'global village'. We have been brought closer to each other for we see everyday what happens in the remotest corners of our globe and the pictures are so graphic that we feel that we have a common interest in protecting each other and our deteriorating planet. We are equally concerned with the ozone layer and resultant global warming, with nuclear wastes and with air/water pollution among many other things. As the problems transcend national boundaries, we are beginning to feel our common destiny, our common humanity. The problems of one country are no longer restricted within the confines of its national boundaries, nor are they limited to neighbouring countries. The genesis of the current immigration problems of Europe and North America lies in other areas of the globe beset by poverty, bad governance and civil wars; AIDS has been spread worldwide, thanks to the rapid movement of persons across the globe.
If our calamities are so globalized so should our partnership. It is not surprising, therefore, that there is such a thing as "UN Programme on Partnership" and that, recognizing this, Ted Turner gave the UN one billion United States Dollars to institute and administer a UN programme for the promotion of partnership throughout the Globe. Nor is it surprising for the Secretary-General, Koffi Annan, to say in the above quotation "In today's world, we depend on each other".
A prominent feature of the UN Partnership Programme is the Global Learning Network on Partnership which is administered by the UN Staff College and is designed to train UN Staff Worldwide so that they would be in a position to support and work with business communities everywhere.
In recent years, the UN Secretary-General and the Executive Heads of a number of UN agencies have developed strategic relationships with the global business community. The Global Compact is a major vehicle for consolidating and taking these initiatives forward. In order to implement them, UN staff worldwide face the challenge of taking concrete action to involve business in their daily work.
To do this effectively UN staff need to:
What the Learning Network Offers
The companies who participate into the Global Compact platform will be invited to develop concrete partnerships with UN agencies.
As a result, UN Staff need to be ready and confident to create working relationships with these companies. The global Learning Network offers practical activities supporting UN staff engaged in partnership projects:
2. A Strategic forum for business and Global Compact focal points UN wide.
3. Internet based mechanisms for sharing knowledge and good practice.
We want all UN agencies to develop strong and effective partnerships benefiting the poorest and most vulnerable.
The UN Staff College Contribution
Bérangère Magarinos
The UN Staff College held a business Forum in the afternoon of 6 April 2001 at the Intercontinental Hotel for Zambian Businessmen and women. The objectives of the Forum were to:
Forty-six participants attended the Forum. They included representatives from multinational companies active in Zambia, local and regional business associations, NGOs involved in partnerships with business, and representatives of the government of Zambia.
Proceedings
The afternoon started with the opening speech of the UNDP Resident Representative, Mrs Olubanke King-Akerele. In her speech she underlined the importance of the Global Compact approach for Zambia. She said that the Forum was a timely initiative since her office and the entire country team had been developing various projects with business. Such projects were, for instance, in the fields of HIV and AIDS, in education (providing internships to graduate students in the private sector) and (at the sub-regional level) in the Growth Triangle involving businesses as well as the governments of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. The discussions were led by the team from the UN Staff College comprising Dr. Berangere Magarinos who is the Manager of the Global Learning Network and her colleague Ms. Lenni George.
The Global Compact
A video film showing Mr. Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary General, launching the Global Compact at the 1999 World Economic Forum in Davos was played for the participants so as to get them acquainted with the Secretary General's vision of corporate social responsibility.
Areas of Common Interest
Based on the Country Common Assessment (CCA), the training team from the UN Staff College identified key themes where the country team was seeking to develop partnerships eventually with business. The topics covered were:
Action Planning
These three action plans were used and developed further in a UN country team workshop that took place the following week. Contact addresses of participants in each working group were recorded in order to facilitate continual collaboration on these action plans. The capability maps were also used in the workshop for the UN Country Team.
After the Forum the UN Staff College hosted a cocktail for the participants from the Forum and from the ECA/SRDC-SA Roundtable. This gathering facilitated informal discussions between the two groups and between them and the team from the Staff College.
Zambia UN Country Team learns more about Partnership
The Global Learning Network on Partnership (GLNP), which is based in the UN Staff College, organized a two-day training workshop (10 and 11 April 2001) for the UN Country Team in Zambia together with two representatives of the ECA/SRDC-SA. In all, there were 18 participants who included the UN Resident Coordinator, the Director of the ECA/SRDC-SA and other senior officers. The workshop was held at the Ibis Garden Hotel in the outskirts of Lusaka.
Ms. B'erangère Magarinos, the Manager of GLNP and Ms. Lenni George, a senior trainer at the GLNP, conducted the workshop and, except for Mr. Martin Kalungu Banda who gave a lecture on corporate strategy for social responsibility, were the sole resource persons. Mr. Kalungu Banda used to teach business ethics at the University of Zambia but is now a senior officer of BP looking after his company's relations with government and the community at large. Two colleagues from UN Headquarters, Mr. Casper Sonesson of UNDP's Division for Business Partnership and Mr. Maleye Diop of the Public/Private Partnerships for Urban Environment Programme provided support by way of interventions.
Areas of focus and methodology
The workshop followed two complementary approaches. On one side was a transfer of knowledge and information based on cases, examples and definitions of partnerships, and introducing existing initiatives in the UN system and in the business community. On the other side the workshop followed a more "exploratory" approach based on skills development. Participants were encouraged to learn by doing through a simulation game, through working groups' activities on conflict management and on the partnership building process and finally through action planning.
The sessions of the workshop can be divided into four main knowledge and skills development areas.
The presentations and discussions with the group revealed a strong interest and equally strong desire in seeing more links between local operational partnerships and global strategic partnerships (or networks) and vice versa. For instance, a participant mentioned that local partnerships would probably be stronger if institutionalised or linked to an umbrella strategic network. The perfect example of the need to explore better the local versus global dynamic is in the Global Compact and the group had rich discussions on this matter supported by examples provided by the New York UNDP Division for Business Partnerships.
Finally in the overall process of understanding better the nature of UN/business partnerships, the group identified the pros and cons of working in partnership, debating ethical problems, the difficulty of screening companies and the protection of UN fundamental values. Participants recognized the risks and difficulties of developing partnerships with 'partners' following divergent interests.
B. The second area of concentration was dedicated to the understanding of business corporate social responsibility strategy. The coordinator of the Workshop stated: "When we described partnership examples in the first sessions, participants kept asking why this company or that company is interested in working with the UN, especially when we told them that in some cases the company never publicized its partnership with a UN agency. The best way to help UN staff better grasp where business is coming from was to ask business itself to describe its motivations. In the previous workshop the contribution of the New Academy of Business played partly that role. In Zambia we had the opportunity to hear about business strategy first hand with an executive of a multinational company with a branch in Zambia. The company has extensive corporate social responsibility programmes worldwide".
C. The third area of concentration dealt essentially with "HOW to build partnerships". At the workshop, this started with an extremely revealing simulation game where participants had to negotiate the first steps of a partnership process between UN, government, NGO sector and local and multinational construction sectors. Based on the negotiation exercise, the reflection focused on conflict management, identified as one of the key elements for ensuring partnership development and sustainability. After this, participants where exposed to the four stages of partnership building. Emphasis was put on the necessity to learn and improve constantly one's knowledge of the partnership development process. Participants were invited to work in four groups corresponding to the four phases of the process. Each group had to concentrate on a single phase and think about the tasks to be accomplished in the specific phase and the role of the partnership broker in each of these tasks. Participants had to examine partnership projects that they knew of and were involved in so as to see the applicability of theory to real-life partnership situations.
D. The fourth area of concentration was action planning. The group discussed the potential partnerships identified by the business community in their forum which was held the previous week. The participants decided to concentrate their efforts on the HIV and AIDS project and the integration of IT in primary education. A new project has also been identified, the integration of business in the Living Memorial of Dag Hammarskjoeld. The involvement of business in this project is based on the Global Compact Principles on human rights. The Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, was expected to come to Zambia and launch the memorial in the summer of 2001; this would be an opportunity to reinforce business involvement in this project, especially the involvement of Swedish companies. For the three projects, participants reflected on the work done so far during the business roundtable and took forward the development of a capabilities map, including the identification of partners and resources needed.
" Inspired by the successful experience in South-East Asia, the Zambia-Malawi-Mozambique Growth Triangle (ZMM-GT), which is a private sector driven initiative, represents a mechanism for deepening and complementing the efforts being made by regional economic communities towards enhancing sub-regional/regional cooperation and integration as a means to engender economic growth and alleviating poverty. As such, this concept represents an innovative approach that responds to the development of our border areas and the challenges that these have posed to us, thereby offering a model for possible replication elsewhere on our continent"
More than three decades have passed since the Pearson Commission responded to the flagging of international development cooperation with appeals for global partnership based on the interests shared by both developed and developing countries. Today, the principles, forms, practices and content of development partnership all seem to be shifting in the wake of geographical realignments, major economic re-engineering and recent unprecedented scientific and technological advances. Within countries, changing demarcations between the states, civil society and the private sector are leading to new partnership patterns based on the changed interests and capacities of these actors. Between countries, rapid changes and growing connections in trade, investment, labour and technology are reshaping their relationships and priorities for collaboration. At the onset of the new millennium, partnership is high on the agenda of all social
actors engaged in development issues. Government, civil society and the private sector as well as donors are all trying to improve their understanding of how to structure and sustain productive partnerships. Complex issues of regional cooperation and economic integration increasingly demand innovative and rapid solutions based on the knowledge and resources of a multiplicity of sectors and institutions.
Since the late 1980s, the Concept of Growth Triangles has gained prominence, particularly in Asia, where it has been successfully applied as a specific form of regional economic cooperation and a means of accelerating the pace of development. Growth Triangles are transnational economic zones spread over geographically neighbouring areas, in which differences in factor endowments of three or more countries are exploited to promote external trade and investment for the mutual benefit of the concerned countries.
Introduced in 1999 by UNDP-Zambia and its sister offices of Malawi and Mozambique, the aforementioned Southern African countries have over the past two years embraced the concept of Growth Triangle as an innovative approach for tackling poverty in their relevant areas. The Zambia-Malawi-Mozambique Growth Triangle (ZMM-GT) demonstrates an inter-African cooperation for development through effective public-private sector partnerships. The Concept and its adaptation in Africa, in essence, represents an opportunity to translate the "building block" approach of the African Economic Community operationally on the ground.
The ZMM-GT Development Strategy: Vision, Goal, Objectives, Complementary and Synergistic Features
The vision for ZMM-GT is the realization of rapid and broad-based economic growth leading to poverty alleviation and socially acceptable and sustainable development.
The overarching objective of the ZMM-GT is to provide an enabling framework within which the private sector will contribute more effectively to increased small-holder incomes, employment creation, sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction, while making profit in the process, by facilitating linkages and networking among small and large producers to take advantage of the expanded market opportunities. The strategic objective, therefore, is to complement and further enhance national efforts at economic development, particularly of the somewhat marginalized and economically depressed areas that constitute much of the economic space of the proposed ZMM-GT. The area of coverage of the Growth Triangle would comprise some 301,000 square kilometers and include Eastern and Northern Provinces of Zambia, the Central and Northern Regions of Malawi, and Tete Province in Mozambique.
A subsidiary objective is to increase the level of cooperation and integration in investment, trade, technology, labour use, research and information. The target areas include: agriculture and agro-industry, fisheries, transport, customs and trade facilitation, tourism, and information technology. One important element of the ZMM-GT development strategy is the complementary nature of ZMM-GT to the development process of both COMESA and SADC. This complementary nature is explained by the fact that the concept adopts a pragmatic, "bottom-up", flexible and market-oriented approach aimed at external markets, and thereby speeds-up and deepens the process of regional cooperation. The concept helps to realize both SADC and COMESA goals at the local level-thereby ensuring grassroots participation and involvement in the integration process. The initiative will also establish linkages and synergies with existing development and transport corridors such as the Nacala and Beira Corridors as well as the Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs).
The ZMM-GT is oriented toward the expansion of resources in the area and the growth of future output rather than the realization of static efficiency gains using existing resources. They highlight the complementarities of the actual or potential resources bases of the constituent sub-regions, which derive from differences in the supply and prices of factors. However, jointly agreed specialization or localization of economic activity, leading to intra-industry or intra-firm trade, is also regarded as an important approach to the efficient utilization of resources and the promotion of growth. Growth triangles are anchored mainly on private sector initiatives, with governments demonstrating firm commitment by providing the basic infrastructure and conducive policy environment, thereby facilitating the establishment and operation of business in the zones.
In the context of the above conceptual framework, the ZMM-GT development strategy is oriented primarily to the promotion of specialization and regionalization of economic activity to achieve increasing returns or economies of scale. This is in line with the globalization of production that characterizes prevailing international trade and investment patterns. While the development of ZMM-GT will undoubtedly involve the market internal to ZMM-GT, it should also be viewed in the context of the wider regional and global economies. The creation of an increasingly integrated ZMM-GT economy should enhance and hasten the development of export industries oriented beyond ZMM-GT.
The realization of commercial opportunities that are likely to develop through specialization and regionalization of production should result from overcoming the various constraints on regional cooperation; identifying collaborative investment projects for private sector involvement, particularly those associated with the target productive sectors; and creating an enabling environment (including the required incentive structures) within which joint investment and production activities can flourish.
Complementary Roles of the Public and Private Sectors
ZMM-GT will develop as the private sector identifies and realizes investment opportunities. Indeed, given the importance of the "right" policies for social and economic development in a given situation, the public sector also has a pivotal role to play in creating the right investment climate and incentive structure for the private sector to drive development, and in undertaking measures such as basic physical and social infrastructure required to hasten and sustain economic development.
Creating the right policy framework and initial infrastructure setting is essential for ZMM-GT, given the largely rudimentary state or evolving nature of both policy and infrastructure. However, it will be the private sector that is expected to fully exploit its development potential. Indeed, a key aim of the strategy is to empower the private sector, i.e. to lay the groundwork that will enable the private sector to identify and freely make investment and production choices.
Building Partnerships with Government, the Private Sector and Development/ Cooperating Partners: Partners at Work Institutionally, sub-regional cooperation is intended to be primarily market-driven, generally taking the form of investment-led integration, with the private sector providing capital, technology, training, and marketing channels. In this, intra-industry flows play a key role by linking firm-level activities, such as investment, sourcing, production, and distribution across borders and taking advantage of sub-regional (and regional) complementarities. However, governments play a crucial role both as a source of key investment for certain projects and in providing an enabling environment for economic cooperation and project implementation. Therefore, an important characteristic and critical success factor for sub-regional cooperation is the symbiotic relationship between the public and private sectors. It involves forging new types of partnerships and collaboration between them not only at the initiation level but also at the actual project implementation level.
Building partnerships for the advancement of the Growth Triangle initiative started formally with the organization of a Brainstorming Technical Workshop in June 1999 in Lusaka, Zambia. The workshop attracted high-level technical expertise from Africa and Asia as well as the private sector, government, academic world, and economic institutions. In accordance with the decisions taken at the said Workshop, a Private Sector Forum (PSF) and Steering Committee to promote the ZMM-GT were formed with initial catalytic support from UNDP. The Steering Committee is a joint partnership comprising the private sector, government and cooperating partners from the three countries. The Workshop also decided that a Pre-feasibility Study be conducted and its findings presented at an Inception Meeting in Malawi.
Headquartered in Zambia until December 2000, the PSF worked closely with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and UNDP throughout the requisite pre-feasibility study for the initiative. The Forum also carried out some of the sectoral studies, participated in several study tours to Business Councils in Asia, and held two meetings in Tete, Mozambique, one of which formally launched the PSF in September 1999, under the leadership of Chair of the PSF of Mozambique and of the Tete Chambers of Commerce. The success of the ZMM-GT Inception Meeting in Malawi in November 2000 was largely due to the significant contribution of the Malawian Chapter of the ZMM-GT PSF and its effective partnership with UNDP-Malawi and the Government of Malawi. Significant private sector participation at the Inception Meeting occurred, not only from the three countries but also from the Asian countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, all of which have experiences with Growth Triangles. They indicated their readiness to work with the ZMM-GT, establish strategic alliances and explore investment prospects.
As a result of a presentation by the ZMM-GT private sector at the Asia-Africa Forum (part of the Japanese Government's initiated TICAD process) in Malaysia in May 2000, the Millennium Statement resulting from the Forum endorsed the concept as an appropriate and effective framework responding to practical and meaningful transfer/adaptation of the Asian experience to Africa.
From the beginning, the issues of partnership building and resource mobilization were taken into serious consideration. Much of the resource mobilization strategies were developed through the pre-feasibility study that enabled partners like the African Development Bank to reconfirm their interest with the UNECA, SU/TCDC, USAID, EU through COMESA and the three (3) UNDP Country Offices contributing funds towards the initiative. Equally, the Pre-feasibility Study also gave the partners time and opportunity to develop a common vision of what was possible, and an attempt to understand the differing perspectives, priorities and constraints and also interests. The results are directly visible, and to build on the momentum generated so far, the World Bank/International Finance Corporation/ Foreign Investment Advisory Services (FIAS) has been brought on board as partners to assist in the design of a business plan and advise on an appropriate institutional support for the Coordinating Secretariat (Implementing Agency for the initiative).
Conclusions/Achievments
Development Partnerships make the greatest contribution when they adopt a focused and measured way of sharing experiences, responsibilities and capacities to meet challenges bigger than one partner alone could handle. Achieving this requires that all the partners see the partnership as a "Win-Win enterprise". All the partners, whether they be political leaders, civil servants, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, management, labour or people in general, play different roles according to their different circumstances, but all operate or should operate from the same set of principles. Dialogue among partners is equally an essential and critical factor for success because, without it, one is unable to assess the needs and aspirations of one's partners.
The ZMM-GT Project has facilitated linkages between the private sector forum and their counterparts in Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. These linkages are meant to lead to formation of strategic alliances. In this way, ZMM-GT business association/ chambers can strengthen their capacity in facilitating a global reach of their members. Thus, the project has contributed to the removal of "non-global" mindset among many of its stakeholders.
The effective partnership between the initiating institution (UNDP), Government and the private sector as well as with the other development partners (UNECA, UNSAID, EU/COMESA, SU/TCDC, UNDESA, World Bank IFC/FIAS) has moved the ZMM-GT initiative, relatively in a short period of time, from its introduction to the participating countries to the implementation stage. Political commitment remains critical in this phase and will continue to remain so in the years ahead. For this, the three (3) governments have signed a LETTER OF INTENT with a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by end of 2001. Meanwhile, a government-private sector managed Coordinating Secretariat for the three (3) countries have been set up at the Zambia Investment Centre (ZIC) to implement the ZMM-GT project "on the ground". The Administrative Unit of the Private Sector Forum (PSF) has since January 2001 been moved to Malawi, with its Resources Mobilization functions being managed from Mozambique.
The unprecedented achievements in the evolution of this initiative to date are due to the leadership role of the private sector within the ZMM-GT countries that is taking ownership as overall operator concerned with wealth creation as an approach to poverty reduction. Indeed, the private sector has been the driving force of this initiative - introducing for the first time in Africa, an active indigenous private sector commitment to and participation in the promotion of the regional integration.
The implementation of the ZMM-GT will be guided by a business plan designed by World Bank Foreign Investment Advisory Services following a field mission, in May 2001, in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. In its implementation phase the project is now being executed by the Economic Commission for Africa, with partners such as the World Bank/IFC Foreign Investment Advisory Services (FIAS), UNDP's Special Unit/Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) and contributions from the ZMM-GT countries.
Among the countries/institutions that have shown interest in the initiative include Senegal, that has taken the lead in undertaking preliminary work for a Senegal-Mali-Guinea Growth Triangle; African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF); African Development Bank; Japan; and the European Union Delegation in Ethiopia for possible replication of the concept in IGAD.
The ZMM-GT experience is an excellent example of how Africa can benefit from South-South Cooperation and learn from successful Asian endeavors in working towards poverty alleviation with the private sector driving and taking ownership of the process. The experience equally demonstrates how, through effective partnership with government, private sector and development agencies, an innovation of such magnitude can be introduced and implemented within a relatively short period of time.
Partnership in Operationalizing the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004
A. Action To-date
"HIV/AIDS is a major burden and challenge to the health, social and economic development of the region. Categorically, SADC stresses that there cannot be meaningful development in the SADC region as long as HIV/AIDS is not addressed on an urgent and emergency basis. The SADC Ministers identified HIV/AIDS as a crisis that requires a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach. This entails forging strategic partnerships and alliances across public, private and NGO sectors."
It is in view of this that in April 2000, the SADC Council of Ministers adopted the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000 t0 2004. The overarching goal of SADC Framework on HIV/AIDS is "decreasing the number of HIV/AIDS infected and affected individuals in the SADC region so that HIV/AIDS is no longer a threat to public heath and to the socio-economic development of Member States".
The escalating prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Southern African countries and the disproportionately high level and impact of the pandemic on women and children has been recognized and documented. Several Initiatives are currently being undertaken to slow down the spread and impact of the pandemic on the African populations particularly among most vulnerable groups such as women, children, youth, migrant labour and their families especially in the SADC mining, employment and labour sectors.
In order to contribute to the operationalization of the SADC Framework, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Sub-Regional Development Centre for Southern Africa (ECA-SRDC/SA) in Lusaka, Zambia in November 2000 organized an Ad-Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Gender Networking to Control HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa through a gender approach.
The SADC Secretariat, the SADC Health Co-coordinating Unit, United Nations Fund for Women in Southern Africa (UNIFEM-SARO) and the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) provided resourceful partnership in organizing and servicing the expert group meeting on gender networking to control HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa.
When the experts reviewed the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework it was found to be not gender responsive. Thus, the experts recommended that it should be engendered as a process of operationalization. An action plan to that effect was drawn up which includes organizing a sensitization and capacity building workshop on HIV/AIDS. The developing partners cited above, made concrete financial and human resource commitments for follow-up actions specified in the action plan drawn up during the meeting.
Further, subsequent to the meeting, proactive consultations between SRDC/SA and key development partners were undertaken. These consultations mainly focused on resource mobilization to implement defined follow-up actions and other logistics.
The report of the Ad-Hoc expert group meeting was widely disseminated to users and other stakeholders. This and additional interaction between SARD/SA and prospective partners, expanded the partnership to include the Gender and Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations International Office of Migration (IOM) in Southern Africa.
The Gender and Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat intends to hold further consultations with UNIFEM SARO in order to further concretize their inputs into follow-up actions to the Lusaka meeting.
The approach to be applied must carry on board the Committee of SADC Health Ministers, which constitutes a policy organ for operationalizing the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework.
B. Current Developments in the Expanded Partnership
As already mentioned, in the course of 2001, SRDC/SA and the collaborating partners have been involved in consultations and discussions on the best approach for implementing the well-defined actions on engendering the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework, which is a process of building capacity for its operationalization. The consensus indicates that, for purposes of achieving measurable impact and making a realistic breakthrough, a sector-specific approach should be adopted, as opposed to taking on board all the SADC HIV/AIDS Co-ordinating Sectors.
To that end, it has been proposed that, preceding the workshop the International Office of Migration in Southern Africa would sponsor a one-two months study to concretize specific issues to be analyzed during the planned workshop, the target groups in the SADC mining, employment, labour and health sectors, expected impact and drawing up a follow-up programme. The study is expected to mainly consolidate research already undertaken by the SADC HIV/AIDS Sector Co-ordinating units and highlight gaps/constraints to be addressed. The findings of the study would also constitute a blue print for consideration and support of the SADC Ministers of Health.
Further, through cost-sharing arrangements with SARDC/SA and other development partners, the International Office of Migration in Southern Africa has also made a commitment to meet the cost of travel and DSA for 20-25 workshop participants from specified sectors of vulnerable groups.
The partnership which ECA-SRDC/SA is experiencing in addressing HIV/AIDS which is currently a common deterrent factor in the development efforts in Southern Africa, is an example on how organizations can maximize the efficiency of their resources and at the same time scoring performance in the areas of their highest comparative advantages. This partnership is hoped is a beginning of a process for heightened assertive effort to reduce the effects and impact of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa.
ECA Programme for Forging Partnerships for Africa's Development
1. Introduction
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has substantively reshaped itself to anticipate opportunities rather than merely react to events. Successful implementation of all the major initiatives and programme developments of the Commission will, however, require African nations and institutions to ultimately drive the process. ECA, therefore, is seeking synergies with African intergovernmental organizations especially the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), UN bodies and specialized agencies, donor countries, African universities, research centres, and civil society groups. Most of the collaborations will involve research, advisory services, sponsorship of seminars
and workshops, data exchange, advocacy and consensus building.
2. Framework of ECA's Partnership Programme
ECA's partnership programme is best explained in its publication, Partnership Africa: A Synopsis of the ECA Framework for Cooperation, which provides a snapshot of nineteen projects in six thematic clusters as follows:
I. Meeting of the Seventh Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) Reviews the Activities of the ECA Subregional Development Centre for Southern Africa ECA/SRDC-SA, 3 - 4 April, 2001
The Seventh Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) of the ECA Subregional Development Centre for Southern Africa (ECA/SRDC-SA) was convened in Lusaka, Zambia from 3 - 4 April 2001 to discuss and review activities of the Centre. The following eight of the eleven member States participated at that meeting: Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The meeting was also attended by representatives from the following organizations: African Institute for Economic Development Planning (IDEP), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI), Mineral and Energy Policy Centre (MEPC), the Organization of the African Unity (OAU), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country offices of Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The meeting discussed several reports including:
The review on the follow up on Implementation of National Information and Communication Infrastructure Policies in Southern Africa showed that some countries were making progress in the development of broad-based ICT policy formulation. Mauritius had made significant achievement while Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa and Zambia had taken key steps that advanced their broad-based national information and communication policies. Botswana had recently begun a process towards ICT policy formation. ECA was urged to play its role in resource mobilization for ICT development in Africa.
The Meeting encouraged ECA to go ahead with the organization of an Experts Meeting on National Mechanism for Coordination of Regional Cooperation and Integration in Southern Africa and come up with some best practices from which member States could draw some lessons.
Discussions on the Report on Food Security and Sustainable Development underscored the importance of food security as one of the priority goals of socio-economic development. Food Security was seen not only as an issue of Agriculture but also to address other fundamental linked issues including employment. Linking various national policies towards common economic and social development goals was central to the quest towards food security and sustainable development. Consequently, the population, environment, development and agriculture (PEDA) model was seen as a useful advocacy tool on the linkages and policy implications on food security and sustainable development. The Meeting appealed to member States in the subregion to work towards formulation of a common position on issues of sustainable development at the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in South Africa, 2 - 11 September, 2002.
The Meeting reviewed Major Initiatives and Programme Developments including the African Development Forum and the ECA Global Compact with Africa. The Meeting recommended that ECA should pursue its efforts and adequately inform member States of its services, and publications. In this regard, it was suggested that the ICE meetings should be used as one of the avenues for the dissemination of ECA's major publications, including the annual Economic Report.
Discussing Regional Priorities and Work of the ECA/SRDC-SA, the meeting called for the need to (a) ensure financing of training workshops/seminars included in the approved work programmed; priority areas of the Centre to cover sustainable development, environmental protection, minerals and energy development; balance the responsibilities of the SRDC-SA and resources allocated; and continue to hold the ICE annually.
II. Southern African Countries Discuss Population and Development Issues, Windhoek, Namibia, 5-8 June 2001
The Seventh Southern African Forum for Population and Development (SAFPAD) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Windhoek from 5 to 7 June 2001 and discussed population and development issues in the context of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD-PA). This was followed by the fourth Southern African Minister's Conference on Population and Development (SAMCPD) on 8 June 2001. The following member States attended the meeting: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Each country presented a statement that reflected progress in the implementation of the ICPD-PA on the following:
The recommendations made at the meeting included the following:
Development of population policy and related issues
Population and poverty
Reproductive health including family planning
Population, research, data collection and information dissemination
Capacity building for managing and implementing population programmes
Population information, education and communication
Resource mobilization, cooperating partners and the role of civil societies
As at the previous meetings the SMCPD reiterated the need for the SADC secretariat to include in its structures, a unit to deal with population and development issues.
III. Joint Conference of African Ministers of Finance and Ministers of Economic Development and Planning, Algiers, Algeria, 2-10 May 2001
The Joint Conference was held in conjunction with the Thirty-fourth Session of the Commission, the policy organ of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The Conference theme was: Implementing the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme - Compact for Africa.
The Ministers reached consensus on a number of critically important issues on Africa's development, including identification of short-term challenges to Africa's development and the adoption of the Compact for Africa as a possible mechanism for operationalizing the New African Initiative for African recovery.
The key challenges over the next few years were identified to be:
(b) Fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic, which must involve every level of leadership in Africa, from Heads of State and Government to heads of family and the individual African.
(c) Prioritization of health and education services to mould a productive and competitive society.
(d) Promotion of science and technology in education and adoption of information and communication technology as a tool for development.
(e) Transformation of aid relationship with development partners, including issues of debt.
(f) Upcoming new round of negotiations of the World Trade Organization.
The Ministers considered the two initiatives, namely the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme (MAP) led by Presidents Mbeki, Obasanjo and Bouteflika, and the OMEGA PLAN proposed by President Wade of Senegal. They supported the need to combine the two initiatives into a single African initiative, which should provide an appropriate framework for Africa's development. In this regard, the Ministers adopted the ECA-initiated Compact for African Recovery as an appropriate framework for facilitating the implementation of the African initiative.
In presenting the Compact to the Conference, the Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. K.Y. Amoako, said:
"The Compact reflects the urgent need for Africa to continue along the path of fundamental political and economic reform. Four areas deserve particular attention in this regard. First, Africa must summon the will to take good governance seriously by ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law, strengthening democratization, and promoting transparency and capability in public administration. Second, Africa must adopt the changes needed to promote economic growth and macro-economic stability. Third, Africa must tap the initiative and entrepreneurship of the private sector. The fourth area is not so much a question of reform as it is a matter of rising to a new and grave challenge: the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Last month's Summit in Abuja showed that more and more African leaders are recognizing the need for their sustained personal involvement. Next month's Special Session of the General Assembly is an opportunity to adopt a concrete plan of action to fight a disease which, though a global problem, is currently having its worst effects in Africa.
"Africa's development partners should support Africa's own efforts at change by increasing official development assistance, debt relief and market access. The United Nations, for its part, remains committed to supporting an African-led and African-owned development agenda. With many positive developments occurring in Africa, and with the growing interest of the international community in assisting those African countries that have undertaken needed reforms, we must not let up now. In that hopeful spirit, I wish you every success in your deliberations."
IV. Meeting of SADC Council of Ministers, Midrand, South Africa, 19-24 February 2001
The Ministers in charge of the Southern African Development Community's Southern African Transport and Communications Commission (SADC/SATCC) held their regular annual meeting on 15 June 2001 at Mangochi, Malawi. Preceded by the meeting of SATCC Committee of Senior Officials, which took place on 12-14 June 2001 at the same venue, the meeting was preparatory to the upcoming meetings of SADC Policy Organs to be held in early August in Blantyre, Malawi.
The Ministers took several decisions on the implementation of SATCC programmes, including:
(b) Road Transport - The Ministers considered a progress report on the implementation of the Beira Corridor Project, which is supported by the African Development Bank.
(c) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) - The Ministers have recommended to SADC Council that ICT be declared as a priority in SADC region. A Task Force was established to draw up a strategy for bridging the "Digital Divide" and to bring SADC into the digital world.
VI. COMESA Holds Fifth Business Forum Alongside the Annual Meetings of the Policy Organs, Cairo, Egypt, 20 - 23 May 2001
The annual meetings of the Policy Organs of COMESA were held in Cairo, Egypt, from 15 to 23 May 2001 and included the fifth Business Forum. The Meeting of Council of Ministers was attended by 18 of the 20 member States, while ten Heads of State and Government took part in the Summit. Many regional and international organizations, including OAU, SADC and ECA attended as observers.
The Business Forum attracted a large group of about 400 participants from within and outside the COMESA region, representing the private and public sector. It covered the theme, COMESA FTA: Gateway to Investment and focused on three areas, which formed the basis for group discussions. These were: promoting policy dialogue between the public and private sectors and other stakeholders; transport, telecommunications and infrastructure; and agriculture and industrialization.
The Summit Authority made several decisions, including the following:
VII. The SADC Transport Investment Forum, Windhoek, Namibia, April 2001
The SADC Transport Investment Forum was held in Windhoek, Namibia on 24-26 April 2001. Its overall objective was to present investment opportunities available in the various transport sub-sectors and corridors to potential investors and to market the region as an attractive destination for investment. The Forum was a follow-up to the developments that have taken place in the transport sector in Southern Africa over the past two decades. These developments can be summarized as follows:
2. Divestiture by governments from public monopolies in the transport sector paving the way for private sector participation through privatisation and concessioning;
3. The coming into force of the Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology (PTCM) which provided a legally binding regional framework for reforms and development of a regionally integrated and efficient transport system; and,
4. Reforms to transform the transport sector so as to orient it to market based service provision.
The Forum was attended by over 200 delegates from all SADC member States, donors, financial institutions, the private sector and international organizations. It addressed issues pertaining to SADC's growth and integration potential, the investment climate, the status of reforms and private sector participation, and investment opportunities in Southern Africa as a whole.
The main recommendations of the Forum pertained to the need to continue mobilising investment for the transport sector, enhance capacity for implementing the reforms, and translate the various studies undertaken previously into implementation plans. It was perceived also that there need to ensure that all negotiations were in conformity with the Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology, which is preserving the regional integrity of the transport system and market based service provision in a liberalised environment.
The Forum mapped the way forward by addressing policy reforms and capacity building, operational efficiency, and marketing, and investment mobilisation as elaborated below.
On policy reforms and capacity building, the following were discussed:
On operational improvements, action was recommended to be undertaken on the following aspects:
Regarding marketing and investment mobilisation, it was agreed that the following actions were prerequisite for sustainable development of transport infrastructure and services:
I. Meeting of the Organization of African Unity, Lusaka, 2-11 July 2001
The regular Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) will be held in July 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia. Among the key issues to be discussed is the launch of the African Union (AU) to replace the OAU, a political initiative with a major economic component, manifest in the commitment to economic and monetary union. The AU obliges Africa's leaders, at all levels, to consider seriously how to transform today's important but limited integration processes into a more far-reaching and effective continent-wide instrument for economic and political unification. In this regard, the Summit will consider proposals for merging two regional initiatives, namely The Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme [MAP] and the OMEGA PLAN, into a single regional plan for economic development plan.
II. Meeting of SADC Policy Organs, Blantyre, Malawi, 6-14 August 2001
The Policy organs of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are due to hold their annual meetings in Blantyre, Malawi, from 6 to 14 August 2001. The meetings will consider, among other things, several new Protocol for signature, the restructuring of SADC institutions, progress reports on implementation of SADC Programme of Action, as well as Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan for SADC.
III. African Development Forum (ADF 2001), 9-14 December 2001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The African Development Forum (ADF) is designed as a forum for informed dialogue and consensus building on urgent development issues of relevance to and identified by Africa. Initiated in 1999, it is an annual event organized by ECA in December in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first ADF focussed on ways to harness the information technology for Africa's development, while the second one addressed the leadership challenge to manage the crisis of HIV/AIDS in Africa. ADF 2001 will attempt to define priorities for regional integration in Africa.
ADF 2001 focuses on regional economic integration in Africa in the context of the recent commitment by African Heads of State and Government to create the African Union. Taking into consideration the fact that regional economic integration is a political project as much as an economic one, ADF 2001will provide a forum for Heads of State and Government, policy makers, all aspects of civil society, including the private sector, and development partners, to consider the implications of the AU on them. Specifically, it will:
The Forum is expected to contribute to the ongoing process of establishing the AU by, among other things:
IV. 12th Meeting of Conference of African Ministers of Transport and Communications, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11 to 12 December 2001
The 12th meeting of the Conference of African Ministers of Transport and Communications and the Transport Symposium will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11 and 12 December 2001. The agenda for the transport and communications meeting will focus on fine tuning the recommendations of the third and final evaluation report of the United Nations Transport and Communications Decade in Africa (UNTACDA II). The ministers' meeting will be instrumental in deepening the understanding and analysis of issues relating to the development of transport and communications in the region, and will chart the way forward for the transport sector after UNTACDA II. The conference will also serve as a forum for discussion of the relating to "Integration through Infrastructure Development" to be discussed at ADF 2001. Several thematic and sector specific papers will be presented and discussed at the symposium focusing under the theme "Developing yesterday's African transportation into future's system for reducing poverty and meeting globalization challenges".
V. Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on National Mechanisms for Harmonization of Regional Cooperation and Integration in Southern Africa, Lusaka, Zambia 15-17 October, 2001
The Subregional Development Centre for Southern Africa (ECA/SRDC-SA) is planning to organize an Ad Hoc Experts Group Meeting to be held in Lusaka from 15 to 17 October 2001.
The objective of the Meeting is to review an ECA/SRDC-SA paper on national mechanisms for the coordination of regional economic cooperation and integration in Southern African countries. The paper when finalized will constitute an input into the 2001 African Development Forum (ADF-2001), whose theme is "Regional Cooperation and Integration in Africa".
This meeting will provide an opportunity to the SRDC to avail itself of the collective experience and wisdom of a group of experts on how to improve national mechanisms for the effective coordination of regional cooperation and integration with the view of infusing subregional/regional and national policies.
Owing to paucity of resources the SRDC-SA called on national experts from some Southern African countries, viz: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia, to prepare country case studies. It is these case studies that will then be consolidated in a single paper on national mechanisms for the coordination of regional cooperation and integration, which will form the basis for discussion by the experts.
Upon critical review and advice of the experts the paper will be finalized before its submission as an input to ADF2001.
Workshop on HIV/AIDS
In collaboration with the SAD, UNIFEM Southern Africa, the Commonwealth Secretariat, International Organization for Migration in Southern Africa, the ECA/SRDC-SA will organize the workshop. Building on the action plan drawn up during the Ad-hoc Expert Group Meeting in Lusaka in November 2000; and using the guidelines approved by the SADC Ministers of Health, the workshop will: (a) critically review the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004 and highlight the gender gaps focusing on the SADC Mining, Employment and Labour Sector; (b) define measures to address the gender gaps already identified; (c) draw up a programme to be implemented at the national, sectoral and SADC regional levels to address the gender gaps; (d) solicit expanded partnership and collaboration in support of mainstreaming gender into HIV/AIDS response among the migrant labour in the two SADC sectors.
Dates and Venue
Dates are fixed tentatively for 29-30 October 2001 and the venue will be Lusaka, Zambia.
Target Groups
Managers of migrant labour from SADC Mining and Employment and Labour sectors.
For further information contact:
Dr. Robert M. Okello, Director
Editorial
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General
1. Identify what they can expect from business and what they can offer to business.
2. Learn about each other's partnership experience.
3. Develop specific skills related to the partnership building process and management of it.
1. Learning workshops in the field for UN Country Teams followed by Roundtable discussions with the business community.
Contact us:
The Business Forum for Zambia
Activity Manager
Phone: 0039011 6936909
Fax: 0039116936797
Email: b.magarinos@itcilo.it
Web page: www.itcilo.it/unsc
Participants
In each sector, one or two existing projects were presented either by UN Staff College or by NGOs working with the UN team. Then, the participants were asked to select an area of interest and to form a working group. Three areas were selected: participation, HIV/AIDS, and education. After a short input on how to develop a capability map, each group was assigned two tasks. First, they had to brainstorm and identify new possible partnerships. Secondly, they were to select one of the projects and draw a capability map identifying the resources needed and the potential players.
Recommendations
A. The first of these areas encompassed a generic understanding of UN/business partnerships from a UN point of view, including the global UN strategy and the institutional framework. In this area the emphasis has been put on defining precisely the characteristics of effective partnerships, making sure that the participants perceive the difference between procurement and partnership or social marketing and partnership, to name just two matters frequently confused with partnership.
Introduction
Reviewing the Report on the work of the SRDC-SA, the Meeting deplored lack of funding to implement some of the planned workshops e.g. the one on Nexus Issues and Natural Resources Accounting. In this regard, it stressed the need for member States to support ECA activities for mobilization of the requisite financial resources. On the Economic and Social Conditions in Southern Africa, the meeting called for inclusion of issues on environment, manufacturing, exchange rates, monetary policies as well as the impact of HIV/AIDS in future reports.
Gender issues: equity and equality
(a) Actions that African countries and peoples must take in order to improve governance and build African capacities for development.
V. SADC Ministers of Transport and Communications Meet in Malawi, 15 June 2001
(a) Air Transport - Key decisions were taken in the area of air transport, including implementation of CNS/ATM, the Yamoussoukro Declaration the African Open Skies and Ratification of Articles 50a and 60 of the Chicago Convention
1. Macro-economic reforms resulting in a move from central planning to overall liberalisation and market based economic management;
Upcoming Events
The following will be the areas of focus:
ECA/SRD-SA
P.O. Box 30647
LUSAKA
Telephone No: 260-1-228502
Fax: 260-1-236949
Email: srdcsa.uneca@un.org