E/ECA/CM.22/11/Add.1
1 May 1996
Distr.: GENERAL

1. This document contains decisions brought to the attention of the Commission for consideration and adoption which have been taken by its subsidiary organs and sponsored institutions since its last session, and which are not otherwise the subject of separate items on the agenda of the present meeting.

I. ISSUES CALLING FOR ACTION BY THE COMMISSION

2. The following are decisions taken by subsidiary organs and sponsored institutions of the Commission, which are brought to the attention of the Conference of Ministers for consideration and adoption.

A. Eighth meeting of the Board of Governors of the African

Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development⁽¹⁾ (ACMAD)

Decision on sharpening the objectives and long-term goal of the

African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD)

The Conference of Ministers responsible for economic and social development and planning,

Recalling its resolution 621 (XXII) of May 1988 adopting the Constitution of the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development,

Aware of its resolution 651 (XXII) of May 1991 on the scale of contribution to the regular budget of the Centre,

Mindful of its resolution 741 (XVIII) of May 1992 on the work programme and budget of the Centre for 1992-1995,

Having noted the report of the eighth meeting of the Board of Governors of the Centre, held in Niamey, Niger, on 27 and 28 March 1996,

1. Decides:

I. OBJECTIVES AND GOALS

(a) To refocus the medium- and long-term goals of the Centre to make it better respond to the evolving needs of member States.

Long-term goal of the Centre

(b) The Centre shall act as the weather and climate watch institution for Africa by:

(i) providing African countries with regular medium- to long-term meteorological and climate forecasts;

(ii) providing regional early warnings on drought and tropical cyclones;

(c) The Centre shall act as the African centre of excellence for meteorological applications for development by:

(i) building capacities for cross-sectoral activities for meteorological applications for social and economic development at the national level, strengthened and broad-based national meteorological services and improved communication infrastructure; and

(ii) developing methodologies and techniques for application at the national level;

(iii) participating in global climate and weather watch programmes;

(iv) providing specialized training to relevant professionals in Africa; and

(v) maintain appropriate research facilities and regional data bank and make them available to researchers in the region;

Immediate- and short-term objectives

(vi) produce products that will satisfy the requirements of member States and complement those of national meteorological service and increase their effectiveness demand and impact;

(vii) assist in developing and strengthening the capacity of national meteorological services to become broad-based and con-sectoral, interacting regularly with the ultimate users, including government departments and other non-government users; and

(viii) participate in the global weather watch programme.

II. SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

2. Also decides to establish a Scientific Advisory Committee of the Board of Governors. The Committee is the principal body to advise the Board on Scientific matters related to ACMAD's activities and will perform the following functions with a view to providing proposals and recommendations to the Board:

(a) To ensure that scientific content of programmes and products of the Centre meet the regional requirements and standards for achieving the medium- and long-term objectives of the Centre by:

(i) reviewing and evaluating the Centre's products and services taking into account the set objectives of the Centre and the expressed requirements of users;

(ii) advising the Board on the type of scientific and technical infrastructure required to produce and disseminate the Centre's products to users;

(iii) reviewing the requirements for technical and scientific staff of the Centre taking into consideration the activities to be carried out by the Centre and providing guidelines for the recruitment of senior scientific staff;

(iv) making periodic scientific reviews with the Director-General to help him/her keep within the objectives which may be presented to it by the Director-General of the Centre or any of the members;

(b) Review the objectives of the Centre in the light of emerging economic and scientific developments or any other new scientific issues that are likely to contribute to enhancing the activities of the Centre;

(c) Review the responses of the principal users of the Centre's products and services with a view to better satisfy their needs and review the list of users periodically;

(d) Develop mechanism for determining users' needs and for assessing benefits realized through the use of the Centre's products and services;

(e) Follow up scientific developments in the areas relevant to the Centre's activities;

(f) Examine with immediate effect and propose to the Board the programmes and additional staff requirements for the next two years, taking into account the objectives and outputs (products) of the Centre;

(h) The Committee shall be constituted of seven eminent scientists selected by the Board in their personal capacity for periods to be determined by the Board. The seventh scientist shall be nominated by the partners. The Economic Commission for Africa, the World Meteorological Organization. the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, local user institutions and representatives of the Centre's partners shall also be members of the Committee. The Centre will assume the secretariat of the Committee.

III. WORK PROGRAMME AND BUDGET, MAY 1996 - APRIL 1998

3. Adopts the programme of work for the biennium May 1996 to April 1998 as proposed by the Board, focusing on:

(a) Regional meteorological and climate forecasting; and

(b) Applications with related capacity building, including networking and infrastructure development and strengthening.

IV. STATUTORY MATTERS

(a) Scale of contribution to the recurrent budget of the Centre;

4. Requests the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, in close collaboration with the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization and the Director-General of the Centre to review the scale of contribution to the regular budget of the Centre with a view to updating it with the new member States;

5. Again decides that the present scale of contribution will remain in force until after the results of the review exercise when the new scales come into force and that the contributions begin with the year of ratification of the Constitution of the Centre by the member State concerned;

6. Updates the contributions of member States with the inclusion of Eritrea, Namibia and South Africa which were not members of the Economic Commission for Africa at the time when the Centre was established, using the percentage scale as follows:

(b) Staff Rules

7. Further requests the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, in close collaboration with the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization and the Director General of the Centre to review the Staff Rules of the Centre with a view to updating them in the light of the evolution of the Centre.

V. CONCLUSION

8. Requests the Economic Commission for Africa, through its Niamey-based Multinational Programming and Operational Centre, to continue to assist in the financial administration;

9. Once more requests the Executive Secretary of the Commission to report to the Conference at its next meeting on the implementation of this decision.

B. Seventeenth meeting of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee

for the Integration of Women in Development⁽²⁾

Decision on the implementation of the African Platform for Action:

The African Common Position for the Advancement of Women and the Global Platform for Action

We, the members of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development,

Determined to implement the recommendations of the Regional and the Global Platforms for Action for the advancement of women;

Mindful of the importance of effective coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation process, and the imperative to strengthen the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee in order to execute its coordinating and evaluation role in the implementation process at the regional level,

Decide:

1. To introduce the following modifications in the composition of the membership of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee:

(a) That the Niamey Multinational Programming and Operational Centre subregion would have four instead of three countries as members of the Committee;

(b) That the Lusaka Multinational Programming and Operational Centre subregion will have six instead of three countries as members of the Committee;

(c) That the Chairperson of the African Regional Conference on Women would become a member of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee until the next African Regional Conference;

(d) That the Economic Commission for Africa defines clearly and precisely the criteria for membership in the subregional and regional Bureaux of the Committee;

(e) That the Economic Commission for Africa establishes the principles for rotating the members of the Bureaux in conformity with the rules and regulations of the United Nations;

(f) That the Commission carries out periodic evaluation exercises of the performance of the members of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee at the subregional levels;

2. To urge:

(i) the Organization of African Unity, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank to play a strong coordinating and catalytic role in the implementation of the Platforms for Action at the regional level;

(ii) subregional organizations set up machineries to facilitate their implementation role;

(iii) governments to place national machineries in positions where they have the capacity and political clout to influence policies and programmes, and to monitor and coordinate the implementation process;

3. To request:

(i) that the Economic Commission for Africa establishes a data bank on national experiences on women, gender and development and disseminates the information for possible replication where necessary and involves eminent persons from Africa in campaigns for the implementation of the Global and Regional Platforms for Action;

(ii) that the Bureau of the fifth African Regional Conference on Women, in collaboration and consultation with the Commission and the Organization of African Unity plays a complementary advocacy role in the implementation of the Platforms for Action;

4. To recommend to governments that mainstreaming gender in all sectors of national programmes should be the strategy for implementing the Global and Regional Platforms for Action and as such, line ministries should include elements of the Platforms within their sectors and allocate the necessary resources for their implementation;

5. To recommend also to governments and all development actors that in the search for resources for the implementation of the Platforms, competition should be avoided by instituting new fora for consultations between governments and non-government organizations, and as new sources of financing are identified, all development actors should take action to reduce waste of resources in such activities as multiplicity of meetings, mismanagement of public funds, etc.;

6. To urge the Commission to:

(i) set up a multidisciplinary group of experts to prepare a comprehensive report on the impact of debt and structural adjustment programmes on women and the feasibility of relief measures that have already been proposed; and

(ii) create a forum for sharing women's long-term vision and ideas on the community and development within the context of globalization;

7. To urge:

(i) the Commission to ensure that the gender dimension is integrated into the policy document "Building Africa's information highway" in order to respond to the needs of both women and men appropriately and equitably;

(ii) the Conference of Ministers responsible for economic and social development and planning to encourage governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and all development actors; to ensure scientific and technical literacy for all women and men so that they can effectively use it to meet their basic needs; to foster equal access by women and men to advanced training in science and technology in order to facilitate pursuit of careers such as technologists, scientists, engineers, etc.; to promote equal access to information and knowledge which women and men can use to improve their standard of living and quality of life; and to ensure gender equity within science and technology institutions including policy and decision-making bodies.

1. Report of the eighth session of the Board of Governors of the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development, Niamey, Niger, 27-28 March 1996.

2. Report of the seventeenth meeting of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 24-26 April 1996 (document E/ECA/ACW/ARCC.XVII/96/8).