I. OVERVIEW OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

A. Overview of Africa's development in

the first half of the 1990s

Africa's development in the first half of this decade has been dominated by multiple transi-tions which, in some countries, often have run concurrently: from war to peace, from one-party rule to multi-party governance, from apartheid to non-racial democracy, from command economies dominated by govern-ments and sheltered from imports to free markets, private enterprise and more liberal trade.

In a few countries, the transition was unfortunately in the wrong direction: from rela-tive peace and stability to intensified civil war and even brutal genocide. As many as 20 million Africans were internally displaced within their countries or forced to seek refuge in other countries, fleeing conflict flashpoints. But, on the bright side, the transition to peace has been consolidated in several other countries. The great majority of African countries, however, have remained stable and largely at peace - a less dramatic reality that is usually over-shadowed by the more enthralling headlines generated by conflict situations. That the majority of countries remain at peace is a remarkable achievement in itself, in view of the mounting challenges that they have been facing.

To cope with these challenges, practically every African country that is not convulsed with conflicts has embarked on one transitional reform process or another. A number of coun-tries have replaced one-party rule with multi-party governance. No less than 30 interna-tionally observed elections have been organized in African countries in recent years. The first non-racial democratic election in the history of South Africa, in 1994, ushered in that country's first non-racial government - the Government of National Unity, to guide the country through the transitional period to the year 1999. And almost all countries with an effective govern-ment have embarked upon fundamental macro-economic and sectoral reforms to boost economic performance on a sustainable basis.

Economic reforms to stabilize, restructure and transform African economies to make them more efficient and competitive have had attendant social costs. To cite one example, public sector restructuring has inevitably involved massive redundancies, though the pain has been ameliorated by retrenchment packages of benefits (e.g., severance pay, re-training opportunities, pension payments, subsidized credit lines for those able to go into self-employment, etc.). Another example is the loss of jobs that has been caused by the surge of imports due to more liberal trade policies, in the early years before African enterprises restruc-ture themselves and learn to cope with stiff external competition.

The majority of African countries have been placed on a sounder macroeconomic footing than they have been in three decades. Countries are now in a better position to compete in international markets. The political climate is more hospitable and the economic policy environment is more conducive than at any time prior to the launching of reforms. African countries have began to attain the fundamental conditions needed to attract increased domestic and foreign savings and investments to underwrite a sustained economic recovery and accelerated growth. On the whole, it is not an exaggeration to say that Africa is poised to take off economically and resume sustained social development.

B. The economic and social situation

in 1994-1995

Africa's economic and social situation over the 1994-1995 biennium was a rather mixed picture. Encouraging news and sources of hope were intermingled with persisting trouble spots and problematic issues which will continue to demand policy makers' close attention for years to come. Fuller details of economic develop-ments over this period may be found in the ECA documents Survey of Economic and Social Conditions in Africa, 1994-1995 and the Economic Report on Africa published respec-tively in 1995 and 1996.

On a provisional basis, ECA estimates that continental African economic output, measured at constant 1990 prices (in US dollars) grew by 2.2 per cent in 1995 and 1.6 per cent in 1994. Economic performance over the biennium showed a slight improvement over the preceding 1992-1993 biennium. Thus, on a continent-wide basis, per capita output shrank by 0.7 per cent in 1995, after declining by 1.3 per cent in 1994. Over the first half of the decade, from 1990 to 1995, it is estimated that African per capita GDP declined at an average annual rate of 2 per cent. On a more positive note, how-ever, a comparison of the five-year average and that of the last biennium indicates that a turn-around in economic growth is under way across the continent, even though economic growth remains vulnerable to climatic and external market conditions that are beyond Africa's

control, and even though it is still well below the rate of population growth.

Yet another promising indicator that African economies may have embarked on recovery is provided by a country-by-country breakdown of economic performance across the continent (table 1.1). The number of economies which recorded shrinking output has declined steadily over the 1990s to just three in 1995. The number of countries with economic growth rates exceeding population growth rates has shown an upward trend since 1992, reaching 26 in 1995. Similarly, the number of countries matching or exceeding the 6 per cent economic growth rate, which is recommended as a target in the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF), has been increasing in the four years up to 1995.

Table I.1. Frequency distribution of African countries

according to percentage growth rate of GDP, 1990-1995

¹ No separate figures available for the State of Eritrea until 1994.

² Preliminary estimates.

These positive trends are a tribute to the efforts of the great majority of African countries over the last decade to reform their economies and put them on a more sound footing. On the other hand, the continuing rather anaemic growth rate in the countries which together contribute the bulk of African economic output and are home to a majority of the continent's population, in spite of the cumulative reform effort, indicates that there are persisting problems which must be addressed in order to unleash African economies in the remaining few years of this decade.

African countries can be grouped roughly into three broad categories: In one category are countries held back by either continuing con-flicts or unresolved social and political tensions which make it impossible to mobilize external or domestic resources to earnestly get rehabilita-tion and reconstruction under way. A second category of countries have not embraced economic and social reforms with sufficient conviction and commitment. Some, indeed, have flip-flopped on key planks of their reform programmes, resulting in a squandering of the social costs earlier incurred in introducing these reforms, without any gains whatsoever from the reversal of policy, except a worsening of the macroeconomic situation. In all such cases, the effect has been to entrench skepticism in the calculations and expectations of domestic and external economic agents - which has blunted their response to policy signals. The third cate-gory is made up of countries which are ardent about reforms, are bold and innovative in formu-lating policies to address economic and social problems and understand the importance of macroeconomic stability as a precondition for sustained growth. Of the three categories, invariably, it is countries in the last group which have exhibited consistent improvement in economic performance.

On the whole, African economies - even those in the category of committed reformers - have continued to be held back by structural weaknesses that have yet to be tackled ade-quately. Underpinning all structural weaknesses has been the inadequacy of capacities in all critical areas of human resources, institutions, physical infrastructures and financial mobiliza-tion.

African financial intermediation remains largely confined to the largest cities, excluding the bulk of Africa's economic agents - small-scale agro-producers, artisans, micro-entrepreneurs and women. Consequently, the domestic savings and investment rates remain well below 20 per cent. This is too low to sustain robust economic growth.

The mixed picture that Africa's economic and social performance presents is rich with lessons for the years ahead. Efforts must be redoubled to get the countries mired in conflict and socio-political stalemate onto the path to reconciliation, peace and stability. There can be no development without peace. The countries that are inconsistent with their reform agendas need to learn from the examples of those which are committed and serious about finding and implementing reform solutions to their problems. All African countries must focus anew on the

building, retention, and effective utilization of critical capacities - human, institutional, infra-structural and financial mobilization. And coun-tries must break down the barriers that separate their economies and impede trade, enterprise and finance. These elements taken together are the pre-conditions for boosting African coun-tries' competitiveness in the global economy of the next century.

C. Prospects

The challenges that African countries will continue to face in the medium term can be reduced to four major issues: to accelerate and broaden economic growth; to achieve a sustain-able balance in the population-food-environment nexus; to achieve good governance and put an end to conflicts; and to cope with globalization and attain international competitiveness.

The first challenge is a consequence of wide-scale structural weaknesses which require comprehensive reforms, innovative and prag-matic policies that have sufficient flexibility, generous support from external partners, patience and long-term commitment. The last two elements are important because the weak-nesses that hobble Africa and prevent it from accelerating its economic growth and develop-ment cannot be tackled overnight - not even in the space of a few years. To reduce the inci-dence and severity of poverty in Africa, sustained and broad-based robust growth is needed.

The second challenge is a compound result of the rapid population growth rate; antiquated, inefficient and even destructive production tech-niques and a fragile ecosystem. Work must be done on each of the three fronts of the nexus to restore equilibrium.

The third challenge arises from the paradox that setting the people free and empowering them over government is congruent with build-ing peace and stability based on equity and self-determination.

The fourth challenge is a consequence of the information and transportation revolutions that are making national borders increasingly meaningless in economic terms.

In facing these challenges, African countries will continue to be handicapped by scarce finan-cial resources, climatic uncertainties and factors beyond their control - such as world market developments which determine prices of com-modities, imported goods, services and interest rates. The concessions to LDCs under the Uruguay Round notwithstanding, African coun-tries will have to engineer their accelerated growth under conditions remarkably unlike those under which the mature market economies and the newly industrializing countries (NICs) of Asia and Latin America attained their transformation. While these economies all engineered their growth behind protectionist walls, the impli-cations of the Uruguay Round Agreement are that Africa will have to achieve growth and transformation within conditions of liberal global trade and financial flows. How can this be done? This is a formidable policy challenge, indeed.

At the same time, unless the creditors show much more generosity and find a solution to Africa's heavy external debt that frees countries from burdens of distant miscalculations, it will continue to siphon away badly needed financial resources which countries could have put towards essential capacity building.

Within the context of these challenges and constraints, prospects for economic and social

performance to the year 2000 are, obviously, heavily conditional. Under these constraints, the regional economic growth rate could reach 4-5 per cent per annum by the year 2000. This is assuming that:

(a) Average weather conditions prevail across the continent;

(b) The thrust of economic and social reforms embarked upon in the last decade con-tinues;

(c) The world economic growth rate is maintained at 3-4 per cent observed since 1992 while keeping world-market inflation and interest rates stable;

(d) The domestic investment rate is boosted to 20-25 per cent of GDP, financed by increased domestic savings, foreign direct investment and portfolio flows more than sufficient to compensate for reductions in official development assistance (ODA) transfers; and

(e) Countries organize their development processes within the paradigms of building and utilizing capacities and regional integration. Failure in any of these conditions would almost certainly keep economic growth at rates not much above those observed in recent years.

II. PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENTS, 1994-1995

The thrust of the programme of ECA in the 1994-1995 biennium continued to be around measures required to put the African economy back on the path of sustained recovery acce-lerated development, dynamic and world compe-titive. It continued to articulate plans and strategies, advocate economic and social policies and undertook a number of operational activities; mainly through convening of ad hoc expert group meetings, provision of advisory services and various forms of training.

The Commission embarked on a major initia-tive on building and utilizing critical capacities in Africa during the biennium. The twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions of the Commission respec-tively reviewed the preliminary and progress reports on the Framework Agenda for building and utilizing critical capacities in Africa. The Framework Agenda is intended to serve as a reference of strategies for building and utilizing critical capacities in Africa. It defines critical capacities as encompassing the human, institu-

tional and infrastructural dimensions. It pro-poses policy measures and actions that African Governments and their development partners should adopt to reinforce capacity building in the following 10 priority areas: capacity for good governance; policy analytic and develop-ment management capacity; human capacities development; entrepreneurial capacity in the private sector; building and maintaining physical infrastructure; strengthening capacities for food security and self-sufficiency; capacities to exploit natural resources and diversify into processing and manufacturing; capacities to manage the African environment and ecological resources for sustainable development; capa-cities to harness science and technology for accelerated growth and sustainable develop-ment; and capacities for financial resources mobilization.

The following are the highlights of activities undertaken in the various subprogrammes around which the work of the Commission was organized in the period under review:

This subprogramme continued to focus on such pertinent questions as: What must Africa do to arrest and reverse its undesirable socio-economic situation? What are the priorities for action to put Africa on the path of sustained recovery, accelerated growth and sustainable development as it enters the twenty-first century? What are the required resources and where will they come from? and What are the lessons of experience from other regions and the world?

Answers to these questions cut across the work of all the subprogrammes, but in particular guided the Commission's analytical and research work, especially in the area of macroeconomic issues and management, debt and financial management issues, as well as planning for development and the use of economic modelling. Specific issues relating to the development of LDCs were also addressed in this subprogramme.

A. Research for macroeconomic policy

analysis and development

Research in the area of macroeconomic policy and management aimed at improving national mechanisms for the review and appraisal of socio-economic conditions and appraisal of development policies and pro-grammes including strengthening planning machineries, methodology and techniques through developing appropriate analytical tools of data analysis and projections.

Major activities in this area included the publication of the Survey of Economic and Social Conditions in Africa, 1994-1995, in which an analysis of recent trends and develop-ments in the various sectors of the Africa economies, the main problems and policies behind these trends and their implications for growth and development were made. Studies were also undertaken on various topics. These studies revealed that the economic performance of Africa on the whole remained disturbing, notwithstanding the few encouraging signs of modest recovery for a significant number of African countries.

B. Confronting the interrelated issues of

debt and development financing

For Africa, the interrelated issues of debt and development finance constituted major obstacles to its development efforts. As such, the Commission devoted considerable effort to reviewing the debt and development finance situation of the region. Activities included the organization of a high-level discussion forum on the "Problematic of financing development in Africa". The forum examined the daunting challenges facing Africa in mobilizing adequate resources needed to support development and improve the living standards of the majority of the African population. A major report entitled "Review of techniques for debt reduction and conversion and their application to Africa" was also published by the secretariat.

The main activities undertaken in the area of development financing during this period included preparation of a number of documents among which were "Promotion of capital markets in Africa in the context of enhancing domestic and external resource mobilization for development" and "Impact of external shocks on African monetary zones and strategies for mitigating them".

C. Development planning

(a) Planning for food self-sufficiency

Special emphasis was placed on the food subsector. The worsening of the food situation and declining agricultural income must be curbed through appropriate and rigorous planning. In this regard, a study was prepared on "Strategic planning in the food subsector". The study underlined the need for member States to adopt appropriate policies for main-taining adequate levels of food security through enhancement of food production, distribution, marketing and storage in the context of increased regional cooperation in food. The study proposed an agricultural planning process consisting of five stages:

(a) Analysis of real social and technical systems;

(b) Determination of technically possible systems;

(c) Determination of popularizable and practical systems;

(d) Determination through participatory and practicable systems;

(e) Assessment.

(b) Economic modelling

Economic modelling and the use of economic models as input into policy analysis in Africa are generally not fully utilized. However, a study undertaken by ECA revealed that the formulation and implementation of models are gaining momentum as an important stage in the progress towards improved economic manage-ment. As a follow-up to this study, ECA engaged in a number of activities involving the building of indicative planning models aimed at helping countries in formulating economic strategies and policies within coherent and consistent national development plans by indi-cating the policy implications under various alternative development scenarios.

Seychelles, among other countries, received ECA's assistance in the development of short-term macroeconomic models. The Seychelles exercise was mainly designed to serve as an early-warning system that would enable the introduction of short-term adjustment measures to cope with the implications of sudden changes in the domestic and external spheres.

D. Policies in favour of African least

developed countries (LDCs)

The number of LDCs in Africa stands at 33 and represents a major challenge for the region. The Commission undertook a number of acti-vities in the context of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the LDCs. In this regard, a review on the performance of LDCs was carried out as part of the Mid-term Global Review of the Implementation of the Programme of Action. The review indicated that, in general, the socio-economic performance of Africa's LDCs continued to be sluggish, due to domestic and external factors. The domestic factors were mainly attributed to adverse climatic conditions, civil wars, a poor production and consumption base in a number of LDCs, as well as growing debt burden. These findings were presented in a document on the review of pro-gress achieved by the African LDCs in the imple-mentation of the Paris Declaration and Pro-gramme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s. The document generated a Special Memorandum on the Mid-term Global Review which was adopted by the twenty-first meeting of the ECA Conference of Ministers responsible for Economic and Social Development and Planning in May 1995.

A study was also undertaken to rationalize the flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to

the least privileged countries of Africa. This study explored the possibilities of increasing resource flows through appropriate measures relating to incentive structures, including attractive tax incentives, appropriate economic reforms aiming at enhancing the role of the private sector, developing infrastructure and financial institutions and a stable macro-economic and political environment.

Another study focused on the evaluation of performance of specialized credit institutions in African LDCs. This study was carried out, with a view to strengthening the contribution of farm credit institutions to agricultural productivity. The study suggested a number of policy recom-mendations to improve the institutional credit systems in favour of the small holder.

With the coming into force of the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Com-munity, considerable emphasis is being given to the strengthening of subregional and regional communities as vehicles for enhancing coopera-tion. Furthermore, there is the need to define the substantive areas for promoting cooperation and to prepare most African countries to under-stand and fully engage themselves in coopera-tive activities. Member States' active involve-ment in regional cooperation require building internal competitiveness in areas such as trade and investment.

It was against this background that the thrust of the Commission's work during the biennium 1994-1995 centred on the imple-mentation of the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community. Activities in the area of trade, regional economic cooperation and integration focused on:

(a) Strengthening regional economic communities both at the institutional and sectoral levels with emphasis on the rationaliza-tion, harmonization and coordination of their activities;

(b) Revitalizing African domestic and external trade;

(c) Strengthening intra-African trade;

(d) Strengthening institutional capacity to accelerate the process of monetary and financial integration; and

(e) Tourism and Africa's development.

(a) Strengthening regional economic com-munities

Regional economic communities are the building blocs for the process of regional inte-gration. This calls for the strengthening of the capacities of the existing subregional economic communities, such as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU).

In response to these needs, ECA prepared a document entitled "Policy convergence for regional economic cooperation and integration:

Implementation of the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community" for the consi-deration of the Conference of Ministers responsible for Economic and Social Develop-ment and Planning. The suggestions for con-vergence were based on a four-pronged inte-grated approach encompassing infrastructures, production, trade liberalization and policy orientation. It also stressed the need for sectoral harmonization and convergence in various fields, such as trade liberalization; free movement of goods and persons; money, finance and payments; food and agriculture; industry, science and technology, energy, natural resources and environment; environ-mental-control of toxic wastes; transport and communications; tourism; and human resources, social affairs, health and population.

ECA provided technical assistance to regional economic communities and IGOs on ways and means of furthering economic co-operation and integration and ensuring food security. In this regard, a technical cooperation programme on inter-island and coastal shipping, industry, environment and marine affairs was drawn up for the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC). ECA also prepared a framework for technical cooperation to guide the Inter-Governmental Authority on Drought and Desertification (IGADD) in the programming of its activities for regional cooperation/integration. Other activities geared towards the revitaliza-tion/restructuring of IGADD took place. Assistance was given to ECCAS in working out modalities for relaunching the regional economic process in Central Africa. African ACP coun-tries were assisted in negotiations for the successor Lomé Convention.

Technical assistance was also provided to African countries to enhance monetary and financial integration in Africa. This included the Commission's contribution to efforts made towards currency convertibility in Preferential Trade Area (PTA)/Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries, its participation in meetings of the Association of African Development Institutions and of the Association of African Central Banks (AACB), its cooperation in a review study of the imple-mentation of COMESA and the contribution made to the meetings of the Working Group preparatory to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank group.

ECA contributed to the COMESA monetary harmonization programme. Close collaboration with PTA and SADC took place on seeking ways and means of achieving food security in Eastern and Southern Africa. Support to river basin development schemes focused on the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) and was assisted in its efforts to map out an action plan to revitalize its activities and strengthen the organization.

Assistance was also provided to sector specific subregional groups in the promotion of cooperation in specific areas of needs. Most notable among these initiatives was the study on the interconnection of Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL) and the Kagera Basin Organization (KBO) electricity grids. The objective of the study was to demonstrate the rationale for cooperation which, among other benefits, were the realiza-tion of economies of scale and optimum utiliza-tion of electricity resources in the area. In this regard, four projects dealing with electricity interconnection were identified for implementa-tion during 1995-2001. Furthermore, consider-ing that countries of the CEPGL are land-locked some assistance was provided in the area of transport. Five studies dealing with lake/water and air transport in CEPGL and KBO countries were carried out.

African Governments have long recognized the need for a regional African institution which would specialize in regional monetary and finan-cial issues. Its primary responsibility would be to help African countries to formulate a general framework or guidelines for promoting monetary and financial integration. It was against this background that a report outlining progress towards the establishment of an African mone-tary fund was presented to the fifth session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, held in February 1994. The report detailed the progress achieved so far, among which was the political approval given by member States. It also underscored the need for a detail study on the technical aspects of the setting up of the Fund. Another activity in the field of monetary cooperation related to the harmonization of monetary and financial policies at the subre-gional level. A study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of subregional financial institutions in the mobilization of resources for development.

(b) Revitalizing African domestic and external trade

Many of the lingering negative trends in Africa's socio-economic development are partly attributed to its weak productive base and decline in the share of Africa's export earnings. The need to revitalize measures to respond to these weaknesses is thus widely felt. This is particularly important in light of the adoption of the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of Multi-lateral Trade Negotiations, an important development at the global level, which from current analysis has the potential to affect the prospects for Africa's recovery and growth. These new realities of intense global competi-tiveness require efficient, ample and flexible capacity that can anticipate and adjust to global market changes. In this regard, a study was undertaken by ECA to analyze the anticipated impact of the Uruguay Round Agreements on selected high priority sectors, with a view to making proposals on policy measures for helping African countries benefit from the Uruguay agreements. This study recommended measures to minimize the adverse effects and maximize the positive effects of the imple-mentation of the agreements, in the short-, medium- and long-term horizon.

The conclusions and recommendations from the impact analysis was the rallying point for discussion by the International Conference on the Uruguay Round convened in Tunis in 1994. The conference, on the basis of the analysis, adopted the "Framework for action for technical assistance to African countries within the framework of the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements". The Framework among the many proposals to respond to the post-Uruguay Round challenges, those requiring immediate attention include providing the tech-nical assistance on a range of issues. Notably priority technical assistance that will be required to assist individual African countries as they set out to:

(a) Assess the domestic requirements (legal, administrative) for compliance;

(b) Assess the economic impact of the various agreements and policy implications; and

(c) The new market access conditions fac-ing their country's trade, including barriers to trade; Agreement on the Implementation of Article VII (Customs Valuation); Agreement on Preshipment Inspection; Agreement on Trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); Understanding on the rules of proce-dures governing the settlement of disputes; and the trade policy review mechanism.

Another study was commissioned to assess Africa's position in world commodity market and the Lomé IV Convention. The study entitled "Cooperation in the development of industrial and agricultural minerals", identified structural weaknesses inherent to the industry and iden-tified appropriate areas for cooperation. This study was presented at a SADC workshop which adopted most of its recommendations which are expected to be used in the formu-lation of the SADC protocol for the mining sector.

(c) Strengthening intra-African trade

Intra-African trade development and promo-tion represents one of the pillars for economic integration and cooperation. Fundamental requirements for effective intra-African trade include the availability of trade information, including supply and demand, elimination of obstacles to trade, promotion of those factors such as a conducive environment that facilitate trade and the mobilization of trade operators.

The activities undertaken by the Commis-sion to strengthen intra-African trade included, among others, the following:

(a) In the Eastern and Southern Africa MULPOC subregion, a study on "Gemstones development and marketing strategies" was used as the main document for a workshop on the same topic. One important outcome of the workshop was the establishment of an African Gemstone Development Association, which held its inaugural meeting in Nairobi, in October 1995. The Association aims at fostering collec-tive interest for gemstone dealers as well as the coordination and harmonization of activities

related to gemstones through the establishment of a gemstone exchange bureau in the subregion and the holding of subregional gemstone fairs;

(b) In the West African subregion, the effects of the devaluation of the CFA franc on the integration process, in particular on trade relations and promotion, were analyzed;

(c) Given the importance of agriculture for countries of the Great Lakes subregion com-posed mainly of countries of KBO, a study was undertaken on the harmonization of agricultural policies in KBO countries mainly in forestry, rural development and marketing of agricultural pro-ducts. A study on edible oil was also under-taken. According to the study, the production of edible oils could be increased if the diffi-culties related to the production, harvest, storage and technologies were removed. As a first step, farmers must be encouraged to develop new palm oil tree plantations as well as develop groundnut and soya plantations;

(d) Another area that lends itself to intra-African trade is the minerals sector. The poten-tialities of trade in minerals in the Kagera basin were also assessed. The study suggested the establishment of a data bank on exploration activities in the basin;

(e) Some activities addressed the issues of South-South cooperation both among sub-regions and with other countries of the south. In this context, a study on trade liberalization of domestically produced goods in the ECOWAS and COMESA subregions was undertaken with the objective of seeking ways and means of enhancing the expansion of intra-subregional trade in locally produced goods. Another study dealt with trade issues, in particular the prospects and problems of expanding South-South trade cooperation.

(d) Strengthening institutional capacity for monitoring and financial integration

The Commission provided assistance in a variety of ways to accelerate the process of monetary and financial integration in Africa. Many of the activities were implemented in

association with subregional organizations and financial institutions. The publications prepared by the Commission in this area included "Harmonization of monetary and financial policies at the subregional level" and "External trade financing techniques". In the area of international cooperation, ECA was requested by the COMESA secretariat to coordinate, fund and assist in the preparation of a "Review study of the implementation of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa monetary harmonization programme" and presented the findings of the study to the first meeting of the COMESA Monetary and Financial Cooperation Committee and the first meeting of the COMESA Central Bank Governors, both held in Windhoek, Namibia, in November 1995.

(e) Tourism and Africa's development

The importance of tourism as a source of revenue for financing socio-economic development programmes is widely recognized. However, its full potential in Africa is yet to be realized, despite the positive growth experienced over the years. The need to explore the contribution of tourism to Africa's development, therefore, constituted the main thrust of ECA's intervention and support during the biennium 1994-1995. Thus, greater emphasis was placed on mobilization of tourism resources for overall development.

In this regard, ECA's major activity was a report which summarized various studies carried out to analyze the development of tourism in Africa with a view to making suggestions for a more effective contribution to the African integration process and the overall development of the region. The report made recom-mendations for the development of tourism at the subregional and regional levels which included measures for improvement in the airline industry, better hotel accommodation and faci-lities, increase participation of local entre-preneurs in the tourist sector, organization of Africa's cultural heritage and development of human resources. The study also recommended the need for the establishment of mechanism for promoting tourism cooperation and integration.

Africa's continuing modest rate of economic performance, coupled with its rapid population growth and growing debt burden, have com-pounded the difficulties for governments to improve standards of living of their people. There is an equally disturbing decline in capacity of an increasing number of Africa's population to access to food and other basic needs, includ-ing potable water and shelter.

Poverty alleviation approaches, in particular those traditional interventions such as agrarian reforms, providing subsidized goods and ser-vices and making available productive resources have already been amply documented. Far less emphasis had been given to crucial cross-sectoral linkages and synergies among food and agriculture, population, environment and human settlements. The first meeting of the Con-ference of African Ministers responsible for Sustainable Development and the Environment was convened in March 1996 under the theme "Facing the challenges of sustainable develop-ment and environment in Africa". The Con-ference considered strategies and programmes based on the inter-relationships between agri-culture especially food supply, rural develop-ment and water resources, population, the environment and human settlements within the framework of poverty alleviation. An important outcome of the Conference was the Addis Ababa Statement on the Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa.

(a) Increasing food self-sufficiency and security in Africa

ECA activities in the areas of food and agri-culture focused on enhancing the capacity of African countries in food security policy analysis, planning and sensitizing decision makers on the need to improve the food security situation, notably through the diversification and strengthening of production, improvement in the income and diet base. To this end, measures and actions to ensure sustainable production, rational exploitation and use of conventional and non-conventional food, fishery, forestry and livestock resources and to improve delivery systems were recommended.

Several reports highlighting various aspects of food security and its effect on poverty alle-viation were prepared and presented to the first meeting of the Conference of African Ministers responsible for Sustainable Development and Environment. Among these were:

(a) A report to assess the progress made in the alleviation of poverty; and

(b) A report to promote the use and rational exploitation of non-conventional food resources as complementary sources of food for achieving food security at the level of the vulnerable households, notably in rural areas. In addition, a number of policy papers based on research on selected issues affecting food security were prepared. These papers examined issues such as alternative strategy for increased self-reliance and improved competitiveness in world market to enable Africa achieve sustain-able food security.

ECA continued to sensitize decision makers by actively participating in meetings where the opportunity to provide technical advice on issues pertaining to food security was available. It participated, for example, in:

(a) The third Presidential Forum on the Management of Science and Technology for Development in Africa held in Kampala, Uganda, at which it presented a lead paper on resolving food security in Africa which provided a strate-gic framework for basic food and nutritional security;

(b) In the Advisory Committee meeting on Mobilization of Domestic Resources, Agricultural Reform and Self-evaluation of Good Governance held in Harare, Zimbabwe, at which it presented a paper on the implications of agricultural reforms for the alleviation of rural poverty in Africa.

Meetings of the subregional IGOs were convened to review the issues of developing complementarities between bordering States to enhance their individual and collective capacity in improving the food security situations, as well as the need for maintaining the natural resources base. As inputs to these subregional reviews, ECA undertook for the Central, West, East and Southern Africa subregions in-depth studies on border food trade. These studies identified bottlenecks as well as remedial measures for ensuring the effective contribution of marketing and intra-subregional trade to improving the food security situation and, thereby, to alleviating poverty. Recom-mendations on harmonizing food production and pricing policies, the establishment of subregional information systems on food markets, the development of appropriate credit schemes for the private sector and the improvement of marketing infrastructures were endorsed by these meetings. Other studies focused on the identification of measures for developing and maintaining the natural resources base for ensuring sustained agricultural development, the rational exploitation of natural resources for producing non-conventional foods and for other uses such as shelter and foreign exchange earnings, and on policies for improving micro watershed management and soil conservation for arid and semi-arid areas for sustained development for the North Africa subregion.

Other studies undertaken in this area included:

(a) A study on developing frameworks and guidelines for African agricultural and food security policy analysts to develop and imple-ment comprehensive food security policies and programmes at national, subregional and regional levels and on identifying critical marketing issues for consideration and inclusion in national agricultural development plans;

(b) Developing analytical tools and training manuals for use in food security policy analysis and developing database and information systems related to food security programmes and monitoring the contribution of food security in alleviating poverty;

(c) Reviewing and assessing small farmer credit programmes in Africa in the light of the experiences of other developing countries with the view to improving the contribution of credit in reducing food insecurity and poverty;

(d) On measures for strengthening co-operation for the exploitation and management of shared fishery resources and another on live-stock and food security; and

(e) On assistance to the war-shattered African countries in their post-conflicts rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, which produced a framework for action programmes for countries devastated from war notably for Rwanda, Burundi and Mozambique.

(b) Population and sustainable development

African countries in adopting the Kilimanjaro Programme of Action and the Dakar/Ngor Declaration on Population, Family and Sustain-able Development recognized population matters as integral part of the socio-economic develop-ment process. To this end, population activities for the most part of the biennium centred on the preparatory process to the International Con-ference on Population and Development, partici-pation of Africa in the Conference and follow-up on population issues, in line with the needs of member States, as expressed in the Dakar/Ngor Declaration, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, 1994 (ICPD.94), the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF) and Agenda 21.

(i) Preparation for the International Conference on Population and Development

Assisting member States to prepare for the International Conference or Population and Development (ICPD.94) was a major preoccupa-tion of the Commission. The preparatory pro-cess by African countries culminated in the adoption by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Heads of State and Government at its thirtieth ordinary session in 1994 in Tunis the "Declaration on Population and Development in Africa" endorsing the Dakar/Ngor Declaration adopted by the African Population Conference in 1992.

(ii) Population activities

Despite the increased number of explicit population policies formulated the following situations persist: fertility is still high in most countries, mortality levels continue to rise, rural-urban migration continues. It was against this background that ECA's population activities gave specific attention to the situational analysis of critical population-related issues such as family planning, female migration, population age structure on resource utilization, mortality, population and environment, as well as the insti-tutional arrangements for the formulation and implementation of programme.

Among the various studies carried out to provide insights into population issues and their dynamics on sustainable development were the following: a study on "Family planning targets in relation to fertility reduction and reproductive health care" was carried out to assist the increasing number of African countries currently implementing family planning programmes as a way of moderating their demographic trends and improving the socio-economic conditions of their populations. The study focused on family planning programmes targeting, in the context of reducing fertility and improving reproductive health care. The findings from the study high-lighted the following as among the factors to consider in family planning: improvement in the general socio-economic conditions; government commitment to improve reproductive health; education of the girl-child and improved status of women and poverty alleviation.

Migration issues have featured prominently in ECA's population work. A new and emerging trend in migration in Africa relates to the increasing participation of female in migration. To better understand the phenomena, ECA undertook a study on "Patterns, causes and consequences for development planning of female migration in selected African countries". The study, based on a regional analysis and a case study of Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe, revealed that the reasons for migration range from economic (employment seeking or com-mercially motivated), marital and political, as a result of decline in agriculture, coupled with the rising levels of educated females and the economic crisis. The consequences of long-term female migration include destabilization of families, etc.

A study on "The implications of population age structure on resource utilization and social security in relation to poverty alleviation" assessed the availability of social security schemes and the implications of population age structure and resources. The study observed that existing social security benefits are limited and, for the most part, only cover such benefits as maternal and child allowances and meagre pension benefits hardly enough to sustain basic lifestyles and result in aging population having to depend on the younger population for survival, the net effect of which is a vicious circle of poverty.

The interrelationship between population and sustainable development, with particular reference to linkages among environment, urbanization and migration was the focus of another study, which explored the migra-tory/urbanization (defined to include processes such as population concentration, dispersal and displacement, refugee movements, settlement, resettlement and tourism) causes and conse-quences of environmental stress, on the one hand, and the environmental causes and con-sequences of urbanization/migration. The study provided evidence to indicate the contributory role of environmental factors such as rural population pressure, drought, famine and desertification, insect infestation and diseases, soil erosion, natural disasters, migration and refugees in the continent. Conclusions drawn from the study underscored the need for inte-grated population and environmental policies and suggested policies pertaining to decentrali-zation, popular participation and transparency to tackle some of the adverse consequences aris-ing from the interrelationships among environ-ment, migration and urbanization.

The management of effective population programmes must be anchored to institutional arrangements capable of facilitating the process of integrating population factors in development plans, as well as providing a structured environ-ment for a member State to manage its national population programme. In this respect, an evaluation of institutional arrangements for the formulation and implementation of national population programmes in Africa was under-taken. The analysis of the information revealed that the institutional structures fall into three broad groups: those for formulating a popula-tion policy, those for implementing the policy measures and those for decentralizing the latter process from the national to the sub-national levels. Furthermore, in order to foster effective integration, the institutions established should be based on clear criteria, specified terms of reference per component of the structure as well as the mode and mechanism of collabora-tion between the various components.

(c) Environment and development in Africa

The Commission adopted Africa's Strategies for the implementation of Agenda 21 in 1993. The Strategies are based on the orientation that environmental challenges must be approached from a broader perspective - one that embraces broader development concerns. The Strategies fully recognized the linkages between environ-ment and sustainable development. Several activities were undertaken to strengthen national, subregional and regional capacities for the implementation of Agenda 21. For example, technical support was provided to IGADD in the re-orientation and revitalization of its activities on environment-related issues. Technical support was also provided to the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) to strengthen its operations and work programme, including mobilization of required resources.

Supporting measures to combat desertifica-tion, consistent with commitments made in rele-vant conventions was a major priority for the African region. Thus, ECA provided technical support in the various sessions of the Inter-governmental Negotiating Committee on Desertification. This assistance resulted in the adoption by African countries of a common orientation and approach to the negotiations, one in which Africa underscored the point that the problem of drought and desertification in the region was not just a technical issue; rather that desertification was a developmental problem which must be addressed from a multi-dimensional perspective. This required, for example, increased emphasis on the eradication of poverty and the development of alternative patterns of livelihood for poor communities.

(d) Issues relating to human settlements

The focus of activities in this area was related to the formulation and implementation of human settlements policies towards mitigating rural/urban imbalances in African countries and the promotion of the implementation of the Plan of Action contained in the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000.

Most African countries lack an integrated approach to human settlements planning within the framework of overall socio-economic development. Development plans have not ade-quately reflected sectoral and urban/rural linkages and this has resulted in some short-comings in the development of human settle-ments, especially in rural areas. The problems are exacerbated by high population growth, rural-urban migration and low population density in rural communities.

ECA provided support to member States in tackling the challenges of human settlements, notably through providing policy orientation and proposing strategies as well as in the mobiliza-tion of resources. Special attention was paid to the need to adopt integrated systems of planning, which took adequate account of rural and urban settlements needs.

African countries' efforts to implement the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 was actively supported by ECA through country reviews and provision of guidelines for assisting countries to formulate policies to enhance the provision of shelter. The guidelines emphasized strategic planning and the need for concerted action by the public and private sectors in order to provide adequate shelter for all by the year 2000.

The secretariat is assisting African countries to prepare for the second United Nations Con-ference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II), scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996. In this regard, ECA has coordinated and facilitated regional activities, in particular those leading to the articulation of a continent-wide position on human settlements, the regional report on the state of human settlements in Africa and the Continental Shelter Report/Atlas as contribution to HABITAT II.

Africa's development must be rooted in sound and effective management practices in both the public and private sectors. This should be backed by leadership that is fully committed to creating an enabling environment within which the broad participation of its citizens in the development process can take place. Thus, the Commission's activities in the area of development administration and management were to promote good governance as part of an effort towards fostering policies favourable to the development of the private sector, enhanc-ing the efficiency of the public service, increasing awareness of the need for the judicious use of scarce resources as well as the need for accountability and increasing also awareness of the pressing need for the diffusion and dispersal of political and administrative powers through the mechanism of decentraliza-tion.

The secretariat prepared a report on "Private sector development and entrepreneur-ship through the creation of an enabling environment" which was reviewed by the Conference of African Ministers responsible for Human Development in 1994. The Conference made policy recommendations relating to the enhancement of productive activities and income-generating opportunities.

The secretariat undertook a number of studies aimed at strengthening the private sector in Africa. These included "Improvements in legal and regulatory constraints to private sector development", "Developing and streng-thening credit and capital markets for private sector development", "Fiscal policies for promoting indigenous private sector investment" and "The informal economy in African eco-nomies: Implications for appropriate fiscal policies". The key policy message from these studies was that the development and streng-thening of the private sector should be seen in the context of strategic measures taken by countries to speed up social and economic recovery and should therefore adopt policies aimed at removing factors that impinge on the development and contribution of the private sector.

Training remained a prominent feature of technical assistance in development administra-tion and management and took the form of national workshops conducted for member States. Three such workshops were held for Zambia on integrated public financial manage-ment, delivery and assessment of training programmes and on improving public financial management capacity and accountability. One other workshop was held for Ethiopian auditors on strengthening the capacity for public financial management and accountability, while a similar workshop was held for Ethiopian regional finance officers. Yet another workshop of the same genre was also held for Botswana.

ECA's activities also aimed at reinforcing the need for popular participation of civil society in the socio-economic development of their communities. This was done through a field

project on "Popular participation for sustainable development". The activities of this project were on catalyzing the participation of the masses of civil society, in particular NGOs in the development process. In this respect, work-shops and other fora were organized to facilitate the interface between governments and mass organizations. These fora promoted, among other things:

(a) The economic empowerment of women as a means of enhancing their contribution;

(b) Government by the people, one that recognized the importance of popular parti-cipation in decision making; and

(c) Interface, dialogue and cooperation between government and the NGOs for popular participation in national reconstruction and development.

Africa's people are its main assets, who, on the one hand, are agents and, on the other, beneficiaries of sustainable development. It is for this reason that African Governments, households, NGOs, civic organizations and other stakeholders should commit themselves to the development of human resources as well as pro-viding their social needs.

ECA's programme of assistance placed emphasis on enhancing and strengthening the human and social dimension of development through the promotion of human- and social-centred development policies and strategies consistent with human resource and social issues and concerns in the African region.

In this regard, activities carried out during 1994-1995 focused on providing assistance to member States in the areas of:

(a) Planning, development and utilization of human resources and social development;

(b) Building and strengthening human and institutional capacities, including those of NGOs and people's organizations;

(c) Fostering popular participation and strengthening the social dimension of develop-ment.

(a) Providing policy guidance

ECA was the focus of concerted regional action at the World Summit for Social Develop-ment. It initiated action towards the formulation of an African position on human and social development, resulting in the adoption by African Governments of an African Common Position on Human and Social Development in Africa, which made substantive contributions to the Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the Summit. The African Common Position mapped out an actionable agenda for human and social development which included actions at the national level, such as policy

shifts and increased resource allocation for programmes of poverty alleviation, creating productive employment and income, social integration, peace and political stability and the promotion and consolidation of popular parti-cipation in development in the region. It also delineated the various complementary actions needed to be taken by Africa's development partners to support the region's efforts at achieving human-centred development.

The responsibility for monitoring human development conditions in the region and follow-up on the implementation of the decisions of the Conference of African Ministers responsible for Human Development was entrusted to ECA. The Human Development in Africa Report series, a biennial publication of ECA which was launched in 1995, will be the main mechanism for monitoring progress on human development in Africa. The maiden issue of the series opened with a discussion on the consensus on human development, the concept and measure-ment of human development and the state of human development in Africa. It focused on the themes of "goals for the child", "health for all" and "basic education for all".

Through policy workshops, ECA created avenues to enhance dialogue and interface between government policy makers and planners on the one hand, and people's organizations on the other, on issues related to popular participation in development. In this connection, national workshops were organized in the following member countries: Egypt, the Gambia, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. Other national training workshops aimed at strengthening the capacity of popular development organizations and NGOs to make contributions to and influence public policy effectively were held in the Gambia and Uganda.

(b) Technical assistance

In order to promote appropriate policy measures on issues of human and social development, capacity building and popular participation, the secretariat continued to focus

on providing technical assistance to member States in human resources and social develop-ment through seminars, workshops and advisory services. Among these were the national and subregional seminars and workshops on tradi-tional and non-traditional areas such as planning for human resources development and human development; human resources policies and programmes; human resources development challenges; employment planning approaches and productivity enhancement; the social impact of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs); the socio-economic impact of AIDS on house-holds and families with emphasis on its impact on the labour force; youth, drugs and health; the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS on house-holds and families in Africa; the impact of the African socio-economic crises on youth and drugs and health.

ECA hosted a global NGO Forum on "Build-ing sustainable societies: The role of NGOs in emergencies and social development", organized in Addis Ababa from 14 to 17 March l994, in collaboration with the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), the Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA), the Con-sortium of Ethiopian Voluntary Organizations (CEVO) and the Inter-Africa Group (IAG). The objectives of the forum were to analyze the role of NGOs in promoting peaceful conflict resolu-tion; identifying opportunities and constraints in the transition from relief to development and scaling up NGOs' long-term sustainable develop-ment efforts; and identifying modalities and strategies for promoting the development of strong, viable and active civil societies; as well as developing NGO concerns, positions and per-spectives which were presented to the World Summit for Social Development. The outcome of the Global Forum was the adoption of the "Addis Ababa Declaration on Building Sustain-able Societies: The Role of NGOs". In parti-cular, the Addis Ababa Declaration adopted recommendations on specific themes such as the crisis and opportunity for peace: from relief to development; the civil society and the foundations for democracy and social integra-tion; and NGOs' concerns.

The Addis Ababa Plan of Action for Statis-tical Development in Africa in the 1990s and the Strategy for its implementation currently define ECA's work in the area of statistical development. The objective of the Plan is to address the deficiencies in the statistical capacities of African countries, ranging from poor management of statistical offices and inadequate funding to lack of timeliness in outputs delivery as well as poor quality of data produced and poor systems for dissemination.

In this context, ECA's activities during the biennium placed emphasis on assisting countries in establishing and/or developing a durable structure with the capacity to generate, pro-cess, analyze and disseminate integrated demo-graphic, social, economic and environment statistics as well as other development informa-tion. These activities were carried out under two areas of emphasis: statistical development and information systems development.

As an advocate for Africa's statistics and information development, the secretariat uses the annual observance of the African Statistics Day and the African Development Information Day to stimulate public awareness on the important role which statistics and information play in all aspects of socio-economic develop-ment. The theme of the 1995 observance was "Strengthening information systems for informa-tion exchange in Africa". ECA used the occa-sion to call on member States as well as African regional and subregional institutions and donor agencies to support development information activities and adopt a more dynamic approach to information sharing.

(a) Statistical development

During the biennium, research and analysis on measures to help rehabilitate, revitalize and develop the statistical capacities and systems in the African region constituted the main thrust of ECA's activities. These situations were reviewed through the following research activities:

(a) Evaluation of 15 years of operation of the Statistical Training Programme for Africa (STPA);

(b) Research in national statistical services and STPA centres;

(c) Statistical needs assessment and planning: a review of approaches and current practices;

(d) Statistical data processing practices in the region; and

(e) Compendium on Environment Statistics which specifically focused on climatological issues relating to environment.

In all these studies, the need to give special attention to the human resources capacity for the generation and processing of statistical data and information was underscored. So also was the need to develop the institutional and infra-structural capacity. Concerning the human capacity, training and other staff development opportunities were suggested as possible options for creating the critical mass required to meet the statistical needs of the region. The need for providing technical assistance, espe-cially by the international community was also highlighted as necessary support for capacity building in this area. African countries should show greater commitment by investing more in statistical and information needs of the region. The research activities also stressed the need to coordinate activities and resources for greater effectiveness.

In fostering the establishment of the African Economic Community, processing of trade data must be given significant importance and atten-tion. Another reason for developing trade statistics is the obvious decline in African countries capacity to report on their trade data. This lack of capacity is attributed to many factors, among which are the non-functioning of institutions responsible for trade statistics and the brain drain of staff. To take remedial action, ECA undertook a study to evaluate the problems

faced by African countries in the collection, processing and dissemination of trade statistics. The survey results showed that the responsibi-lity for the collection, processing and dis-semination was spread among customs adminis-tration office and central statistics office respectively. The problems experienced range from:

(a) Collection related; delays in received custom forms, missing forms, illegal trade, lack of training of staff, inadequate transport faci-lities, lack of cooperation between the customs administration office and the central statistics office, and poor completion of the customs forms;

(b) Processing related; inadequate budget, lack of proper software packages, low staffing levels, lack of computers and poor priority setting; and

(c) Dissemination related; printing delays, inadequate budget, lack of printing machines and delays in preparation of manuscripts.

In conclusion, the following long-term solutions to the problems were suggested: training of staff in the collection, processing and dissemination of trade data; training of customs staff in the collection and presentation of trade data; provision of support, financial and tech-nical for the processing and dissemination of trade and statistics products.

(b) Promoting development information

Africa is yet to join the information revolu-tion. And yet, economic development in Africa will depend heavily on the development of the information sector. While substantial progress has been made in the collection analysis, storage, retrieval and dissemination of statistical data, very little was, until the last few years, done in the field of non-numerical data. The nature of the information age with its elimina-tion of barriers means that the economy has become truly global. Suppliers can obtain necessary inputs regardless of country of origin on a "just in time" basis. For Africa to export even its primary commodities, it needs access to current information on a daily basis. To avoid further economic and social marginalization, African countries must secure access to emerg-ing information and communication techno-logies. The positive side of this challenge is that if African countries choose to develop policies, strategies and programmes in this area, the capital investment costs are far lower than in other sectors and the opportunities greater for using the new technologies to leapfrog to improved growth and sustainable development.

There is increasing evidence that applica-tions of the information technology are spread-ing in many poor countries around the world and producing many benefits. Information techno-logy is increasing the scope and quality for long-distance learning by making it possible to share educational facilities including teachers, whose store of knowledge can be accessed via on-line facilities or CD-ROMs. Information technology is also reducing the time it takes to identify and exploit opportunities for trade, investment and finance.

For the above to take place, the ECA Pan-African Development Information Services (PADIS) undertook various activities, namely sensitizing member States to replace the inade-quate telecommunication systems, training people in such fields as computers, data management, networking, information policy development, systems development, etc. PADIS continued to be an active advocate for reform of the laws and regulations that impede the flow of information and information techno-logy. During the biennium, PADIS was also involved in assisting African member States in the creation or strengthening of the national information content, especially national data-bases, both statistical and textual.

Information sharing among the African countries is of great importance to them in sharing experiences. In this regard, PADIS was involved in the development of norms and standards which are making it easier for African countries to exchange development information.

To accelerate development information system in Africa, ECA Conference of Ministers responsible for Economic and Social Develop-ment and Planning adopted, in 1995, resolution 795 (XXX) entitled "Building Africa's informa-tion highway" which requested the Executive Secretary to set up a high-level working group to put together an African action plan on using information and communication technologies to accelerate socio-economic development. Under the auspices of PADIS, the working group has

met and put together an action plan which will be considered by the ECA Conference of Ministers at its May 1996 meeting.

Africa is endowed with abundant natural resources. Most African countries have recog-nized the need to have capacities to exploit natural resources in order to produce the goods and services to meet the needs of their popula-tion. This requires the formulation and imple-mentation of policies and strategies for sustain-able development of natural resources and energy in Africa. There is scope for not only for national action but also regional collaboration efforts in this area.

The promotion of natural resources develop-ment and utilization requires the development of human and institutional capacities to provide the necessary technical skills and knowledge needed. Thus, the secretariat's work continued to focus on strengthening of institutional, tech-nological and human capabilities in data acquisi-tion, its analysis and utilization for natural resources and environmental management as well as streamlining policies and strategies in surveying, mapping and remote sensing in Africa.

(a) Providing policy direction

ECA provided leadership in the development of policy orientation for the development and management of Africa's natural resources and energy. A major regional Conference of African Ministers responsible for the Development and Utilization of Mineral Resources and Energy was organized in Accra, Ghana, in November 1995 under the theme "Policies, strategies and pro-grammes for a greater contribution of mineral resources and energy to the socio-economic development of Africa". The major outcome of the conference was the formulation of a pro-gramme of action which called for the develop-ment of capacities and capabilities by African countries for the development and utilization of the continent's mineral resources and energy so that they could contribute more effectively to the socio-economic development of Africa.

In addition, an important ad hoc expert group meeting was also organized in July 1994 to deliberate on policies and strategies for the development and utilization of natural resources and energy in Africa. The meeting formulated recommendations and provided guidelines to governments, donors, international and regional organizations and the private sector aimed at enhancing the sustainable development of natural resources and energy at national, subregional and regional levels.

Several publications were also issued. These included:

(a) Raw mineral materials for fertilizers;

(b) Study on the current situation of the mining sector in Africa;

(c) Prospects for the increased production of intra-African trade in aluminum commodities and metal products; and

(d) Prospects for the increased production of intra-African trade in copper metal and copper-based products.

(b) Sector specific activities

Activities were also geared towards sector specific issues, namely energy, water, mineral resources, marine resources, cartography and remote sensing thereby allowing for special pre-scriptions for their effective development and management.

(i) Energy resources development and management

Activities in energy resources development and management aimed at assisting African member States in the development of indi-genous energy sources and the formulation of adequate energy policies and strategies as well as in strengthening institutions and capacity building through the training of African experts in the energy sector.

In this regard, policy-oriented reports addressing major issues such as energy policies and strategies, privatization and deregulation of the energy sector, energy role in poverty alle-viation and regional economic cooperation and integration through energy trade and power pooling were presented for discussion at the above-mentioned Regional Conference of African Ministers responsible for the Develop-ment and Utilization of Mineral Resources and Energy. These reports reviewed the energy situation in Africa and provided the following observations and recommendations:

(a) Despite the fact that Africa was endowed with abundant primary energy resources in the form of oil, natural gas, hydropower, coal, peat, lignite, geothermal, fuelwood and other new and renewable sources of energy, these resources are still under-developed due to the lack of appropriate policies, strategies, programmes and low level of resource allocation and technology;

(b) Policies and strategies concerning pricing, fiscal and other incentives aimed at encouraging the participation of the private sector in the exploration and development of indigenous energy resources should be vigorously pursued.

Some of the studies carried out by ECA provided information and data on which policy guidelines for the development and utilization of energy in Africa were proposed to member States. These policies were particularly directed at the technology options to be considered, available energy resources, institutional arrange-ments financing and sources as critical elements in the planning of energy, especially for rural communities. What emerged from all these studies was the recognition of the importance of energy development to the revitalization of the private sector and therefore the need for member States to take appropriate actions to improve the energy situation in the region. Alternate sources of energy generation should be explored, especially localized power sources capable of providing energy in rural com-munities. The need for governments to encourage private entrepreneurs to invest in the search for and development of energy should be stepped up.

These guidelines and strategies were pre-sented in the following publications:

(a) The viability of using photovoltaic energy for rural electrification in Africa;

(b) The economic viability of manufacturing turbines and generators for mini-hydropower in African member States; and

(c) Policies and strategies for the develop-ment and utilization of natural resources and energy in Africa.

(ii) Management of water resources

Africa is a continent split between those with abundant and those with scarce water resources. This general feature of plenty in the midst of scarcity calls for cooperation if the water resources of the region are to be mobilized to support the social and economic development of the region as a whole. It was against this background that the secretariat provided assistance in mapping out a broad framework for water resources development in a global perspective. The framework empha-sized the need to conceive water resources programmes in a holistic manner, taking into account linkages and interactions of water activities with socio-economic development sectors. It also stressed the need for develop-ment to be guided by sound policies and planning principles, thus avoiding disruption of environmental and ecological equilibrium. Those policies should reflect the need and/or importance of water quality and impact of climate change; drinking water supply and sani-tation; water for agriculture; subregional co-operation and river/lake basin development; water conservation; paying equal attention to ground and surface water; floods and droughts; inter-institutional cooperation for water resources planning and development; and investment in water development and manage-ment.

Special attention was given to country-specific water concerns through in-depth analysis on which recommendations were made. A case in point is the assistance provided to the Ethiopian Government in rationalizing its water development approach. The Government has adopted an integrated approach that seeks to achieve sustainable use of water through an appropriate balance between the use of surface and ground water resources. Assistance was also provided to Egypt to strengthen its training capacity in the field of hydraulic engineering and to Seychelles to prepare a project proposal for harnessing surface water.

(iii) Mineral resources

The biennium witnessed concrete moves by many countries to adopt minerals development policies and strategies aimed at attracting investment. These included new mining legis-lation providing security of tenure, new fiscal regimes favourable to private investors and the reduction of state participation in mining activities. In this respect, two countries stood out - Ghana and South Africa. With regard to Ghana, the growth of mining production was as a result of policies introduced to revamp the mining industry, which focused on the rehabi-litation of existing major industries; increased exploration and development of new mines; strengthening of national institutions to support mining activities; and support to small-scale mining operations. South Africa, on the other hand, enhanced mineral production through increasing value added processing.

ECA contributed to these challenges through activities aimed at strengthening national institutions to support the activities of the private sector in the minerals sector. These included defining measures for the improvement of small-scale mining by proposing specific legis-lation that would create an enabling environ-ment and the provision of technical assistance on such issues as production using new techno-logies, the economic use of mining waste pro-ducts, prospects for the increased production of and intra-African trade in aluminium, copper commodities and metal products.

(d) Marine resources

Assisting African countries to implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea with a view to them benefitting collec-

tively or individually from the vast ocean resources, namely reservoirs of food, energy, materials and space existing in Africa's sea bed was a major objective in the marine sector.

A major initiative was the holding of a "Regional Leadership Seminar on Marine/Ocean Affairs in Africa", organized in collaboration with the International Ocean Institute (IOI), as a platform for launching the process of ocean resources development in Africa. Among other things, the seminar defined policies, strategies and a programme of action to exploit the abundant living and non-living resources of the sea in the context of the Abuja Treaty. These policies and strategies emphasized the need for developing capacities for exploration, optimum exploitation and sustainable development and management of the ocean resources for the benefit of Africa's people. The implementation of these strategies would require cooperation among African countries in the development of scientific knowledge, technological capacities and management skills, development of an appropriate legal institutional framework, development of infrastructure and mobilization of financial resources.

(e) Cartography and remote sensing

For many African countries, information on natural resources does exist but much improve-ment could be made through a mix of interven-tions aimed at rationalizing resource information needs and strengthening capacities to generate and manage information. In response to this need, the major activities of the secretariat in the field of cartography and remote sensing aimed at strengthening the capacity of subre-gional institutions to provide information genera-tion and management services to member States, in diagnosing the problems facing Africa and proposing remedial actions required to correct the situation.

In its efforts to assist its member States to build or improve their capacity to access and annualize adequate information, particularly concerning the adoption and use of modern data acquisition and processing technologies, the Commission undertook several studies which resulted in the following publications:

(a) The status of mapping programmes in Africa: Strategies to fill spatial information gaps;

(b) Framework for the establishment and utilization of national geographic information infrastructures;

(c) Land information systems for land resource planning with special attention to forest management; and

(d) An assessment of the status of the remote sensing programme for Africa and its contribution to the goals of Agenda 21 and the requirements of sustainable development.

Provision of technical and managerial advisory services to relevant regional institutions also constituted the thrust of ECA's interven-tion. These were provided to the Regional Centre for Services in Surveying, Mapping and

Remote Sensing (RCSSMRS), the Regional Centre for Training in Aerospace Surveys (RECTAS) and the African Organization for Cartography and Remote Sensing (AOCRS).

Issues concerning the development and management of resource information and its value in policy definition was also given atten-tion by the Commission. An ad hoc expert group examined issues affecting the generation and management of resource information, which included poorly defined information needs, lack of commitment and understanding at all levels, the need for technological capacities required to provide relevant information. In order to correct the present trend, the policies and strategies should be guided by the following: resource information as a fundamental requirement for making decisions on natural resources develop-ment and utilization; the need for building institutional base; and the need for greater involvement of the private sector.

Two programmes of action adopted by the United Nations General Assembly drive ECA's work in this subprogramme. These are the second United Nations Transport and Communi-cations Decade in Africa (UNTACDA II) and the second Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA II). These programmes provided frameworks within which infrastructural and structural transformation, in particular in transport and communications and industrial development, can take place. Closely asso-ciated with this objective was the need for countries to formulate policies and implement strategies, including the application of science and technology for the development of sustain-able industrial capabilities and efficient transport and communication systems.

The implementation of the two Decade pro-grammes formed the focal point of ECA's work during the biennium under this subprogramme. Most activities focused on assisting member States and relevant IGOs with their infrastruc-tural and structural transformation programmes by undertaking studies, providing technical support to enhance the capacity of national and subregional level institutions to implement the programmes. In this regard, much emphasis was placed on the development of the scientific and technological base required for the realiza-tion of the objectives of the two Decade pro-grammes.

(a) Transport and communications development

A mid-term review of efforts in the imple-mentation of the UNTACDA II programme was undertaken during the biennium. The evaluation study for the review confirmed the continued validity of the global and sectoral objectives, strategies and projects of the programme. However, implementation was fraught with several shortcomings, mainly associated with financing, functioning of the various organs and institutional mechanisms and unfulfilled commit-ments. For example, the national coordination committees (NCC) were not established in some countries; many of those which had been estab-lished did not function according to their terms of reference; the Resource Mobilization Com-mittee (RMC) did not succeed to raise funds for the Decade's activities and projects.

The evaluation made several recommenda-tions to improve the future implementation, in particular mobilization of resources for the implementation of the various programme com-ponents. It would be necessary as a first step for member States to internalize the mobilization of resources through the active involvement of the private sector and the adoption of innovative internal resource mobilization drive.

As lead agency for the implementation of UNTACDA II, ECA's efforts aimed at facilitating inter-State transport and communications, acce-lerating institutional reforms, improving human resource capacities, etc. In this connection, ECA continued to participate actively in the implementation of projects requiring regional co-operation, while at the same time provided assistance at the subregional and regional levels.

Regional programmes such as "Human resources and institutional development (HRID)" and the "Transport database" project were used as vehicles for building the critical capacities required for the effective implementation of the UNTACDA II programme.

The human resources and institutional development project aimed at assisting African countries develop their human resources and institutional capacities for the management of transport and communications. The key acti-vities undertaken during this period were especially directed at enhancing policy and institutional reforms and the preparation of the pilot phase, including mobilization of support for financial and technical assistance for project implementation.

The transport database project has been effective in highlighting the deficiencies relating to transport data and the resulting implications on policies and decisions taken. Through the activities of the project, the level of awareness on the need for transport data and the useful-ness of information derived from it has been heightened. One of the major outputs of the project during the biennium was the develop-ment of sets of performance indicators on transport and communications.

The development of an efficient air transport system and network was being pur-sued through the promotion of cooperative arrangements with a view to enhancing the size and profitable operation of air transport services within the framework of the Yamoussoukro Declaration on a new African air transport policy. A review of progress in the establish-ment of the modalities for cooperation and inte-gration of African airlines was the focus of the Conference of African Ministers in charge of Civil Aviation, held in Mauritius in September 1994. The meeting, having analyzed progress made in the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration, adopted measures aimed at progressive liberalization of traffic rights and strengthening the move towards the integration of African airline companies. Specific measures relating to the exchange of freedoms of the air were also adopted by the meeting.

ECA's support to transport and communi-cations development in Africa also included research and analysis of critical issues relating to the development of the sector. Accordingly, the secretariat undertook research on some major developments in the postal services and telecommunications sector in Africa in an attempt to identify key issues to which African countries should pay particular attention.

For the postal services sector, a study was undertaken and a technical publication prepared on the impact of new courier services in the postal sector in Africa, from which the major finding was that the postal sector has played a major role in market liberalization and compe-tition as it had to contend with private messenger and courier services long before liberalization and competition became fashion-able in the new development paradigm. Further-more, the report showed that many African countries have been forced to separate postal services from the traditional organization of posts and telecommunications, thus granting the postal sector greater administrative and financial autonomy in order to allow it to com-pete more effectively with the courier services in the increasingly liberalized postal services

market. The study made several recommenda-tions to African Governments, in general, and to postal administrations, in particular, regarding the management of postal services to better serve customers and improve their competitive position in the liberalized market. Of particular note is the recommendation that efforts be made to extend postal services to the rural com-munity