Partnership around NEPAD

 Multilateral Organizations

At its 2001 Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development that met in Algiers, the Ministers mandated ECA to provide technical backstopping for the implementation of the merged vision, which evolved into the New African Initiative (NAI) and then into NEPAD. ECA's fostering of the formulation of NEPAD was substantial and its role in fostering implementation remains strong through its technical work and through sponsorship of high-level forums of deliberation, through use of its convening power. There five channels through which the Commission has played and continues to play key role in NEPAD. These include:

a. Participation in the process that gave birth to NEPAD and the elaboration of some of its key features;

The ECA Compact for African recovery initiative was the glue for the merger of the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme (MAP) initiated by Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olesegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, with the OMEGA plan of President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal. The initiative adopted by the OAU Summit in Lusaka in July 2001 was later amended and renamed NEPAD by the Heads of State Implementation Committee in October 2001 in Abuja.

b. Using its convening power to bring decision-makers and stakeholders together for decision-making and consensus building around key areas. ECA's leadership has been recognized in the following areas;

Trade and regional integration

Working closely with the African Union, ECA has been spearheading activities aimed at ensuring that African countries achieve the best results possible from the on-going negotiations at the WTO and with the EU on the various Partnership Agreements. These activities include training workshops and High-Level Brainstorming Sessions that bring together experts and negotiators to build common positions and strengthen the negotiating position of African countries. The Commission conducts analytical studies and proposes policy recommendations and strategies to improve competitiveness and market access, mainstream trade in development policies at the national, sub-regional and regional levels and speed up regional integration on the continent. The ECA's African Trade Center (ATPC) offers comprehensive trade related technical assistance and capacity-building strategies to member states. The objective is to equip African policy makers with relevant tools through training and advisory services.

Transport

ECA has played, and continues to play, an active role in this sector, first through its extensive work and support within the framework of the UN Transport and Communications Decades, and second through its continued assistance to successor arrangements to the Decade programmes including the NEPAD infrastructure component. In this regard, the Commission collaborates with the African Development Bank (ADB) in developing this sub-cluster under the NEPAD infrastructure agenda. ECA continues to provide active support to t he "Yamoussoukro Decision for Air Transport Liberalization" aimed at facilitating the NEPAD Short-term Action Plan (STAP), and is actively involved in monitoring its implementation. As chair of the "Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Programme" (SSATP), the Commission has been working with SSATP to encourage countries to adopt sound transport policies and strategies as well as institutional and financial reforms. Within this framework, and in collaboration with AU and the RECs, the Commission organized a technical committee meeting to review a document on "the role of transport in achieving the MDGs", which was subsequently presented to the African Transport Ministers' conference held on 4-8 April 2005. ECA's Office in Central Africa has been very proactive since 2005 in assisting ECCAS and CEMAC to prepare and adopt a consensual transport development plan and introduced the Geo Information System (GIS) for projects identified by member States. The system will help development partners to visualize and assess the physical road projects associated with the economic and socio development factors. ECA's Office also set up a follow-up Committee at operational and ministerial levels for the implementation of the projects. These committees will meet regularly this year to evaluate implementation processes.

Water

The Commission has spearheaded efforts of UN agencies to establish UN Energy/Africa, a collaborative inter-agency mechanism in support of the NEPAD energy Agenda. Activities implemented to date include the development of a UN/Energy/Africa web information sharing and clearinghouse forum; the development of the first mini/micro hydropower capacity building and investment project in Africa; the implementation of an African Stakeholders' Policy Dialogue Forum; and joint programming between IAEA and ECA for training programmes on capacity building in Integrated Resource Planning. ECA is actively involved in monitoring and coordinating the implementation of the African Water Vision 2025. In this respect ECA has successfully organized the Pan-African Implementation and Partnership Conference (PANAFCON). Major outcomes/initiatives include: The Regional Portfolio of Projects/programmes developed by the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW), with support from other UN agency members of UN Water/Africa; and the African Water Journal, initiated by the UN Water Secretariat of ECA. Of particular interest has been the support to the African Union Commission for preparing the Sirte Declaration on Agriculture and Water; the African Minister's Council on Water (AMCOW); and the River/Lake Basin Organizations such as Lake Chad and Niger.

ECA is actively monitoring and coordinating the implementation of the African Water Vision 2025, and other major outcomes/initiatives. These include:

.  The regional Portfolio of Projects/Programmes developed by AMCOW with support by ECA and other UN agency members of UN Water/Africa;

.  The African Water Journal, initiated by the UN Water Secretariat of ECA;

.  The 2nd Phase of the Water for African Cities programme by UN HABITAT;

.  The African Water Information Clearing House, developed by ECA ( www.uneca.org/awich ). This is an ongoing activity with capacity building at the sub regional level completed in West, East and Central Africa in 2004;

.  The Regional Civil Society Network for Water

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

ICT is a sub-cluster of the NEPAD Short-term Action Plan (STAP) on infrastructure. Major activities carried out by ECA in this area deal with the STAP section on "Programme to enhance Africa's Participation in the Global ICT Policy and Decision-making Forums". Consequently, ECA convenes and facilitates meetings of the sub-cluster, encourages online discussion for members of the sub-cluster to exchange ideas and coordinate activities on ICT issues. It provides support to Africa throughout the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). This culminated in ECA sponsoring and coordinating several conferences, including the African Ministerial Conference on the follow up to WSIS, and the second African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS held in Accra from 2-4 February 2005. As an outcome of the WSIS, ECA will work with the AU in implementing the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy, which has already been included in its 2006-2007 biennium work plan.

ECA also facilitated various negotiations on contentious WSIS issues faced by the Africa Group and between the Africa Group and other continents. This resulted in commitment and cohesion in the Africa Group during the various WSIS Preparatory Committee meetings and the two phases of the Summit. Some of the concrete results of the ECA facilitation and involvement in this area have been the adoption by the WSIS of the Digital Solidarity Fund as a NEPAD initiative, and the adoption by the African ICT Ministers of the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE), developed by ECA as Africa's Roadmap on ICTs up to 2015

c. Responding to specific requests for strategic assistance from NEPAD organs and related structures

ECA has responded and continue to respond to specific requests by NEPAD, whether through the NEPAD secretariat, the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC), the African Union or associated organs and structures. For example, ECA is currently participating in the APRM support missions to a number of countries. As a member of the Steering Committee on the NEPAD/G8 Regional Implementation Planning for CAADP, ECA provides regional advisory services and technical support to Eastern and Central African sub-regions and SADC in relation to implementing the CAADP agenda. The Commission also assisted in establishing the NEPAD Science and Technology Plan of Action, and helped in launching the UN S&T Cluster for the support of NEPAD. In addition, ECA has been supporting the RECs in the development of sub-regional e-strategies and e-government strategies. ECA's assistance has been mostly felt in the two following areas:

African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) : To enhance its contribution to the process, ECA established an APR Support Unit in its Economic and Social Policy Division (ESPD) in 2005. The Unit coordinates all of ECA's APRM-related activities including providing vital support to the APR Secretariat in various phases of the APR process and providing technical assistance to individual APR-participating countries as necessary.

By December 2005, ECA had participated in the 9 APR country support missions, 2 country follow-up support missions and the 3 review missions organized by the APR Secretariat. ECA staff members participated in support missions to the following countries: Ghana, Rwanda, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa and Benin. By August 2005, 19 ECA staff members participated in a total of 9 support missions, with ECA providing the largest number of experts. ECA also sent one expert to each of the follow-up missions to Algeria and South Africa in November and December of 2005. ECA experts continue to provide support in the process in many ways. It includes reviewing and/or producing APRM-related documents; country self-assessment reports, country program of action; country profiles, background and issues papers. ECA plans to undertake 8 review missions and before August 2006. ECA intends to participate actively in upcoming APR support and review missions.

Mutual Accountability for development effectiveness . Through various engagements with NEPAD, Africa's partners have committed themselves to enhancing the quality and quantity of their support to the continent, in line with the Monterrey Consensus and other initiatives such as the G8 Africa Action Plan. Mindful of the prior work by ECA on the institutional arrangements for joint reviews of development effectiveness and its consultations with OECD on this topic, the Heads of State and Government of the NEPAD Implementation Committee, at their meeting in Maputo in November 2002, requested ECA and the OECD to conclude their work on the institutional framework for this review. In reply to this request and drawing on the outcomes of the third Big Table (Addis Ababa, January 2003) which discussed the technical and political considerations associated with such a framework, ECA prepared a paper entitled "Towards an Institutional Mechanism for Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness Between Africa and Its Partners" with interim recommendations and proposals . Subsequently, the Heads of State of the NEPAD Implementation Committee at its meeting in Abuja on March 9. 2003, gave mandate to ECA to continue to join effort with OECD on the 'Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness in the context of NEPAD. The first Mutual Review report will be tabled for discussion at the ECA Conference of Ministers in May 2005.

d. Creation of continent-wide initiatives contributing towards the NEPAD agenda

Over the years, ECA has established several initiatives as part of its advocacy role, to promote Africa's agenda, build consensus and help advocate Africa's positions. Three of the most prominent ones are the Big Table, the African Development Forum and the Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa.

The Big Table: Beyond its catalytic role in promoting partnership among UN organizations for NEPAD, ECA has striven to mobilize the international community behind African development through the Big Table Initiative. Conceived in 2000, ECA has organized four annual meetings of the Big Table, whose deliberations have centered on Africa's efforts towards sustained growth and poverty reduction, the critical importance of African leadership and commitment and the importance of mutually reinforcing partnerships between the continent and its development partners to achieving effective outcomes. Earlier Big Table meetings have also considered the critical issue of financing development in Africa, involving the importance of enhanced domestic resource mobilization, the quality and quantity of Official Development Assistance (ODA), the optimal mix of grants, loans and debt relief, and the significance of policy coherence to improving Africa's opportunities to attaining the MDGs. The Big Table held in Addis Ababa from 16-17 October 2004 focused on the important issue of stimulating private investment in Africa. In attendance were several African Ministers of Finance, Economic Development and Planning, OECD representatives, institutions, and representatives from the private sector.

The African Development Forum (ADF). A highly visible part of ECA's work is the ground-breaking initiative called the African Development Forum, which provides a platform for all stakeholders, member States, the private sector, civil society and development partners, to engage in candid and constructive dialogue and build consensus on major challenges facing the African continent. Informed by in-depth analytical work, the ADF provides an opportunity to link African decision- and policy-makers in conversation with diverse groups of participants both from Africa and the rest of the world. ECA has organized four ADFs since October 1999. The first ADF centered on the theme "The Challenge of Globalization and the Information Age". ADF II brought the spotlight on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa under the theme "HIV/AIDS, the Greatest Leadership Challenge". ADF III focused on "Defining Priorities for Regional Integration". Held in March 2002, it coincided with efforts towards the establishment of the African Union. From 11-18 October 2004, ECA held its fourth ADF (ADFIV) under the theme "Governance for a Progressing Africa". In this regard, ECA released a synopsis of its forthcoming report on governance in 28 countries. This African Governance Report, the result of the work of 2,000 experts and 50,000 household surveys, has been a major source of data for the APRM process. ADF V is in preparation and will take place from 25 to 28 October 2006.

Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA). In 2003 the ECA launched the CHGA. It was convened by the United Nations Secretary General and chaired by the Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako in response to the threat to Africa's governance and development posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. CHGA is actively engaged in research and development of policy tools for African governments and regional and subregional organizations to keep governance and development processes on track and on ways to overcome the capacity and governance constraints to scaling up health care, especially antiretroviral therapy. The Commission is helping to scale up existing African initiatives in the field, including the International Partnership against AIDS in Africa and the AIDS Watch Africa group of heads of state formed at the 2001 Abuja Summit on AIDS, Malaria, and Other Infectious Diseases. This work has brought the agenda of overcoming HIV/AIDS and mitigating its economic and governance impacts into mainstream forums, such as the Joint Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development and the African Union's mechanisms for peace and security. The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance is also working with specialized UN agencies including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the World Food Programme, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, as well as the World Bank. It is also using regional and subregional forums, including the African Union and RECs, to promote the agenda of HIV/AIDS and governance.

The African Learning Group on the PRSPs . The African Learning Group on the PRSPs was established by ECA, at the request of member States, as a forum for candid dialogue among African countries on how the PRSP process is unfolding on the continent, identify PRSP design and implementation challenges, and ensure the relevance of the PRSP process to the continent's development. The Learning Group is also designed to foster the mutual accountability principle under NEPAD. The Learning Group is a direct outcome of the first Big Table, which took place in Addis Ababa in November 2000. The NEPAD document endorses the ECA's African Learning Group. Through the work of the PRSP Learning Group, ECA has been able to inject African perspectives into the workings of the PRSP process. ECA has also undertaken 24 country studies on the PRSP process, the findings and recommendations of which, along with the outcomes of the PRSP Learning Group, have had an impact on Bank and Fund practices.

ECA organized from 26 to 29 March 2006 an African Plenary on poverty reduction strategies. The objective of the conference was to review the experience with the PRSs in Africa; distill lessons learnt from the PRSP-LG work; and contribute to shaping a second generation of PRSs, in order to respond more adequately to the specific needs of the region