Fourth Annual Meeting

Summary of conclusions

1. The Fourth Annual Regional Consultations of UN Agencies Working in Africa was held from 24 to 25 October 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and was chaired by Mr. K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa. Prof. Wiseman Nkuhlu, Chairman of the NEPAD Steering Committee, also attended the meeting. Representatives from 28 UN agencies, departments and programmes participated in the meeting, as well as representatives from the African Development Bank, the African Union and the International Organization for Migration, participating as observers.

2. In his opening remarks, the Executive Secretary noted that the consultations were being held against the backdrop of many important developments regarding Africa, including the 16 September 2002 High Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on NEPAD and the high level review of UN-NADAF, both of which adopted NEPAD as the framework for the UN’s support to Africa. In this regard, the Executive Secretary envisaged a number of collaborative agreements emanating from the consultations. These were:

a. a set of priority areas for joint UN activities in order to promote synergies and maximize impact;
b. identifying a number of “quick wins” for NEPAD for the coming two years: these “quick wins” could serve as benchmarks to measure the UN’s progress and to also provide a basis for a common reporting mechanism and exchange of information among all agencies;
c. establishing modalities for cooperation at the national, sub-regional and regional levels and for cooperation among agencies within specific clusters and with the NEPAD secretariat;
d. capacity building of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and key national institutions to advance the implementation of NEPAD; and
e. support for NEPAD outreach activities to popularize its objectives and principles.

3. In his presentation, Prof. Nkuhlu conveyed his appreciation for the opportunity to attend the Consultations and expressed the hope that regular contact through the Consultations and the clusters would ensure a more coherent and systematic interaction between the UN system and the NEPAD secretariat. He indicated that the NEPAD Initial Action Plan, adopted by the Heads of State in Durban, South Africa, in July 2002, identifies eight key priority areas, and that action for the coming year would focus on the following: operationalization and implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM); support for the integration of NEPAD principles, priorities and programmes in national development plans; implementation of NEPAD programmes by RECs, particularly the short-term regional infrastructure programme; and strengthening of the peace, security and governance organs within the African Union. He also mentioned that the NEPAD secretariat would be working on a five-year implementation plan.

4. In view of the NEPAD priorities identified above, the consultations reviewed the seven thematic clusters established at the Third Annual Regional Consultations in October 2001, and identified five clusters that would better respond to the NEPAD Initial Action Plan. It was agreed that each cluster would be facilitated by a lead agency, acting as convener of the respective cluster meetings and organizing cluster reporting. The five clusters are as follows: Infrastructure Development: Water and Sanitation, Energy, Transport, and ICTs, Convener: ECA; Governance, Peace and Security, Convener: UNDP; Agriculture, Trade and Market Access, Convener: FAO; Environment, Population and Urbanization, Convener: UN-Habitat; Human Resource Development, Employment and HIV/AIDS, Convener: UNICEF.

5. Breakout sessions were held for the five newly formed clusters in which agencies identified priority areas for joint actions, and agreed on modalities of cooperation at the national, sub-regional and regional levels. (See cluster summaries attached). Agencies suggested that given their respective roles, DPKO, DPA and the AU should consider participating in future meetings of the cluster on Governance, Peace and Security. It was also agreed that ADB should be invited to participate in future meetings of several of the clusters.

6. The Consultations agreed on modalities for cooperation at the national, sub-regional and regional level. At the country level, existing mechanisms such as CCA/UNDAF, PRSPs and other national strategies, as well as the MDGs, would continue to be utilized through the UN Coordinator system and the UN country teams. The central role of the RECs at the subregional level was underscored. In this regard, the agencies (working through the cluster arrangements) would work very closely with the RECs and the NEPAD secretariat to advance joint activities in order to build the capacity of the subregional institutions. At the regional level, it was agreed that the Consultations should be convened at least once and possibly, twice, a year. It was also felt that, in order to encourage inter-cluster cooperation, the Executive Secretary should periodically call meetings of the five cluster conveners together with the NEPAD secretariat around major events. In addition, the five cluster conveners should organize their respective cluster meetings in close cooperation with the NEPAD secretariat, which would serve as co-convener, when possible.

7. With regard to reporting, the Consultations noted the decision of the Secretary-General to give the responsibility for coordinating the preparation of reports on Africa to
Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, Advisor for Special Assignments in Africa, and agreed that a consolidated report based on the work of the clusters would be prepared and forwarded to that office for inclusion in the Secretary-General’s report on Africa. The NEPAD secretariat indicated that it would use the consolidated cluster report for its work on policy and programme formulation and advocacy at the regional, subregional and country levels.

8. Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Assistant Administrator and Director, UNDP Africa, made a commitment to assign staff and make resources available in Addis to assist ECA in facilitating the above-mentioned cooperation modalities. Other agencies wishing to make contributions were also encouraged to do so.

9. Regarding next steps, the Consultations agreed that cluster members, with the help of the conveners, would continue their interaction through electronic discussions and meetings, and would further refine agreed areas of cooperation by identifying benchmarks for measuring success and their timetables. Most clusters agreed to meet at least twice a year and to cooperate closely with the RECs in the implementation of their sub-regional NEPAD activities. In his closing remarks, Prof. Nkuhlu stressed that NEPAD, as a small secretariat, could not interface individually with all UN agencies and thus it was essential for agencies to coordinate their work with NEPAD through the thematic clusters. He indicated that the NEPAD secretariat was in the process of recruiting a number of thematic coordinators under the overall supervision of the Programme Coordinator, who would work closely with the UN clusters. Finally, the Executive Secretary expressed the hope that the momentum gained by these Consultations and the cluster meetings would be translated into concrete collective actions in support of NEPAD.