Summary
of Discussions
1. The third
meeting of the Annual Regional Consultations of UN Agencies
Working in Africa was convened by Economic Commission for
Africa (ECA) and chaired by the Executive Secretary, Mr.
K. Y. Amoako, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 29 to 30 October.
The meeting was held against the backdrop of several recent
policy developments, namely, the adoption of the New African
Initiative (recently renamed the New Partnership for African
Development (NEPAD)) by OAU Heads of State and Government
in Lusaka in July; the High Level Segment of ECOSOC and
the Spring session of the ACC in which it was concluded
at both meetings that, the UN agencies should unite to provide
a coherent approach in their support of this African led
and owned initiative; and finally, the recent ACC meeting
held in New York which requested ECA to act as the focal
point in Africa for NEP AD.
2. The Consultations
examined two main issues: lessons of the UNSIA for implementing
the NEPAD, and promoting a coordinated and coherent response
by the UN system in its implementation. Six thematic areas
under the NEP AD were identified for collaboration among
agencies and under which breakout sessions were held. These
were: Infrastructure; Human Resource Development, including
education skills development, reversing the brain drain,
and health; Macroeconomic Policies, Trade, and Diversification;
Information and Communication Technology; Agriculture and
Environment; and Population and Employment.
3. An additional
area on humanitarian and refugee concerns was identified
by agencies and subsequently included as a breakout session.
The breakout session discussions took into consideration
crosscutting issues such as, inter alia, gender equality,
capacity building, policy focus and programmatic priorities,
regional approaches and partnership arrangements.
4. In discussing
UNSIA, agencies agreed that the objectives of supporting
Africa-determined priorities and bringing coherence in the
UN's work in Africa are still valid and that, there are
important lessons to be drawn from that experience in support
of NEP AD. These include: the clustering arrangement of
agencies with strong commitment by lead and co-lead agencies;
the development of a modality for cooperation; the availability
of seed money; a mechanism for follow up including a framework
for reporting; and a proactive- secretariat to facilitate
the work of the agencies. It was cautioned that agencies
should not expect huge resource flows, which did not materialize
in the case of UNSIA.
5. The seven
breakout sessions met during the Consultation and identified
the lead agencies that would coordinate the collective work
of each group around the seven thematic clusters mentioned
above. The Groups identified priority areas for collaboration
and agreed to meet periodically to exchange information
and to enhance cooperation.
6. The Consultation
was informed that the next Forum, ADF III, would be held
from 3 to 8 March 2002 with the theme "Defining Priorities
for Regional Integration". ADF III will examine regional
integration in the context of the recent commitment of African
Heads of State to create the African Union. The Forum will
help galvanize a broad-based inclusive process to harmonize
and accelerate integration efforts in the continent and
build consensus around key strategic actions that need to
be taken. It was agreed that the Forum had gained recognition
as an effective vehicle for informed discussion and consensus
building on urgent development issues of relevance to Africa,
and for agreeing on priorities and strategies at the national,
sub-regional and regional levels. The country-level component
organized through the Resident Coordinator system was cited
as an excellent way
to prepare civil society and other stakeholders for the
Forum. Last year's ADF on HIV/AIDS: The Greatest Leadership
Challenge, was an excellent example of inter-agency
cooperation.
7. It was
noted that the Regional Consultation has become an institutional
vehicle for dialogue among UN agencies for promoting synergies
and coordination in addressing the priority needs of Africa
as determined by Africa itself. In this regard, the Consultation
agreed that there should be a single annual report that
could serve as a basis for all reporting requirements and
which would enable the Secretary-General to tell a coherent
story of the totality of the UN's support to Africa. This
Report, it was agreed, should have three components, namely,
political, including the UN's peacekeeping work; humanitarian;
and development. The first two components would be prepared
by the relevant units/sections of the UN. The Report prepared
through the Annual Regional Consultation of UN agencies
working in Africa would provide the third component of a
comprehensive annual report on the UN in Africa.
8. Drawing
on the positive experience of SIA with cluster arrangements,
it was agreed that reporting would be done on a cluster
basis around the seven thematic clusters identified by the
Consultation (see paragraph 2 of this summary). The meeting
further agreed that agencies serving as focal points for
each of the thematic clusters, would work closely with the
partner agencies to collate submissions by various agencies
into a single cluster report that would be submitted to
ECA three months in advance of each Annual Regional Consultation.
9. The meeting
also agreed that in any given year the Report of the Annual
Regional Consultation might focus on a particular theme.
The theme of the ADF of the previous year could provide
such focus, with a special emphasis on reporting on ADF
follow-up actions by the UN system at the regional, sub-regional,
and national levels. In this connection, the meeting underscored
the significance of ADF in consensus building around African-led
priorities and approaches and stressed the need to define
a practical implementation modality for such follow-up actions.
10. It was
agreed that on the basis of the procedures set out above,
ECA would prepare the annual report on the collective efforts
of the UN's development work in Africa, to be distributed
to all agencies in advance of each Annual Regional Consultation.
Following its endorsement by the Consultation, ECA would
formally forward this report to the UN Deputy Secretary-General.
The report of the Annual Regional Consultation would constitute
one of the three components of the Secretary-General's annual
report to the General Assembly on the work of the UN in
Africa. The report of the Secretary-General prepared through
this reporting framework would then serve as the comprehensive
reference source for other UN reports and for briefings
on Africa to other bodies.
11. The Executive
Secretary concluded by stating that, ECA would liase with
all the agencies in the next few months to assess their
needs and to devise a reporting mechanism with modalities
based on the reporting proposal agreed to at the Consultation.
He stressed the need to be mindful that collaboration is
a process not an event and thus, it was necessary to identify
ways to move the process forward. Since Africa's priorities
are continuously evolving, the UN system would need to review
and adjust its activities accordingly.
12. Finally,
the Consultation agreed on the need to establish a more
proactive secretariat to service the Annual Regional Consultations
and to prepare, monitor and ensure follow-up. To this effect,
it was agreed that ECA would perform these functions. UNDP
offered to provide both financial and human resources' support
through its regional programme to facilitate agencies in
their collective efforts, including the funding of meetings
of the seven clusters and the financing of studies. In this
context, UNFPA also indicated that it would provide some
support. It was hoped that other agencies would commit funds
to these endeavours as well.
Third Annual Meeting - Report