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A Technical Working Meeting of the Special Initiative on Africa was held on March 5-6, 1997 at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting was convened and chaired by Mr. K.Y. Amoako, ECA Executive Secretary.

The Meeting noted the significant progress that had been achieved since the launch of the UN System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa (UN-SIA) last year. Past advocacy efforts have paid off. Considerable progress has been achieved in specific clusters and countries. A clear sense of African ownership and commitment to the Initiative is also emerging. However, there is need to deepen the advocacy at the country level in order to mobilize a broader group of national stakeholder behind the Initiative, including central ministries (planning and finance), civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, journalists, academics, as well as local bilateral donor representatives. Efforts are also needed to address the remaining scepticism and doubts about the Initiative wihtin the UN system. In addition, there is also need to resolve at the cluster level practical implementation issues in order to facilitate country level progress under the Initiative.

The SIA Technical Working Meeting was convened to address many of these issues. In specific, it was designed as an issue-focused Meeting to: (i) get a clear sense of the status of SIA activities in the three sectors – education, health, and water – and on specific cross-cutting issues – country eligibility, communications strategy, population and gender mainstreaming, and resource mobilization, in advance of the April ACC Steering Committee Meeting in Geneva; and (ii) facilitate common understanding among lead agencies on how to work together in implementing programmes under the SIA at the country level.

In his opening remarks, the Chairman introduced the concept of value added at the country level as the framework for assessing programme implementation under the Initiative. He urged participants to focus on demonstrating the potential value added and synergy that could be achieved under the Initiative at the country level and on defining mechanisms and modalities that would enable the Initiative to do. He stressed that, in the final analysis, the success of the Initative would be determined by achievements at the country-level. The summary of the ensuing discussions by sector and by cross-cutting themes is presented below.

Education: The World Bank and UNESCO gave an update on the status of inter-agency consultations on the education cluster. Participants noted that considerable synergy had been achieved under the Initiative between the lead agencies and that a clear sense of implementation arrangements was also evolving. The Association of Donors for African Education (ADAE) offered a good mechanism for involving African policy makers and donors in the resolution of key policy and operational issues under the SIA education cluster.

Consensus was reached on ursing the following country typology presented by the World Bank, for programmes in the education cluster. While the last category has relevance only for the World Bank. There was agreement that the first four categories based on country readiness for SIPs, with some modification, would also be balid for the health and the water cluster under the Initiative. It was also stressed that Sector Investment Programmes (SIPs) constituted the preferred approache to providing support under the education sector.

Group I. Countries with sustainable SIPs and willingness to move ahead with implementation of SIPs.

Group 2. Countries with good SIP formulation and implementation capacity but with key outstanding policy issues that need to be resolved.

Group 3. Countries with weak institutional and human capacity to formulate and implement SIPs.

Group 4. Countries in war and civil strife.

Group 5. World Bank non-borrowing countries.

Health: Commitment to health sector reform in Africa has been registered at the highest level. WHO informed the Meeting that health ministers had endorsed the Initiative and African Heads of State were also fully briefed on the SIA health component. UN system delivery on its commitment in a timely manner is therefore critical for the credibility of the Initiative.

Two implementation approaches under the SIA health cluster were considered: i) vertical approach focused on major diseases and ii) horizontal approache focused on health system-wide reforms. Participants felt that the distinction between the two approaches was rather theoretical. They stressed that ther vertical approach, in and ot itself, would not achieve the value added that was sought from the SIA in the health sector. The broader SIP approach, on the other hand, would encourage health sector reforms, support the infrastructure improvements, integrate funding of vertical activities, and ensure sustainability. In addition, increased funding for disease-focused health activities would materialize from the positive effects of expenditure rationalization through health sector reforms and through improved coordination. However, the Meeting also recognized that there was need to continue support for vertical activities through specific programmes of UN agencies bearing in mind the agreed upon sector reform.

Participants agreed that the first four country typologies proposed by the education cluster were also valid for the SIA health cluster. There was agreement that, for countries in Groups 1 to 3, the Bank should take the lead in resource mobilization effort. For countries in Groups 4 and 5, UN agencies would continue their assistance with the support of the Bank where feasible.

The Meeting also underscored that regional health programmes, for instance, for diseases such as HIV-AIDS which have cross-boarder implications, should be encouraged and supported in tune with growing consensus on the need for quality programmes. Additional funding mechanisms would be required to support such activities. In this connection, the Meeting agreed that the idea of common fund, though premature, would be a potential mechanism to meet the funding requirements for inter-country activities.

Water: UNEP and WMO preented comprehensive reports on the inter-agency consultations on the SIA water cluster. An Informal Water Working Group was formed in April 1996 to guide implementation of the water objectives under the SIA. Extensive consultations by this Group, co-chaired by UNEP and the World Bank, have brought about cohesion among the four water-related programmes under the Initiative and have helped define common goals for the cluster.

The cluster will now proceed to work out specific implementation arrangements at the country level. Four countries have been identified as initial focus countries for concerted UN agency water cluster activities under the Iniative, above and behond what UN agencies are already doing in the water sector in these countries. The Meeting noted that the country selection criteria developed by the Informal Water Working Group – including government ownership and commitment to integrated water resource management, existence of macro economic and sector reform programmes – were broadly consistent with the criteria agreed upon under the education cluster.

the Meeting recognized the importance of, and funding need for, inter-country projects under the water cluster. The Zambezi River Basin has been selected by the Informal Water Working Group as a candidate to demonstrate coordination of UN efforts and inter-agency cooperation within the context of trans-boundary river basin management and planning.

Participants stressed that the synergic framework that could potentially come out of the water cluster would in itself be a value added to the initiative. The cluster has plans for advocacy work based on the inventory currently being compiled on country-level ongoing and planned water projects in Africa. The UN-SIA Secretariat is prepared to support this advocacy effort. The Meeting also recoognized the need for inter-cluster consultation in order to forster cross-fertilization among clusters. The Meeting noted that the UN-SIA Secretariat was well placed to facilitate such consultations.

Governance: UNDP and UNESCO provided an update on the SIA work on governance and communications for peace. The preparatory process for the planned Forum on Governance on July 10-11 was described in detail including the inter-UN agencies consultation, planned participation of a group of African Heads of State, formulation and preparation of selected comprehensive programmes to be presented to the Forum for review and funding, and planned consultation with civil society organization in Addis Ababa to take place in May.

Participants stressed that the SIA governance programme should aim for improvements on both the political and economic front and should include activities such as i) capacity building on economic management and ii) reinforcement of parliamentary and judiciary systems to ensure check and balance and rule of law and to improve the image of Africa with evidence of better record on governance. In this regard, the Meeting underscored the importance of involving all political parties in the design and implementation of country level governance activities under the Initiative.

UNESCO also reported on the SIA Communications for Peace-building work programme, including the plan to convene a conference on this topic in Addis Ababa. The Meeting took note of the progress made and recommended streamlining efforts and coordinating planned activities under the SIA governance cluster.

Mainstreaming Gender and Population: The Meeting underscored the need for a concerted effort under the Initiative to streamline gender and population in all SIA cluster areas and invited UNFPA to guide this effort. The following practical suggestions were made to facilitate progress in operationalizing this commitment under the Initiative:

undertaking country gender assessments as has been done by UNDP in 15 countries;

encouraging gender-disggregated data collection and data use, as well as, developing and using gender specific monitoring parameters in the work under all clusters;

organizing courses for UN staff on population and gender issues as previously done by FAO and now planned by ECA; and

including gender advisers at UN country team retreats to build the necessary awareness.

Information Technology: ECA updated participants on the rapidly changing developments in information technology and on the status of connectivity in Africa. Details were presented on the components of the Harnessing Information Technology for Development (HITD) cluster under the Initiative, the requirements on the policy front, and the modalities of carrying out the HITD cluster work, looking specifically at the African Information Society Institute (AISI) and using information technology to accelerate economic development in Africa.

The Meeting welcomed the progress achieved in determining division of labour among participating agencies and the approach used to mobilize resource for the cluster. In addition to resources under UNDP’s connectivity programme, major resources have been acquired through the IDRC, ACACIA Project – a project to use information and communications technology for the benefit of communities in Africa.

Communications Strategy: The Meeting found the draft paper on SIA Communications Strategy, presented by ECA, as a useful framework to develop an outreach strategy for enhancing the image of Africa and mobilizing sustained support for Africa’s development. Overall the meeting found the idea of a communications strategy to be an excellent advocacy mechanism for the continent and helpful for progress under all SIA clusters. The meeting recommended the revision of the strategy taking into account the valuable suggestions offered including, taking stock of existing mechanisms and structures such as country level United Nations Information Centres (UNIC), UN Department of Public Information (UN-DPI), and Africa Recovery; differentiating more sharply the various stakeholders; articulating metter the message for each category of stake holders; and identifying approaches to collaborate with the existing communications mechanisms within the UN system.

Eligibility

There was broad agreement that the focus under the SIA should be on managing existing resources more efficiently and on building national consensus on the policy front. In this regard, the potential for improving on the utilization of existing resources was exemplified by the large amounts reported by the World Bank as undisbursed commitments to Africa of US$1 billion each in the health and education sectors and the possibilities for new commitments to the region amounting to US$300 to 400 million per year in support of SIPs in the health and education sectors.

Existing mechanisms, such as Consultative Group Meetings (CG) and Round Tables (RT) will be used to fund SIPs for Group I countries.

Countries in Groups 2 and 3 will be assisted through policy dialogue, capacity building, and experience sharing with more advanced group of countries. Resources mobilization strategy to assist these countries will be developed to build national policy consensus under the leadership of recipient countries and for capacity building.

inter-country activities will be encouraged and supported. By the end of April, each cluster should prepare and submit to the SIA Secretariat an inventory of inter-country activities and cost estimates.

In paraellel, World Bank will pursue the positive steps announced at the Meeting to explore funding support for capacity building and national consensus building through the use of proceeds of ongoing project, bilaterial trust funds: and contribution from institutions such as UNDP will be further explored.

In his concluding remarks the Chairman noted that the Technical Working Meeting had achieved its objectives. A consensus was reached on the country eligibility issue; an understanding was reached on the importance of cross-country projects specifically under the health and water cluster and on the need for additional resources to support such activities; and progress was achieved in identifying practical approaches towards a concerted effort, to be led by UNFPA, in internalizing the gender and population agenda under the Initiative.

The Chairman underscored that the success of the Initiative rested on achieving value-added at the country level. Overall there was a clear sense that the Initiative had brought about value added in the three clusters – education, health, and water; and that progress had been achieved on governance, including communications for peace, and harnessing information for development. He stressed the importance of the UN Country Team in fostering value added through the SIAa and identified the following concrete mechanisms as basis to demonstrate value-added under the Initiative:

continued use of country team retreats to harmonize country assistance building on recipient country’s own priorities;

minimizing the transaction costs on government through harmonization of programming instruments and implementation arrangements;

coming up with standard reporting format as a practical first step;

making special efforts to involve the non-UN external partners and local stakeholders in order to mobilize the wed-range of stakeholders at the country level behind the Initiative;

reinforcing the commitment of the UN country team by issuing clear instructions from agency Headquarters;

preparing a joint country assessment or a joint synthesis report based on the findings of the various country reports prepared by UN partner agencies in a given country in order to: i) arrive at a common understanding of the country situation, ii) identify resource gaps in between CGs, identify institutional and human capacity weaknesses, and iii) come up with common UN system-wide recommendations on how to address these weakness using the UN country teams as a reservoir; and

sponsoring inter-country meetings involving several countries to facilitate cross-fertilization.

The Secretariat will develop draft guidelines for country teams on a common framework for achieving value added at the country level.

Innovative mechanisms to support cross-country activities, specially in health and water clusters, to be further discussed among the lead agencies. Each cluster to take inventory of the inter-country activities/programmes, define with some specificity the resource needs, and present the information to the Secretariat by the end of April. This will provide the basis for exploring strategies for funding mobilization efforts for such projects.

The Bank together with UNDP will work out to some degree of detail the resource mobilization strategy to help countries in Group 2 and 3. Other agencies will identify resources from their budget that could help the process.

Before the April ACC Meeting, clear instructions to be issues by Headquarters of UN partner agencies to their country offices to stimulate full and active participation of UN country teams in the Initiative.

ECA SIA Secretariat to revise the draft Communications Strategy per comments and suggestions from the Meeting and to circulate before the April ACC Steering Committee Meeting.

The Meeting agreed that demonstrating concrete results under the SIA was essential for the credibility of the communication and advocacy effort. To this end, each cluster would need to develop and resport to the Secretariat key implementation benchmarks for the next 6 months on the basis of which implementation progress at the cluster level and at the country level could be monitored.