African Governance Report (AGR) and APRM Support Unit Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

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African Governance Report (AGR) and APRM Support Unit Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
Governance and Public Administration Division (GPAD)
ECA
P. O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel: + 251-11-544-5439 (Office) +251-911-611-232 (Cell)
Fax: 251-11- 551-1953

Websites: http://www.uneca.org/agr/, http://www.uneca.org/aprm/

Prof. Okey Onyejekwe, GPAD Director/ AGR Coordinator, onyejekwe@uneca.org
Dr. Kojo Busia, Officer-in-Charge, APRM Support Unit, kbusia@uneca.org

Description

Established in 1958 as a regional policy think-tank of the United Nations, ECA is one of the pan-African development institutions designated by the NEPAD Heads of State and Implementation Committee (HSGIC) as a Strategic Partner for the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). In part, the request for support to the APRM process was designated in recognition of ECA’s ground-breaking work to develop codes and standards for good governance in Africa, and to subsequently measure the state of governance in 27 countries—research that culminated in the publication of the inaugural African Governance Report (AGR) in 2005.

In light of these efforts, ECA established an APRM Support Unit in 2006 to coordinate the Commission’s substantive, technical and strategic support to the continental peer review process. The Unit offers strategic advice, providing technical guidance and assisting in developing a consensus around NEPAD/APRM process. Specifically, ECA contributes to the APRM by:

• Assisting the APR Secretariat to build and maintain a customized database of information on participating countries, including providing access to data sources, and sharing of information and experiences;
  
• Providing relevant advice to the APR Panel and Secretariat on the preparation and the implementation of the APR process;
  
• Providing assistance to the APR Panel and Secretariat in the conduct of Country Support Missions that are meant to assist participating countries to prepare for and participate in the APR country review process;
  
• Providing support to countries on request in the preparation for participation in the APRM, for the self-assessment, and the drafting of the Program of Action;
  
• Providing assistance to the APR Secretariat in reviewing the self-assessment and the National Program of Action of participating countries, and subsequently in drafting the Issues Paper;
  
• Supporting the APR Secretariat in undertaking Technical Assessment; of issues emerging from country self-assessment and background reports;
  
• Providing support to the APR Panel and Secretariat for the conduct of the Country Review Visit, including participating in the Country Review Team as advisor; and
  
• Providing support for the drafting and finalization of the Country Review Report.

Track Record

ECA has established itself as a leading technical and policy think tank at continental level, and has achieved significant results in several areas, including the following:

AGR: Using indicators and methodology developed at ECA, the Commission employed a research instrument with three components encompassing expert opinion, national household surveys and desk research. The scope of the study has made AGR a major instrument for policy making and dialogue that at the time of its publication constituted the most comprehensive study of its kind on governance in Africa.

Among other achievements, the AGR project ensured the introduction of benchmarks, creating a common platform for leaders and different stakeholders to assess and evaluate governance processes; led ECA to dedicate the 4th edition of its African Development Forum to the governance issue and publish a synopsis of the report, along with country profiles; inspired the design of governance indicators and production of national country reports and profiles now used extensively in the APRM process; and constituted a powerful instrument for identifying good practices across countries that can be emulated, as well as for identifying gaps and deficits.

In light of the AGR’s value as a tool for policy dialogue on governance in Africa, ECA is preparing to publish a second edition of the report at the end of 2007. AGR II will include studies on 12 new countries—Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, CAR, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Tunisia—bringing the total to 39.

APRM

Preparation of APRM Documents: ECA has contributed substantively in the preparations of a number of Country Profiles, Background Papers, Issues Papers, Final Country Review Reports and Country Programs of Action. These include the Country Review Reports for Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa for the APRM Panel and the Heads of State Forum. The report for Algeria is currently being prepared.

Country Support Missions: ECA has participated in all of the 13 APRM Country Support Missions to date—in Ghana, Rwanda, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa, Benin, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Lesotho.

Technical Support: ECA has responded to requests for technical support from Congo and Tanzania who are at different stages of the process. ECA facilitated a meeting among the three pioneering countries—Ghana, Rwanda, and Kenya—that reviewed progress in the Implementation of the APRM National Plan of Action and explored the design of a monitoring and evaluation system to track progress.

Preparation of APRM Database:</i> ECA has established an information database on participating countries to support the country review process. The database draws on ECA’s work in governance, economic performance, poverty assessments, trade competitiveness, gender, and other MDG-related indicators. ECA has also constructed an African Governance Experts database, which will assist the APRM Secretariat in identifying competent independent African experts in all areas of governance for the Country Review Missions.

ECA has successfully advocated for resources to scale up its support to the APRM process from 2007–2009 as follows:

Implementation of APRM Plan of Action: There is a critical need for technical assistance at the Post-APRM Review stage. ECA will therefore provide assistance on how to mainstream into the planning and budgeting processes and align the Plan of Action into existing national development strategies such as Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) processes.

Monitoring implementation progress: APRM participating countries are obliged to report periodically to the APRM Forum on progress of the implementation of the Plan of Action. ECA plans to assist in designing viable monitoring and evaluation systems for these countries.

Joint APRM Support Team: In partnership with the other two Strategic Partners (AfDB and UNDP) ECA will form a Joint APRM Support Team (JAST) to assist participating APRM countries in order to accelerate the process of review. An MoU has been signed among the partners to this effect.

APRM Peer Learning Group: ECA will facilitate an APRM Peer Learning Group—through workshops, seminars, and electronic means—to help countries exchange information, experiences, and lessons to accelerate the review process. One such Peer Learning Workshop took place on February 21-22, 2007 and brought together 18 APRM participating countries.

Challenges

AGR II: Procurement processes for expert input into AGR II have taken more time than anticipated. This has slowed down implementation and forced ECA to reschedule its original work plan. A second challenge is that the new countries to be studied appear to have weaker capacity, leading to a longer lag time and late responses to requests for information. Increased human resource support is needed to recruit new personnel.

Another constraint is that AGR II does not have a coordinator or requisite support staff as envisaged in the original work plan, and as per recommendations on lessons learned from AGR I. In the interim, the Director of GPAD, who is accountable for ECA’s work in governance and public administration as a whole, is assuming the AGR coordination function.

Additional Funding is also needed to cover the costs of recruiting national institutions to undertake the country studies, as well as experts to bolster the AGR II team. Aside from seed funds allocated by the UN regular program budget, the project is largely supported by bilateral donors, including the Netherlands, Germany (GTZ), and Sweden.

APRM Support Unit

Capacity: The unit is currently understaffed and could greatly enhance its support to the APRM process with additional senior level professional experts dedicated solely to the APRM Support Unit. Although it is primarily a coordinating unit, in terms of marshalling ECA-wide expertise in supporting the implementation of the APRM, it is becoming clear that there is more demand for analytical work documenting the experiences and lessons learned in the APRM process.

As more and more countries reach the implementation stages of the APRM, there will be an increasing demand for technical support to the APRM participating countries at the country level.

The APRM Support Unit also needs to enhance its partnership with civil society to organize more training and peer learning workshops, a task that requires additional resources given the costs involved. With such resources, the APRM Support Unit could organize at least four workshops annually for civil society and other stakeholders in the APRM process.

Funding: ECA has depended on extra-budgetary resources to fund its participation in the APRM process in addition to using staff-time funded through the regular budget. For the period 2005–2006, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided the first extra-budgetary funds totaling US$90,000. This amount funded ECA’s participation in Country Support and Review Missions as well as the technical assistance provided to the countries.

The Support Unit is currently being supported by the DFID through a grant of US$300,000 that became operational in September 2006. The funds have been used for organizing workshops for APRM Focal Points and African CSOs, in addition to funding ECA’s participation in Country Support Missions and Technical Review Missions.

ECA has put in place a three-year business plan that aims to mobilize funds for the APRM Support Unit for the period 2007–2009. The estimated cost for up-scaling support to the APRM process is US$ 2 million.

Opportunities

ECA’s GPAD and the APRM Support Unit would like to establish strategic partnerships with private foundations whose mission is to promote peace and sustainable governance systems in Africa. As a knowledge and policy advocacy institution, ECA has a clear competitive advantage in contributing to this agenda, not only through research and analytical work, but also through the power of convening all interested stakeholders in these issues. Private foundations provide unique opportunities for a strong partnership with mutual interests and benefits in such areas.

The APRM Support Unit would expect grants from private foundations but tied to building effective partnerships with civil society in promoting and implementing the APRM process and implementation of the Programs of Action. This can be achieved through the joint organization of training workshops and sensitization on the APRM process at the regional and continental levels.

ECA also expects grants dedicated to pursuing policy research and analytical work relating to the various problems and challenges of the APRM and the implementation of the Plan of Action.