Calendar of events

 17-19 June, AU/NEPAD teacher development workshop, Pretoria, South Africa.
 24 June - 1 July, 11th African Union Summit, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008

NEPAD TV schedule

The next NEPAD TV programme on the SABC Africa channel (DSTV channel 407) is :

African Views
 18 June, 8pm-9pm (SA time)

This phone-in discussion will be led by Karim Khalil, coordinator, market access, and agriculture, NEPAD Secretariat.

The topic will be : Trade in Africa. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008

NEPAD-Spanish Fund disbursements

The NEPAD Secretariat is pleased to name the organisations on the list of disbursements from the NEPAD-Spanish Fund for the Empowerment of Women for the week ending 14 June 2008. The organisations are :

Juba Women Self-Help Development Organisation (JWSHDO) Ministry of Gender and Development (MGD) Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) African Leadership Development Institute Association des Guides Eclaireuses du Niger (AGEN) Centre de Transformation des Produits Alimentaires (CTPA) Oromo Grassroots Development Initiative (HUNDEE) All beneficiaries are requested to acknowledge receipt of funding.

Once again all organisations with pending documentation are urged to submit the documents as soon as possible so that the disbursement process can be completed.

The NEPAD Secretariat thanks all organisations and groups for their interest in the NEPAD-Spanish Fund. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008

Kenya APRM goes to the people for their input

The NEPAD Kenya Secretariat has carried out an African Peer Review Mechanism rapid diagnostic assessment ahead of its 2nd annual country progress report that is to be presented at the APR Forum during the 11th African Union Summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, on 24 June - 1 July 2008.

Breaking from the tradition of holding country-wide provincial forums, the Kenya Secretariat used focus group discussions in various districts around the country.

Forty participants were interviewed from each district with each group consisting of men and women of various age groups, including the elderly and young people.

The aim was to draw divergent views on a range of issues. The participants came from various interest groups in society — faith-based organisations, local opinion leaders, provincial administration, private sector, youth and women’s groups and civil society.

Discussions were centred on critical issues identified in the country review report of May 2006 and which were seen as needing urgent attention by the Government.

Those issues included : Managing diversity in nation building ; Implementation gaps ; Poverty and wealth distribution ; Land ; Corruption ; Constitutional reforms ; Gender inequality ; Youth unemployment ; and Transformative leadership. In the process of undertaking the APRM rapid diagnostic assessment in the districts, the main aim was to create an approach where the people recommended measures which the Government could employ as possible and realistic interventions on these issues. The whole participatory approach in influencing the governance and public policy process was critical during the assessment. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008

NEPAD promotes science initiative to save Africa’s soils

NEPAD is promoting the implementation of the African Union/NEPAD Consolidated Plan of Action on Science and Technology by building African research and educational capacity in soil science using state-of-the-art concepts and methods, with emphasis on soil health surveillance and integrated soil fertility management. The Acting CEO of the NEPAD Secretariat, Ambassador Olukorede Willoughby, has commended the initiative of the NEPAD Office of Science and Technology with other African stakeholders.

During an official visit to the Midrand headquarters of the Secretariat on 6 June 2008 by a combined team of officials from the African Network for Soil Biology and Fertility, the World Agroforestry Centre and the Tropical Soils Biology and Fertility Institute of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, he welcomed the ongoing collaboration between the NEPAD Secretariat and African stakeholders and partners in the field of soil science.

The NEPAD Secretariat and this consortium of three soil-science-based institutions are negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding that will provide the legal framework for closer cooperation on research and development, capacity building, information dissemination, the supply of eco-system services in agricultural landscapes, and income improvement for poor households through better market linkages.

The scope of cooperation will also include environmental sustainability, building the human and social capital of stakeholders and the design and implementation of a research programme for systematic diagnosis and monitoring of soil health.

Specifically, the NEPAD Secretariat, through its Science and Technology Office, is expected to promote value addition by mobilising resources, sharing progress and output as well as according high-level political ownership and support to the development of an African science, technology and innovation soils research and capacity building programme.

Dr. John Mugabe, NEPAD advisor on science and technology, and Bankole Adeoye, coordinator for external relations and partnerships in the NEPAD Secretariat, also participated in the meeting. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008

East Africa gets action plan for Sub-Regional NEPAD Secretariat

Representatives from Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) attended a Sub-Regional Expert Group workshop in Mombasa, Kenya, on 28-29 April 2008 convened by the NEPAD Kenya Secretariat. The objective of the meeting was to define the procedures for establishing and running the NEPAD Eastern Africa Sub-Regional Secretariat.

The meeting was led by consultant John Rocha, a senior project manager with the NEPAD Business Foundation in South Africa, who took the participants through the process of developing an action plan for the NEPAD Eastern Africa Coordinating Secretariat.

At the end of the two-day workshop, a draft action plan was developed for the next three years and is currently being fine-tuned by the stakeholders who participated in the workshop.

The Mombasa workshop had its origins back in 2003 when the Heads of State and Government Summit in Kampala, Uganda, laid down the need to establish a regional NEPAD coordination mechanism that would work in conjunction with the NEPAD Steering Committee and the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC).

In view of the multiple memberships of countries in the Regional Economic Communities, the Heads of State recommended that as an interim measure Kenya be the regional coordinator of NEPAD activities in Eastern Africa.

The NEPAD Kenya Secretariat was given the mandate to perform the following duties :

Convening regular meetings of NEPAD Eastern Africa representatives to harmonise NEPAD programmes in Eastern African countries ; Facilitating frequent sharing of information and experiences among the participating countries ; Organising regional forums to bring together stakeholders around the various NEPAD themes ; Coordinating activities with the NEPAD Secretariat in South Africa. Accelerating NEPAD flagship projects NEPAD Kenya, with support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Eastern Africa Sub-Regional Office, hosted an experts meeting on 27-29 November 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together representatives from NEPAD/APRM national focal points, national infrastructure specialists, Regional Economic Communities and key partners, UNECA and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The main objective of the Nairobi meeting was to provide an interactive forum for discussion and exchange of ideas on how to accelerate and fast-track the implementation of NEPAD flagship projects in the sub-region.

The other specific objective was to look at the mechanism for renewing the mandate given to the NEPAD Kenya Secretariat to synchronise and coordinate the implementation of NEPAD programmes and projects in the Eastern Africa Sub-Region.

The following key issues were discussed :

Definition of a medium-term strategy for moving forward the NEPAD agenda in the Eastern Africa Region, Modalities for an appropriate and effective operational structure for the NEPAD Eastern Africa Office that would cater for the 15 countries in the region, Discussions of issues of resource mobilisation for both project implementation and effective operationalisation of the NEPAD Eastern Africa Coordinating Office. The experts group meeting also considered the various relationships and roles between national governments, RECs and the NEPAD Regional Coordinating Office, in adopting a number of crucial resolutions to mainstream the member states in the management and coordination of the NEPAD Eastern Africa Regional Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

Sub-regional experts workshop in Mombasa Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda were the three countries given the assignment by the previous Nairobi meeting in 2006 to develop the background and requirements for the establishment of the NEPAD Eastern Africa Secretariat.

The NEPAD Kenya Secretariat therefore convened a meeting of the representatives from these three countries, together with the Rwanda Ambassador to Kenya, and representatives from the Regional Economic Communities on 28-29 April 2008 in Mombasa.

This meeting was scheduled to take place earlier, but due to the APRM Kenya Needs Assessment process and the post-election crisis that gripped Kenya, the meeting had to be postponed. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008

“Historic moment” : first meeting to integrate NEPAD into AU

A historic moment. That is how the Chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC), Jean Ping, described the inaugural meeting of the NEPAD Coodinating Unit, established by the African Union to oversee the integration of NEPAD into the processes and structures of the AU. Officially opening the meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 10 June 2008 he said : “Africa is reassessing its institutions in line with its challenges and needs. If Africa is to effectively compete with the rest of the world, it must ensure a strong and capacitated institutional base”.

Among those present were the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission ; Commissioners for Economic Affairs, Human Resources, Science and Technology, and Energy and Infrastructure ; Ambassador Olukorede Willoughby, Acting Chief Executive of NEPAD ; a NEPAD delegation ; and distinguished guests.

In his opening speech the Chairman of the AUC said :

Since the 1970s Africa had been in search of a policy framework to guide socio-economic transformation of the continent and place it on a path towards sustainable development. It was in this context that the New Africa Initiative (NAI) was created by the 37th Organisation of African Unity Summit in Lusaka, Zambia, on July 11, 2001. It was also during this time that the creation of the African Union was launched.

The Implementation Committee of the Heads of State and Government later changed the NAI to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and NEPAD was adopted as an integrated and comprehensive socio-economic development programme of the African Union.

The overarching objective of NEPAD has been the eradication of poverty, the promotion of sustainable development as well as to arrest the marginalisation of Africa under globalisation. With the many pressing challenges facing the continent today, these objectives are rendered ever more pertinent.

The problems of poverty and hunger, lack of political and economic stability, insecurity and poor infrastructure are key among the issues that must be dealt with if Africa is to reduce poverty and attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date of 2015, as well as achieve sustainable growth and development.

In recent times, there have also been new challenges, including climate change and rising food and oil prices., that ought to be dealt with decisively.

It is within this context that coherence must be achieved between the African Union and NEPAD in order to deal effectively with the pressing development problems and challenges of today. However, there has been an apparent overlap and duplication of the mandate of NEPAD and the activities of the African Union, which have impeded both organisations in dealing effectively with the development problems and challenges facing the continent.

The duplication of efforts between NEPAD and the African Union is, among others, one of the reasons why the African Heads of State and Government have taken several decisions in the past aimed at integrating NEPAD into the African Union. These decisions have emanated from the Maputo Summit decision of 2003, which agreed to fully integrate NEPAD into the processes and structures of the African Union (AU) within a period of three years or until a time when the structures and processes of the AU become operational.

Despite numerous efforts, the integration of NEPAD has taken five years to take effect due to a number of factors. However, the commitment of the Heads of State and Government to the integration process was evidenced by the decision of the 10 th AU Assembly in Addis Ababa in January/February 2008, which adopted a resolution to proceed with the integration of NEPAD, immediately and expeditiously.

It was resolved that the 13-point conclusions of the 18th NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) Brainstorming Summit held in Algiers, Algeria, on March 21, 2007 should form the basis of the integration process.

These 13 points recommended, among others, the transformation of the NEPAD Secretariat into a NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Authority, the structure and profile of which should be defined later through a study to be commissioned by the African Union Commission.

In addition, they included the creation of this Coordinating Unit, which should elaborate a detailed roadmap on the integration of NEPAD and the creation of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Authority, with clear steps, stages, milestones and indicators.

These recent decisions place us in a historic moment : Africa is reassessing its institutions in line with its challenges and needs. If Africa is to effectively compete with the rest of the world, it must ensure a strong and capacitated institutional base.

Consequently, as the integration of NEPAD into the AU gets underway, there is a need to ensure that the paralysis that has gripped NEPAD due to lack of clarity is addressed. At the same time, there is need to ensure that the NEPAD Secretariat has leadership through the speedy recruitment of a new Chief Executive Officer.

It is also imperative that the terms of reference for the Coordinating Unit are agreed and finalised. In this regard, I invite you, members of the Coordinating Unit, to focus on what Africa requires to achieve the AU vision and NEPAD objectives.

The terms of reference for the study on NEPAD integration into AU structures and processes must also be finalised and a consultant recruited to undertake the work. It is imperative that the study seeks to address the funding gap affecting NEPAD and make recommendations on sustainable funding mechanisms.

Finally, I wish to reiterate that the attainment of NEPAD integration into the AU structures and processes will require hard work, commitment and focus by all concerned. I have no doubt in my mind that we will achieve the desired results.

I urge us all to show commitment to expediting the process, and gradually but surely, the integration of NEPAD into the AU will become a reality.

So, as you undertake meetings of the Coordinating Unit, I invite you to be bold in implementing the decisions of our Heads of State and Government to accelerate the pace of integrating NEPAD into the AU structures and processes. Source : NEPAD News june, 13, 2008

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