Governance Perspectives is a monthly update produced published by the Governance and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). Governance Perspectives aims to contribute to a robust and informed debate on the nature of Africa's governance challenges and successes. We hope to keep civil society groups, researchers, governments and development partners informed about issues relating to governance, accountability and democracy. Each month, Governance Perspectives will features SAIIA Occasional Papers as well as opinion articles, and links to interesting, relevant new material.
This month, we feature material from three of SAIIA’s Governance-related programmes. The Governance and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Programme presents a case study (in English and French) of how in April and May 2008, civil society groups across Southern Africa were able to mobilise successfully to prevent arms destined for Zimbabwe from being offloaded from a Chinese vessel – even though recent reports suggest that the weapons did in fact reach Harare. There are also opinion articles on the recent APRM Forum meeting on the margins of the AU Summit held in Libya in June-July, and reflecting on the independence days of Malawi and Rwanda.
SAIIA’s Governance of Africa’s Resources Programme presents two papers and a related opinion-piece launched at a workshop in Johannesburg in July 2009, focusing on the forestry and mining sectors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We also present three recent papers on Algeria, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia from SAIIA’s Democracy and Political Party Systems Programme.
We hope that you will visit our website to subscribe in order to continue receiving this newsletter, and look forward to hearing your views. Steven Gruzd, Programme Head steven.gruzd@wits.ac.za
APRM in the News
No communiqué from the 13th APRM Forum Meeting in Sirte, Libya on 30 June 2009 has been issued to our knowledge, but SAIIA was able to glean some important information about the meeting. See APRM Forum in Libya: Few Surprises, Unanswered Questions. Three more heads of state and government were reviewed by their peers – Mali, Mozambique and Lesotho, bringing the total number to twelve, a formidable achievement. The Country Review Reports of Uganda (reviewed by the Forum in July 2008), Nigeria and Burkina Faso (both reviewed by the Forum in October 2008) are however still not yet available on the APRM website www.aprm-international.org, more than the stipulated six months after their consideration by heads of state.
The planned second review of Kenya, scheduled for early July 2009 was cancelled just days before it was meant to commence. No reasons beyond “unavoidable circumstances” for the postponement were officially communicated to the APRM Secretariat in Midrand, South Africa. The Country Review Mission to Mauritius was launched on 20 July, steered by Algerian APRM Panel Member Professor Mohammed Seghir Babes, according to Afrique en ligne.
In mid-July, the APRM Secretariat issued a call for expressions of interest to “consulting firms and Technical Research Institutes” for a “project to streamline and fast track the implementation of the APRM in furtherance of the African Governance Forum VI and Algiers Workshop Recommendations”. The seven inter-related components are: (a) revision of the APRM Methodology and Processes; (b) Revision of the APRM Assessment Questionnaire (Democracy and Political Governance); (c) Revision of the APRM Assessment Questionnaire (Economic Governance and Management; (d) Revision of the APRM Assessment Questionnaire (Corporate Governance); (e) Revision of the APRM Questionnaire (Socio-Economic Development); (f) Development of an NPOA Monitoring and Evaluation Framework; and (g) Elaboration of Modalities for Enhancing the Participation of Civil Society in the African Peer Review Mechanism. Formal Expressions of Interest are due by 3 August 2009, and the detailed documentation can be found, in both English and French, on the website of the Development Bank of Southern Africa http://www.dbsa.org/importantlinks/Pages/default.aspx
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The South African Journal of International Affairs seeks article submissions focused on Africa's (and South Africa's) international relations, and key governance and developmental challenges. African scholars are especially encouraged to make submissions. Articles should be 5000 to 8000 words long, employing endnotes for referencing. All submissions will be subject to a blind peer review, and articles must not be simultaneously under consideration for publication elsewhere. Please forward an abstract of the article to the Editor, Martha Bridgman, at sajia.editor@saiia.org.za or on CD in MS Word format via post to:
SAJIA,
PO Box 31596,
Braamfontein,
2017, South Africa.
Authors of successful abstracts will be notified with regard to submission of a full article.
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SAIIA’s online APRM Toolkit has been redesigned and updated with the latest information on the APRM, including several SAIIA Occasional Papers, relevant research reports, several academic papers on the APRM as well as the APR Country Review Reports of Algeria and Benin. We plan to update the APRM Toolkit on a monthly basis so please check back regularly. If you have written a paper on the APRM or governance matters in Africa and would like to share it, please email yarik.turianskyi@wits.ac.za with the subject line “APRM Toolkit”.
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SAIIA Research Report, No. 3, June 2009
Governance and APRM Programme
Strategies for Effective Policy Advocacy: Demanding Good Governance in Africa
by George Katito and Faten Aggad
- English [.pdf]
This study is based on a research project carried out as part of the Governance and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Programme of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). This study attempts to distil lessons learned by a handful of African civil society coalitions on the dynamics of demanding improved governance of governments that are often averse to governance reform.
The project admittedly tackles an ambitiously formidable subject, largely due to the dearth of compelling, contemporary African examples of civil society leading noteworthy policy or social change. Governance and policy reform in several African countries continues to be driven by African governments, through initiatives such as the APRM, as SAIIA’s six years of research into the APRM suggests. As such, the following study broaches a subject starved of compelling material. However, it creates an accessible set of lessons from civil society activists, academics, diplomats, representatives of donor agencies and civil society experts that have played leading roles in a few — but notable — episodes of civil society-led policy reform. The authors owe a considerable debt of appreciation for the time and valuable insights lent by these rare civil society practitioners and experts for the purposes of this study.
Discussion: Implications of the Global Recession on Civil Society, Aid and Policy Implementation
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