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Governance
Perspectives
August
2010
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Governance Perspectives is a monthly update 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 feature SAIIA Occasional Papers as well as opinion articles, and links to interesting, relevant new material.
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, APRM Programme, steven.gruzd@wits.ac.za
APRM in the News
APRM process in Sierra Leone gains momentum, expects Country Support Mission: The African Peer Review Mechanism National Governing Council (APRM-NGC) held a pre-mission interactive session with the Judiciary, Law Officers and Justice Sector officials in Freetown, Sierra Leone on 12 August 2010. The session was to brief these stakeholders about the visit of the Country Support Mission from South Africa from 31 August to 2 September 2010, which will assess the integrity of the APRM process in Sierra Leone and sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons and Sierra Leone’s government. The APRM-NGC will also hold consultations with parliamentarians, government ministries, departments and agencies, private sector, women’s organisations, civil society organisations, faith based organisations, the media, NGOs and community groups. In the run up to the review, the APRM has been gaining prominence in the media and amongst politicians. Aisie Nana Victoria Williams, one of the Governors of the APRM-NGC in Sierra Leone, has noted that the APRM is about transparency and accountability with no political alliance though it was established and funded by government. She reiterated that APRM was also set up to monitor the structures of government, political parties, private sector and to also ensure that the policies of these institutions are right. The Chairman of the APRM in Sierra Leone, Dr Osman Gbla has echoed this by saying that the APRM is an instrument geared towards ensuring good governance, transparency and accountability, during a meeting with the Press at the British Council Auditorium on the upcoming Country Support Mission. The new Deputy Chairperson of the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons, Domitilla Mukantaganzwa, will be responsible for the Sierra Leone review.
Nigeria attempting to mainstream the APRM National Programme of Action (NPoA): According to Tunji Olagunju, special adviser to the president of Nigeria on Nepad, the country’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) has now put in place a National Intergovernmental Committee on the APRM to provide policy direction and facilitate the mainstreaming of the NPoA into national planning process and ensure adequate provision in the annual budget for NPoA implementation. For the full story click here
South African President congratulates Lesotho on completing the APRM process: During his recent visit to the Kingdom of Lesotho, South African President Jacob Zuma congratulated the government of the country on completing the APRM process. He said “The country’s embracing of the APRM principles signifies its commitment to key democratic principles. The challenge is to consolidate the gains made through broadening of the political space for various political players, to shape the country’s governance and the path to a prosperous future.” For the full version of Zuma’s speech, click here
APRM Publications from Around Africa
The Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa (EISA) has published a book entitled Peering the Peers: Civil Society and the African Peer Review Mechanism, edited by Grant Masterson, Kojo Busia, and Adele Jinadu. The book is a volume of essays from leading civil society and governance experts in Africa that examines the critical role of civil society in the APRM.
The Africa Governance Monitoring And Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) has published a compilation of reviews of the implementation of the APRM called The African Peer Review Mechanism: A compilation of studies of the process in nine African countries, which covers the APRM process in Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa.
Other Governance Material
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) - Taking Peer Review to the Next Level: This is a keynote paper, presented at the International Workshop for African Civil Society on APRM, 20-21 July 2010, in Kampala, Uganda, by Bishop Dr D Zac Niringiye, chair of the APRM Uganda National Governing Council.
AU Ineffective in Asserting Powers: While the establishment of a United Nation’s office to deal with the African Union is viewed as the latest illustration of the latter’s failure to live up to the grandiose aims for which it was set up, some analysts see this as an indication of the African body’s poor record in living up to the mission of finding “African solutions to African problems”.
“15th AU Summit - A major success for NEPAD Agency,” says Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency: These are excerpts from a memo from Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency) on the outcomes of the 23rd NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) and the 15th African Union (AU) Summit held in Kampala, Uganda from 19-27 July 2010.
Briefings, Occasional Papers & Reports
The DRC at 50: Confronting the Challenges of Peace and Territorial Consolidation
by Petrus de Kock
SAIIA Policy Briefing, No 22, August 2010
Download - English [.pdf]
Read more...
Optimising Policy Space in the Context of Increasing International Support for CAADP
by Monty Jones, Emmanuel Tambi and Gbadebo Odularu
SAIIA Policy Briefing, No 21, July 2010
Download - English [.pdf]
Read more...
Policy Effectiveness and China’s Investment in the Zambian Mining Sector
by Dan Haglund
SAIIA Policy Briefing, No 19, July 2010
Download - English [.pdf]
Read more...
The Implications of the Lisbon Treaty for the EU’s Relations with Africa
Banking in Nigeria and Chinese Economic Diplomacy in Africa
by Abiodun Alao
SAIIA Occasional Paper No 65, July 2010
Download - English [.pdf]
Read more...
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Developing the Capacity of Civil Society to Track the Implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism: The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) will be holding a scoping workshop entitled Developing the Capacity of Civil Society to Track the Implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism, which will take place on 12-13 October 2010 at SAIIA’s head office at Jan Smuts House, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The two organisations have cooperatively launched a project to empower civil society in Southern African APRM states to track the implementation of the APRM in their countries, known as the APRM Monitoring Project (AMP), which is designed to assist civil society to produce independent reviews of APRM implementation in selected Southern African countries, through the development of an APRM Monitoring & Evaluation Tool (AMET). The AMET intends to provide civil society with the necessary instruments to write an independent analysis, which could check, complement and expand upon the government’s own Monitoring & Evaluation process. During this scoping workshop, a draft of AMET will be presented in order to get input from stakeholders, and other key elements of this programme will be discussed. For more information, please contact Yarik Turianskyi at SAIIA.
The APRM: Taking Peer Learning to the Next Level: On 20-21 July 2010, the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) together with Africa Governance Monitoring & Advocacy Programme (AfriMap), Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa (EISA), Africa Governance Institute (IAG-AGI) and Kituo Cha Katiba (KCK) hosted a workshop in Kampala, Uganda, entitled The APRM: Taking Peer Learning to the Next Level, which was aimed at African civil society organisations. The workshop focused on the types of peer learning that occurs (or should occur) at many different levels in the APRM – between heads of state, government officials, researchers and CSOs to name just some of the peer groups created by this process – and how this aspect of the APRM can be strengthened in the future. You can access the communiqué from the workshop in English and French
Workshop on Streamlining and Fast-Tracking the APRM Process: SAIIA has been commissioned to work on revision of the APRM Country Self-Assessment Questionnaire (CSAQ) section on Economic Governance and Management. On 11-12 August 2010, members of SAIIA’s Governance and APRM Programme attended the third and final in a series of working meetings convened by the APRM Secretariat to bring together Technical Research Institutions (TRIs) working on various aspects under the Project on Streamlining and Fast-Tracking the APRM Process. The workshop brought together the Secretariat, representatives of the APRM Strategic Partners (namely the United Nations Development Programme, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) and independent experts. It aimed at discussing the second drafts of proposals submitted to the Secretariat, and followed the second Workshop held in Addis Ababa in April that discussed the TRIs’ first draft submissions. It further sought to i) harmonise and consolidate the format of submitted Questionnaire proposals ii) sharpen the indicators for country self-assessment for the APRM reviews and iii) harmonise and consolidate the proposed research protocol to guide country self-assessment for the APRM reviews. The final proposals are being revised by the TRIs, and are expected to be submitted to the Secretariat by the end of August 2010.
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The APRM Toolkit has been updated and now includes the Nigeria APRM Country Review Report, the latest SAIIA Occasional Papers and a new external links page. If you would like to submit a paper or an article for the APRM Toolkit please email Yarik Turianskyi at yarik.turianskyi@wits.ac.za with the subject line "APRM Toolkit'.
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If you would like to submit an original, unpublished, governance-related manuscript for possible inclusion in the SAIIA Occasional Paper series, please email steven.gruzd@wits.ac.za
Opinions expressed in papers and articles are those of their authors, and not SAIIA.
SAIIA gratefully acknowledges the Royal Netherlands Embassy in South Africa, which has generously supported the Governance & APRM Programme and this series.
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