Governance and APRM: Projects
This project is funded by the Open Society Foundation of South Africa (OSF-SA), the Open Society Initiative in Southern Africa (OSISA) and the African Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Programme (AfriMAP).
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was established in 2003 as an innovative instrument aimed at improving governance in Africa, created and driven by Africans for Africans. Through a series of voluntary governance “peer reviews”, member states aim at collectively improving governance on the continent through sharing best practices and following recommendations made by the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons. The intention of these reviews is to spur reform – at the end of the review each country embarks on implementing a National Programme of Action (NPoA), according to which it is supposed to carry out pre-agreed commitments aimed at improving governance. To date, 30 African states have signed up to the APRM and 14 of these have undergone their first review – including four in Southern Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho and Mauritius).
Local Governance and Non-State Actors Support Programme in Lesotho: Regional Development Policy Dialogue
SAIIA's APRM and Governance Programme is one of the impementing partners for the EU-funded Local Governance and Non-State Actors Support Programme (LGNSP) project "Support to non-state actors (NSA) engagement in policy dialogue" in Lesotho. This project seeks to see partnerships enhanced between NSA in Lesotho, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Europe. The project focuses on the Cotonou Agreement which is the key framework that governs relations between Lesotho and the European Union and which has the potential to provide a platform for North-South NSA cooperation and influence. The regional dimension to the Cotonou Agreement’s relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries also means that there is an increasing need for South-South NSA relations so that a coordinated and coherent voice may influence this important Agreement. SAIIA has been responsible for organising five workshops in Lesotho looking at policy issues relating to trade, governance, and NSA's organisation for policy dialogue. For more information, click here.
