Addis Ababa Declaration on the role of African Civil Society

Addis Ababa Declaration on the role of African Civil Society with regard to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)

Jan 18, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — We, representatives of African civil society organizations, meeting in Addis Ababa on January 17 and 18, 2006 in a workshop organized by the Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA) and Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), on the theme of “The African Peer Review Mechanism and Civil Society”,

– Having examined the challenges that the APRM addresses and its contribution to the strengthening of good governance, and having reviewed the APRM experiences of Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa;

– Recognizing the political will of African heads of state and government to promote good governance in Africa by fully involving civil society and the private sector in the implementation of the APRM objectives;

– Recognizing that the APRM offers a real opportunity to promote policy dialogue between all national actors and to strengthen good governance;

– Reaffirming that the APRM’s success depends on the wide and effective participation of African civil society in the whole evaluation process and in the implementation of national action plans;

Recommend:

TO AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS

1. that they promote ownership of the APRM by the people and allocate sufficient financial resources for it to remain an African instrument serving African interests;

2. that they involve all state institutions, and especially parliaments, in all the phases of the APRM process;

3. that they fully involve civil society and the private sector in the national structures supervising the APRM evaluations, and in the implementation of action plans;

4. that they develop, through the APRM Secretariat, a dynamic communications strategy to encourage a good understanding of the APRM by all development actors, particularly by ensuring the regular updating of the APRM website and by creating other communications tools for disseminating information on the mechanism;

TO THE AFRICAN PRIVATE SECTOR

5. that it support existing mechanisms for dialogue and become more involved in the APRM national evaluations, as well as in the implementation of action plans;

TO AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY

6. that it create its own opportunities for dialogue and discussion in order to identify common objectives and plan strategies to strengthen its participation in the APRM;

7. that it strengthen cooperation with governments and the private sector in order to identify problems as well as solutions respecting national, regional and pan-African interests;

8. that it strengthen technical and institutional capacities in the area of democratic, political, economic and corporate governance;

9. that it develop networks within African civil society to work on NEPAD and the APRM;

10. that it bring to the APRM evaluations the experience gained through advocacy and the implementation of national development policies;

TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

11. that it acknowledge and support the efforts of African governments with regard to the APRM;

12. that it support the wide and effective participation by African peoples in the APRM process.