" [1]Midrand/Johannesburg (South Africa) – 17 March 2011. The workshop on validation of the revised questionnaire of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) ended on Thursday, 17 March 2011 in Johannesburg, after two days of intensive and constructive discussions with ministers and top personalities in charge of the APRM in member countries, APRM strategic partners, the civil society, academia, representatives of research institutes, etc.
During the closing ceremony, Professor Mohamed-Séghir Babès, Chair of the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons, commended participants for the quality of their debates and said that the recommendations made by the different stakeholders will help to further enhance the credibility of the review of countries that have voluntarily acceded to the Mechanism. The process will be pursued in the four focus areas of the APRM, namely Democracy and Political Governance, Economic Governance and Management, Socio-economic Development and Corporate Governance.
The proposal made by some participants to include “Governance of Organizations” as an additional component or in replacement of “Corporate Governance” will be examined by the APRM.
The need to take several other key factors into account in the self-assessment and review questionnaire was also mentioned. The one hundred or so participants present notably expressed the need to raise the specific issue of how political parties are financed in Africa.
Furthermore, the emphasis was placed on the strengthening of the role of education in the consolidation of governance and development of the continent.
All the documents examined and adopted, including the document on monitoring-evaluation and the research protocol, will be finalized by the APRM Secretariat and submitted for appreciation to the APRM Forum of Heads of State and Government of member countries, who are expected to hold their 15th Summit in June-July 2011 in Malabo (Equatorial Guinea).
The workshop of 16 - 17 March was preceded on 15 March by the 48th Meeting of the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons.
Established in 2003 under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), APRM is an instrument that is voluntarily acceded to by African Union (AU) member States. A country formally joins by ratifying the African Union Declaration Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) adopted in Durban in July 2002.
The primary purpose of APRM is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practices. Every review exercise carried out under the authority of the Mechanism must be technically competent, credible and free of political or diplomatic manipulation.
At the continental level, the Mechanism is run by three main institutions.
The APR Forum. It is made up of Heads of State and Government of member countries. It is the highest decision-making body of APRM and meets twice a year.
The Panel of Eminent Persons (APR Panel). Its members are appointed by the Forum to independently oversee the review process, to ensure its integrity, to consider review reports and make recommendations to the Forum. The Panel meets at least six times a year.
APRM Secretariat. Based in the Midrand, South Africa, the Secretariat coordinates the activities of APRM and provides it with technical, administrative and other support. It has built a database of the political, economic and social situation of its member States. It further proposes performance indicators and monitors and analyses the results of each country concerned.
APRM currently has 30 member countries[1] [2], 14 of which have already been reviewed. The African Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are its three main strategic partners.
WITH REGARD TO REPORTS DISCUSSED AT APRM FORUMS: No later than six months following discussions on its content, the Country Review Report reviewed by the APR Forum of Heads of State and Government is officially and publicly submitted to sub-regional and regional institutions. These include the Pan-African Parliament, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Peace and Security Council and the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC). The report is then made available to the public.
[1] [3] Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.
