Addis Ababa — The Second African Governance Forum (AGF II) was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in the context of the UN Special Initiative on Africa -- a system-wide effort launched in March 1996 to coordinate and harmonize UN assistance to Africa in selected priority areas: Education, Food Security, Health, Water, Trade, Governance, Information Technology, Gender and Population Mainstreaming, and Poverty Reduction through informal sector employment.
Focusing on accountability and transparency in Africa, AGF II was held in Accra, Ghana, from 25 - 26 June 1998, hosted by the Government of Ghana with the financial support of the governments of Norway and Switzerland and the European Commission. It followed last year's forum, the first in an annual series held at ECA headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which addressed governance in a more general sense, looking at: leadership building, civil society empowerment, strengthening parliamentary, judicial and administrative processes, peace and stability, the rule of law, constitutional guarantees, and a free and responsible media.
The Forum sought to:
* Provide a platform for African governments, civil society and the continent's external partners to engage in a dialogue on the state of good governance on the continent, viewed through the optic of national programmes;
* Promote partnership among the participants and encourage sharing and the exchange of experiences, information, and good practices on good governance; and
* Assist African governments, through the programmatic approach, to develop programmes and strengthen co-ordination mechanisms to permit long-term resource mobilization to support nationally-defined governance programmes, thereby ensuring sustainability.
More than 80 participants - ranging from high-level officials from of 10 African governments, bilateral partner countries, civil society organizations, experts from the UN system and a number of other international actors - took part in the dialogue.
National reports presented by representatives of the following 10 countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia - were rich in quality and depth of information contained, and these formed the basis of the ensuing discussion. Around the topic of accountability and transparency, broad consensus was reached on a number of key issues:
* Transparency and accountability were agreed to be crucial elements for promoting development, and as such they should not be the sole concern of governments, but should also involve civil society organizations as well as Africans at large;
* Note was taken that in almost all the countries represented, institutions and measures for improving accountability and transparency had been put in place. The problem remained how to transform them into more effective instruments. Functional problems existed at varying degrees in all the countries under consideration and include the need for more political will, resources and capacity;
* The need to revisit African traditions and culture in the effort to reduce the perverse effects of an alien culture in post-colonial Africa;
* The establishment of processes, operations and institutions were undermined by political and socio-economic factors;
* Both governments and civil society were responsible for the lack of transparency and accountability;
* The application of sanctions alone would not be enough without appropriate incentives for transparency and accountability being put in place;
* Transparency in decision-making on macro-economic issues could enhance the practice of accountability. Conversely, accountability for public resources at the micro level was a requirement in setting up a
credible system of transparency;
* There needed to be a concerted effort to establish legislation for assets disclosure of all leaders in government, civil society, and parliament. Enforcement mechanisms needed to be strengthened;
* The possibility should be looked into for African Governments to sign on to international conventions as in the OECD/DAC countries;
* The external dimension of problems of accountability and transparency required the cooperation of external partners in the search for appropriate solutions.
While the sustainability and credibility of the AGF process was seen as central to efforts by UNDP and ECA in supporting governance in Africa, it was stressed that the primary responsibility rested with the African governments themselves, with full participation from citizens at all levels.
In response to the demands for a results-oriented approach as a sine qua non for sustaining the interest of stakeholders, it was noted that a pilot inventory on governance programmes presented by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs was one good effort in the right direction.
In a bid to better coordinate and focus the various efforts currently underway towards the promotion of good governance in Africa, it was proposed that AGF should provide a continuing vehicle for promoting coordinated support in this area.
It was agreed that AGF III, which the Government of Mali had offered to host in 1999, would focus on Conflict Prevention, Management and Governance.
For more information, please contact: Peter K.A. da Costa/Iddrisu Siddiq Tel: 21-773-890/4 (UNDP Accra) or 775-360 (Golden Tulip Hotel) Fax: 21-773-899 E-mail: ipspdc@harare.iafrica.com or Iddrisu.Siddiq@undp.org
For an updated list of participants and selected documents, pleasesit the SIA Website at: http://www.unsia.org/
