Addis Ababa — African stakeholders, including academia, CSOs, government representatives, media, private sector and women and youth groups will meet later this week in Addis Ababa to deliberate and propose a concrete accountability framework for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Stakeholders are determined to play a strong role in the Post-2015 Development Agenda given the limited role of Africa in the formulation of the MDGs, which many assert resulted in weak ownership and slow progress by many African countries.
Consequently, the forum, which will take place at the United Nations Conference Centre from 21-23 August, is part of a substantial proactive effort to ensure African ownership of the forthcoming global development agenda that will replace the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The event led by the African Union High Level Committee (HLC) on the Post-2015 Development Agenda comes as a result of a request, made by the AU Heads of State Summit held in Malabo from 26-27 June 2014, to explore the "emerging issues of accountability". This includes the need for a data revolution - a central issue to monitor, evaluate and assess progress, which are, in turn, key aspects of accountability", according to the Decision of the Malabo Summit.
According to the Chairperson of the HLC Sherpas, Dr Abdoulaye Dukule, "In the spirit of Accountability, work has already started on the development of metrics for the six pillars of the Common African Position (CAP), this meeting will therefore serve as a continuation, which will lead to a concrete accountability mechanism. Accountability, in its various formulations, is the first step towards transparent governance". In addition, the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, Amina Mohammed emphasised that "this meeting provides African stakeholders with an opportunity to build on successful regional experiences and effectively contribute to the global discussions on robust approaches to monitoring, review and accountability for the post-2015 development agenda. Without credible accountability mechanisms at global, regional and national levels, there is little hope that promises made will become promises delivere".
Furthermore, Dr Abdalla Hamdok, ECA's Deputy Executive Secretary, stated "Africa has indeed been a visible presence in the Post-2015 development agenda and as early as 2011 the continent initiated consultations to articulate its priorities for the successor global development framework". "The consultations are intended to build on existing accountability frameworks, so to design and formulate an accountability framework suitable for the post 2015 development agenda", reiterated Hamdok. Such a framework is expected to provide alignment from the global to continental to national levels.
The Forum is organized by the HLC/African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) with support from the UN Development Group.
