Source: Civicus
The concept of “Accountability†has gained much prominence in the current social debate including, more recently, the issue of “NGO Accountabilityâ€. This is a welcome development because it suggests a more mature collective awareness of the need to be more sensitive to the potentially adverse consequences of our actions on the life of other people and the biosphere. Being more aware of our responsibility to avoid or at least minimize the possibility of unintentionally causing undue harm through our actions and decisions, civil society becomes more evolved, more civil, more civic and authentic.
Click here to read the full report
Source: Afrimap
This report, prepared by the Kigali office of the Ligue des Droits de la Personne dans la Région des Grands Lacs with the support of AfriMAP, analyses the extent to which the APRM process in Rwanda respected the criteria of effectiveness and credibility set out in the founding documents of the APRM -- in particular the extent to which it was open and participatory. The report reviews the challenges faced during the process, including the lack of technical expertise at national level, the weakness of civil society participation, and difficulties of accessing information.
Click here to read the full report
Source: Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), Tanzania
This report, prepared by the Independent Monitoring Group, assesses progress since 2002 on action to redefine relationships between the Government of Tanzania (GOT) and Development Partners (DPs) in conceptualising and managing development, in the broader definition of local ownership of the development agenda, and in enhancing transparency and accountability in the delivery and utilisation of aid. The redefinition of aid relationships was intended as a prelude for the GOT to take the necessary steps to provide leadership in designing and managing the development process and in enhancing effectiveness of aid and other public resources.
Click here to read the full report
Source: Economic and Social Foundation (ESRF), Tanzania
The paper analyzed foreign aid management in Tanzania. The paper used secondary information and qualitative data from various research studies, Government institutions and NGO’s. Among others the paper has examined trends in the volume of official development assistance to Tanzania; changing forms of Aid; sectoral forms of Aid; and the institutional framework for managing aid. In addition the paper has addressed the management of Aid including aspects of effectiveness of aid, capacity building, aid coordination and aid conditionally.
Click here to read the full report
Author: South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
This paper briefly explores the relationship between regional structures such as SADC and the continental union, looking at how established regional organs and substructures can dovetail (or not), with the corresponding continental ones, many of which are newly formed. It seeks to determine the potential for synergy and complementarity between these organs and to examine whether structures are being duplicated. Since the APRM is perhaps the single most innovative initiative of the AU, the paper attempts an analysis of the APRM as a tool that could have significant impacts on regional integration and regional development and explores the potential for regional structures such as SADC to become actively involved in the peer review process.
Ultimately, the paper attempts to answer the question of whether the AU’s (and especially NEPAD’s) laudable but lofty aims can, in part, be operationalised via regional bodies.
Click here to read the full paper
Author: Afrimap, AFRODAD and Oxfam
Source: Afrimap
This report is the first independent, substantive and public assessment of the progress of the African Union. It analyses the preparations of African Union member-states, the AU Commission and civil society organisations for the twice-yearly AU summits.
The main finding is that despite some welcome new opportunities for participation, the African Union's vision of ‘an Africa driven by its own citizens’ remains largely unfulfilled. Detailed recommendations are offered to help deliver on this vision in future. These include that:
The AU Commission should adopt an access to information policy similar to those of other international organisations such as the World Bank, providing for publication of all but a few confidential documents.
Member states should broaden and deepen their national consultation processes in advance of summits, in particular by informing and consulting national parliaments.
The rules of procedure governing preparations for and follow-up to summits should be substantially revised to require hosting states to facilitate civil society meetings around the summit dates, to provide for draft documents to be circulated and made public well in advance of the meetings at which they will be debated, and to ensure proper follow-up.
Upcoming elections to replace ECOSOCC’s interim structures must be held according to rules that ensure that they are democratic and transparent. ECOSOCC’s independence from the AU Commission should be strengthened.
Published by AFRODAD, AfriMAP and Oxfam, this report is endorsed by more than a dozen other organisations in Africa and elsewhere, and is based on interviews with more than 50 representatives of member-states, the AU Commission and civil society organisations in eleven African countries.
Click here to read the full report
Author: Richmond, J. and McGee R., Instituto de Estudios de Religion (ISER)
Source: Global Development Network
This online document addresses ways in which civil society can participate in aid. The report reviews civil society’s involvement in aid and considers a number of country case studies where theory has been put into practice. The authors note that many development actors are currently formulating their own rationales for widening participation in aid coordination processes. These rationales are founded in arguments for democratic representation, efficiency of aid, prioritisation of poverty eradication, good governance and a rights-based approach to development. The paper highlights how, to varying degrees, the actors involved in aid coordination have tentatively and sporadically begun to widen the base of participation in these processes and to involve civil society organisations. The document concludes that the future of the aid coordination processes remains to be seen. There is, however, unanimity on the benefits of national ownership of the development process, and a general trend towards the extension of ownership to civil society representatives.
Click here to read the full report
Author: AFRODAD
Some 30 parliamentarians and civil society representatives from Africa and Europe – amongst them15 Members of Parliaments – met in Accra last 7 and 8 December to discuss the theme of “New and old loans in Africa – What role for parliamentarians in Africa and Europeâ€. This conference was part of a series of dialogues started on October 2005 organised by AFRODAD and EURODAD to discuss the crucial role that parliamentarians have – or should have - in debt management and loan contraction in Africa. This time, participation was expanded to European MPs and NGO representatives to bring together the two sides of the coin, both borrowers and lenders, given the role of both parties in ensuring more responsible development finance.
The conference assessed the current situation regarding Africa, debt and the wider development crisis and suggested a vision to work towards, that is, a more accountable international system for development finance. Participants expressed the challenges they expected to lay ahead and generated recommendations regarding rule changes around the parliamentary system in both Africa and the West.
Click here to see the report
In this article, written for the Financial Times, Jagdish N. Bhagwati questions some of the approaches and priorities of Bob Geldof and Bono in their public battle against poverty in Africa.
Whilst praising the publicity and 'edge' that their activities have brought to the cause, he argues that they may need to abandon some of their current allies in government, and among development experts who focus exclusively on aid spending in Africa, if they are to reach their goals.
Personal revenue flows rather than government spending that rarely materialises, and a greater focus on spending outside Africa should be part of the solution he argues.
In the article "Country Ownership Undone" Nancy Alexander acuses the World Bank of using a "one-size-fits-all" scorecard - the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) to rate each borrowing government.
