Peer Review in Africa

All the 53 African countries are a member of New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), which is a new branch of the African Union that focuses on economic development, governance, education, peace and health in Africa.

NEPAD was created in 2001. Its head quarter is in South Africa.

Here are recent developments in NEPAD.

· An open African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Forum was held in March 2005. APRM allows volunteered African leaders to review each others governance style and suggest how to improve governance among them. Under the APRM, outside African experts visit APRM member countries to investigate what economic and political reforms are needed to promote economic development and peace. Participants included civil service, civil society groups, the private sector, media, academia and the diplomatic community.

· As of December 2005, 23 African countries[1] had volunteered to join the APRM. Under the APRM, the 23 countries have agreed to hold each other accountable to various governance standards.

· Ghana and Rwanda were the first two countries to receive confidential reports on their governance[2] under the APRM at the third summit of APRM participants held on June 19, 2005 in Abuja, Nigeria. In addition to Ghana and Rwanda, the first group of nations being reviewed by the APRM includes Kenya and Mauritius. To prepare for the peer review, Uganda received the APRM review team in February 2005.

· The Peer Review for South Africa started on December 11, 2005.

· On March 21, 2005, an APRM team led a Country Support Mission to Nigeria. According to NEPAD, the purpose of the Support Mission was to assess the processes and mechanisms put in place by Nigeria to undertake its self‑assessment and subsequently draft its Programme of Action.

· Through NEPAD, Japan continued to fund 38 projects to build infrastructure, including infrastructure for water, transport, and energy in 2005.

· In July 2005, the Africa Capacity Building Foundation provided grants to strengthen the institutional capacity of the NEPAD Secretariat and the Regional Economic Communities to enable them to implement NEPAD.

· In late 2005, India started disbursing $200 million to NEPAD. As of December 2005, an $18 million credit line had been extended to the Government of Senegal for the purchase of 350 buses; $40 million had been extended to the Government of Angola for rehabilitation of the Moçamedes Railway; and a $27.7 million line of credit was being extended to the governments of Mali and Senegal for the acquisition of railway coaches and locomotives from India.

· To support NEPAD’s efforts in bridging the digital divide between Africa and the developed world, in December 2005 NEPAD launched “TechnoFuture” (a computerized educational tool) in Nigeria to teach children and adults computer and entrepreneurship skills.

· The NEPAD e-Schools initiative has been launched, and demonstrations were officially launched in 2005 in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Lesotho. The NEPAD e-Schools initiative aims to improve distance learning in Africa.

· In September 2005, NEPAD announced that it will begin constructing the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) in 2006. Its main objective is to build a broadband ICT infrastructure for terrestrial and submarine cable networks for East and Southern Africa. EASSy will connect South Africa with Sudan by cable; links will connect the land-locked countries to the submarine cable. Signatories to EASSy’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) include telecommunication companies from Botswana, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Mozambique, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Burundi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Burundi.

· In 2005, some African countries adapted the AU/NEPAD Health Strategy for a national health plan.

Yes, there are many positive movements in Africa. Check the blog again for more exciting stories.

____________________
[1] The 23 African countries that have formally joined the APRM as of January 2006 are Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.

[2] EIU, “African Economy: Can Africa Put Its Own House in Order?” July 11, 2005, found at http://www.eiu.com, retrieved on Mar. 17, 2005.