The African Union Commission organised an African civil society consultation in Accra on 19-21 October 2007. About 40 CSO representatives and experts were gathered and made comments on the four clusters of the joint Strategy: peace and security; trade and regional integration; governance and human rights; and key development issues. ECDPM made a presentation on issues that are still open and how civil society could influence the negotiations (ppt ; pdf).
A discussion was held on the follow up needed to this consultation and how to ensure civil society involvement in the implementation and monitoring of the Strategy. Recommendations were made on the content of the Strategy, and were along the lines of the recommendations made during the first consultation organised by the AUC in Accra in March 2007. Civil society representatives also made some concrete proposals regarding their involvement in the monitoring of the Strategy. The AUC ensured that it would put forward some of the recommendations made during the expert meeting taking place the following week in Accra in preparation of the joint EU-Africa Ministerial Troika.
It was highlighted that the recommendations from this meeting should feed into the civil society forum organised by the Portuguese Development NGO platform in Lisbon on 15-17 November as well as other civil society events organised before the Summit. It was also discussed whether it would be possible for civil society representatives to present their views to AU officials negotiating the Strategy, to AU Member States, in the various official meetings that will take place in preparation to the Summit as well as to the Summit itself.
The full report of the meeting will be available shortly.
Post your comments
