Pretoria, South Africa, 8-10 January 2019 – – The APRM will hold two meetings on the State of Governance in Africa Report (SoGR) from the 8th to the 10th of January 2019. The first meeting will consider the SoGR and brings together the APR Panel of Eminent Persons, the APR Steering Committee of Focal Points, and the APRM National Governing Councils. The Second meeting will validate the SoGR and will bring together the African Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee, the African Governance Architecture Platform, the APR Panel of Eminent Persons, the APR Steering Committee of Focal Points, and the APRM National Governing Councils.
The SoGR is a collaborative project of the African Governance Architecture (AGA) Platform. The Platform comprises African Union (AU) Organs, Institutions, and the Regional Economic Communities. Its function is to facilitate stakeholder dialogue for the harmonization and coordination of instruments and initiatives for promoting good governance, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. The Platform focuses on the implementation of the AU Shared Values, particularly the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
The Platform selected one of its members, namely the African Peer Review (APRM), to lead the process of developing the SoGR. In part, this decision was informed by the fact that the AU expanded the APRM’s Mandate in 2017 to include monitoring and reporting on all aspects of governance in Africa, especially the progress of implementation of the AU Agenda 2063 and UN Agenda 2030 for the SDGs.
The SoGR assesses the implementation of the AU shared values by the Member States in five areas of governance: transformational leadership; constitutionalism and the rule of law; Interrelationships of peace, security, and governance; the nexus of development and governance; and the role of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in African governance. The objective of the SoGR is to assess the status of African governance and provide a baseline for future regular and continuous (annual) monitoring and tracking of governance developments and analysing trends on the continent. It aims to be policy relevant for the Member States, AU Organs, and other stakeholders. Its other purpose is to inform the public, Member States, the RECs, AU organs and institutions on the trends of governance. Additionally, it aims at determining action items (recommendations) for the enhancement and/or improvement of governance systems in promoting African progress.
The SoGR will be revised following these meetings before being presented to the AU Heads of States and Government in February 2019.