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Greetings to All,
This letter comes to you at a trying time in the history of foreign
relations. A time when we should sadly admit to ourselves the failure of
diplomacy in the resolution of the crisis in Iraq. Nepad therefore, needs
to examine the impending effects of the war on the African continent.
The fear of many that we have spoken to is that the agenda of reversing the desperate state of the African Continent, as promoted by
NEPAD, will be relegated to the bottom of the developmental agenda. This fear is real, despite the assurance by many of our development
partners, that the emphasis placed on continuing to together develop the African Continent remains.
In the next few months our activities will take place against a backdrop
of a historical tapestry of great achievement and challenges of varying
degrees in the African continent.
In this regard, the NEPAD process has brought to the debate a sharp
convergence of approach between development and democracy. It
has become clear to Nepad that the balance of forces whose
objectives are to cultivate democracy must establish it on the
foundation of justice, broad participation of all stakeholders and the
maintenance of an environment worthy of the growth of such noble
ideals.
ABUJA MEETING
The Sixth Heads of State and Government Implementation summit of
NEPAD was held in Abuja on the 9th March 2003.
The milestone achievement of the summit saw 10 countries signing the
Memorandum of Understanding on the African Peer Review
Mechanism; Algeria, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda . Other
countries have indicated their intention to soon sign the Memorandum
of Understanding on the APRM.
This was a confirmation of the commitment by our leaders to make the
NEPAD process a practical and pragmatic vision.
FOCUS ON CIVIL SOCIETY
The Civil Society Forum in Elmina, Ghana from 26th to 28 March, 2003,
drew more than sixty participants form Civil Society Organisations
Government agencies and Academics from various countries of the
African Continent and the world at large.
Several topics were discussed during the period of the Forum. These
included among others: (i) Mobilizing Civil Society for the African
Renaissance, (ii) Civil Society on Peace and Conflict Resolution,
(iii) Civil Society on Poverty Reduction, Food Security and Analysis of
Agricultural Subsidies and (iv) Dialogue and partnerships with African
Societies in the context of NEPAD and the African Union; Challenges
and practical questions for the establishment of an enabling
environment.
The Forum took note of the discussions and made some
recommendations and identified various challenges of Civil Society
participation in the implementation of the NEPAD process. The
following were some of the highlights of the recommendations and
statements;
- African Civil Society supports NEPAD wholeheartedly
- For Civil Society to participate meaningfully in the implementation of the NEPAD process, it was suggested that
consistent capacity building should be conducted and civil Society should organise itself, in order to enable it to participate
more meaningfully in the NEPAD process.
- There needs to be a Civil Society desk set up at the NEPAD
Secretariat. This desk will enable constant communication and
interaction between the NEPAD process, AU organs and Civil
Society Globally.
- Civil Society needs to be involved and need to consider itself a
partner to the various African governments. This involvement
needs to be from planning to implementation. Civil Society
should not consider itself the official opposition to government.
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Civil Society should educate and sensitize its constituents and the
public on NEPAD.
Strengthened partnership between the NEPAD process and Civil
Society will prove to be a catalyst in the implementation of various initiatives covered by the NEPAD process. See the preliminary report on
www.nepad.org
Gender Forum
NEPAD will be hosting its first Gender Forum in Libreville, Gabon from the 28th to 30th April 2003. As part of its communications and outreach
strategy, NEPAD Secretariat has embarked on a programme to involve
all stakeholders i.e. Business, Government, Civil Society, Youth, and
Gender associations in its programmes and activities in order to create
ownership of the NEPAD process. A total of 100 delegates from various
African and international gender associations, government
representatives and experts in various areas of concern are expected
to attend this forum.
NEPAD regards Gender as a central cross cutting issue in all its
programs, and hopes that this forum will establish a partnership that is
both credible and capable of implementation. It is also expected that
gender activists will rise to the challenge of ensuring that NEPAD brings
about real and positive change in the lives of women. The forum will
help establish contact with organisations to work together on an
effective NEPAD gender sensitive programme.
The forum will take place at the Palais International des Conferences of
the “Cite de la Democratie” in Libreville, Gabon.
A time to Reflect and Celebrate
25 May is Africa Day, and this marks the 40th Anniversary of the
Organisation for African Unity (OAU).
NEPAD seeks to advance the gains made by the OAU.
The OAU has played a pivotal role in the development of the African
Continent with respect to the end of colonialism.
The celebrations of Africa Day this year take on special significance,
because we will be entering the second year as the A frican Union
(AU).
In addition the NEPAD Secretariat as a program of development of the
AU will be participating in the various ceremonies marking this
important date on the African Calendar. We will keep our readers
informed on all the activities planned for this date.
African Renaissance Conference
The fifth Annual Renaissance Conference took place on the 28th of
March 2003 in Durban, South Africa. The theme of this year’s
conference was ‘NEPAD: The quest for an African Renaissance’.
Mayors from cities in Africa and Africans in the Diaspora were part of
delegates at the conference.
The NEPAD Steering Committee Chairman, Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu
delivered a keynote address on the overview of NEPAD and its
importance in the renewal of the Continent. He elaborated that much
as the chains of colonialism and oppression were no more, greater
challenges lay in confronting persistent conflicts, weak governance
and accompanying corruption and inefficiencies, poverty and under
development and inequitable international order.
He also mentioned that call for the African Renaissance made by
President Mbeki had a special significance, both in terms of timing and
the fact it was now backed by a concrete programme of action and
led by the HISGC of NEPAD, responsible for its implementation.
The Chairman also highlighted the importance of African Scholars,
intellectuals and opinions makers and urged them to believe in the
regeneration and reconstruction of Africa so that through their
utterances and writings the message of hope would facilitate the
launching of an African Renaissance.
Coming Event
EXPERTS’ TASKTEAM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROGRAMME ON
WEATHER PREDICTIONS, DISASTER MANAGEMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE,
AND FOOD SECURITY
Africa’s food insecurity is the result of a confluence of factors over a
long period of time. Droughts, floods, and related natural disasters
have been some of the major causes exacerbated by other factors
such as conflict, poverty, HIV/AIDS etc. On the one hand, the scientific
predictions and predictability of the climate-induced disasters has
considerably improved. Yet, on the other hand, the region continues to
suffer from the impacts of these events. Despite the very well
assembled body of knowledge, and the establishment of early warning
systems, the region has been unable to adequately respond to the
continued recurrence of droughts, floods, and other extreme events
and natural disasters.
The now regular food crisis in Africa has prompted many scientists and
policy makers to start asking whether the causes of this crisis are solely
due to a lack of scientific data on weather and climate predictions, or if we need to look beyond just the provision of the data to policy
makers. Why is it that, despite the improved availability of scientific
information on weather predictability, African governments are failing
to take adequate measures to ensure that the region has food
security? Is it a matter of lack of weather technology, or does the
problem lie in other areas of the economy where decisions are made
to export staple crops during bumper harvests, without taking into
account what the climate predictions forecast? Do we need to have
a closer and more integrated planning and working approach
between various government departments whose policies and
activities impact on food security?
Whatever the cause of this crisis, there is clearly an emerging need for
the establishment of disaster and emergency preparedness systems as
well as longer-term risk reduction approaches in the region to mitigate,
and manage the region’s vulnerability to these natural disasters and
extreme events, as well as policies on agriculture and agricultural
exports and imports.
It is in this context that the NEPAD Secretariat is mobilizing a team of
regional technical experts to work with the Secretariat and the
Regional Economic Communities to develop a comprehensive project
proposal that can be implemented to address the impacts of climatic
and rainfall variability, natural disasters, and extreme events, taking into
account the role of policy making in food security.
The outcome of this task will be the identification of a set of activities to
be implemented by governments, Regional Economic Communities,
the scientific community, the private sector, and Non-Governmental
organizations (NGO’s), to improve the region’s food security in the short
and long term.
Aim of workshop
To develop a regional programme for implementation, aimed at
understanding and then addressing Africa’s continued food crisis due
to the continent’s vulnerability to rainfall variability, extreme events,
climate change, natural disasters, and various socio-economic and
agricultural policies. It is envisaged that each REC will take a lead in
implementing the outcomes of this workshop, or integrating them into
existing programmes where relevant and appropriate.
For details of the workshop please consult the NEPAD website,
check under events Calendar
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