The NEPAD Mapping Project

Project Summary

Title: Effective Strategies to Realize the New Partnership for Africa’s Development

Date: 2002-2003

Location: Victoria, Canada; Johannesburg, South Africa; Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Lead organization: Globalization and Governance Division, Centre for Global Studies (CFGS); Centre for Africa’s International Relations (CAIR), University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Director: Gordon Smith and Barry Carin, CFGS

Funders: Core funding for the project has been provided by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Rockefeller Foundation. Additional in-kind contributions in the form of conference facilities and workshop facilitation services have been provided by the OECD Development Office and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Description: The purpose of Effective Strategies to Realize NEPAD is to reduce vulnerability and promote human security in Africa through mobilizing support for the sustainable long-term development goals promoted in the October 2001 NEPAD Declaration. The project aims to facilitate - in collaboration with African proponents and advocates within the G-8 NEPAD constituency - the production of detailed strategic plans, or action maps, for guiding the effective implementation of selected NEPAD development priorities. Through an iterative and participatory process, African researchers and development experts will be supported to define concrete initiatives for advancing NEPAD objectives in a manner that reflects African perspectives, priorities and goals. The final output from the project will be the production of five Action Maps that have the endorsement of the NEPAD Secretariat and the African development community, and are ready for promotion to Northern donors for the purpose of securing further funding commitments.

Officials of the NEPAD Secretariat, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the Canadian G8 team, and several donors have been made aware of the Project and indicated an interest in our approach and in the forthcoming results. We have developed an audience with representatives on the NEPAD implementation committee of two countries (Mauritius and Senegal) and at high levels in the French Government (the next G8 host). By ensuring involvement of officials from international organizations and governments from the beginning, we believe the project recommendations will be seriously entertained in a timely fashion.

Selecting the initiatives:
A group of thirty participants (from 21 countries) representing African universities, think tanks, civil society, and the business community, including the NEPAD Secretariat and UNECA, gathered in late September 2002 in Johannesburg. The group selected five initiatives to be mapped from amongst the long list of NEPAD initiatives endorsed in the G8 Action Plan for Africa, along with African individuals to do the “mapping”.

The five initiatives and their “mappers” are:

1. Illegal Resource Exploitation Armed Conflict - A Resource Plunder Database
   Stanlake Samkange, Zimbabwe
2. Energy for Poverty Reduction in Africa: Energising Rural Development Using Multifunctional Platforms Fatima Denton, Environnement et Developpement du Tiers Monde (Enda-TM), Senegal, and Laurent Coche, UNDP, Mali
3. Preparing an Electoral Code for the African Union, NEPAD and Independent Electoral Commissions
   Chris Landsberg, Director, Centre for Policy Studies, South Africa
4. MicroFund for West Africa
   Didier Djoi, PlanetFinance Africa, Benin
5. Development of an African Tertiary Institution HIV/AIDS Consortium
   Jacqui Ala, Centre for Africa's International Relations, University of Witwatersrand

OECD Peer Review/ Mapping Techniques
The next step was a workshop in October 2002 sponsored by the OECD Development Center. The “mappers” were briefed on peer review techniques by staff from a number of OECD directorates. Specialists from the International Development Research Centre and the private sector presented state of the art techniques on planning and "mapping" to effect and implement decisions.

The "mappers" received further coaching at sessions held in Mauritius, Johannesburg, and Victoria, Canada, in November 2002 and January 2003.

Validation
At a February 27-28, 2003 meeting in Addis Ababa, hosted by UNECA, the five draft “maps” will be reviewed by officials representing the G8, donors, the NEPAD Secretariat, the AU, and African government officials. The intent is to verify the research and the plan in each “map” and to authorize wider consultation with the large range of parties whose support is essential for implementation.

Subsequent to the review in Addis, the intent is for the “maps” to be quickly revised and for the project team to get a first reaction to draft recommendations from the various authorities and organizations with mandates for implementation. (Our existing funding takes us to this point.) Incorporating these first reactions, the next step will be an outreach exercise designed and led by Africans.

Conclusion
The final revision of the maps will be presented to G8 officials for endorsement in time for the next Leaders’ meeting in France in June 2003. They will also be circulated to major donors. In addition, the maps will be promoted at the relevant African organizations and with officials of the relevant governments.