The APRM Support Unit of the Governance & Public Administration (GPAD) in ECA hosted a one-day brainstorming session for targeted African think-tanks and civil society research organizations that focused on "Strategic Research Directions in Support of APRM Process and Implementation," on February 5, 2009, at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The main purpose of the working session was to bring together African think tanks or research-based civil society organizations that are directly or indirectly involved in the implementation of the APRM process to brainstorm and map out a strategic research and analytical agenda in support of the APRM process on the continent.

This working session provided the CSOs an opportunity to identify and focus on the priority issues and discussed on which organizations are undertaking what research, and how a division of labor could be effected among the participating CSOs in order to maximize the collective impact of research on the process and to give an opportunity to explore collaboration and develop strategies among the CSOs to interface with the continental APRM structures and its institutions. The meeting targeted African think-tanks and CSOs namely: South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Africa Governance and Monitoring Project (AfriMAP), Trust Africa in Dakar, Southern African Trust, Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), and the African Governance Institution (AGI) based in Dakar. The session ended by summarizing how CSOs in general can contribute to the successful implementation of the APRM process.