United Nations Economic Commission for Africa - APRM

Africa’s first Sovereign Credit Rating Review Report launched

Minilik.Demissie — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 07:59:37 +0000

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 29, 2020 (ECA) - The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Thursday virtually launched the first African Sovereign Credit Rating Review Report which assesses trends in the credit ratings of African countries during the first half of 2020.

The report examines the risk drivers that led to different downgrading in the face of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); assesses their impact on the public debt servicing costs; examines the consistency, objectivity and transparency of the rating process; and makes recommendations to African countries on how to avoid negative rating actions and improve future ratings.

Many African countries have of late been complaining that credit rating agencies, which play a pivotal role within the international financial sphere, have been downgrading them unfairly. The member States are concerned by the impact of poor ratings by the three leading international credit rating agencies - Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch.

The ECA says policies are needed to ensure Africa honours its debt obligations in a consistent, sustainable and transparent manner to avoid jeopardising credit ratings and adds this is the time to redefine a new financial architecture to deepen Africa’s financial markets in a way that is consistent with Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030.

The two organisations argue that while the issue of ratings is real, there’s also an urgent need for African nations to be transparent in the contracts they enter into to avoid negative ratings.

The ECA remains committed to continuing to work with the APRM, the African Union Commission and others on the issue of credit ratings and helping to redefine a new financial architecture for Africa. The APRM is a specialized entity of the African Union.

Those who spoke during the launch of the report, including ECA, APRM, IMF, African Union Commission representatives, praised the report which they said will help policy makers in Africa to engage more effectively in the rating processes by setting up diversely skilled liaison teams of experts to engage rating agencies during rating reviews; and develop and strengthen legislative frameworks for rating agencies to be registered in their jurisdiction to offer rating services, among others.

The African Sovereign Credit Rating Review Report aims to provide African countries and investors with relevant analysis of the opinions issued by international agencies on sovereign credits. The report presents trends, determining factors, interpretation of opinions and policy recommendations on sovereign credit ratings.

Eleven countries were downgraded at the height of COVID-19. These are Angola (twice), Botswana, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Gabon, Nigeria (twice), Seychelles, Tunisia, South Africa (3 times) and Zambia (3 times). Twelve countries had negative change in their sovereign rating outlook, indicating risk of being downgraded in short-to-medium term.

Issued by:

Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org

Gender Equality and The Africa Peer Review Mechanism

Minilik.Demissie — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 10:42:17 +0000

This study examines the measures and levels of success for integrating gender perspectives in governance and development under the peer-review mechanism. The study also probes the limitations of the mechanism as a vehicle for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, some of which transcend the voluntary-based and formalistic approaches that characterize the mechanism. At the end, the study makes recommendations and proposes strategies for various actors and institutions with a view to making the peer-review mechanism more amenable to promoting gender equality at the national, regional and continental levels.

gender_equality_aprm_eng.pdf

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Addressing and Mainstreaming Land Governance in the African Peer Review Mechanism

Minilik.Demissie — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 08:01:26 +0000

The main objective of this paper is to identify the common problems on land facing APRM countries and to provide analytical research with a view to suggest recommendations implementable at country level. The paper will facilitate the development of an APRM land governance review framework, which will be a tool to help APRM upcoming countries to assess their policies regarding land governance and monitoring of progress. The framework will contain set of land governance indicators which will be identified within the existing expertise of the Land Policy Initiative (LPI).

aprm_and_land_reform_en.pdf

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Technical Workshop

eskinder.tsegaye — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 08:14:36 +0000

Integration of the Djibouti APRM National Action Plan (NAP) into the accelerated growth and employment promotion strategy for a five-year period (SCAPE 2015-2019)

25 March 2018 to 26 March 2018

Djibouti, Acacias Hotel

A technical workshop on the integration of the APRM National Plan of Action (NPoA) with other National Development Plans of Djibouti will be held from 25 to 26 March 2018 at Acacias Hotel, upon the request of the National Focal Point of the APRM, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The ultimate goal of the workshop is to provide representatives of national APRM structures with the information, tools and good practices that are needed to monitor the implementation of the NPoA and promote performance in the area of governance across its integration into SCAPE.
The workshop aims to provide information and technical expertise to national planning / finance / district authorities for the effective implementation and monitoring of a coherent NPoA through existing national development strategies.
During the workshop, ECA experts and resource persons will use the training manual developed by ECA titled "Harmonization of the APRM NPoA with other national development strategies". This manual contains practical exercises. Participants will also benefit from the experiences of APRM countries such as Benin and Mali through case studies.
At the end of the workshop, Djiboutian experts will have acquired sufficient technical knowledge to effectively implement and monitor the NPoA and mobilize adequate funds through SCAPE.
In addition, participants will benefit from presentations on synergies between the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) and national development strategies.
During this training period, the President of the Republic of Djibouti, His Excellency Mr. Ismaël Omar Guelleh, is expected to launch the Djibouti APRM Country Assessment Report (CSAR) The launch will take place on March 26, 2018, at the People's Palace.

Regional Training Workshop on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Continental Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting (MER) System

eskinder.tsegaye — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 06:31:02 +0000

16 March 2018 to 17 March 2018

Lemigo Hotel Kigali, Rwanda

A Regional Training Workshop on the Continental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting System (SER) of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) will be held from 16 to 17 March 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda. This workshop is organized by the Capacity Building Division of ECA in collaboration with the APRM Continental Secretariat.

The main objective of this regional training workshop is to build the capacity of the relevant APRM national and continental stakeholders to monitor, evaluate and report on the implementation of their National Action Plans (NAPs) and give them opportunities to share experiences from other countries.

The training will be based on the training manual produced by ECA on the subject. The manual describes the processes and procedures essential for the design and implementation of the APRM Continental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting System (MER) and also offers a better opportunity to learn how to exploit the synergies between national, continental and global programs, such as Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030, and to provide accurate and sufficient information to operationalize the APRM Continental MER system.

The main participants in the training workshop are members of the APRM National Governance Commissions / Councils and National Secretariats of the twenty-one (21) countries that have been peer reviewed and are at different stages of implementing their development plans. action, as well as the staff of the APRM Continental Secretariat

The workshop is expected to provide national and continental experts with the opportunity to share experiences with their peers, address key challenges and propose concrete tools and actions that will make their monitoring, evaluation and reporting credible and operational. It will also enable them later to train their respective colleagues at the national level.

Technical training workshop for members of the National Governance Commission (NGC) on African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Methodologies

eskinder.tsegaye — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 08:11:19 +0000

27 February 2018 to 1 March 2018

Dosso, Niger

The Technical training workshop for Niger members of the National Governance Commission (NGC) on African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Methodologies and Questionnaires will be held in Dosso, Niger from February 27 to 1st March 2018. The workshop is organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the APRM Continental Secretariat in close collaboration with the APRM-NGC and National Secretariat of the Republic of Niger.
The training workshop targets members of the NGC, the National Secretariat representatives of the National Focal Point and representatives from the Districts of the Republic of Niger.
The workshop will enable the Niger participants to deepen their knowledge in all phases of the APRM and to increase their capacity in this area. After the training, participants will be better equipped technically to actively contribute to the launching of the process and will also effectively conduct the self-assessment exercise.
The ultimate goal of the training workshop is to have a credible, inclusive, transparent and inclusive process in Niger. The workshop will enhance their understanding to the self-assessment process and related methodology and implement them in order to speed up the launch of the process with efficiency, and to encourage the active participation of all stakeholders in Niger.
Besides ECA and APRM Secretariat experts, high level experts who have been involved in previous reviews from Senegal and Benin will be involved to share lessons learned. The APRM Eminent person in charge of Niger will also be present in this workshop.

Governance: African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) crucial for SDG implementation in Africa

srona.editor — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 09:22:47 +0000

Cairo, 10 December 2017 (ECA) – “African States have not benefited from the SDGs enough for a simple reason: the lack of follow up”, said on Sunday APRM member Youssouf Khayal. “I am drawing your attention to this, because the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has been entrusted with the monitoring of SDG implementation in Africa”.

“By allowing countries to assess their performance in political, economic, corporate governance and socio-economic development through a self-assessment and peer review mechanism, the APRM’s value has been evident in its potential as an early warning mechanism for potentially emerging issues”, said ECA APRM focal point Hodane Youssouf.

In a two-day workshop held in Cairo (Egypt) for North African countries under the theme “Promoting a people centered and peaceful Africa: the role of the African Peer Review Mechanism”, the ECA Capacity Development Division (CDD), the Continental Secretariat of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the APRM Focal Point for Egypt stressed the growing importance of this mechanism for the strengthening of governance in Africa.

In addition to North African countries, APRM countries including Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea have shared their experiences. Both the Gambia and Somalia also attended with a view to possibly joining the mechanism.

The APRM was first established in 2003, to promote the African Union vision and shared values of democratic governance and inclusive and sustainable development. This mechanism allows countries to assess the progress made in four key areas : Democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development. The assessment and corrective measures are established by member countries themselves, with the support of their peers.

“The uniqueness of the voluntary approach chosen when it comes to APRM is very important because, we, in Africa, are not waiting for people to lecture us from abroad on what we need to do”, said Khalid Emara, APRM focal point in Egypt, “It is important to bear in mind that this is a process owned and led by Africans, but at the same time, allows for an exchange of experiences with the rest of the world”

Organized under the theme: Promoting a people centered and peaceful Africa, this awareness raising workshop aimed at North African countries is part of a series of meetings held throughout Africa. It will be followed on 12-13 December by the first awareness raising workshop dedicated to Egypt.

Egypt was one of the first countries to join APRM in 2004. National support for this process is at the highest level according to Khalid Emara, APRM focal point for Egypt and Ashraf Rashid, head of the National Committee for Governance. Rashid stressed the efforts made by his country to improve governance, and which include, the set-up of the National Committee for Governance and high-level research centers for a national follow up in this field.

To this day, out of the 36 African Union member countries who have joined the APRM, twenty have completed their self-assessments and benefited from peer reviews. Others, such as Liberia, Uganda and Sudan completed their self-evaluation and should be evaluated by their peers in January 2018.

Governance: African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) crucial for SDG implementation in Africa

srona.editor — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 09:22:44 +0000

Cairo hosts APRM for North Africa on 10-11 December

srona.editor — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 09:21:06 +0000

Cairo, 4 December 2017 (ECA) - The ECA Capacity Development Division (CDD), the Continental Secretariat of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the APRM Focal Point for Egypt will organize, on 10-11 December in Cairo (Egypt), a North African workshop under the theme : “Promoting a people centered and peaceful Africa : the role of the African Peer Review Mechanism”.

This workshop aims to engagestakeholders, and especially member countries in North Africa including Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Tunisia and Sudan, on the role of the African Peer Review Mechanism in advancing good governance, accountability, peace, security and development in Africa.

The APRM is an African evaluation instrument aimed to promote the AU vision and shared values of democratic governance and inclusive sustainable development. Through volunteer self-monitoring by countries and a peer review process, the APRM aims to foster policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration.

An APRM workshop for Egypt will take place on 12 December, in the wake of the North Africa workshop.

What: African Peer Review Mechanism workshop for North Africa under the theme: “Promoting a people centered and peaceful Africa: the role of the African Peer Review Mechanism”

When: 10-11 December 2017

Where: Conrad Cairo Hotel (Cairo, Egypt)

APRM Regional Workshop for North Africa

srona.editor — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 12:53:36 +0000

“Promoting people centered and peaceful Africa: the role of the African Peer Review Mechanism”

10 December 2017 to 11 December 2017

Cairo (Egypt)