The Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary and the Capacity Development Division of the ECA is holding a two day Stakeholder Workshop on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the High Level Panel (HLP) Report on Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) from Africa at the United Nations Headquarters in Addis Ababa on 4 and 5 June 2015. The workshop which begins today is being held in line with the Special Declaration on Illicit Financial Flows, which was instantaneously adopted at the 24th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government and is expected to focus on the development of an actionable strategy that would streamline the work of various stakeholders into a coherent response against IFFs.
The prompt passage of the Special Declaration on the High Level Panel (HLP) Report on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa by the African Union Heads of States was a critical step that demonstrated the concern shared by African governments about illicit financial flows from the continent. However, it only marked the beginning of the work which lies ahead. Going forward, ECA is taking the lead on the next steps in stemming illicit outflows from the continent. The commission has developed an implementation work plan based on all the recommendations of the High Level Panel Report.
The workshop brings together representatives from the ECA, AU, UNDP, ACBF, CSOs, Development Partners and all other relevant stakeholders and is expected to result in an agreement among stakeholders of the desired outcomes, expected activities, responsible institutions under four work streams namely i) advocacy for commitment, collaboration and reform, ii) Generation and dissemination of knowledge, iii) Strengthening institutional and regulatory capacity and iv) Resource mobilization and monitoring implementation.
The workshop is expected to result in the following outcomes:
- Review, finalization and adoption of the draft implementation work plan developed by the ECA around the four main streams of the project – Advocacy, Capacity Development, Research and Monitoring & Evaluation.
- Deliberate on the allocation of responsibilities from the work plan to stakeholders based upon in depth discussions and agreements to come from the workshop.
- Increased collaboration and consensus building involving all necessary stakeholders and development partners towards the implementation of the policy recommendations of the HLP report.
- Deliberate on modalities for monitoring progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the HLP report.