African stakeholders, including academia, CSOs, government representatives, media, private sector and women and youth groups will meet later this week in Addis Ababa to deliberate and propose a concrete accountability framework for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Stakeholders are determined to play a strong role in the Post-2015 Development Agenda given the limited role of Africa in the formulation of the MDGs, which many assert resulted in weak ownership and slow progress by many African countries.

Consequently, the forum, which will take place at the United Nations Conference Centre from 21-23 August, is part of a substantial proactive effort to ensure African ownership of the forthcoming global development agenda that will replace the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The event, led by the African Union High Level Committee (HLC) on the Post-2015 Development Agenda comes as a result of a request, made by the AU Heads of State Summit held in Malabo from 26-27 June 2014, to explore the “emerging issues of accountability”. This includes the need for a data revolution – a central issue to monitor, evaluate and assess progress, which are, in turn, key aspects of accountability, according to the Decision of the Malabo Summit.

According to the Chairperson of the HLC Sherpas, Abdoulaye Dukule, “In the spirit of accountability, work has already started on the development of metrics for the six pillars of the Common African Position (CAP), this meeting will therefore serve as a continuation, which will lead to a concrete accountability mechanism. Accountability, in its various formulations, is the first step towards transparent governance”. In addition, the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, Amina Mohammed emphasised that “this meeting provides African stakeholders with an opportunity to build on successful regional experiences and effectively contribute to the global discussions on robust approaches to monitoring, review and accountability for the post-2015 development agenda. Without credible accountability mechanisms at global, regional and national levels, there is little hope that promises made will become promises delivered”.

Furthermore, Abdalla Hamdok, ECA’s Deputy Executive Secretary, stated “Africa has indeed been a visible presence in the Post-2015 development agenda and as early as 2011, the continent initiated consultations to articulate its priorities for the successor global development framework”. “The consultations are intended to build on existing accountability frameworks, so as to design and formulate an accountability framework suitable for the post 2015 development agenda”, reiterated Hamdok. Such a framework is expected to provide alignment from the global to continental to national levels.

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African Forum on Post-2015 provides elements for accountability

African stakeholders from the CSO spectrum represented by NGOs, women, youth and media organizations; as well as government representatives and the international community met in Addis Ababa to deliberate and propose measures for ensuring an accountability framework for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The forum, which took place at the United Nations Conference Centre from 21-23 August, proposed key elements for an accountability framework, which is expected to feed into the Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly in September.

In her opening statement, Ambassador Marjon Kamara, Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, who chaired the meeting underscored the importance of statistics in determining an accountability framework calling for “concerted action, genuine commitment, and empowerment of African society, including youth, women, faith-based organisations, as well as the business community”.

Dr Anthony Maruping, AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, said that when it comes to accountability mechanisms, Africa was “not starting from scratch”, as the continent had experienced with other regional, sub-regional, national accountability frameworks, such as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)”.

Furthermore, Abdalla Hamdok, ECA’s Deputy Executive Secretary, helped clarify the objective of the consultative meeting, by stating that participants’ “wide-encompassing deliberations need to identify key elements to build an accountability architecture for the post-2015 development agenda that is aligned from the global to continental to national levels”.

In his opening address, Mr Eugene Owusu, UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP/Ethiopia urged participants to help in “demanding real accountability for one billion people, emphasising participatory mechanisms, in which it is possible for the people to hold their leaders accountable”.

Ms Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning informed participants that there was a significant momentum for this new agenda, which comes with a high political mandate. Ms Mohammed, stressed the importance of crafting an accountability framework that is “fit for purpose” for the Africa region.

Participants unanimously agreed that an accountability framework for the Post-2015 and the Sustainable Development Goals, which will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, should be based on a set of core principles, accompanied by bold goals and targets and a plan on the means of implementation. Participants emphasised the need for an accountability framework to be implementable across the broad spectrum of society, namely being “bottom-up and people centered. In addition, participants called for country-level commitments to action skillfully led by a multi-stakeholder partnership represented by public, private, civil society and citizen interests”.

Another important element originating from the Forum was the need for a strong culture of reporting, based on accurate and timely data – making a case for evidence-based accountability. This would provide the basis for measuring progress and also mobilize citizens and civil society to hold institutions and partners accountable towards their commitments.

The Forum was organized by the HLC/African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with support from the UN Development Group.