The technical meeting of the African Union Commission (AUC), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on the convergence of Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) systems for the first 10 Years Implementation Plan of the Agenda 2063 was held from 16 to 18 November 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Representatives of the AUC, UNECA, Joint Secretariat Support Office (JSSO), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) attended the meeting. The meeting outlined key national targets and indicators that would be monitored and evaluated directly by RECs.

In his welcome remarks, Mr. Jacques Mukwende, Head of the Resource Mobilization Division in the Strategic Policy Planning, Monitoring and Resource Mobilization Directorate recalled that the first such meeting was held in Johannesburg, South Africa that proposed the then structural framework among the Tripartite RECs of ECOWAS, EAC and SADC be expanded to include the other five RECs, the AUC, AfDB and ECA for purposes of harmonizing their respective monitoring and evaluation systems and achieve convergence for the implementation of Agenda 2063 First Ten Year Implementation Plan. According to him that meeting also proposed that the enlarged group will meet in Nairobi, Kenya to develop a roadmap for the convergence of monitoring and evaluation systems, at the invitation and under the AUC sponsorship.

In the course of the meeting, COMESA, EAC, CENSAD and ECOWAS presented their perspectives and strategy for alignment of the M&E architectures with a view to identifying areas of convergence with each other and AUC M&E framework. The presentations showcased RECs critical roles, including monitoring and evaluation at the regional level. It was highlighted that it is imperative that the M&E frameworks at the regional levels talk to each other so that a continental aggregation can be done with respect to progress towards the attainment of the African Aspirations and its associated goals.

During the discussions, the meeting was guided by guidelines such as value addition, uniqueness and commonality, comparability, transparency and accountability in reinforcing the convergence process.

On the way forward, it was stated that the outcome of this meeting is expected to be presented at the Chief executives officers of the RECs coordination meeting for the 6th of December, 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Agenda 2063 and its First Ten Year Implementation Plan Vis-à-vis RECs

Agenda 2063 and its First Ten Year Implementation Plan both which were adopted by the AU Summit in January and June respectively this year make the RECs the point of entry at the regional level prior to reaching the member states. In effect the RECs will coordinate the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the First Ten Year Plan at the regional level – providing oversight, coordination, technical backstopping, resource mobilization etc to member states with the region.