Hosted by the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), the African Governance Architecture Support Project (AGA-SP) Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) meeting kicked off today at the Seat of the Parliament in Midrand, South Africa. The TOC meeting will be followed by the Stakeholder Consultation engagement tomorrow.
As background, the AGA-SP is part of the partnership and collaboration between the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU). It is implemented through two main modalities: (1) A Grant component to five AGA Platform Members namely: the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) and the Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC); and (2) Technical Assistance (TA). Grants have also been awarded to two Civil Society Consortia- The Charter Africa Project and Data for Governance Alliance Project.
The ongoing meeting, hosted by the PAP, the fourth, in a series of coordination meetings for the project. The engagement that kicked started today aims at creating a learning platform where project stakeholders will share successes and challenges in implementing their respective grant subventions. Specifically, experiences of best practice that would enable the utilization and uptake of lessons for the successful implementation of the remainder of the project will be shared.
Speaking at the opening session, Ms. Lindiwe Khumalo, Technical Chair of AGA Bureau urged participants to ensure that the evaluation and planning exercises is in line with the priorities of the African Union leadership and the aspirations of the African citizens. “I am returning from Kigali Rwanda, where the AU gathered to discuss its reform. We ought to ensure that collaboration as part of this project reflects the needs of our peoples and the priorities of our Union. This is critical for the AGA-SP to remain relevant.”
In his welcome remarks, Mr. Gali Massa Harou conveyed greetings from the Bureau of the PAP as he expressed hopes for a fruitful consultation over the next two days. “I am delighted that the meetings will provide a platform to engage with the European Union Delegation in cross learning and obtaining clarity of their expectations with regard to project delivery so far and plans if any, for a future iteration of AGA-SP."
All the project stakeholders including the CSO beneficiaries are attending the meeting which will continue tomorrow. The first day focused on stakeholder presentations on progress made over the past six months, including reflections on successes and lessons learned. A session of the meeting was dedicated to Mid-Term Evaluation Team who briefed stakeholders on the outcome of the evaluation. The Stakeholder Consultation Meeting involving all political heads of organs will take place on the second day of the meeting.
As part of efforts to enhance coordination and synergy amongst all project stakeholders, Expertise France, responsible for e implementing, the Technical Assistance (TA) support to the five AGA Platform Members, has operationalised a two-tiered governance structure for the project namely the Technical Oversight Committee and the Stakeholder Consultation Meeting.
The operationalization of the project governance structure has created the major avenue for stakeholders to meet at both technical and policy levels to review progress, exchange ideas and learn lessons from each other in the context of the implementation of the AGA- SP.
