AU WATCH

NGO Forum on the (African) Summit of Heads of State and Government

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To engage with our leaders AU Watch has set up the ‘NGO Forum on the (African) Summit of Heads of State and Government.’  At the margins of every Summit and for three days before the policy organs meet, AU Watch will organize an NGO Forum, bringing together various NGOs to strengthen cooperation on democratic values, defend common interests, and debate the major issues facing the continent, and which are of importance to the African people. The NGO Forum shall place priority on generating timely, informed, and provocative analysis that tackles the drivers of development, human rights, governance and rule of law, corruption, media repression and instabilityin a highly volatile region that faces diverse and dramatic political, economic, demographic, and environmental shifts in the short and medium term.

Our analysis and policy recommendations (and submitted to the policy organs, prior to their various meetings) shall be distributed widely, and available to the public via our TV and Online radio programs, publications, blogs, videos, and podcasts.

Expected Outcome

The Report is meant as a thought-provoking conversation starter, that will help our policy organs to “feel” and understand what the vast majority of Africans are thinking about and want done. It will not only contribute to advancing ongoing critical debates in the policy meetings, but also scan the horizon for the known unknowns and the issues which our policy chiefs are not thinking about. It is our hope that as an agenda-setter, our policy chiefs will factor our contributions into their debates

Grounded in Agenda 2063 and the African Governance Architecture: ‘The Africa We Want and the Search for African Solutions to Regional Challenges’, the NGO Forum will meet to discuss the best ways to develop the future of the AU, based on what is taking place in the region. It will provide the highest quality research, policy recommendations, and analysis on a full range of public policy issues on the AU.

Objectives

The main objectives of the NGO Forum on the AU are to:

  • Provide a high-level multi-stakeholder platform for understanding what is happening at the AU, and explore new and creative avenues for future cooperation with the AU;
  • Generate political commitment amongst CSOs how we can improve the effectiveness of the AU and its programs. The Forum will provide a platform to exchange views, information and knowledge on current issues and information related to regional matters;
  • Using the collective strengths of CSOs, explore ways to raise awareness of the AU and its programs among decision-makers and other professionals, the media and the public at large;
  • Take stock of current opportunities and challenges to Agenda 2063 and explore ways of engaging CSOs and the general public in this very important project;
  • Take stock of current opportunities and challenges to peace, security and development in Africa, and support the deepening of discus­sions towards the resolution of regional crises;
  • Develop context specific and action-oriented recommendations and tools to advance the implementation of human rights, anti-corruption, governance issues, “sustainable development” and “sustaining peace” agendas in Africa. It will also inspire thought leadership on Africa’s future trajectory;
  • Present state of the art knowledge on regional integration issues; assessment, challenges and potential solu­tions;
  • Address the interlinkages between (New) media, human rights, peace and development, and champion Africa-led solutions, through strengthening the policies-practices linkages, especially amongst CSOs.

The NGO Forum shall aim as much as possible to bring all CSO stakeholders from various geographical and sectoral backgrounds together for open debate.