AU WATCH

Why Invest In AU Watch

“Africa’s risks are mainly perceived and not real. Unfortunately for us in Africa we are not really very good at telling our own story. But things are changing and people are beginning to understand that things are going very, very well.”

Aliko Dangote, Nigerian Businessman

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  • A characteristic of a peaceful state is that political legitimacy is derived from the people, not only through elections but also good citizen-state relations, national unity and popular ownership of political discourses, processes and public goods. The people are the sovereign. Excluding people from decision-making processes can perpetuate unjust and unequal practices, which in fragile and conflict-affected countries can fuel or re-ignite violent conflict. Our work is important because if populations are subject to arbitrary power, and their demands for fairness and justice are not met, there is always the risk of violence. So, we campaign to change the way the AU and AUMS conduct business that keep people locked in poverty and injustice.
  • Because it makes a major contribution to the AU’s and AUMS fight for regional peace and security. We are effective. We challenge human rights abuses all over Africa, wherever they happen, regardless of which government or group is responsible. This doesn’t always make us popular. But does it faze us. We believe more in you than governments who do not like us.
  • We invest in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in Africa. Bringing together the right partners around opportunities for impact, AU Watch build leaders for today and tomorrow and helps drive large-scale positive change.
  • We are not going away. We are here for the long run.  Our size enables us to work on a comprehensive range of issues across Africa – whether its development or human rights, or corruption or anything that is affecting Africa, we are there. We are not afraid to tackle difficult and complex issues that do not result in quick solutions.
  • We are the only organization in Africa and probably the world that is using media, communication and education, in the way we do. Our 24-hour TV and radio stations all over Africa, keep the feet of our state managers close to the fire. We are the organization pioneering the way CSOs investigate and report on human rights violations, corruption or development.
  • Our cutting-edge research and programs, for example, tackles the complex and persistent challenges of climate change, corruption, poverty, women’s reproductive health, human rights violations and injustice. We take a multidisciplinary approach and work with an international network of partners to develop research which we actively seek to see applied in development and human rights policy and practice. Our research helps to shape development and human rights thinking and practice at the AU, focusing on people-centred perspectives and taking an integrated approach to research, learning, and communication.
  • Because through its work, AU Watch supports international and domestic organizationsand causes working to reduce poverty and deliver sustainable development. For example, AU Watch has set the ambitious target of getting all children in Africa by in the next two decades.
  • We invest in big ideas in science and civil society. We support discoveries in their earliest stages that will ultimately improve human health, democracy and understanding. We seek out curiosity, collaboration, leadership and courage, knowing that the first steps in solving complex problems are steps into the unknown—and they are rarely taken alone.

Why Invest In Us

We Innovate
AU Watch has earned a reputation as a skilled and innovative implementer of programs that address key challenges in Africa. AU Watch has earned a reputation as a skilled and innovative implementer of programs that address key challenges in Africa. We are launching an investment fund, with social and financial returns, which will target small and medium companies by investing in local financial intermediaries which focus on small enterprise development. We combine social good with financial returns.Women will be the main beneficiaries.

For more information click here.

We Are Accountable and Transparent in Our Operations

Because it is a highly professional, productive, and independent organization. AU Watch practices and operations have earned the trust and support of donors, corporations, governments, institutions and agencies throughout Africa and beyond.

We Respect Our Partners and Those We Serve
AU Watch believes in the inherent worth and dignity of those we work with and serve. As a result, we value them as partners and work together to bring about lasting change.

We Strive for Excellence in Service
AU Watch works rigorously to serve and empower all Africans to question and hold accountable their leaders. We also nurture community leadership and entrepreneurship.

We Are Committed to Our Mandate
We are fiercely committed to the cause of Africa.

We Provide Sustainable Results
AU Watch designs and implements activities that enable communities to realize their own potential. This approach provides sustainable solutions to locally identify needs, making communities stronger and more self-sufficient

AU Watch’s Approach: Three Basic Elements

1. Research and analysis

Research underpins what we do at AU Watch. By supporting comprehensive analysis, we approach research and analysis through ‘systems thinking’which offers a way to better identify root causes for problems that we want to address, and to find intervention points that offer great opportunity to advance change.Our research programs focus on regional security and regional integration; sustainable development and Africa’s economy; women’s health and reproductive issues; justice and human rights; regional security and politics of the AU; rule of law and governance; climate change and poverty and many more issues. We collaborate with several research affiliates and gratefully acknowledge support from the AU and in particular the University of The Gambia and the University of Makeni in Sierra Leone.

2. Investing in knowledge and innovation

We invest in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in Africa. Bringing together the right partners around opportunities for impact, AU Watch build leaders for today and tomorrow and helps drive large-scale positive change. However, we are also a PRACTICAL organisation and we ensure that our high-quality research, analysis, and teaching transform’s peoples’ lives in a practical way through our ground-breaking programs and projects.

We give practical assistance to the most vulnerable members of our communities. Whether we are participating in constructing a library or a girls training institute or litigating for the protection of human rights in front of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, or the Ecowas Court of Justice, our intention is to ensure that we make a difference to address regional challenges that demand AU attention and leadership. We provide practical help like grants, loans and technical assistance for projects benefiting the African youth, women, and vulnerable communities. We assist the AU and its Member States to achieve the goal of serving vulnerable communities through sustainable community development.

3. Practical, imaginative policy prescriptions

We are not here only to understand the issues afflicting Africa but to help prescribe solutions to resolve challenges. That means identifying the levers that can be pulled and those who can pull them, whether political, legal or financial. Some of these tools will require that the AU or its Members or local or international organisations take some action to contain the challenge. These policy prescriptions, along with our field-based research and analysis, are presented in succinct, timely and readable reports.

4. Use of communication, media and outreach services

The importance and role of the media to inform citizens and correct injustices have been well documented. Using a variety of mediums and strategies we raise awareness about what the AU is, its projects and programs. We produce documentaries, radio and television programs on the AU and AUMS. We also use social media, mobile phone services and a host of other activities to build knowledge, and bring about shifts in attitudes, norms and behavior, in the relevant areas of AU interventions. We empower people to question what their leaders are doing and why they are doing whatever they say they say they are doing. We aim to get every child, woman and man understand their rights; understand what the AU doing and why. We also offer the AU a space to engage in public and private dialogue with some of Africa’s most excluded and vulnerable communities – people who are often excluded from decision-making. 

In an era of sound bites and partisanship, AU Watch remains dedicated to providing clear, thoughtful, and independent analysis on vital public policy issues. Using all means possible —from radio, blogs, news and academic journals, Web features, op-eds and TV appearances, to conferences, research reports, speaking engagements, and books — AU Watch works vigorously to present citizens with incisive and understandable analysis of the work of the AU, its institutions and programs. In the 54 African countries, AU Watch run hundreds of private and public events – conferences, workshops and roundtables, interviews with leading AU personalities, radio and TV dramas, on stage performances, films, documentaries, seminars, yearly schools athletics, football and other sports competitions, press conferences / briefings, schools / colleges debating competitions, moot court competitions for schools and colleges, spelling competitions for junior and senior schools and radio and TV debates on all AU matters.

Why US?

Today, you must assume that visitors to your website have nearly all of the information they need to make a purchase. They’ve read blog posts, visited your landing page, watched videos, found reviews, and asked for recommendations.

You must also assume that means that when they come to your website, they know what they want and expect answers in real-time.

That wasn’t so 10 years ago. Back then, when potential clients come to you, they want information about your product or service. They expected you to educate them about what they intend to do or buy, if you are in the business of selling.

You can even could afford to have them queue up for you. You could cultivate them based on your schedule. You could make them qualify themselves on your terms before they were allowed to buy.

Times have changed, buddy. Simply put, NOW, you have to give your potential visitors a VERY good reason why they should buy from you and not from your equally brilliant competitors down the road. It’s a consumer’s market.

This simply means that your product or service not only needs to be the very best around, but equally you need to give your visitors or even customers reasons why they should use you instead of your competitors.

And that is where AU Watch come in!

Some Impact Of Our Work

  • We provide research on political, social and economic policies and many other issues and themes defining the 21st Century.  Our research is authoritative, providing strategic analysis and practical solutions to assist policy makers in both public and private sectors to achieve their goals. Crucially, we take a multidisciplinary approach and work with dozens of CSOs, organizations, schools, business governments and individuals around Africa and beyond which seek to see research applied in different policy areas and practice. Such collaboration allows us to build or consolidate partnerships with a broad array of actors with the ability to drive change in society
  • Our advocacy work on governance and corruption and human rights are advancing rights in Africa.
  • Practical programs like getting child beggars of the streets of Banjul, The Gambia are already reaping huge rewards.


Want to know more about the impact of our work? Click here