African Peer Review Mechanism
In 2001, as part of a plan to encourage economic development and strengthen governance, the African Union launched the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). An important component of NEPAD is the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The APRM seeks to promote better governance in Africa in a wide range of areas – political, economic, corporate and social. In this African initiative, countries voluntarily submit to peer review with the aim of sharing best practices. Civil society and the private sector are meant to play a major role in the peer review process in each country. As such, the APRM constitutes a participatory process through which a dialogue between all national stakeholders leads to the elaboration of a national programme of action on priority governance issues.
What PAC is doing
PAC recognizes the great potential of the APRM to promote dialogue and action on governance issues in African countries. For the APRM to succeed, however, it’s imperative that African civil society play a major role in the process. PAC is supporting civil society participation in the APRM by:
- Helping African civil society organize training workshops and participate actively in the APRM process in their country.
- Supporting research on the APRM.
- Publishing a newsletter - The APRM Monitor - which seeks to inform civil society about the latest developments in the APRM.
PAC provides both technical and financial support to African civil society organizations working collaboratively on the APRM in their respective countries. Organizations are invited to contact PAC to discuss possible support.
APRM documents
Click on the following links to read the official APRM documents, the country evaluations undertaken so far, studies on the APRM and reports from civil society workshops.
APRM documents
APRM country evaluations
APRM studies
APRM civil society workshop reports
Additional Information
The following web sites have useful information on the APRM: the official APRM documents, country evaluation reports, studies of the APRM process in some countries (AfriMAP) and APRM toolkits (SAIIA and EISA).
African Peer Review Mechanism – for APRM documents and country evaluation reports
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) – APRM Support Unit
The Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP)
The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
EISA
