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The youth and ECOSOCC Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Ken Auma, Kenya May 28, 2007
Peace & Conflict   Opinions

  

On the 24th May, 2007, I happen to have attended a meeting called at Hotel Panafric in Kenya to deliberate on the Economic, Cultural and Social Council (ECOSOCC), an arm of African Union led by Prof. Wangari Maathai as the president.

ECOSOCC is designed as a coordination and networking tool for the participation of civil society in the activities of the African Union. The launching has thus paved way in an unprecedented manner for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Africa to continuously participate actively in governance issues in Africa.

Having elected the interim Standing Committee and Officers during the inauguration, the major challenge facing the interim Steering Committee and CSOs in Africa in general remains the task of operationalising the new organ. It is therefore imperative that consultative processes, which will culminate in and guide elections of members at the national, regional and Diaspora levels on the one hand and define requisite framework and strategies for creating synergy between ECOSOCC and other AU organs on the other hand, be initiated.

Similarly, NEPADs African Peer Review Mechanism, operated in 2003, presents a unique opportunity for civil society to engage in self-evaluating processes in terms of relevance and performance as well as participate actively in the National Review processes of those states that have acceded. The benefits for civil society and development in the APRM are exponential.

In another vein, the Millennium Development Goals, derived from the United Nations Millennium Declaration and voluntarily adopted by over 189 countries, presents another unique platform for synergy among African civil societies to engage themselves. Can the MDGs also form or provide the basis for an ECOSOCC engagement agenda? Lately concerns have been raised on the reality of the target dates and indeed, the exact role of the African civil society in the processes of meeting the MDGs.

Responding to the needs and the questions posed, the Africa Leadership Forum, in collaboration with the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, New York organized a series of sub-regional meetings for civil society to deliberate, make recommendations as well as set the agenda for a regional meeting of African civil society on the matters arising. The Central and African Meeting convened in Ota Ogun State Nigeria in June, 2006, while the East African meeting held in Nairobi Kenya in August. A similar meeting with slightly different programme was organized by AFRODAD Harare, in Harare for civil society organizations from the Southern Africa.

We the voted for Youth Multifunction Forum to spearhed the social and health issues on behalf of many groups represented to the Afican Union.

If we can DREAM IT, we can ACHIEVE IT.

VIVA AFRICA





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