European Centre for Development Policy Management Weekly Newsletter
07 Nov 2014
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Dear <<First name>>,
This issue of the Weekly Compass features the MDG 2014 report by the African Development Bank and partners assessing progress in Africa towards the Millennium Development Goals and analysing the Common African Position on the post-2015 Development Agenda.
We also highlight the outcomes of the African Union’s 3rd Annual High Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance in Africa.
Two blogs from our Africa-Europe Relations Beyond 2014 blog examine the challenges of delivering on the ambitious African vision statement. And the second blog in our Africa’s Change Dynamics’ “African Perspectives Series” on our Talking Points blog argues Africa must move from policy to actual implementation.
Further articles examine food security in Africa and the European Development Fund.
Read further for all the details. And visit The Filter for all the news collected on EU-Africa and international cooperation from this week.
All the best,
Melissa
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Editor's Pick
 Accelerated Progress in Africa Towards the MDGs
Performance on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has varied by country and region, but Africa has accelerated progress despite unfavourable conditions and the adverse effects of the recent food, fuel, financial and Eurozone crises. This is according to the “MDG 2014 report: Assessing progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals” from the African Development Bank and partners. Though poverty rates are declining, the pace is still too slow to meet the MDG target. The primary education enrollment target is on track, but more progress is needed on employment generation. The report also assesses progress in the other MDGs and examines income inequality and climate change amongst other issues. The report also finds that while some of the priorities identified in the Common African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda are reflected in the preliminary report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, much more needs to be done in order to comprehensively influence this process.
 Silencing the Guns - Strengthening Governance to Prevent, Manage and Resolve Conflict in Africa
The African Union’s Annual High Level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance ended last Friday. The theme was prevention, management and resolution of conflict. The meeting stressed that transformational regional integration requires that the processes of establishing inclusive and sustainable development are anchored on effective, efficient and accountable governance. It called for reinvigorating the spirit of Pan-Africanism and to invest in conflict prevention, early warning and early recovery. The Conference recommended stronger synergy and complementarity between the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). A joint working group of the AU Permanent Representative Committee, Peace And Security Council and AU Commission was recommended to ensure that the APSA and AGA structures, processes and work plans are harmonised before the next High Level Dialogue in 2015.
#AfricaEU2014 Double Bill on Agenda 2063
The challenge faced by the African Union Commission Chair and her team is to deliver on the ambitious Agenda 2063 vision statement says Chris Landsberg on the ‘Africa-EU Beyond 2014’ blog. In a second blog, we hear how good governance is not just about laws that ensure political stability, but is a vehicle for changing lives at both a social and economic level. But Mmusi Maimane argues that good governance can only happen when it’s driven by good leadership. Leadership which respects mechanisms which ensure accountability. His main message is that instead of projecting what the African Union may look like in 2063, we should instead focus on the real problems of now - bad governance.
Africa Must Move from Policy to Actual Implementation
The African Union’s Agenda 2063 must identify two or three really strategic areas on which it can focus on implementation – such as promoting good governance and adherence to ‘human rights’ principles; mobilising political will and capacity development for policy implementation in Member States; or implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks for progress reporting and accountability. This is according to Prof. Oladele Arowolo of the Human Sciences Research Council in the latest blog in ECDPM’s African Perspectives Series. He also calls for Africa to develop and aggressively implement a local resource mobilisation strategy for its development.
WATCH Strengthening Commitments to Food and Nutrition Security in Africa
Last June, African Heads of State and Government renewed and strengthened their commitment to achieve food and nutrition security on the continent. They adopted a remarkably ambitious set of concrete goals to be reached by 2025, in their ‘Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods’. Komla Prosper Bissi, Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Adviser for Trade and Agribusiness at the African Union Commission’s Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture, explains the ongoing process to design the "Malabo Declaration Implementation Strategy and Roadmap" that will have to be adopted by AU Leaders at their next Summit in January 2015. ECDPM is involved in this process as part of its partnership with the AUC and other key African institutions in charge of CAADP, so get in touch if you want to learn more.
 Central African Agricultural Ministers Adopt Key Regional Strategies
In their final communiqué, Agriculture Ministers in Central Africa adopted key regional strategies and a Common Agricultural Policy for the region at their meeting in Chad on 23- 24 October. They also approved the Regional Agricultural Investment Programme; the Food and Nutrition Security in the CAADP Process in the Region; the Regional Programme for Food Security in Central Africa Development Strategy of the Cotton Sector-Textile-Making in Central Africa; and the creation of a Regional Animal Health Centre. The Ministers also called on development partners to align to these regional policy frameworks and support their implementation. These strategic documents will be submitted to the Heads of State and Government for adoption at the next Economic Community of Central African States summit on 23-24 November. For more information read Jeske van Seters’ Talking Points blog on farmers’ engagement in regional agricultural policy making in Central Africa. This article is also available in French.
Joint Development Cooperation and the EU Budget: Out or In?
The European Development Fund (EDF) is the largest geographic instrument available to the EU as a major actor in development cooperation. Focusing mostly on countries which have historical ties with some member states - the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) - it represents 30% of total EU spending on external assistance. This guide from the European Parliament aims to provide a general overview of the key features of the EDF, with a particular focus on the budgetary specificities of the Fund and the long-standing debate on its possible inclusion in the EU budget.
 - Governments can keep climate change in check at manageable costs, but will have to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2100 to limit risks of irreversible damage, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Synthesis Report.
- For a factual account of the African Peace and Security Architecture structures, mandates, activities and challenges, this latest handbook from the African Union Commission’s Peace and Security Department and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung can serve as a reference tool.
- What is the interplay between tax research and actual policy over the last fifty years? The International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) asks how we can make tax research effective in shaping tax policy to support development.
- The Sustainable Trade Initiative was set up in 2008 on the initiative of the Dutch government, private companies, NGOs and trade unions, with the aim of improving the economic, social and environmental sustainability of production systems in developing countries. This evaluation by the Dutch Government looks at where the initiative stands after six years of support and what the prospects are for its work on sustainable commodity sourcing.
- Do the world's largest companies pay their fair share of taxes? Transparency in Corporate Reporting from Transparency International looks at exactly this and points out that many of the world’s largest publicly traded companies do not report this information publicly.
- What lessons can be drawn from the development experience in China to accelerate the African integration agenda? This paper from Stellenbosch University argues that China’s success today is largely due to the nurturing of a visionary and dedicated leadership system, and Africa needs to strengthen and broaden regional policy planning and coordination mechanisms.
- This latest OECD Statistics Brief focuses on the measurement of inequality in income and consumption in a national accounts framework.
- Bilaterals.org have published the comprehensive EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement which was circulated in September 2014 and is supposedly the text that was agreed to and is now being legally scrubbed.
- “Going Offshore” from Eurodad looks at Development Finance Institution’s use of tax havens and their standards when deciding where to channel their money and shows how development finance institutions support companies using the world’s most secretive financial centres.
- This study by the Development Leadership Programme finds that people's perception of corruption as a growing problem tends to increase their willingness to take action against it.
- China’s involvement in African peacemaking and peacekeeping efforts is evolving in an open-ended way, yet it seems that Africa is pulling China towards a more interventionist policy. The Institute of Security Studies Africa asks if China changing its example abroad will put it under pressure to change its stance at home too.
- This article by Inter-Reseaux (in French) asks what the opportunities and challenges are for a regional approach to agricultural and food issues in West Africa. West Africa is the most advanced part of the continent in the implementation of a regional agricultural policy.
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