NEPAD
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New Partnership for Africa's Development is an economic development program of the African Union. The NEPAD was adopted at the 37th session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia. It is meant to develop values and monitor their implementation within the framework of the African Union.
NEPAD is a merger of the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Program (MAP) and the OMEGA Plan. The merger was finalized on 3 July 2001. Out of the merger, NAI was born. The OAU Summit Heads of State and Government on 11 July 2001 approved NAI. The leaders of G8 countries endorsed the plan on 20 July 2001. The Heads of State Implementation Committee (HSIC) finalized the policy framework on 23 October 2001, and NEPAD was formed.
Focusing on “education, health, regional infrastructure, agriculture, market access and preservation of the environment”, NEPAD’s founding was largely due to Thabo Mbeki.
Included in NEPAD is the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a voluntary, self-monitoring instrument to “ensure that the polices and practices of participating states conform to the mutually agreed values, codes and standards contained in NEPAD’s Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic, and Corporate Governance” (Deegan 364). The APRM should increase accountability among aid recipients and offer “practical advice to countries struggling with governance shortcomings” (Deegan 365).
During 22 - 23 October 2004, the NEPAD Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue took place at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event was a presentation of a three year review of NEPAD's progress since its formation, and an opportunity for stakeholders from the private sector, civil society, government and international organisations to dialogue on the way forward.
NEPAD has embarked upon an "e-schools" program to equip all 600, 000 primary and secondary schools in Africa with IT equipment and internet access within 10 years. See NEPAD E-School program.
One of the reasons NEPAD has received a lot of harmful criticism in the past is that people think it is a 'kneepad', a catalyst that will soften the act of stealing money from Africa, perpetrated by the Western World.
Bibliography
- "Pan-Africa: The NEPAD formula" by Sarah Coleman, World Press Review July 2002 v49 i7 p29(1)
- "Bring Africa out of the margins", The Christian Science Monitor July 5, 2002 p10
- The African Union, NEPAD, and Human Rights: The Missing Agenda. Human Rights Quarterly - Volume 26, Number 4, November 2004, pp. 983-1027 - Article
External links
- http://www.nepad.org
- African Development Bank (http://www.afdb.org)cs:NEPAD