The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) must set an example with new methods of work to accelerate African development, says Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako. It can also serve as a bridge to help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of development work in Africa by reducing duplication. There are so many meetings and initiatives on Africa that "the sum is sometimes less than the parts," Mr. Amoako told Africa Recovery in early April in Addis Ababa. Acting as a "clearing house for development information," the ECA can also enable African ministers to exchange and build on one another's experience.
Given the widely acknowledged defects of "donor-driven development," the ECA is very active in strengthening Africa's ability to manage its own priorities, says Mr. Amoako. Africa's planning ministers commissioned a report from ECA in 1995; the finished document – Building and Utilizing Critical Capacities – was approved by ministers in 1996; and by mid-1997, a follow-up report will explore key issues in critical sectors, the role of governments, foreign partners and the ECA, and point the way forward.
The ECA plans to link this effort to a World Bank-guided parallel exercise: African finance ministers enlisted the Bank in 1996 in a "Partnerships for Capacity-building" programme involving the ECA, UNDP, the African Development Bank, the Organization of African Unity and other agencies. The partners recently discussed the World Bank's programme in Paris and agreed that African institutions should play a key role in implementation. The two initiatives must be linked, Mr. Amoako explains, because "something like a trust fund" will be set up, with a high-level consultative council raising resources for African countries and the ECA to implement capacity-building programmes.
The ECAalso wants to strengthen Africa's negotiating capacity in critical areas such as international trade. Africa hardly participated substantively in the Uruguay Round and in the Singapore ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization. The ECA is hosting a 4-8 May conference for planning ministers, precisely on trade and investment, and will help prepare African countries for the next WTO ministerial meeting in 1998, in consultation with UNCTAD and WTO in Geneva.
Turning to internal reforms, Mr. Amoako said the ECA has made "a lot of tangible progress" in the last two years. As planned, extensive consultations with staff, development partners and African experts led to the Strategic Directions document which refocuses the ECA's work programme on five strategic areas and was unanimously approved by African ministers in May 1996. Even if the reform process is perhaps three months behind schedule, "all the major changes are now in place," he said.
Five divisions cover the strategic areas: Economic and Social Policy; Food Security and Sustainable Development; Regional Cooperation and Integration; Development Information Services; and Development Management. The African Centre for Women now has twice the staff to tackle gender issues more actively, while ECA budget, planning and human resource management have been strengthened.
Concerned to have "strong intellectual leadership and good management" of all divisions, Mr. Amoako said he guided a "very, very strong search process, both within and outside the UN." The result was a new management team set to be in place by mid-May. This "outstanding group of men and women" is mostly new to the UN, bringing new perspectives to the ECA. The gender balance is good, he noted, with up to four women directors out of nine or 10.
The ECA staff has largely been very supportive and a report prepared by staff themselves served "as a basis for most of the things we have been doing," Mr. Amoako said. Of course, some staff have been worried about their jobs, but this he understood in the context of the "entire process of UN reform and downsizing," he said.
The ECA is also decentralizing at the request of African countries. A quarter of the professional staff at Addis headquarters will be sent to revive the sometimes dormant Multinational Programming and Operational Centres (MULPOCS). These offices, to be renamed Sub-regional Development Centres (SRDCs), will have 10-12 high-calibre professionals, bringing a critical field presence to the ECA activities.
Another aspect of field presence is the plan to review the quantity and quality of over 30 ECA-sponsored institutions around Africa. Most have solid mandates but weak finances. The World Bank is to help turn an initial three or four of them into "centres of excellence."
The response to changes in the ECA has been "quite overwhelming," says Mr. Amoako, noting a busy travel schedule responding to some of the numerous invitations to present the ECA's vision and to strengthen partnerships. Interested parties include the Carnegie Foundation, which he addressed in early April in New York, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, which wants to collaborate on information technology at community level. This, he said, results from ECA work on the African Information Society Initiative. The ECA is also a co-sponsor (with the World Bank, Canada, and UNDP, among others) of a big meeting in Toronto in late June on knowledge management, with the ECA coordinating Africa's input. The ECA has also signed an agreement with the Indian government to support work on South-South cooperation and Mr. Amoako is visiting India in May to follow up.
The response from Africa's governments has been equally positive, and recent meetings with senior officials, including Presidents, in Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi confirmed the encouraging levels of support.