[Back to index] [To Volume11#4 -- full graphics]

From Africa Recovery, Vol.11#4 (March 1998), page 1 (part of Special Feature on the 2-year review of UNSIA)

Agency heads to decide on best ways of moving forward

UN Special Initiative tackles Africa's challenges with renewed momentum

By Nii K. Bentsi-Enchill

Two years after its launch in March 1996, the UN System-wide Special Initiative on Africa (UNSIA) stands poised to consolidate the progress made in certain key areas, and to tackle the continuing challenges with renewed urgency and vigour.

Aiming to achieve tangible gains in more countries at a faster pace, senior officials of participating agencies have called for a tighter and more effective focus for the Initiative. They were speaking at a day-long meeting held in New York on 9 February to review progress on implementing the Initiative and to discuss the best ways of moving forward.

Participants said the Initiative would gain momentum and build broader support by making education, health, governance, information technology, and population and gender the top five priorities. Their proposals are for discussion at a 26 March meeting in Geneva of the UN system's highest internal policy-making body, the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which groups all heads of UN agencies. It has a Special Initiative steering committee co-chaired by Mr. James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The Special Initiative is a system-wide programme of concrete actions to help accelerate Africa's development in the decade to 2005. It is designed to rationalize and maximize the impact of UN assistance, including that of the Bretton Woods institutions, through more effective coordination at headquarters and at country level. The Initiative's mechanisms work to forge genuine and coherent partnerships to focus on priority areas already identified by African countries themselves, for example, in the Cairo Agenda for Action adopted by the 1995 Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit.

According to then Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Initiative demonstrates the commitment of the entire international community to the development of a continent "that is for us a constant concern." Conceived to "give momentum to the positive political and economic trends in Africa," says Mr. Amoako, the Initiative was a response, adds Mr. Speth, to "the paradox" of declining foreign support at a time when Africa's prospects are "much brighter than they had been for many years."

Despite projections for the continent of an overall rise in poverty and, in some areas, the damaging persistence of conflict, there are distinct grounds for optimism. Many governments are implementing economic policies backed by major donor countries and institutions, and democratic processes are gaining strength in several countries.

Emphasizing these points during the 1996 launch, World Bank President James Wolfensohn noted the "dramatic improvement" in some African countries. But the decline in official development aid and the low inflows of private capital were putting the "remarkable gains of some countries in serious danger." Joining such a multi-agency initiative was a first for the Bank, said Mr. Wolfensohn, and he was "enthusiastic" about the undertaking. Recognizing that the "fragmented approach of donors" had reduced their effectiveness, he expected that better coordination would help "to spend existing money better." Moreover, Africa needed "that assistance which can keep the momentum going." Accordingly, the World Bank has taken a leading role in mobilizing resources in the critical social sectors of education and health (see pages 8-13, 18-20).

Forward steps for the Initiative

Led by Mr. Speth and Mr. Amoako, participants at the 9 February New York meeting reviewed the Initiative's ambitious list of activities, the areas of progress and the nature of constraints.

The senior officials included Mr. Callisto Madavo, a World Bank Vice-President for Africa; Mr. Henri Lopes, UNESCO Deputy Director of External Relations; Ms. Thelma Awori, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director, UNDP Africa; Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana; Mr. Emmanuel Dierckx de Casterle, UN Resident Coordinator in Mozambique; and Mr. Alieu Sallah, former UN Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia. Also present were international development experts Mr. Edward V.K. Jaycox (ex-World Bank Vice-President for Africa) and Mr. Kwesi Botchwey (ex-Finance Minister of Ghana), both consultants to the Initiative.

Discussion topics ranged from political mobilization (in Africa, among donor countries, and within the UN system) to the benefits of an effective communications strategy. The participants recommended a concentration of efforts on education, health, governance, and information technology, as well as on bringing population and gender concerns into the mainstream of policies and programmes in all sectors.

But the officials also stressed that activity must continue -- in some cases, actually begin -- in the other components of the Initiative identified in 1996. Alongside international issues such as debt reduction, trade access and South-South cooperation, these components include conflict resolution and peace-building, developing water resources and achieving food security (see page 24).

Speakers agreed on the urgency of building strong partnerships based on clear African leadership of Initiative programmes. This domestic impetus in African countries would strengthen the "demand-driven" character of the Initiative. It would also encourage appropriate responses from the UN system which would focus better on providing coherent support at country level.

For all this to happen, there must be serious political mobilization, participants said. This should target national leadership in African countries as well as civil society organizations. But the Initiative also requires unequivocal support within the UN system, under the Secretary-General's leadership, the meeting agreed.

One immediate aim is to spur more UN country teams to improve their coordination, make their operations more coherent, and thereby achieve more effective action. It was noted that such coordination should also occur at subregional and regional levels to provide better support for Africa's inter-governmental bodies. As Mr. Amoako observes, ECA is "well positioned to bring a regional and sub-regional perspective to the Initiative," through its Sub-Regional Development Centres (SRDCs), by providing analysis and policy advocacy for country-level activities, and by nurturing implementation and monitoring.

The New York meeting also called for continued work on harmonizing the Special Initiative with other efforts such as Japan's second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II), the "Towards the 21st Century" programme of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the US' Africa Trade Initiative.

As Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in April 1997, "effectiveness of the Special Initiative will be judged in terms of its contribution to poverty-reduction, peace-building and stability in Africa."

Africans will know the Initiative is successful, said Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings at the time of the launch, "when we see schools where there were no schools before, when we have health services where those services were not adequate before, when households have easy access to safe water, when there are enhanced work opportunities for the younger generation, and when we see donors supporting our plans in innovative ways."

The Initiative stresses the importance of African "ownership," and senior UN officials add that there can be no progress without commitment from African governments. This is why the Initiative emphasizes country-driven strategies as the primary basis for donor assistance. The basic method is for all UN agencies in a country to meet together and, with the government, coordinate their programmes in general and to work out in detail how they will contribute in specific sectors. Such retreats in Ethiopia, Ghana, Togo and Mozambique have helped define ways of harmonizing agency programmes and procedures.

Progress has been made in drawing up country programmes and securing donor assistance, most notably in the areas of education, health, governance, and information technology. Mr. Madavo acknowledges that "African ownership of the Initiative is not as strong as it should be," while Mr. Amoako feels that it will gain momentum as more concrete results are seen.

Such concerns arise from the skepticism with which the 1996 launch of the Initiative was greeted in some quarters. The reasons included the poor results of earlier programmes for Africa, notably, the 1986-90 UN Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UNPAAERD). Besides speculation about the political agenda behind the Special Initiative, there was also criticism over inadequate prior consultation with African and donor governments before the launch and questions about the relationship between the Initiative and the UN New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF), which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1991.

However, speaking from Addis Ababa during the launch, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi expressed great optimism about the Initiative because it is "firmly based on priorities for development that we in Africa have identified for ourselves." He noted the widespread frustration in Africa over "unmet promises and unfulfilled commitments," but pointed to innovative aspects of the Initiative "which are designed to make the development partnership more effective and resource mobilization more practicable and achievable." In a signal of high-level commitment, the June 1997 OAU summit in Harare, Zimbabwe, urged member states "to implement the Initiative by assuming, in a concerted manner, their share of responsibility."

Resource mobilization

Another issue was that of resources. The Initiative was launched with a price tag of $25 bn over its 10-year time frame, producing high expectations of additional resources. But from where, some people asked, would this average $2.5 bn a year come, at a time when donors were slashing their aid? The sensible answer given at the time was that most of the funds would have to come from efficient reallocation of existing resources, mainly at domestic level, but also from existing commitments of bilateral and multilateral aid. The overall goal was to rationalize development aid and maximize its impact.

Greater aid effectiveness, in turn, makes it possible to raise some additional resources from donors, and the Initiative provides basic mechanisms for mobilizing such resources. This has already occurred in some countries that have drawn up coherent sector programmes -- for example, in education in Ethiopia and Mozambique -- that have gained donor backing.

Towards consolidation

The effort needed to allay misconceptions about the Initiative took some time, but senior UN officials say that African missions to the UN are now more supportive. A landmark in the political effort was the agreement reached last year in the high-level UN Committee for Programme Coordination (CPC) that the Initiative is indeed the implementation mechanism of UN-NADAF. This was later ratified by a 1997 resolution of the General Assembly. The CPC also called for the inclusion of economic diversification and regional cooperation and integration among the priorities of the Initiative. The World Bank has again confirmed that well-conceived programmes in priority areas are more likely to secure funding. One welcome development since late 1996 is the inclusion of the Initiative on the agenda of the Special Programme of Assistance for Africa (SPA), which the Bank leads. This is seen as an opportunity to track the progress of donor contributions to priority sectors at country level. To this end, a report will be presented to the June 1998 SPA meeting.

During the Dakar launch of the Initiative in 1996, Senegalese President Abdou Diouf urged "our friends within the UN" to ensure that the Initiative is not "yet another initiative, but the start of a new era in multilateral cooperation and a source of inspiration for a new partnership in development."

According to some observers, the commitment of UN agencies themselves to the Special Initiative has been "somewhat uneven" and the synergy expected to result from the collective efforts of the UN system has also been described as "elusive."

In discussing how to move forward at a faster pace within the UN system, participants at the 9 February meeting in New York decided to develop a system of realistic monitoring and evaluation of progress. This would require a more readily and regularly available flow of information among participating agencies, as recommended in the communications strategy. The 26 March meeting in Geneva on the Special Initiative is expected to debate all these issues and make further recommendations as the Initiative moves into its third year.
------------------

See related articles UN Programmes/UNSIA

-------------------

For further information on the UN Special Initiative
Please contact the Special Initiative Secretariat New York: Tel. (212) 906-5930; Fax (212) 906-6958; e-mail <unsia@undp.org> Addis Ababa: Tel. (251-1) 516667; Fax (251-1) 512233; e-mail <ecasia@un.org>or Africa Recovery, UN Office of Communications and Public Information, Tel. (212) 963-6857; Fax (212) 963-4556; or, in Africa, UN Resident Coordinators

[Back to index] [To Volume11#4 -- full graphics]

Material from this article may be freely reproduced, with attribution to "Africa Recovery, United Nations".
We would appreciate a copy of the reproduction.

Africa Recovery
Room S-931
United Nations
New York, NY 10017 USA

Tel: (212) 963-6857
Fax: (212) 963-4556
Email: africa_recovery@un.org

Website: www.africarecovery.org
Contact us by email: africa_recovery@un.org