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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action from 2001 to 2003. APIC was merged into Africa Action in 2001. Please note that many outdated links in this archived document may not work.


Africa: UN-NADAF Mid-Term Review
Any links to other sites in this file from 1996 are not clickable,
given the difficulty in maintaining up-to-date links in old files.
However, we hope they may still provide leads for your research.
Africa: UN-NADAF Mid-Term Review
Date Distributed (ymd): 960912

Partnership Africa Canada (PAC)

Overview of the Mid-Term Review
United Nations New Agenda for Development of Africa(UN-NADAF)
September 9, 1996

NGO Forum, New York, September 13-14, 1996
Mid-Term Review, New York, September 16-20, 1996

What is UN-NADAF?

The UN General Assembly adopted UN-NADAF in 1991 to serve as
a catalyst for Africa's development in the 1990s. Priority
objectives included the transformation of African economies,
increased support for human resource development and
encouragement for peace initiatives.

UN-NADAF set out goals and commitments for all concerned.
African governments agreed to promote sustainable development,
regional cooperation, democratization, human rights, food
security and a greater role for NGOs. The international
community agreed to develop innovative solutions to Africa's
debt problem, provide adequate resource flows and improved
access to markets and to support economic diversification.

Why is the Mid-Term Review important?

The Mid-Term Review is a crucial moment to take stock of the
international community's commitment to Africa. The review
will assess whether all parties have lived up to their part of
the agreement. It will also recommend concrete measures to
accelerate the pace of implementation.

In March 1996, the UN launched the Special Initiative on
Africa which sought to mobilize $25 billion for Africa's
development over the next decade. Criticism about the lack of
consultation about the Special Initiative still lingers, and
there is still uncertainty about its relationship to UN-NADAF.
The Mid-Term Review is thus an opportunity to press for
coherence in the UN's treatment of Africa.

The timing of the review is also opportune. At their meetings
in September, in Washington, the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund are expected to make a final decision about
their response to the multilateral debt crisis in sub-Saharan
Africa. That gives NGOs a brief window of opportunity to use
the momentum of the Mid-Term Review to influence the outcome
of the Washington meetings.

How have NGOs been involved in the review process?

The UN invited 25 NGOs and networks to submit reports of their
activities to feed into the UN-NADAF review (15 NGOs from
Africa and 10 NGOs from OECD countries, including PAC. These
NGO reports will be included as an annex to the UN Secretary
General's report.

PAC has been working closely with the Office of the UN Special
Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries to
plan an NGO Forum to be held in New York just before the
Mid-Term Review. In addition, PAC sought funding to bring 25
Africans to these meetings (the 15 NGOs already involved in
the process, as well as major African NGO networks).
Unfortunately, we were not successful. However, several of
PAC's African Board members are expected to attend.

What's the next step for NGOs?

Over the past six weeks, PAC has been working with NGOs and
networks in Canada, Africa, Europe and the United States to
prepare a series of papers on key issues affecting Africa such
as debt, gender, trade and human rights. These papers have
been uploaded into the africa.forum conference on the APC
networks. They will also be distributed over the next week
through the Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List, and
posted on the Africa Policy Web Site
(http://www.igc.org/apic/index.shmtl).

The NGO Forum takes place in New York on September 13 and 14.
Statements emerging from that meeting will also be available
on-line (more details on location will be noted in future
postings).

Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), 1 Nicholas St., #1200,
Ottawa, ON K1N 787, Canada. Phone: (613) 562-8242; Fax: (613)
532-8334; E-mail: pac@web.apc.org.

**************************************************************
ENV/DEV/376 9 September 1996

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S PANEL ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT TO MEET AT
HEADQUARTERS

NEW YORK, 9 September (DPCSD) -- The implementation of the
United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the
1990s and the United Nations System-Wide Special Initiative on
Africa will be among the topics to be discussed by the Panel
of High-Level Personalities on African Development as it meets
at Headquarters on 12 September.

The High-Level Panel was established in 1992 by Secretary-
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to advise and assist him in his
efforts to ensure the effective implementation of the New
Agenda and to foster Africa's development in general. The
Panel is charged with developing new ideas and themes around
which international responses can be mobilized, convincing
governments to take action and encouraging agencies of the
United Nations system to improve coordination.

The Secretary-General will open the Panel's meeting, which
will review and discuss his report for the General Assembly's
mid-term review of the New Agenda for Africa's Development, to
be held from 16 to 20 September. In addition to presenting
their views on progress made in the New Agenda's
implementation, Panel members will also discuss the
implementation of the Special Initiative, which was launched
on 15 March. The Initiative, which seeks to mobilize
international support and financing for development programmes
mainly in the areas of health, education, water and
capacitybuilding, was drawn from the objectives of New Agenda
and is designed to boost its implementation.

The panel's current membership includes the following high-
level personalities: Sir Ketumile Masire, President of
Botswana; Poul Nielson, Denmark's Minister for Development
Cooperation; Baroness Linda Chalker, Minister for Overseas
Development of the United Kingdom; Ambassador Andrew Young,
former United States Permanent Representative to the United
Nations; Philippe Jurgensen, former Director-General of the
Caisse francaise de developpement and current Director-General
of the Societe francaise de garantie des financements des
petites et moyennes entreprises; Mohammed Sadli, Adviser to
the President of Indonesia for South-South and North-South
Cooperation; R. Barthelt, Director-General for sub-Saharan
Africa in Germany's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Salim Ahmed
Salim, Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity
(OAU); Graca Machel, Mozambique's former First Lady and
current President of the Foundation for Community Development;
Ambassador Yasushi Kurokochi of Japan, who served as chairman
of the Tokyo International Conference on Aid and Development;
K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission
for Africa (ECA); Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD);
and Hazem El-Beblawi, Executive Secretary of the Economic and
Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

*****
Note: Further information may be obtained from the Office of
the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed
Countries in the Department for Policy Coordination and
Sustainable Development, tel: (212) 963-5006 or (212)
963-4780.

************************************************************
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational
affiliate of the Washington Office on Africa. APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
individuals.

************************************************************

URL for this file: http://www.africafocus.org/docs96/mt9609.php