Background: African Priorities

1. Dialogue of the Executive Secretaries of the UN Regional Commissions with The Second Committee of the General Assembly“Inter-regional cooperation: An enabler for the Post 2015 Development Agenda”Aida Opoku-MensahSpecial Advisor: Post-2015 Development AgendaOffice of the Executive Secretary31st October 2013, New York

2. Background: African Priorities Noting  slow progress by African countries towards the MDGs Recognising the capacity deficits and disabling initial conditions prevailing in a number of countries Imperative that the post-2015 agenda have an African footprint! ECA & Partners played a key strategic role in the African Common Position on Post 2015 Agenda

3. Background: African Priorities Common agreement that the post-2015 development agenda should: • Emphasiseinclusive economic growth and structural transformation • Re-orient the development paradigm away from externally-driven initiatives toward domestically-inspired and funded initiatives that are grounded in national ownership • Prioritiseequity and social inclusion and measure progress in terms of both the availability and quality of service delivery • Pay greater attention to vulnerable groups such as women, children, youth, the elderly, people with disabilities, displaced persons • Take into account the initial conditions of nation states and recognise efforts countries have made towards achieving the goals as opposed to exclusively measuring how far they fall short of global targets • Incorporate the Rio+20 outcomes and the outcomes of Africa-wide initiatives, national and regional consultations as well as UN forums such as ICPD +20 • Focus on development enablers as well as development outcomes

4. Background: African Consultations & Common Position • The post-2015 consultations reinforced during the AU Heads of State Summit in July 2012 • African leaders mandated AUC, ECA, AfDB and UNDP to develop an African common position • The regional consultations on the post-2015 development agenda aimed to • Identify Africa’s priorities for the post 2015 agenda • Identify enablers and critical success factors for the post 2015 devt agenda • Align the post-2015 priorities with other development programmes and agendas including Rio+20 and NEPAD; and • Determine the next steps of the consultation process. • Outcome statement summarises views from • stakeholders from a total of 53 African countries, • represented by governments, Regional Economic Communities, civil society organisations including youth and women’s organisations, parliamentarians, academic institutions and the private sector

5. Post 2015 in Africa: High Level Committee (HLC) of African Heads of States • Established by AUC Heads of State in May 2013 to • Sensitise and coordinate the activities of African leaders and • Build regional and inter-continental alliances on the African Common Position on the post 2015 Development Agenda. • Appointed Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia as the chair of HLC • Comprises two Heads of State and Government per region: South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Liberia, Guinea, Algeria, Mauritania, Chad, Congo • The High Level Committee was requested to • further synthesize, and even further consult to finalize the African Common Position and ensure that the priorities identified in the said African Common Position are integrated in the New Global Agenda • Sherpas of High Level Committee met in Addis 28-29 Oct 2013 • Finalise African Common Position

6. Statement by President Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia addressing the HLC Heads of State meeting on September 23rd 2013, New York • “As we prepare our Common Position, we must be aware of what other regions – far advanced in their work – have put together. We must look at how their priorities affect us and how our priorities align or go contrary to theirs. This will require consultations and negotiations not only amongst ourselves, but also at the global level” • “We need to ensure that we continue to preserve the principles of economic, social and environmental emphasis such that the Common Position, already formulated by our institutions, can be, once again, looked at to make sure that it is a general consensus among our positions. We also need to promote South-South cooperation”

7. Potential of South-South cooperation: Enabler for Post 2015 Agenda

8. Potential of South-South cooperation: Enabler for Post 2015 Agenda

9. Potential of South-South cooperation: Enabler for Post 2015 Agenda

10. Regional & sub-regional efforts to promote inter-regional cooperation • HLC will be • key political mechanism to promote sub regional and regional cooperation through the auspices of the African Union • ECA, African Development Bank, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa • key actors in African consultations and Common Position • Potential to share with other regions on • knowledge, experience and activities at national and regional levels • Creation of knowledge base on Post 2015 trends and activities

11. ECA’s Catalytic Role in support of Post 2015 • Technical back-stopping to the HLC’s Secretariat at AUC • Support to member States on negotiating the African Common Position • Available to promote inter-regional cooperation with other Regional Commissions through the HLC & other regional organisations

12. Thank-you for your attention !www.uneca.org/post2015Twitter: @Post2015Africa Please visit: www.regionalcommissions.org to download presentation