APRM as an Instrument of Response to HIV

1. APRM as an Instrument of Response to HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Emmanuel Nnadozie Chief, NEPAD Support Section UNECA

2. What is APRM? The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is a voluntary self-monitoring process designed to improve the quality of governance in African countries and promote the adoption of policies, standards and practices that will lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful best practices.

3. The five-stage process includes periodic reviews of the policies and practices of participating states to ascertain progress being made towards achieving the mutually agreed goals and compliance with adopted political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards, as outlined in the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance (APRM Base Document, paragraph 15)

4. Organizational Structure

5. Health Dimension How does it relate to HIV/AIDS? Deals with the problem of HIV/AIDS both directly and indirectly Direct assessment of how the country under review is addressing HIV/AIDS country self-assessment using the questionnaire Country review visit by a Country Review Team Indirectly by assessing performance of the country under review on the MDGs

6. The Key Question The issue is not whether or not APRM deals with HIV/AIDS but How and to what extent does the mechanism address HIV/AIDS?

7. To answer the key question we need to look at the key documents and declarations the conduct or implementation of the mechanism the post-review process and implementation of the Program of Action

8. Key APRM Documents MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON THE AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM DECLARATION ON DEMOCRACY, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM (ARPM) : BASE DOCUMENT AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM ORGANISATION AND PROCESSES OBJECTIVES, STANDARDS, CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR THE AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM OUTLINE OF THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON TECHNICAL ASSESSMENTS AND THE COUNTRY REVIEW VISIT Questionnaire for Country Self-Assessment for the African Peer Review Mechanism APRM is explicitly mentioned in three of these documents

9. DECLARATION ON DEMOCRACY, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 21. We reaffirm our conviction that the development of Africa is ultimately the responsibility of Africans themselves. Africa�s development begins with the quality of its human resources. We, therefore, undertake to work towards the enhancement of our human resources through the provision of more and better education and training, especially in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and other skills central to a globalising world; and better health care, with priority attention to addressing HIV/AIDS and other pandemic diseases.

10. OBJECTIVES, STANDARDS, CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR THE AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM 5.1 The NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance identifies the eradication of poverty and the fostering of socio-economic development as the over-arching twin objectives of NEPAD. A. Key Socio-Economic Development Objectives Promote self-reliance in development and build capacity for self-sustaining development. Accelerate socio-economic development to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication. Strengthen policies, delivery mechanisms and outputs in key social development areas (including education for all, combating of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases) Ensuring affordable access to water, energy, finance (including micro-finance), markets and ICT to all citizens, especially the rural poor Progress towards gender equality, particularly equal access to education for girls at all levels. Encourage broad based participation in development by all stakeholders at all levels

11. 5.3 Objective 3: Strengthen policies, delivery mechanisms and outcomes in key social development areas (including education and combating of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases) 5.3.1 Standards a. Millennium Declaration (2000) b. NEPAD Framework Document (2001) c. WSSD Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (2002) 5.3.2 Indicative Criteria a. What measures has government taken to strengthen policy, delivery mechanisms and monitoring outcomes in order to make progress towards the social development targets of the MDGs? b. What progress has been made? 5.3.3 Examples of Indicators a. Indicators in National Social Development statistics and reports b. Indicators in National HIV/AIDS and health reports c. Indicators in National MDG report d. Indicators in other relevant National reports e. Percentage of budget allocated to components of social development and the effectiveness of the delivery

12. The Self-assessment Questionnaire The Questionnaire used for the Country Self-assessment exercise covers the 4 thematic areas of APRM Democracy and Good Political Governance Economic Governance and Management Corporate Governance Socioeconomic Development Treats HIV/AIDS most extensively relative to other

13. Political Governance In the Political Governance section of the questionnaire Objective 10: Promote and protect the rights of vulnerable groups In the case of Ghana for instance, �Vulnerable groups refer to ethnic minorities, refugees, migrant workers, the aged, disabled persons, people with HIV/Aids and children orphaned by HIV/Aids.�[1] [1] Country Review Report of the Republic of Ghana, paragraph 106, p. 43

14. Economic Governance Under Economic Governance QUESTION 3: What sectoral or microeconomic policies has your country developed and implemented to promote economic growth and sustainable development? INDICATORS (i) Provide an outline of the sectoral or microeconomic policies and programmes adopted and implemented in support of sustainable development; (ii) Describe measures taken to target gender equality, environmental sustainability and employment creation in sectoral and microeconomic policies and programmes; (iii) Give evidence of progress made towards sustainable development with respect to the following indicators: Growth in employment per sector for the past 5 years, Out put of key economic sectors for the past 5 years, Socio-economic development indicators including but not limited to health, education, HIV AIDS and housing.

15. Corporate Governance Under the Definition of Corporate governance the following statement: Corporate Governance is a system by which corporations are directed, controlled and held to account. It embraces all forms of enterprise in the private and public sector� �Furthermore, most economies in Africa rely on agriculture, mining and other extractive industries that have adverse effects on the environment. In addition abject poverty, hunger and the scourge of pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis afflict many of our communities. What this means is that the concepts of corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility have to be complied with to ensure that corporations manage the environment sustainably and impact positively on the communities within which they operate.

16. Under the Introduction to Corporate Governance 1.2. Ensuring that Corporations Act as Good Corporate Citizens with regard to Human Rights, Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability This objective addresses three main issues: human rights including adherence to labour obligations, social responsibility, and matters relating to the environment. Some of the specific issues covered include: employee rights, provision of safe working environment and fair wages; the degree of corporations� responsiveness to community needs including focus on issues such as health (HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis (TB), Yellow Fever), education and skills development; and responsible behaviour with regard to the environment including environmental rehabilitation projects, environmental impact assessments, recycling and use of clean technology.

17. QUESTION 2: To what extent are corporations responsive to the concerns of the communities in which they operate? INDICATORS (i) Describe the extent to which corporations engage in social and community development programmes, with reference to: The level of direct involvement by corporations in the communities in which they operate and their contribution to national developmental objectives and priorities e.g. HIV/AIDS, gender equality, poverty alleviation, commitment to job creation and skills development etc., The prevalence of multi-sector partnerships (involving corporations, government and civil society) in informing and developing public policy; (ii) Provide examples of corporate social responsibility projects or programmes initiated or supported by corporations; (iii) Assess the standard of corporate social responsibility obtainable in the country with reference to: Corporations� subscription to and implementation of codes of Corporate Social Responsibility and extent to which corporations reporting on social and ethical issues, The relevance of corporations� social responsibility projects and programmes to community needs, Extent of public concern due to activities of any corporation(s) and number and frequency of community protests due to corporate activity, The organisations (including NGOs and civil society) driving the corporate social responsibility agenda and the key interests of the constituents they represent.

18. Socioeconomic Development The Socioeconomic Development thematic area focuses on six sub-themes: Promotion of self-reliance in development and build capacity for self-sustaining development Acceleration of socioeconomnic development to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication Strengthening policies, deliver mechanisms and outcomes in key social areas including education and combating HIV and AIDS and other communicable diseases Ensuring affordable access to water, sanitation, energy, finance, markets, ICT, shelter and land to all citizens especially the rural poor Progress towards gender equality in all critical areas of concern e.g. access to education for girls at all levels Encouraging broad-based participation in development by all stakeholders at all levels.

19. Socioeconomic Development In the Definition section, the Questionnaire states: Socio-economic development in the light of the NEPAD declaration implies the continuous improvement in the well being and in the standard of living of the people. The socio-economic development section is intended to highlight efforts and progress made in designing appropriate policies and delivery mechanisms in key social development areas. Questions are asked on endeavours undertaken by all stakeholders in the country to achieve the socio-economic objectives which are as follows: Promote self reliance and build capacity for self sustaining development. Accelerate socio-economic objectives to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication. Strengthen policies, delivery mechanisms and outputs in key social development areas including education for all, combating HIV/AIDs and other communicable diseases. Ensuring affordable access to water, energy, finance (including microfinance), markets and ICT to all citizens, especially the poor. Progress towards gender equality, particularly equal access to education for girls at all levels. Encourage broad based participation in development by all stakeholders at all levels.

20. In the Introduction, the following text can be found: �Areas of concern include education, health, HIV/AIDS, child status, gender equity, protection of vulnerable groups, etc. Over the past two decades indeed, social sectors have suffered from economic reforms. This has contributed to the worsening of most social indicators, including declining school enrolment rates, increase in under-five mortality rates, increase in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates, increasing child labour, declining immunisation coverage, increase of child malnutrition rates, etc. Improvement in social indicators is not only a development objective on its own, but also a key impetus for accelerating the development process in the long-term. The reversal of the abovementioned trends is required for sustainable development to be achieved.

21. OBJECTIVE THREE: Strengthen policies, delivery mechanisms and outcomes in key social areas including education and combating of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases

22. Under Objective 3 QUESTION 2: What are the outcomes of the policies and mechanisms on social indicators? INDICATORS Describe the trends in social indicators over the past 5-10 years with regard to: (i) Health, especially with respect to infant mortality and malaria; (ii) Prevalence rates for HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases disaggregated by gender, and between rural and urban areas; (iii) Education, particularly with respect to the rate of enrolment of girls in schools including tertiary institutions and other institutions of higher learning. Additional indicators may be included to better reflect country-specific circumstances and experiences

23. Addressing HIV/AIDS in the Program of Action The POA is designed to address issues that came out of the Country Self-assessment exercise The POA is usually put together by the Independent National Governing Body of APRM with the help of the Technical Institutions that assisted with the self-assessment exercise The content and emphasis depends on the level of stakeholder participation and on the views of the Country Review Team which recommends amendments based on its own findings and report

24. Role of UN Agencies Strategic partnership with the peer review process: ECA�technical support, advice and research UNDP�technical and financial support Other UN agencies Can be involved in providing pre-review and review support Post-review support in implementing the Country Programme of Action

25. Where can Intervention Occur Intervention can occur at the first 3 of the five stages of the Mechanism: The five stages of the APRM include preparatory and self-evaluation, external review, report preparation, peer review and dissemination of findings stages.

26. How Agencies such as UNAIDS can Play a Role Look critically at the questionnaire to determine the extent to which HIV/AIDS have been addressed satisfactorily Keep in mind that the questionnaire is already unwieldy and long Make submissions, if need be, on how to improve it to make it more HIV/AIDS focused

27. At the Support Mission Stage Know the countries that have acceded and up-coming reviews either from the APRM Secretariat, ECA APRM Support Unit, UNDP Africa Bureau or ADB Meet with the Country Support Team when it arrives to launch the process in a country to ensure that HIV/AIDS features prominently among the key issues they will investigate during the subsequent review mission

28. At the Self-Assessment Stage Target the Country Self-assessment exercise and mobilize your constituency, stakeholders and clientele to ensure that views and voices are well captured both in the Country Self-assessment Report and the subsequent Programme of Action that derives from it.

29. At the Country Review Stage Watch out for the visit to the country by the Country Review Team led by a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons: Arrange to meet with the team through the Eminent Person leading the mission. Provide written information, data, etc. to enable the CRT to feature the issues prominently in their report Get a copy of the Country Review Report once it is released and if possible observe the peer review itself when it occurs

30. At the Implementation Phase Get and carefully study the Programme of Action (POA) and align your programmes and support to the country with it and see how you can contribute to the implementation of the HIV/AIDS-related areas.

31. Knowledge Sharing Submit data, studies and documents on a country under review to ECA, the country itself (National Governing Council) or the APR Secretariat These can be used in the preparation of Background Documents Issues Papers Country Self-assessment Report Country Review Reports

32. Coordinating UN Support The NEPAD Support Section of the NEPAD an and Regional Integration Division of ECA has the mandate of the GA to coordinate and support UN System-wide support to the implementation of NEPAD A 7- Cluster System is Used for a more effective Regional Consultation on UN Support to NEPAD