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Opportunities, Links and Benefits: The ANSA network and Regional Institutions -Perspectives from The Africa Policy Institute Presented by David Mwaniki Vice President/deputy CEO APLI. Africa Policy Institute (APLI).
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Opportunities, Links and Benefits: The ANSA network and Regional Institutions -Perspectives from The Africa Policy Institute Presented by David Mwaniki Vice President/deputy CEO APLI
Africa Policy Institute (APLI) • Conceived in 2003 by African policy experts, former senior government officials, civil society thinkers, intellectuals and top media practitioners as an independent, pan-African think tank to address the perturbing absence of Africa-based sound policy research and analysis to inform decision making and disconnect between leadership and policy.
APLI Cont… • APLI is headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and has regional offices in Kampala, Uganda and Pretoria, South Africa, with field presence in: • Algeria, • Burundi, • Comoros, • Democratic Republic of Congo, • Djibouti, • Ethiopia, • Nigeria, • Somaliland, • Sudan • Zimbabwe.
Public Accountability • Area of interest under APLI’s thematic thrust of Democracy and Governance. • Experience with parliamentary scorecard in Uganda. • Currently working with partners in South Africa on Legislative governance (Short listed for funding to work with Gauteng Legislature’s PCO audit) • This is a new area for us and we are currently building capacity.
Core Challenges • Human capacity (the need for legislative and governance analysis) • Depth of program • The Uganda parliamentary score card was a snapshot in time rather that a longitudinal study. • The planned Gauteng legislature work is limited to Party Constituency Offices Capacity and not delivery of services.
Core Challenges Cont….. • Limited funding for public accountability activities. • Weak institutional linkages with other like minded institutions. • Maintaining balanced and factual perspectives in Public accountability work (need to deepen analysis).
The Role ANSA-Africa could Play to Support APLI • We view ANSA as being able to do the following in Support of our PA work; • Convening energy (being able to pull together like minded agencies, actors and institutions involved in Public Accountability) • Capacity building: coordinating the training/secondment of experts/development of tools etc • Knowledge repository: guaranteeing access to information on Public Accountability
The Role ANSA-Africa could Play to Support APLI • New Knowledge/Innovation Hub – Capture and disseminate new policy and practice and innovations generated from implementation of programs • Regional/International Influencing Platform: ANSA could take the lead on advocacy and influencing on Regional and International issues • Fundraising and resource support; both funds and technical support could be facilitated by ANSA
Red Flags to Watch Out For • ANSA-Africa’s credibility in the region will come from the ownership of the process by Africa based institutions. • ANSA should focus on proactive demand driven initiatives that have legitimacy of the public in the relevant countries (avoid the trap of being led by the donor)