For several decades, integration has been recognised as a critical component for the development of the African continent. Article 3 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) sets out the key objectives, including, accelerating the political and socio-economic integration of the continent and promoting sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies.

To address the gaps that exist in the African integration agenda, in July 2019, the African Union convened in Niamey, Niger, the first Mid-Year Coordination meeting of the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), purposed at moving the integration agenda forward. The Mid-Year Coordination meeting, was an opportunity to reflect on the status of African integration, and to map out a clear division of labor and effective collaboration between the African Union, the RECs, the Regional Mechanisms (RMs), the 55 AU Member States, and other continental institutions, in line with the principle of subsidiarity.

The meeting was key to further drive, the significant progress made in the realisation of the Aspirations of Agenda 2063 by firming up a system that allows for joint planning, joint financing and joint engagement with Member States and partners, at the level of the AU, RECs and RMs. Currently, the institutions budget and mobilise resources separately, leading to challenges of overlap, duplication and wastage.

Africa’s development blueprint Agenda 2063 places emphasis on monitoring and evaluation in order to achieve objectives effectively and efficiently and the AU acknowledges that the plans and programmes it has developed over the years, have not produced the expected results for a number of reasons, including lack of monitoring and evaluation tools that make it possible to track the actions undertaken, identify the gaps and propose corrective measures in terms of programming, implementation and financing. In this regard, as one of the means to address the challenge, the Department of Economic Affairs of the AUC, developed the African Multidimensional Regional Integration Index (AMRII) as a monitoring and evaluation tool on the implementation of integration programmes. AMRII facilitates the monitoring and evaluation of RECs in accordance with the implementation of the integration agenda. The new index is a framework for assessing the achievements of RECs in comparison with the objectives and stages of integration initiatives. AMRII is composed of 7 dimensions and 39 indicators, which are both qualitative and quantitative. It has thresholds for assessing the RECs and identifying those lagging behind in the implementation of integration plans and programmes such as the Abuja Treaty and Agenda 2063. This new index was approved by the 3rd Specialized Technical Committee (STC) of Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration, in March 2019 as the main tool for evaluating the African regional integration. The Department of Economic Affairs has since rolled out training workshops for Member States to facilitate better understanding of the methodology and tools, and to also obtain technical inputs from experts, before its final utilization as the sole technical tool for assessing, monitoring and evaluating Africa’s integration process.