1st Extraordinary Session of the Standing Committee of the 2nd Permanent ECOSOCC General Assembly,
11-14 August 2015, Nairobi, Kenya

The 1st Extraordinary Session of the Standing Committee of the 2nd Permanent General Assembly of ECOSOCC was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 11-14 August 2015. The Standing Committee serves as the Executive Organ of ECOSOCC and Article 10 of the ECOSOCC Statute authorizes that the Standing Committee “Coordinates the work of ECOSOCC and prepare and submits annual reports of ECOSOCC to the Assembly of the Union”.

The official opening ceremony was attended by the Policy Adviser, and Director of Trade of the Ministry Foreign Affairs of the Kenya, H.E Ambassador Zaddock Syongoh.
Some of ECOSOCC’s special advisers also attended the meetings as observers. Those included Prof. Dipo Kolawale-ECOSOCC adviser on regional and international partnerships, Ambassador Mussie Hailu- Adviser on Interfaith and members of the Secretariat in CIDO.

The main agenda items of this technical session were to deliberate and come up with decisions on the following aspects:
1) ECOSOCC participation in National, Regional and International Forums
2) Report on the outcomes of the 27th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and 25th Ordinary Session of the Assembly held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 7-15 June 2015.
3) Assessment of Summit Outcomes on ECOSOCC Mandate and development of its work program and framework of action for the execution of related responsibilities and / or activities
4) Operationalization of Clusters and interaction with relevant AU Departments to facilitate an integrated perspective.
5) Consideration and/or approval of the Report of the 1st Ordinary Session of the Credentials Committee and its proposals for the effective Implementation of Executive Council Decision EX.CL 869(XXVI) of January 2015 on the continuation of by-elections into ECOSOCC General Assembly and EX.CL 924 (XXVII) of June 2015 on establishing a framework or harmonized criteria for CSO consultative and Observer Status in the AU in close consultation with the Commission and other AU Organs.
6) Consideration of the report of Africa-EU CSO Intercontinental Steering Committee of 6 July 2015 and planning for the AU-CSO Intercontinental CSO forum and framework for effective CSO participation in the Africa-EU Partnership.
7) Decision on Policy and Administrative issues requiring urgent attention

The meeting also invited departments to give presentations to support the operationalization of the ECOSOCC clusters such as DPA, OLC, PBFA, PMCD and PSD.

In embarking upon the way forward and to guide the implementation strategy of ECOSOCC the Committee deliberated on the various issues contained in the agenda for a period of four days and ended with twelve decisions encircled around the agenda points in addition to decisions regarding advancing the relationship with the relevant AU offices.

Sensitization and Motivation Campaign
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On its final day the ECOSOCC had an ECOSOCC Sensitization and Motivation Campaign, Nairobi, Kenya, 14 August 2015. The campaign aimed to appraise the CSOs on the developments since the 2nd Permanent General Assembly, related summit decisions (June 2015), the Development of a National ECOSOCC Chapter in Kenya and the working towards a Harmonized Criteria for CSO observer and Consultative Status in AU and ended with an interactive session between the CSOs and the Presiding officer and the standing committee.

Photos

ECOSOCC Group Photo

AU ECOSOCC Sensitization Campaign:

Opening Ceremony with Ambassador Zaddok