Nairobi, Kenya 23 April 2018 - The Joint Secretariat of the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa) held the Retreat of its Clusters of the RCM-Africa today in Nairobi, Kenya. The Retreat was held in view of the upcoming 19th Session of the RCM-Africa which will be held in Addis Ababa next month. The retreat focused on establishing a plan for the future of the RCM-Africa including its Program of Work and strengthened support to the AU’s priorities.

As the Co-Chair of the Joint RCM Secretariat, Amb. Rossette Nyirinkindi, Advisor to the Chairperson on Regional Integration welcomed participants to the first RCM meeting of 2018, and emphasized the need to focus on the recently signed Joint UN-AU frameworks for enhanced in Peace and Security and the Joint UN-AU framework for Implementation of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Development. Amb. Nyirinkindi also stressed the need to reposition the RCM to respond to the continent’s priorities towards achieving Agenda 2063. She added that in the context of the RCM-Africa, there is the need to improve inter-cluster and inter-organizational communications as well as to have regular reviews of the existing program and cluster systems. She stressed that now more than ever is the time to reposition the RCM-Africa to better respond to continental priorities through more efficient and effective stakeholder engagement. Hence, joint planning and programming between the two institutions would therefore be the way to proceed in this regard in order to capture synergies and comparative advantages in all entities involved. She finally wished participants successful deliberations and urged all present to take the opportunity to foster relationships among themselves.

In his welcome remarks, Principal Policy Advisor and Co-Coordinator of the Joint Secretariat (ECA), Mr. Joe Attah-Mensah, welcomed participants to the retreat pointing out the various expected outcomes of the retreat. This included discussions on how the RCM can effectively realign itself to the new structural reforms of the United Nations and the Economic Commission for Africa as well. He however called for the continued support of the UN to the AU regardless of any reforms or changes that are taking place within the UN. He further encouraged the group that that whatever the UN engages in as part of the RCM and otherwise must also align with the programmes of the AU given the mandate of support from the former. This was particularly relevant since the AU Heads of State and Government had decided that there should be only one report on the Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda. He concluded by commending all participants for their attendance as this indicates the commitment which the UN has in terms of supporting the work of the AU and its organs.

The Retreat of the RCM-Africa Clusters is expected to go on for four days allowing for deliberations between the various clusters towards a collated Progress Report of Clusters from the past year as well as a Program of Work to be presented at the 19th Session of the RCM-Africa which is slated for 12 – 13 May, 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.