AU CAMPAIGN MOTIVATES MALAGASY CIVIL SOCIETY FOR
THE ECOSOCC ELECTION

Antananarivo, Madagascar, 2nd September 2014 – Representatives of various civil society organizations in Madagascar converged in Madagascar ,Antananarivo, to discuss and interact on the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC). This comes in context of the AU Sensitization and Motivation Campaign for the election of the 2nd ECOSOCC General Assembly.

The meeting began with opening remarks by Mr. Mahamoudou Ndriandahy, National Executive Secretary of the Malagasy National CSOs Platform, who welcomed all the participants. He thanked the African Union Commission for bringing the delegation to Antananarivo to sensitize and motivate the members of the local CSOs. He stressed the need for the participants to participate in the ECOSOCC election process as an opportunity to actively participate in the activities of the Union.

Mme. Onintsoa Ramahatafandry, Director for Partnerships and Promotion of the Civil Society in the Ministry for Population and Promotion of Women, in her opening remarks highlighted the need to enhance the partnership amongst the CSOs, Member States and the Commission, as the contribution coming from the non-state actors is seen as complementary to what the African Governments provide to their citizens.

Welcoming the delegates, Mme. Hawa Ahmed Youssouf, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission noted that it is important that the civil society in Madagascar should take up the challenge of effective representation in ECOSOCC. She stressed the need for the Madagascar CSOs to participate in the ECOSOCC election process with enthusiasm in a manner that will surpass all expectations by submitting their candidatures.

The Campaign featured presentations on the history, role, functions and importance of ECOSOCC and the Malabo Summit Decision on ECOSOCC by Mr. Filipe Furuma, Head of the Delegation. He recalled the first three calls on CSOs to submit their applications for the Second General Assembly. The presentation took all participants through on membership, elections and structures of ECOSOCC and the way forward.

Focusing on the ECOSOCC election process, Mr. Bright Mando, the Representative from the Office of the Legal Council explained to the gathering the purpose of the sensitization and motivation program and details of the application procedure and process.

The presentations were followed by a very active and intense interactive session in which CSOs asked questions and made comments and observations. The questions focused mostly on Article 6 of the ECOSOCC Statutes and also the issue of Audit Report which most of the CSOs saw an a bottleneck due to its very high cost. All questions were addressed appropriately by the Staff from the African Union Commission.

Organized by the Citizenship and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) of the AU Commission, the Campaign comes in compliance with the Decision EX.CL/Dec.849(XXV), adopted by the 23st Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly, held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, 20-27 June 2014, which called AU to conduct a sensitization and mobilization campaign with the aim of encouraging greater participation and gathering sufficient candidatures from the African CSOs in Member States for the election for the ECOSOCC 2nd General Assembly.

For any further information please contact :

Ms. Afrah Thabit, Directorate of Information and Communication, E mail : Thabitma@africa-union.org,
afraht@hotmail.com

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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