Rwanda Civil Society captures the magic of the ECOSOCC sensitization program.

Kigali, Rwanda, 11th September 2014 - The Sensitization Program of Rwandan civil society organizations on the ongoing ECOSOCC election process was held in Gorillas Golf Hotel in Kigali, today 11 September 2014. The event witnessed passionate interactive discourse on the nature and character of the African Union, its integration and development project, the mission of ECOSOCC and the roles and responsibility of the African Diaspora in the process of development in Africa.

The meeting began with the welcome statement of Mr. Edouard Munyamariza, the Chairperson of the Rwandan Civil Society Platform, and the umbrella organization for civil society organization in the country that served as the AU focal point for the exercise. He observed that the presence of CSOs from the varied sectors of civil society attested to the interest of CSOs in the subject and their recognition of the potential of ECOSOCC in the Union. Even so, Rwandan Civil society wanted to know much more about both ECOSOCC and the AU as a framework for learning to engage them fruitfully.

Subsequently, in his Keynote and Welcome Address, the Director of Multilateral Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda, Mr. Michel Makuza, related the demands of ECOSOCC to challenges facing the continent and the historical growth and experience of Rwanda.

“The challenge facing our continent today is on how to instigate and foster auto-centered development on the continent, a development process rooted in our needs, focused on our demands and which responds appropriately to the requirements of our situation. Such a development process must be people-centered and people-driven. The civil society communities within African States have a critical and meaningful role to play in this context as springboards and facilitators of the enterprise of government. Their role in this regard will have to be constructive, rational and purposeful to produce the necessary results.”

He saw ECOSOCC as a pivot of this enterprise in the framework of the African Union. “ Within this context “ he added “ Rwanda because of its unique historical experience and the traumas it has gone through in the wake of our turbulent and revolutionary history fully appreciates and support the need to use this distinct organ to harness the full potentials of the African citizenry and marry them to the purpose of state building and regional development and integration”

The miracle of Rwanda today, he noted, almost twenty years after the genocide experience is that we have built a modern progressive society that turns defeat into victory. We have done this by incentivizing and mobilizing the active involvement of all strata of our society to engage in the task of national reconstruction and development. Far from being a charity case, Rwanda has become one of the success stories of our continent”

Accordingly, the symmetry of Rwanda strategy for development and the purpose of ECOSOCC ‘ is thus a welcome challenge for us in Rwanda to be a veritable champion and leader of this enterprise…. I am calling on all Rwandan civil society organizations to organize themselves appropriately to ensure that Rwanda takes its rightful place by registering and participating in the ongoing ECOSOCC elections in a very timely fashion. This is a duty that you owe to Rwanda and our beloved African continent.”

In his Opening Statement, Am. Lazarus Kapambwe, the Advisor to the AUC Chairperson, observed that while the Keynote address had established the purpose of the sensitization program and the functions of ECOSOCC ‘ what remains to be said is that through this process, that African Union seeks to engage the people at the grassroots directly and to make the partnership concept of the Constitutive Act a reality. We recognize that the challenge that confronts governments everywhere is to make governance a truly collective act driven by collective inspiration.”

The opening presentations were followed by the main sensitization session composed of two main parts. The first led by Mr. Joseph Chilengi, a member of the 1st ECOSOCC Permanent General Assembly provided a detailed insiders view of the history, role and experience of ECOSOCC, its strengths and challenges and observations on how to build constructively on this experience. The second by Dr. JInmi Adisa, the Director of the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO), that is responsible for mainstreaming the participation of non-state actors in the affairs of the Union, analyzed the background of the sensitization exercise, the Summit debates and decision, is implications, the purpose of the sensitization program and the cumulative experience that has been gathered in the process of its conduct. These two presentations set the pace for the intensive interactive session that followed.

Issues were raised about the scope and persistence of the sensitization program of the AU, the electoral process of ECOSOCC and how to ensure that the elected officers of the General Assembly would have a representative mandate. The Rwanda CSO groups were particularly focused on the need for CSOs within Member States to have national consultations around the election process to ensure that elected delegates were operating on the basis of delegated and legitimate mandate. Too often, the CSOs lamented, elected delegates in some places in Africa interpreted their mandates as a license for self-aggrandizement.

The CSOs were particular about the need to have reporting mechanisms of accountability at national levels and for procedures of recall to be associated with the process of the revision of the ECOSOCC Statutes. The discussion recognized that the only recall that was available at present was to prevail on the elected CSO to change its representative. They stressed the need for a mechanism to recall organizations that underperform or misuse the mandate.

There were also discussions about the relative value of Diaspora delegates and whether or not the 20 seats allocated to the Diaspora restricted the opportunities available to national or continental delegates. The CSOs however, acknowledged the valuable contribution that the Diaspora can make to the development enterprise in Africa.

The Rwandan CSOs agreed that ECOSOCC was a valuable and cherished instrument for holding “conversations beyond borders” with the majority of diverse stakeholders on the continent, including political leaders, captains of industries, the private sector and even international actors through the various partnership agendas of the AU. Consequently they saw the sensitization program as a very worthwhile tool.

Finally, the CSOs observed that in the fifty plus years of the OAU/AU, this was the first time that representatives of the continental organization had come not to talk to or mingle with leaders, ministers or policy makers but to talk directly with grassroots representatives of the people. They praised this approach as one that extends the principle of genuine ownership to the African people. The gathering acknowledged the effort of the current AUC and its leadership under Dr. Zuma for this progressive orientation.

For any further information please contact :

Mr. Michael Fikre, Directorate of Information and Communication, Email: MichaelF@africa-union.org, cell: +250 781520192

Or visit : http://pages.au.int/ecosocc

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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