UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
V
FRAMEWORK FOR ECA's PROGRAMME FOR UNDP
FUNDING UNDER THE 5TH CYCLE
INTRODUCTION
One of the key decisions that came out of the High-Level meeting between ECA and RBA/UNDP held during 7-9 February, 1993 was that
"ECA will recast its programme for funding under the 5th cycle consistent with UNDP/RBA's new policy paper and ECA's programme strategy for the 5th cycle. This programme will be the subject of an ECA-UNDP/RBA assessment meeting at the end of February, 1993."
The purpose of this paper is to develop the framework for recasting ECA's programme for the 5th cycle in preparation for the end of February meeting. This framework draws upon the preliminary draft of the ECA's Development Orientation and Programme Priorities for the 5th UNDP cycle;
the RBA policy paper on implementation of the Regional Programme; and the discussions that took place between ECA and UNDP/RBA during the Technical Committee and the High-Level meetings.
This framework is divided into two parts. The first part spells out the guiding principles - or criteria - which will have to be observed in preparing the programmes and sub-programmes for funding by UNDP during the 5th cycle. The second part details the programmes and sub-programmes which will be submitted to UNDP/RBA.
A GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The major principles to guide the preparation of the programmes and sub- programmes are as follows:
1 Submissions should be made in the form of programmes;
2 Programmes should be of a distinct multinational, subregional or regional character. Any programme that is of a national character will not be entertained by UNDP;
3 ECA programmes are:
i Regional Economic Co-operation and Integration;
ii Long Term Capacity and Strategic Planning and Capacity Building;
iii Human Development;
iv Natural Resources Management; and, v Enhancing ECA's Internal Capacity.
The sub-programmes under each of these areas are detailed in part two.
4 Each sub-programme has to be designed in such a way as to have synergetic relationships or interlinkages with other sub- programmes in any theme area;
5 The institutional competence of ECA to exercise its executing agency role will be assessed with reference to, among other things, its technical capacity, administrative capacity, financial management capacity; capacity to articulate strategies for development; and capacity for programme execution so as to minimize the need for sub-contracting;
6 ECA must have a demonstrated comparative advantage in programme execution in any area in which it is making a submition for funding;
7 Expenditure on staffing should not exceed 45-50% of the total budget of a sub-programme;
8 As a test of the relevance and acceptability of some of the sub-programmes, member states may be required to make contributions from their national IPFs in their support;
9 Beneficiaries of programmes should to the extent possible, be involved in their design, implementation and evaluation;
10 The impact, sectoral linkages, internal coherence sustainability and potentials for raising additional resources of the programmes should be amply demonstrated.
B PROGRAMMES
PROGRAMME 1: REGIONAL CO-OPERATION AND INTEGRATION
Sub-programme 1.1 Rationalization and
Harmonisation of IGOs and their Institutions
This sub-programme will re-package the three old projects on rationalisation and harmonisation of the IGOs (2) and the ECA-sponsored institutions (1). It will endeavour to incorporate all the relevant elements
required to see the processes through, eg. the conduct of the relevant studies, the convening of the inter-governmental meetings for consensus- building, and the actual alignment of the institutions and IGOs. (MRAG, ECO and Task Force).
Sub-programme 1.2 Support to the Acceleration of Sectoral Economic Co
operation and Integration within the Framework of the AEC
The multi-sectoral projects drawn up for ECOWAS, ECCAS and UDEAC should be re-designed into a coherent sub-programme of assistance to the sub-regional groupings. It will show how the package has been designed on the basis of the intrinsic integrative characteristics of the sectors concerned. Where relevant, new elements may be introduced into the programme. Care should be taken to avoid expressing the activities of the programme in ways that would make it easy for UNDP to justify their being assigned to the IGOs for implementation. (MRAG, ECO and Task Force)
Sub-programme 1.3 Support to UNTACDA II
The programme in support of UNTACDA II covers the activity areas for regional action which were jointly identified and agreed on at the ad hoc meeting of African IGOs and UN agencies organized by UNDP/DRP in 1992 for this purpose and in which action has already been initiated and is on going. These areas are: Human resource and institutional development, including the introduction of market orientation in transport and communications operations and organization; logistics planning and operations; establishment of a transport data base; promotion of the
manufacture of transport equipment on a subregional basis; and the overall coordination of the implementation of the Decade at the national, subregional, subsectoral and regional levels including monitoring, evaluation and updating. (TCTD)
Sub-programme 1.4 Support to IDDA II
The UNDP 5th Cycle programme in support of IDDA-II is based on the subregional and regional components of the IDDA-II programme as a whole. The component as adopted by the General Assembly in December 1992 clearly defines priorities in industrial cooperation for each of the four major subregions (Central, North, West and Eastern and Southern Africa) as well as for industrial cooperation at the regional level. It also covers specific cooperation and integration projects at the subregional and regional levels.
To increase the synergy of industrial cooperation, the proposed programme is focused on three main areas namely industrial core subsectors (metallurgical, engineering, chemical and agro and forest based industries), the private sector, and networking at the regional level (especially in the areas of industrial technology, and investment promotion).
The programme should, thus be taken as a package of coordinated activities to support IDDA-II and to reinforce cooperation and integration in the industrial sector. Further, the package takes into account the essential interlinkages with other programmes particularly UNTACDA-II and trade."
(IHSD)
Sub-programme 1.5 Enhancing the Capacity of Regional and Sub-regional Institutions
Continued support to institutions, such as, IDEP, ARCEDON, ARSO, ARCT, which play a vital role in the social, economic, scientific and technological fields of development will need to be provided during the 5th cycle.
PROGRAMME 2: ENHANCING THE LONG-TERM
STRATEGIC PLANNING AND
INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES
This programme aims at strengthening the long-term strategic planning and institutional capacity of African countries by focusing on the following three interrelated sub-programmes:
Sub-programme 2.1 Enhancing Entrepreneurial, Development Administration and Management Capacities in Africa
Enhancing the efficiency of the public sector in promoting economic development; effectively managing the economic reform and development processes; and the stimulation and development of entrepreneurship and the private sector are some of the paramount challenges facing African countries in the 1990s. These tasks become more urgent than ever before if they are seen against the background of the socio-economic retrogression of the 1980s and the emerging realities globally, in general, and in Africa in particular.
The ECA has a major responsibility in assisting its member States in meeting these challenges and responding to the emerging realities. The scope and outreach of ECA's programmes and activities aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and enhancing development administration and management capacities in African countries will need to be significantly bolstered.
The sub-programme, proposed for funding under UNDP's 5th cycle, is designed to complement ECA's regular budget activities witb a view to precisely augmenting the impact and outreach in this vital area of intervention. As it builds on the achievements of SAPAM regional project, which was funded under the UNDP's 4th Cycle, the new sub-programme seeks to strengthen capacities and provide policy guidelines through the following broad range of activities:
o enhancing entrepreneurship development and promoting private sector initiatives through the creation of an enabling environment for productive activities;
o improving public enterprise performance through training activities and application of guidelines for senior managers;
o enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector
management;
o assisting governments to create, sustain and strengthening institutions for fostering and promoting good governance;
o promoting the economic and managerial empowerment of
women;
o strengthening the resource mobilization and financial management capacity of universities; and,
o re-orienting the universities' departments of management and public administration to be more responsive to the emerging needs and development challenge of the 1990s. (PHSD)
Sub-programme 2.2 Long-term Strategic Planning
The last decade has been, for a number of African countries, a period of severe social and economic crisis, resulting in crisis management and the marginalization of long-term planning.
For a continent in constant crisis.coupied with dwindling internal and external resources- the need for strategic planning becomes much more relevant . Furthermore, the implementation of regional strategies and frameworks require planning at all stages and levels.
In this regard activities in support of building capacities at the subregional and regional level for managing development programmes should focus on the development, analysis and adjustment of plans for the implementation and monitoring of major development strategies and frameworks.
One of ECA's role is to assist African Countries in the management of their economies in the short, medium and long term using various tools and instruments for upgrading their planning mechanisms, methodologies and techniques. These tools can be forecasting, modelling.etc.
As such, sub-programme in this direction should aim at:
o development of forecasting models to serve as early warning systems for crisis management;
o analyzing and adjusting policy frameworks to reconcile the different planning horizons;
o development of long-term perspective planning scenarios for accelerating implementation of regional strategies;
o development of subregional planning models for the integration of markets.including financial ones;
o reviewing planning practices in Africa in the light of the objectives of regional development strategies. (SERPD)
Sub-programme 2.3 Support to the Development of Statistical and Information Systems in Africa in the 1990s.
The main objective of the sub-programme is to assist African governments by (i) strengthening their capability in macro-economic, national resources and environmental management by focusing on tools for planning and (ii) establishing policy analysis systems with linkages to internal and external data bases and capability for collection and analysis of planning data.
The above objective would be achieved by, inter-alia, seeking to facilitate the development of statistical capabilities and strengthening of regional information systems and to provide support for dialogue, in regional priority issues and for Africa's relation with the rest of the world.
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The sub-programme will aim at:
o carrying out the activities recommended in the Strategy for the implementation of the Addis Ababa Plan of Action for Statistical Development in Africa in the 1990s, in order to achieve national self-sufficiency in the production of reliable, relevant and timely statistics required for formulating, monitoring and evaluating programmes designed to transform and restructure African economies; and
o establishing and strengthening a regional information system in Africa which will serve as a conduit for information and data for development, centred around national, sub-regional and regional networks to which all members will contribute information and share their information management techniques. (Statistics Division and PADIS and Task Force)
PROGRAMME 3: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Sub-programme 3.1 Strengthening Human
Capacities for Participatory Development
The informal sector project, new elements of the on-going popular participation project as well as the MRAG proposal on planning for human development, includingthe Manual, will be re-cast and incorporated into this programme. (PHSD)
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Sub-programme 3.2 Poverty Alleviation through Sustainable Development
African poverty should, therefore, be seen as a production problem and its alleviation as an investment. Because the vast majority of Africans live off the land, the problems of poverty and the environment are inseparable in the continent. Of the over 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, over 70 per cent cannot afford sufficient food to maintain minimum activity levels for healthy, productive lives. This extreme level ofpoverty is prevalent mostly in the rural areas of the continentvvhere over 70 per cent of the population lives The rural poor, largely depend directly or indirectly or indirectly on agriculture and therefore on the environment for their income and survival. As a result, environmental problems are inextricably linked with the problems of poverty and growing populations in Africa.
The challenge of poverty alleviation in Africa, therefore, rests on finding innovative ways of increasing food production while retaining the ecological integrity of the production systems. This challenge will require the development of food and agricultural systems that focus as much on the African's themselves as they do on technology, as much on resources as on production, and as much on the long-term as on the short-term on self- reliance approach as well as on integrated, sub-regional and regional, inter as well as intra country level.
Accordingly, the sub-programme will seek to:
o build indigenous capacities in the planning, formulation and management of policies and plans aimed at poverty eradication including income generation, increased use and
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control of local resources, local institution-strengthening and grass-roots participation;
o develop integrated strategies and policies of sound and sustainable management of African agriculture, the environment and employment and income generation;
o promote agricultural productivity, income and employment.
(JEFAD in co-operation with NRD and Population Division and Task Force)
Sub-programme 3.3 Fostering the Empowerment of Women in the Socio-economic and Financial Fields
This programme will seek to empower women for greater participation in social, economic and financial activities, through their increased access to financial resources, to business and other production skills and generally to the knowledge base for development. It will therefore focus on the operationalization of the Federation of African Women Entrepreneurs; the promotion of women in scientific and technical fields;
and enhancing the role of women in the process of democratic transition and peace-building. (ATRCW and Task Force)
PROGRAMME 4: NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT ^ %\
In Africa there are about 54 international river basins. Most of the
countries in the continent are ripuSarian to at least one river basin, and 14
Development in Africa "I ^Sub-programme 4.1 Brogramme—for /River. Basin ,: J^ ^
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countries have their entire territory falling within the internating/only a
handful have some sort of organization responsible for their integrated development. These are Kagera, Niger, Senegal, Gambia, and Chad.
Efforts are underway on other transboundary basins like Zaire, Zambezi, the Nile and Lake Malawi to make cooperative arrangement among the riparian countries for integrated development of common resources on these basins.
These transboundary basins of Africa hold great potential^ for
multipurpose socio-economic development and could be used 3s vehicles for fostering closer cooperation in geopolitical, trade, cultural and other areas since they provide common linkage among the ripuarian countries.
Further economically and environmentally sustainable development could be realized by using the river basin geographical unit as an entry for integrated multi-purpose development.
In view of the important role that river basin development could play in Africa, a programme for their development should be conceived in:
i strengthening existing river basin organizations in terms of capacity building, resource mobilization and formulation of bankable projects;
ii promoting intergovernmental co-operation forthe development of shared water resources. This involves assisting member States requiring institutional arrangements on their shared basins to start negotiations among themselves. These negotiations should be completed in the shortest possible time frame and subsequently joint organizations should be brought into existence. (NRD)
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PROGRAMME 5: ENHANCING ECA'S INTERNAL
CAPACITY
Sub-programme 5.1 Enhancing ECA Capacity in Regional Policy Formulation,
Analysis and Co-ordination . ??
As the United Nations' main centre for economic and social
development in Africa, ECA must remain at the cutting-edge of development thinking on African policy and strategy issues. It must continue to influence and be influenced by the latest developments in such thinking. In this regard, it must continuously improve its internal capacity for policy, programme and project formulation, analysis, monitoring and evaluation. It must also implement a communication strategy to enhance the packaging,marketing and distribution of its products and ideas. The programme will
have the following components:
o professional peer review through sustained interaction with renown researchers, scholars and development specialists;
o enhancing the skills of| professions^] staff through active
training management for quality; and
o the implementation of a communications strategy.
Sub-programme 5.2 Enhancing ECA's Capacity for / the Monitoring of UN-NADAF
The United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990's (UN-NADAF) embodies mutually reinforcing responsibilities of both
Africa and the international community. At the level of the United Nations,
it is one of the five priority areas set out in the medium term Plan 1992-
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1997 endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 45/253 on
programme planning, including: maintenance of international peace and security, economic development of developing countries, economic recovery and development in Africa, environment and international drug abuse.ECA has a major role to play in ensuring the successful implementation of UN-NADAF.
But for ECA to effectively play its role there is need for strengthening its capabilities to (i) enable it assist African member States individually and collectively in designing and implementing development programmes at the
national, subregional and regional levels that are consistent with the
objectives set in the Agenda; (ii) effectively exercising leadership in the overall coordination, follow-up and monitoring of the implementation of UN- NADAF and harmonizing the process with the implementation of other regional and international action programmes for Africa, especially the AbujaTreaty on the Establishment of the African Economic Community and
Agenda 21 on Environment and sustainable development; (iii) ensuring thatthe United Nations System-Wide Plan of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development brings about effective coordination and
integration of the contributions of various organizations/agencies.The sub-programme will, therefore:
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establish a framework for consultation among UN
organizations and agenX^
co-ordinate the various contributions of all concerned to the implementation of UN-NADAF;
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establish a mechanism(s) for monitoring the implementation
of UN-NADAF; ,e,t
4de up to date information on the achievements in implementing UN-NADF. (UN-NADAF)
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