Africa Governance Support Facility
Project / Program Summary

1. Objectives
   
   The programme is the engine to promote the Africa Governance Forum (AGF) process, which is a flagship activity of the UNDP Africa's governance programme. Thus the objectives of the programme are:
   
   • To support activities relating to the AGF process at the national levels, including national governance capacity assessment of countries, formulation of national governance framework, programmes, and/or projects, national consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, capacity building of institutions and NGOs through training and networking;
   • To support the preparation and organization of the Forum every year, to provide a platform for dialogues among African governments and civil society and with their external partners, and to promote effective exchange of information, knowledge, and best practices on good governance;
   • To strengthening a linkage between the AGF process and each national governance programme and initiate necessary follow-up activities including compilation of the national governance inventory and preparation of programme and/or projects outlines for resource mobilization;
   • To mobilize resources to support national governance programmes and projects.
2. Activities / contents
   
   
   • Pre-Forum: Follow-up consultations with African countries that participated and presented governance programmes presented at preceding AGF
     
     • Preparation of Africa governance inventory (financed by a different project), that is an integral part of the AGF process, compiling a country-specific database on governance programmes and projects. A report is available at the Forum every year.
     • National exercise driven by participating governments. Formulation of concrete programmes or projects to address specific governance issues and national consultation process with a wide range of stakeholders including civil society and private sector to ensure ownership, commitment and consensus building.
     • Organization of preparatory workshops with major partners and alliance to discuss and agree on the preparation of AGF process, including the scope of the conceptual framework paper, the list of participants, the guideline for national exercise, the provisional agenda for the Forum, etc.
     • Preparation of a compendium document, compiling all country papers summarizing national consultation process and national governance programmes and projects.
     • Preparation of a conceptual framework paper to stimulate discussions on specific theme chosen and promote exchange of good practices among participants at the Forum.
   • Forum:
     
     • Opening remarks
     • Country presentations and discussions
     • Presentation of the governance inventory
     • Workshops for in-depth and focused discussions on specific theme chosen
     • Summation of proceedings
   • Post Forum:
     
     • Preparation of a final report
     • Follow-up consultation
     • Follow-up on the Africa governance inventory
     • Preparation of the next AGF process
3. Expected outcomes / impact
   
   Expected outcomes:
   • A number of country papers reflecting national consultation process and concrete programmes or projects on good governance with clear national ownership and commitment;
   • Exchange of information, knowledge and best practices among African countries;
   • An opportunity for candid and in-depth discussion and consensus on some focused issued on specific theme of good governance among Africans and their external partners;
   • Concrete follow-up actions after the Forum; and
   • Possible scope of the next AGF.
     
     Medium and long-term impacts:
   • The ability to strengthen partnerships and move toward consensus among African Governments, civil society organizations and the international community around good governance and democratic practices.
   • The acceleration and institutionalization of good governance practices where African Governments lay a firm foundation for human-centered, equitable and sustainable development.
   • The ability to promote more effective collaboration and coordination between African Governments and their external partners for the mobilization of support and resources for good governance programmes in Africa.
4. Features in line with the Agenda for Action
   
   
   • The programme directly addresses the issues relating good governance at national levels through programmatic approach.
   • It aims at promoting national ownership at all levels, developing programmes/projects for capacity building and fostering the establishment of a better coordination arrangement among all development partners on good governance.
   • It also supports some crosscutting themes of gender mainstreaming and NGOs/CSOs empowering

Kyo Naka, Governance Programme Advisor, Operation Group I, UNDP Africa