Africa's leaders have promulgated an initiative to spur growth and reduce poverty on the continent. Entitled the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), it is couched on five core principles-good governance; entrenchment of democracy, peace, and security; sound economic policy-making and execution; productive strategic partnerships; and domestic ownership and leadership-all seen as preconditions for Africa's renewal.
Previously known as the New African Initiative, NEPAD is a consolidation of two proposals-the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme (MAP), which had its driving force in Presidents Mbeki of South Africa, Bouteflika of Algeria, Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Mubarak of Egypt, and the OMEGA plan of Senegal's President Wade. It also draws on the Compact for African Development, prepared by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), following a request from the African Ministers of Finance in Addis Ababa in November 2000.
NEPAD adds substantial value in four ways. First, it is a visionary consensus approach to building a prosperous, stable future for the continent, based on key principles that are universally accepted as essential for political and economic development. The various past attempts at continent-wide action plans for development were failures, in part, because they ignored these key principles-such as good governance and public financial accountability.
Second, NEPAD is developed, owned, and managed by Africans, something new and necessary. The principle of ownership demonstrates sovereignty and independence. It cancels out the charge of "intellectual poverty" in Africa and signals to the international community that Africans can determine their own destiny within norms that are globally embraceable. Past initiatives were primarily externally driven.
Third, NEPAD is predicated on building a new relationship with international partners, based on mutual obligations, commitments, interests, and benefits. Emphasis is placed on aid effectiveness, with a monitoring and peer review process in place for the mutual accountability of recipient country and donors alike. Consequently, the fungibility of aid is being squarely tackled.
Fourth, NEPAD stresses appropriate policies that take into account the diversity of Africa's economies and their varying levels of development. Past policy initiatives tended to be "one size fits all." Yet, the development prospects facing most African countries today are complex and multi-dimensional, involving some economic, socio-cultural, political, and environmental factors that cannot be addressed with an across-the-board strategy. At the same time, however, NEPAD correctly focuses on the advantages of regional cooperation and the need to pool resources in certain areas to increase productivity and international competitiveness.
The most innovative dimension of NEPAD is the creation of the African Peer Review mechanism (APRM). In place of the intrusive role that western nations increasingly played in promoting economic and political reforms, African governments have now established their own monitoring mechanism to produce more acceptable ways of ensuring compliance with nationally, regionally, and internationally accepted norms of political, economic and corporate governance.
This Issues Paper draws on the content of the NEPAD framework to identify five major themes that can provide the basis for concrete actions by African policy makers.
- Improving economic policy-making and execution to operationalize the development goals.
- Unleashing the private sector for poverty reduction.
- Capacity building and market access for deeper integration into the global economy.
- Matching donor assistance and instruments with national needs and capacities.
- Moving to self-monitoring and peer learning.
These areas can provide a core set of objectives for action by Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and by Central Bank Governors. Through greater mutual responsibility and accountability, action on all of them would begin to transform Africa's partnerships with the broader development community. And progress in all of them would be a major achievement, putting African countries well on their way to achieving the NEPAD goals.
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