Our team of consultants facilitated the 2016 Evaluation & Planning Workshop held 23rd – 24th March at Kievits Kroon Hotel in Pretoria, between the PAP Secretariat and the GIZ African Governance Architecture (AGA) Program supporting PAP.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Government has been partnering with the PAP since 2005 focusing on institutional development. However, the 2014 – 2016 cooperation between these organizations isshifting away from institutional development towards supporting PAP’s efforts in enhancing democratic governance and human rights standards on the continent as part of PAP’s role within the African Governance Architecture (AGA).
The workshop was organized in the framework of 2016 being the last year of this phase (institutional development), it is important to ensure the 2016 cooperation between PAP & GIZ AGA:
• Builds on recommendations from the 2015 Joint Planning Workshop & the Program Evaluation (PEV) done in October 2015
• Focuses on key priorities and is more effective in achieving results
• Helps both partners move toward the new orientations of the Program
Some highlights of the workshop were: the teambuilding exercise used for the introduction of participants which helped to know more about what motivate people to work with PAP – GIZ AGA but most important key areas to focus on in 2016 for PAP to be more effective. Some of these elements are:
- Improving planning, implementation & reporting
- Improving team work and synergy
- Improving communication
- Building / Consolidating partnerships
- Integrating risk management
The workshop was also marked by the discussions around the overall framework of the African Governance Architecture, its Platform and the role of the PAP as key member and especially as Chair of the AGA Platform for a mandate of three years.
Participants had the opportunity to look at the broad environment of PAP in order to know more about key trends in Member States such as presidential, local/ regional and legislative elections and the status of ratification of some Shared Values instruments of African Union, notably: the African Charter on Democracy Elections and Governance and the Maputo Protocol related to women’s rights. From the discussions, they were able to identify (1) some opportunities PAP could seize in 2016, (2) threats that may affect PAP’s results and (3) actions to be taken to manage these threats.
This workshop provided the opportunity to share findings and recommendations from the GIZ AGA – PAP Program Evaluation, as well as strategic orientations and focus areas of the AGA in 2016 and beyond.
Key results from the workshop were the 2016 work plans developed for
- PAP as a member of the AGA Platform
- PAP as Head of Cluster on “Constitutionalism and Rule of Law”
- PAP as Chair of the AGA Platform
To ensure the GIZ AGA-PAP Partnership is more effective and achieve tangible results in 2016, it was recommended to strengthen the synergy and collaboration between the PAP Secretariat and the PAP Bureau and effectively implement a country-oriented approach which will provide learning points and best practices to be duplicated or adapted to other countries as of 2017.
It is always an honor and a learning experience for STRATEGIES! team and as a consulting firm to contribute with an African touch to the process of implementation of continental decisions at national level, especially to bring our Member States and Africa to next level of governance and democracy.
