Position Paper - Publications - African Think Tank Network (ATTN)2024-03-29T15:45:06Zhttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/feed/category/Position+Paper#AUEU: A Twitter Analysis of the 2017 AU-EU Summithttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/aueu-a-twitter-analysis-of-the-2017-au-eu-summit2018-12-04T10:59:17.000Z2018-12-04T10:59:17.000ZBarassou Diawarahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/BarassouDiawara<div><p>This paper presents a Twitter analysis of the African Union-European Union Summit (AU-EU Summit), which took place on November 29 and 30, 2017, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. An analysis of Twitter data offers the opportunity to determine the views of individuals and groups around certain issues. Moreover, it can offer a window into public debates held over social media, how these debates change over time, which communities share what information, and to what extent filter bubbles and insular groups within and across larger communities exist.</p>
<p>Examining 46,000 tweets, this Twitter analysis of the 2017 AU-EU Summit shows an engaged but relatively modest online community consisting of core opinion-leaders mainly from Europe who drive the discourse. Moreover, we see a set of self-referencing communities operating on the fringes and with little to no impact on the mainstream discourse.</p>
<p>The full paper is available for <a href="http://www.gppi.net/fileadmin/user_upload/media/pub/2018/APC_2018__AUEU_Twitter_Analysis.pdf">download.</a></p>
</div>Catalyzing the SDGs Through Expanded Domestic Resource Mobilizationhttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/catalyzing-the-sdgs-through-expanded-domestic-resource-mobilizati2018-12-04T10:57:36.000Z2018-12-04T10:57:36.000ZBarassou Diawarahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/BarassouDiawara<div><p>As the global community pushes towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, it is crucial to leverage sources of alternative development finance, particularly through domestic resource mobilization (DRM) efforts. Although an important source of finance, DRM – the revenues that a country generates internally – has not always been given the attention it deserves in the African and global development framework.</p>
<p>This policy paper looks at the role of the private and philanthropic sectors in, as well the potential of enhanced African regional alignment for, sustainability and expanded DRM in African countries.</p>
<p>To achieve greater domestic resource mobilization and, in turn, the realization of the SDGs, this paper provides a number of a recommendations for African countries in three key areas: 1) overcoming underdevelopment and promoting sustainable development through enhanced regional alignment; 2) fostering private and philanthropic resource mobilization towards the SDGs; and 3) addressing corruption, tax avoidance, and illicit financial flows.</p>
<p>The full paper is available for <a href="https://africanpolicycircle.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/APC_2018_Catalyzing_the_SDGs_Through_Expanded_DRM-1.pdf">download</a></p>
</div>Sustainable Development Goal 16: The Challenge of Sustaining Peace in Places of Crisishttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/sustainable-development-goal-16-the-challenge-of-sustaining-peace2018-12-04T10:39:28.000Z2018-12-04T10:39:28.000ZBarassou Diawarahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/BarassouDiawara<div><p>Much of Africa, a continent in dire need of structured development, remains besieged by internal crises and outbreaks of violence that undermine the SDG agenda. While it is important that governments respond to these crises, SDG 16 is unique for the fact that it calls for a multi-stakeholder response to implementation. It calls on civil society organizations (CSOs) and other non-state actors (NSAs) to take a more active role in implementing the SDG commitments even when governments are unable to do so.</p>
<p>To unpack the role that civil society and other NSAs can play in implementing the SDG agenda in times of crises, this paper will first sketch the evolving nature of conflicts in Africa. The paper will then elaborate on some of the main root causes before outlining a nexus between the UN, the SDGs, and conflict prevention as an important policy framework for addressing violent conflicts. It will then look at the role of the African Union (AU) and its policy responses to crises on the continent. Finally, the paper will conclude with recommendations for how the AU and the UN could synergize their interventions and/or responses to crises in the region in order to improve the implementation of SDG 16 in conflict-affected countries.</p>
<p>The full paper is available for <a href="https://africanpolicycircle.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/APC_2017_SDG16_The_Challenge_of_Sustaining_Peace_in_Places_of_Crisis.pdf">download</a>.</p>
</div>Ten Years On: The African Union Peacebuilding Framework & the Role of Civil Societyhttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/ten-years-on-the-african-union-peacebuilding-framework-the-role-o2018-12-04T10:35:31.000Z2018-12-04T10:35:31.000ZBarassou Diawarahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/BarassouDiawara<div><p>Since its inception in 2001, the African Union (AU) has steadily expanded its normative frameworks and political missions across the continent. Unlike the Organisation of African Unity’s (OAU) interventions, which were substantially impeded by its principle of non-interference, the AU has adopted a non-indifference principle and has also opened itself up to greater engagement with a diverse range of actors: from multilateral agencies and international financial institutions to the private sector and, most critically, civil society organizations.</p>
<p>This transformation marked a shift from a largely state-centric model to one of human security, underpinned by a decentralization agenda that aims to protect citizens from the grotesque excesses of states’ (in)actions which violate their rights. A key example of this transformation is illustrated by the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), which provides the AU with an important tool for overseeing and supporting states in their peace consolidation efforts through extended political engagement and military ground presence.</p>
<p>This paper traces these developments and provides suggestions on how to further strengthen AU peacebuilding approaches and the engagement of civil society organizations. The first section assesses the institutional and normative underpinnings of the AU peacebuilding framework and its refinement over time. Section two highlights various channels that civil society organizations (CSOs) can leverage in order to support or engage with the work of the AU’s Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD) framework as well as its shortcomings. The final section presents ideas for how the AU and CSOs can strengthen their collaboration in the area of peacebuilding.</p>
<p><a href="https://africanpolicycircle.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/apc_2017_the_au_peacebuilding_framework_and_the_role_of_civil_society.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Access free pdf</a></p>
</div>The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Improving National Policy: A Case Study of Nigeria’s Trade Negotiations in the EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreementhttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/the-role-of-civil-society-organizations-in-improving-national-pol2018-11-30T14:58:28.000Z2018-11-30T14:58:28.000ZBarassou Diawarahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/BarassouDiawara<div><p>Over the past years, a worrying trend has set in across Africa: civil society space has been shrinking in what has been called “the biggest crackdown on civil society since the end of the Cold War.” This crackdown manifests itself in “verbal hostility from politicians, new laws and regulations that curtail their ability to operate, and outright violence.” Legal restrictions, as well as outright state harassment and intimidation, are on the rise across the continent.</p>
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<p>In addition to the normative case for the role of CSOs in society, another line of reasoning exists for removing the restrictions on CSOs that have arisen across the continent: the value of CSOs in improving policy decisions and protecting national interests. The following case study on the Nigerian trade negotiations demonstrates this point. The study assesses the level of participation and effectiveness of Nigerian NGOs in the EU-West African EPA. The aim is to first identify key successes of Nigerian NGOs in the EPA negotiations so as to make a case for their usefulness and support in policymaking; and second, highlight key issues that constrained a more vigorous participation of CSOs, with corresponding recommendations for future CSO engagements in policymaking.</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/179253060?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Improving National Policyapc_cso-national-policy.pdf</a></p>
</div>The Roles of Civil Society in Localising the Sustainable Development Goalshttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/the-roles-of-civil-society-in-localising-the-sustainable-developm2016-11-30T05:40:39.000Z2016-11-30T05:40:39.000ZBarassou Diawarahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/BarassouDiawara<div><p>The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which came into effect in January 2016, are a new, universal set of economic, social and environmental goals and targets that United Nations (UN) member states are expected to achieve by 2030. The SDGs build and expand on the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by focusing on critical dimensions of sustainable development in both developing and developed countries, including human rights obligations, good governance, social justice, equity within countries, sustainability (particularly environmental sustainability), vulnerability and the exclusion of marginal populations and the poorest of the poor. Like the MDGs, the SDGs will not be legally binding; they represent a political commitment to development by all UN member states. Ultimately, these universal goals are expected to create a benchmark that ensures the balancing of economic development and global environmental goals with poverty reduction objectives.</p>
<p>Until now, the debates surrounding the SDGs have mainly concerned the setting of goals and indicators. Less attention has been paid to discussing the roles and responsibilities that different stakeholders should take in achieving these goals – in particular, how to best implement this universal framework at the local level. Given the scope and ambition of the SDGs, it is clear that governments alone cannot achieve the agenda. They must also facilitate participation of all sectors of society, including civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector and the general public at the local level. This “localization” calls for an inclusive approach that utilizes local knowledge to tailor the ambitious global-development agenda to specific local circumstances.</p>
<p><a href="https://africanpolicycircle.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/acsc_2016_localizing_sdgs.pdf">The full paper is available for download.</a></p>
</div>Tackling Illicit Financial Flows From and Within Africahttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/tackling-illicit-financial-flows-from-and-within-africa2016-11-30T05:37:18.000Z2016-11-30T05:37:18.000ZBarassou Diawarahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/BarassouDiawara<div><p>Following the 2015 report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, chaired by the former South African President Thabo Mbeki, there has been much greater awareness across Africa of the magnitude of illicit financial flows and their implications. Now, more than ever, policymakers at the national, regional and global levels must address the core issues surrounding illicit financial flows, which reduce Africa’s ability to finance its development: unfavourable natural-resource governance models, tax avoidance and tax havens as well as weak national financial institutions. The upcoming Third International Conference on Financing for Development, to take place in Addis Ababa from 13 to 16 July 2015, is an important opportunity to address illicit financial flows, their drivers and the resulting governance challenges.</p>
<p><a href="https://africanpolicycircle.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/acsc_2015_illicit_financial_flows_paper.pdf">The full paper is available for download.</a></p>
</div>Where are Human Rights and Good Governance in the New Sustainable Development Goals?http://africathinktanks.org/publication/where-are-human-rights-and-good-governance-in-the-new-sustainable2016-11-29T16:04:50.000Z2016-11-29T16:04:50.000ZFasil Yilmahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/FasilYilma<div><p>Back in September 2000, 192 states assembled at the United Nations to adopt the Millennium Declaration, a framework for accelerating the development and security of poorer countries. However, while the importance of human rights and good governance for development featured prominently in chapter V and the preamble of the declaration, these principles did not ultimately become part of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that flowed from the Millennium Declaration. Today, the international development community risks repeating the same mistakes and even sliding backwards in their commitment to human rights in the ongoing negotiations over the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the eventual successor framework to the MDGs. The lack of attention to human rights and good governance in the current proposal for the Sustainable Development Goals and the course of the ongoing negotiations are cause for concern. While the negotiation process on the post-2015 vision is an intensely political exercise infused by differing worldviews and value conceptions, without firmly embedding principles of good governance and respect for human rights in the post-2015 development framework, the SDGs will fall short on the ambitions to truly achieve equitable growth and inclusive development.</p>
<p><a href="https://africanpolicycircle.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/acsc_2015_human_rights_and_good_governance.pdf">The full paper is available for download.</a></p>
</div>New Approaches for Extractive Resource Governance in Africahttp://africathinktanks.org/publication/new-approaches-for-extractive-resource-governance-in-africa2016-11-29T16:03:07.000Z2016-11-29T16:03:07.000ZFasil Yilmahttp://africathinktanks.org/members/FasilYilma<div><p class="craft_import">The African Union’s Agenda 2063 outlines a clear vision for structural socio-economic transformation on the continent. The idea is that through better mobilization of Africa’s minerals and energy resources, the continent will be able to promote accelerated industrialization, efficient and environmentally sustainable energy use, as well as the integration of Africa’s regional markets and infrastructure, among other objectives. To this end, the Agenda 2063 broadly re-endorsed in 2009 the goals of the African Mining Vision (AMV), which aims to promote the “transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development.”</p>
<p class="craft_import">For the objectives of the Agenda 2063 and the African Mining Vision to be achieved, obstacles to effective dialogue on extractive sector transformation in Africa must be addressed.</p>
<p><a title="Link to a file download" href="http://www.gppi.net/fileadmin/user_upload/media/pub/2015/KAS_CSO_2015_Effective_Natural_Resource_Governance.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The full policy paper is available for download</a></p>
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