Windhoek
The Director of Information and Research at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, Bertha Amakali, says the majority of the general public has no basic awareness and understanding of the African Union Agenda 2063 and thereby invites interested parties to attend a workshop on the subject at Parliament Building on Wednesday.
Three staff members from the African Union Commission (AUC) Secretariat are currently in the country to facilitate a workshop on the Domestication and Popularisation of Agenda 2063.
Retselisitsoe Mabote, the coordinator for Agenda 2063, told reporters at a press conference that a plan for Africa’s structural transformation was agreed upon at the African Union Golden Jubilee of May 2013.
“This is presented in three key documents, namely a technical document that contains the vision for 2063, a comprehensive situational analysis of key issues, the goals, priorities, targets and indicative strategies, as well as proposals on making it happen, dealing with implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
He said the aim of the popular version of Agenda 2063 is to present the plan in simple terms, to facilitate appropriation by the general public, and introduce the first 10-year implementation plan (2013-2023), which lays out the immediate priorities, as it is designed to kick-start the journey towards 2063.
He said flagship programmes for implementation are being jump-started by key partners identified by the commission and approved by the AU policy organs.
These include the integrated high speed train network; the Great Inga Dam developments; the single African aviation market; outer space studies for Scientists; the Pan African E-Network; the creation of an Annual African Consultative Platform; the establishment of the Virtual University; the free movement of persons and the African Passport; the Continental Free Trade Area; Silencing the Guns by 2020; and the development of a commodity strategy.
Mabote, assisted by African Union planning experts Tapiwa Moloise and Muideen Omobolanle, said the implementation plan and domestication of the underlying principles derived from consultations and the review of national and regional plans and continental frameworks for the implementation and harmonisation of policies and systems.
“Agenda 2063 will be implemented through 10-year plans over the 50-year horizon. These 10-year plans will be subsets of the 50-year transformation framework, covering the results framework goals and priority areas, as well as targets and indicative strategies for the national, regional and continental levels.
It also provides details of implementation, monitoring and evaluation arrangements, financing and partnerships, capacity development and communication strategies required to implement the 10-year plan at national, regional and continental levels,” the coordinator said.
He added that to ensure wide acceptance and domestication by all concerned, the draft 10-year plan would be subjected to planning experts and AU member states for validation.
The workshop starts tomorrow at 08h00 in Room C-1 at Parliament Building.