Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION: THE APRM PROCESS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN BENIN__________________________________________________________________________C H A P T E R O N E1. INTRODUCTION: THE APRM PROCESS AND ITSIMPLEMENTATION IN BENIN“The mandate of the African Peer Review Mechanism is to ensure that policies andpractices of participating States are in conformity with the agreed political, economicand corporate governance values, codes and standards. The APRM is a mutuallyagreed mechanism for self-evaluation of countries by Heads of State andGovernment of the participating countries.”NEPAD/HSGIC/03-2003/APRM/MOU/Annex II1.1 The APRM and its implementation1. During the Inaugural Summit of the AU, held in Durban, South Africa, in July2002, the NEPAD Implementation Committee adopted the Declaration onDemocracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. In a bid toimprove the quality of governance in Africa, the 6 th Summit of the Heads ofState and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of NEPAD, heldin March 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria, endorsed the Durban Declaration andadopted the MOU on the APRM. Subsequently, the main documents outliningthe core principles, processes and objectives of the APRM, including theAPRM Base Document, the document on Organisation and Processes (O & P)of the APRM, as well as the document on Objectives, Standards, Criteria andIndicators for the APRM (OSCI Document) were also adopted by the heads ofstate.2. Member states of the AU may voluntarily accede to the APRM, a mechanismfor self-evaluation by Africans for Africans. The main objective of the APRMis to ensure that the policies and practices of participating states conform to thevalues, codes and standards of political, economic and corporate governanceand socioeconomic development contained in the Declaration on Democracy,Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. The ultimate goal is,therefore, to encourage participating states to adopt policies, standards andpractices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainabledevelopment and accelerated subregional and continental integration. TheAPRM intends to achieve this goal by sharing the experiences of successfuland best practices and consolidating them. Thereafter, it hopes to buildcompetence by identifying the deficiencies in, and assessing the requisites for,capacity building.Box 1.1: The APRM progress reportWidely proclaimed as the jewel in NEPAD‟s crown, the APRM is a unique exercise intendedto facilitate the exchange of information and best practice between peers. It is based on32