This Capacity Development Implementation Plan for Africa's Regional Economic Communities is a multilateral document aiming to promote the continent's renewal through regional integration. The Plan is informed by the RECs Medium Term Strategic Plans and the NEPAD agenda and is further aligned to the First Ten-Year Plan of Agenda 2063 and is based on a detailed situational analysis of capacity development initiatives in eight RECs namely, Arab Maghreb Union (AMU); Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD); East African Community (EAC); Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS); Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The broad target is promoting (i) sustainable and inclusive regional socio-economic growth; (ii) a development support strategy for regional efforts built upon a detailed capacity mapping survey and engagement with relevant stakeholders in the RECs; (iii) industrialization capabilities through requisite human capital development, employment creation, good socioeconomic governance, as well as, science, technology, and innovation; (iv) enhancement of existing regional structures into dynamic institutions and effective structural pillars for accelerated regional integration. The strategy is to establish a Capacity Development Knowledge Hub for African Integration and Multilateralism at a continental level, under the auspices of the AUC and the NPCA, to (i) ensure that there is active capacity development initiative in all areas of REC function and mandate, and (ii) facilitate knowledge and learning exchange at a corporate level and within sector clusters. The specific objectives of such a hub would be to (i) assist RECs to connect to and draw on knowledge resources required for performance improvement in the design, implementation, monitoring, and review of regional integration programs; (ii) establish mechanisms for harvesting inputs on the implementation and review of regional integration programs; (iii) provide a shared facility undertaking multidisciplinary research on issues for which a single REC may not have the full competence and delivery capacity; (iv) create an independent facility providing technical services for the effective and efficient operation of the RECs; (v) add operational content and value to economics and trade law curricula in African universities to raise the quality of future sector experts. Given the diversity of roles and functions across RECs, careful reference is mainly made to those sectors that feature prominently in AU Agenda 2063, such as (i) Peace, Security, and Governance (human rights, anticorruption); (ii) Agriculture and Environment (land, tourism, and the management of natural resources); (iii) Infrastructure Development (energy, water, and related issues); (iv) Social Development (health, education, culture, free movement of people, youth, and gender); (v) Economic Development and Trade (fiscal, monetary policies, and investments). The implementation involves three phases: Phase One (2015-2020): attention will be on establishing the knowledge hub and initiating the knowledge communities; Phase Two (2020 - 2025): attention will be on ensuring the communities have demonstrable added value and delivery of relevant capacity initiatives; Phase Three (2025 - 2030): attention will be on ensuring that internal resources are mobilized and that the effort is sustained by REC contributions and commitments.
2015-01-01