The APRM As A Governance Improvement Mechanism Paper Presented During Workshop on “Harmonizing the Tanzanian APRM National Plan of Action (NPoA) with the existing development strategies and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)” from September 2012 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Venue: DICC, Dar es Salaam by Dr. Adotey Bing-Pappoe

The Governance Landscape The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism APRM Achievements and Challenges

The Governance Landscape

“The traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised” (Daniel Kaufmann -The Worldwide Governance Indicators) “The exercise of political authority and the use of institutional resources to manage society's problems and affairs.” (The World Bank) “Decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance” (Wikipedia) The established structures and processes for allocating, delegating, and using authority or power in social contexts. (working definition)definitions

The Governance Landscape Leadership structures and processes Decision making structures and processes The character of decisions Institutional capacity Implementation and monitoring Evaluation and learning Corrective action Overview

The Governance Landscape Eligibility (ethnicity, religion, gender, property,other) Selection process (birthright, selection, election) Powers (absolute, shared, ‘constitutional’) The LeadershipFramework

The Governance Landscape OECD Guidelines: decision making processes Vision and mission driven Lawful Transparent Participatory Consensual Decision making processes

The Governance Landscape OECD Guidelines: character of decisions Lawful Accountable Inclusive (diversity) Responsive (to what?) Equitable and equal (horizontal, vertical) Decisions

The Governance Landscape Conditions for effective and efficient organisations: Clear Mission and Objectives Adequate human resources (personnel) Relevant human capital (knowledge) Adequate financial resources Operative systems and procedures Sufficient time Organisational Capacity

The Governance Landscape Implementation Programme and project inputs Monitoring Method Frequency Inputs Outputs Implementation and monitoring

The Governance Landscape Evaluation Issues Internal or external Objectives Questions Timing Methods structured interviews observations focus groups workshops Learning issues Conclusions rigorously based on evaluation findings Evaluation and Learning

The Governance Landscape Learning Objectives: Improved governance performance Leadership systems Decision making processes Character of decisions Capacity Implementation and monitoring Evaluation and learning Corrective action Learning -3

The Governance Landscape Learning Objectives: Improved governance framework Institutions Objectives Strategies Indicators Targets Learning -4

The Governance Landscape Issues: Timely Evidence based Appropriate Proportionate Corrective Action

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms

Sources and causes of governance improvement initiatives Objectives Focus Assessment and Benchmarking Improvement Plan Implementation and monitoring Evaluation and learning Corrective action Overview

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Causes and sources of governance improvement Internally driven Public opinion Election results (positive and negative) Media investigations State driven public inquiries Civil society led public policy research findings Sectarian conflict Demonstrations, Riots, and Revolutions Externally driven External image International agreements and treaties (bilateral, regional global) ‘Donor’ pressure External sanctions and threats Causes

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Objectives Social Economic Military Political Cosmetic (Public relations) Objectives

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Societal focus (kinds of institutions included) Government Business Civil society Governance focus (governance areas) Leadership Decision making processes Decisions Capacity Implementation and monitoring Evaluation and learning Corrective action Focus

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Assessment methods Subjective data Popular surveys Expert opinion surveys Objective data Official data collection Civil society Choice of indicators Benchmarking Quantification of indicators Compilation and publication of results Assessment and Benchmarking

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Focus Social institutions Governance landscape Objectives Assessment driven Problems to be addressed Based on targeted improvements to benchmarked indicators Strategies, policies, and programmes Indicators of success Milestones markers Targets Improvement plan

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Implementation Mobilisation of planned inputs Application of planned inputs Implementation and Monitoring

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Monitoring Completed outputs Intended quality Estimated time Estimated cost Implementation and Monitoring

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Relevance of objectives, strategies, policies and indicators for targeted problems Efficiency Input /output ratios Cost Ratios Effectiveness Achievements of outcomes Sustainability Utility Evaluation and learning

The Structure of Governance Improvement Mechanisms Proximate objectives of corrective action Improved efficiency Improved effectiveness Strategic objectives of corrective action New or higher governance targets New or amended governance indicators New or amended governance policies, strategies, or objectives New institutions New missions Corrective action

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism

Internal Election results (positive and negative) Sectarian conflicts Demonstrations, Riots, and Revolutions External Improve external image (attract FDI, ODA) International agreements and treaties (bilateral, regional global) Causes

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism Objectives Thematic areasNumber of Objectives Democracy and political governance9 Economic Governance and Management5 Corporate governance5 Socio-economic development6 Total25

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism Governance focus of questionnaire Decision making and decisions Institutional mission Leadership Governance Focus

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism Democracy and Political Governance Economic Management and Governance Corporate Governance Socio- Economic Development Total Institutional Mission Leadership Decisions Capacity Implementation and learning Total Questionnaire focus

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism Social domains included in APRM focus Government Executive MDAs Judiciary Legislature Business Societal focus

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism Periodic Formal Self-Assessments expert opinion stakeholders public opinion Reports - Annual Assessment method

The APRM as a Governance Improvement Mechanism The APRM guidelines does not make formal benchmarking mandatory Benchmarking

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism NPoA structure Issue Objectives Required action Monitorable indicator Means of verification Improvement Plan

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism Monitoring The systems for monitoring of the NPoA were developed by national governing councils post NPoA Data from state bureaucracy (MDAs) Participatory evaluation Implementation and monitoring

The APRM as Governance Improvement Mechanism Evaluation, learning, and corrective action Weak evidence of APRM evaluation and learning in annual reports Weak evidence of corrective actions based on annual reports and global evaluation exercises Learning and corrective action

APRM Achievements and Challenges

Characteristics of African countries* Average country population - 16 mn Per Capita GDP - Africa -US$ 1,009 * 2010 IBRD data Membership-1

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievement APRM accession (2012) 31 countries or 56% of African countries Approximately 80% of African population living in APRM member county Approximately 90% of African GDP produced in an APRM member country Membership-2

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements Countries Peer Reviewed to date: 18 As % of those acceded: 58% As % of all Africa 33%

APRM Achievements and Challenges Challenges To increase number of new accessions Countries yet to accede: 24 45% of African countries 11% of continental GDP To increase the rate of self-assessments Countries that have acceded but yet to conduct self assessment:13 As % of those that have acceded: 42% To speed up rate of second assessment Number of second self-assessments:1 Number awaiting second self-assessment 6, with 7 in the pipeline. Membership-4

APRM Achievements and Challenges Challenges Ensure that APRM is flexible enough to accommodate diverse development strategies by: providing a framework of objectives and questions (strategies) that can cater for the possibility of different approaches to achieve the achievement of common objectives Membership-5

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements Increased focus on internal sources and drivers of governance improvement Public opinion Civil society Media Parliament State commissions Challenges To maintain and increase the importance of internal sources of governance improvement Sources of governance improvement initiatives

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements 25 objectives highlighted within the four thematic areas Challenges To make sure through revaluations that these are the most relevant objectives To make sure the relative wighting given to the objectives is appropriate For example Greater importance given to regional integration objectives Regional programmes and projects to be peer reviewed at regional level Objectives-1

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements Space for civil society input into governance process greatly enhanced APRM combined governance assessment with socio-economic development assessment Challenges Clarify further the distinction development is about outputs of goods and services governance is about established processes Objectives-2

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements The NPoA focus could be said to be on “governance through development” Some “governance” projects are development projects that are necessary to improve governance e.g: computerisation of court records to speed up trial times etc Challenges To raise the profile of improved governance through improved systems and organisation Objectives-3

APRM Achievements and Challenges Country“Governance” % Socio-economic Development % Ghana Kenya Benin Nigeria Burkina Faso Mauritius South Africa Objectives-4

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements Focus on government and state Institutions Executive and MDAs Judiciary Parliament Focus on Corporate governance Challenges To improve and refine focus on government and state institutions Often capacity is one of the common weaknesses To improve and refine focus on corporate governance To extend focus to civil society, major civil society organisations to be included in assessment Societal Focus

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements APRM raised awareness of importance of some dimensions of governance: Leadership Decision making process lawful accountable transparent Character of decisions inclusive responsive equitable Challenges To extend and deepen focus on: Leadership Decisions Capacity Implementation Learning Corrective Action Governance Focus

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements Instances of constitutional leadership in Africa on the rise Quality of constitutional leadership in Africa improving Threats to un-constitutional leadership mediated or challenged Leadership-1

APRM Achievements and Challenges Challenges Continued successful interventions require: Regional institutions with strong levers e.g. diplomatic financial geo-political military Infringements from relatively vulnerable countries Leadership-2

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements APRM credited improvements to national governance making for better decisions e.g. Ghana - Whistle Blower Act Kenya - new constitution (2010) less powerful president more powerful prime minister devolved power to regions judicial services commission Uganda - strengthening parliamentary oversight capacity Nigeria - Freedom of Information Act - 28th May 2011 Decision making and decisions

APRM Achievements and Challenges Challenges Improved governance should lead to improved economic performance Governance assessment and improvement initiatives should fully embrace all three domains of society: political, business, and civil Governance focus concerns to include capacity, monitoring, evaluation, and corrective action, as well as leadership and decisions. Decision making and decisions

APRM Achievements and Challenges NPoA appear to require significant additions to GDP: From a high of 21% in Burkina Faso to 0.2% in South Africa Capacity-1

APRM Achievements and Challenges However not all NPoA projects came out of the self- assessment, many were pre-existing programmes: therefore unlikely to be governance programmes therefore the total cost of NPoA did not all represent additional spending Capacity-3

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements Low ODA dependence of NPoA South Africa (0%) Nigeria (0%) Challenges To achieve implementation and maintain sovereignty in the face of high ODA dependency of NPoAs e.g. Benin (90%) Burkina Faso (unspecified but high) Capacity-4

APRM Achievements and Challenges Challenges Develop strategies to address high levels of NPoA dependence on ODA. Possibilities might include: APRM development bonds financed by African Diaspora APRM development bonds financed by African counties with growing and significant sovereign funds e.g. Angola Botswana Equatorial Guinea Algeria Capacity-5

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements NPOAs demonstrated that governance performance could be assessed quantitatively Leadership Decision making Decisions Capacity Implementation and monitoring Evaluation and learning Corrective action Assessment and benchmarking

APRM Achievements and Challenges Challenges To institutionalise benchmarking by: For each APRM thematic area and objective, to develop relevant quantifiable or categorisable indicators to be used in the self-assessment. for each APRM objective develop quantifiable or categorisable indicators to be used in the self-assessment. e.g: Benchmarking used as basis of NPoA design Assessment and benchmarking

APRM Achievements and Challenges Challenges: to develop benchmarks as per questionnaire ObjectivesQuestionsIndicatorsTargets Democracy and Political Governance Economic governance and management Corporate governance Socio-economic development 6930 Total Assessment and benchmarking

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements NPoA - the first steps in institutionalising improvements in governance performance and socio-economic development Challenges To institutionalise governance improvement plans linked to benchmarking, through: choice of objectives choice of indicators choice of targets Improvement plan

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements requirement for countries to report bi-annually and later annually broadly complied with requirement for countries to report using agreed matrix, less well adhered to Challenges To ensure that APRM monitoring of implementation is effective and efficient countries to report according to agreed matrix countries to report using the same indicators as used in NPoA Periodic (annual, biennial) compilation and publication of APRM governance improvement indicators Implementation and monitoring

APRM Achievements and Challenges Achievements NPoA raised profile of monitoring, a prerequisite to evaluation and learning Challenges to strengthen evaluation processes To strengthen and institutionalise learning: regular evaluation of relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency Parliamentary oversight capacity strengthened to necessary levels National Audit Institution capacity raised to appropriate levels National regulatory or oversight bodies, for corporates and civil society, given appropriate powers and resources Evaluation and learning

The APRM as a Governance Improvement Mechanism Challenges Recommendations for corrective action from evaluations are made public To disseminate more widely best practices from CRRs Adoption/emulation of best practices between APRM member countries Corrective action

APRM Achievements and Challenges Summary of main challenges To establish the headline elements of an APRM governance framework including: Inclusion of all governance aspects For each aspect of governance, formulation of related governance objectives Inclusion of all domain of society: political, business, civil in self-assessment Benchmarking to be given higher profile in APRM self-assessment process Publication of benchmarking results of self-assessment Quantification of selected governance indicators into targets in NPoAs Summary of challenges

APRM Achievements and Challenges Strengthen dissemination of best practices within APRM family Strengthening monitoring, evaluation, learning and corrective action procedures of national APRM Strengthening monitoring evaluation, learning and corrective action procedures of APRM continental Annual or biennial compilation and publication of APRM Governance Indicators Successful implementation of NPoA to be seen as highlight of APRM process Summary of challenges

APRM Achievements and Challenges Thank you