Opening Remarks by Ms Sue van der Merwe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the NEPAD Projects Conference: Strengthening Partnerships for Implementation, 8th October 2007

Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mandisi Mpahlwa
Programme Director, Dr Hesphina Rukato
Dr Khosa
Mr Mucavele
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my honour to give the introduction to this conference. This meeting is long overdue and I hope that the planned engagements over the next two days will reveal how much progress has been made. I also hope that the outcomes of this conference will clearly highlight to us where the gaps are and further contribute to the finalisation of the NEPAD Implementation Strategy for South Africa. The NISSA will serve as a road map, working in partnership with the private sector and civil society to realise the developmental objectives of both our country and Continent.

As you are aware, South Africa has, in collaboration with key African countries, been at the forefront in developing the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as Africa’s premier development programme; in mobilising international, continental and regional support for NEPAD; and in supporting the NEPAD structures and processes.

The adoption of NEPAD by the African Union in 2001 was the affirmation by Africa of a shared vision, conviction and a pledge by the Continent and its leaders to place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable economic growth and development and thus halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process.

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

In introducing the NEPAD Implementation Strategy for South Africa or NISSA for short, I will briefly outline six areas of work in the process of developing the strategy.

I will in the first instance, highlight the how we have gone about incorporating NEPAD programmes into South Africa’s Foreign Policy, focusing on international, continental and regional partnerships.

Secondly, I will highlight the role of national governments in the implementation of NEPAD within their own countries, and the critical importance of the private sector as partners in the process.

The third highlight will be on the development of the NEPAD Implementation Strategy for South Africa (NISSA).

Fourthly, the introduction will attempt to define what constitutes a NEPAD Project.

Fifthly, the development of NEPAD Implementation Strategies as well as linking NEPAD to Local Economic Development will be highlighted.

Lastly, the appropriate linkages between NEPAD and implementing South Africa’s APRM Programme of Action will be made.

 IMPLEMENTATION OF NEPAD IN SOUTH AFRICAN FOREIGN POLICY

 International

While NEPAD is foremost a partnership between and amongst Africans, it also seeks to accelerate sustainable development in Africa through partnerships with other countries of the South, and to forge a new partnership with the developed North that changes the unequal relationship with Africa. To this end, NEPAD serves as the implementing vehicle for the international commitments in support of Africa’s development, for example, the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus, the Johannesburg Plan of Action (WSSD), UN Declarations in support of NEPAD, the G-8 Africa Action Plan, the EU Strategy for Africa, the New Africa-Asia Strategic Partnership (NAASP), the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD), and the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The convening of this conference is thus also an opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made in redefining international partnerships with Africa and in moving from a donor-recipient relationship to a partnership in the true sense of the word.

Continental

 In order for NEPAD to maximise its effectiveness and impact continentally, it needs to be integrated into the African Union. This will send out a strong international signal that NEPAD is the endorsed socio-economic programme of the AU. It will further strengthen the mandate and Programmes of Action of the AU. It will also ensure that the appropriate synergies and linkages between the AU, the RECs and national governments are made. South Africa fully supports NEPAD integration into the AU.

The issue of the Integration of NEPAD into AU structures and processes was first articulated in the Maputo Declaration of 2003. During the AU Summit in Accra in July this year, the integration of the NEPAD Secretariat into the AU Commission, with the concurrent establishment of a NEPAD Planning and Coordination Authority was the main subject of discussion.

In proposing a way forward on the integration issue, President Mbeki highlighted the importance of the NEPAD Brainstorming Summit to be held in order to discuss the recommendations on the integration of NEPAD into the AU structure and process.

Regional

 At the regional level, the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) has been the SADC region’s response to implementation of NEPAD Programmes. Activities in terms of the NEPAD sectoral programmes have been built into each of the sectors of the SADC work programme under the RISDP. Furthermore, the SADC and NEPAD Secretariats had both appointed focal points to expedite co-operation and information-sharing between the two institutions.

National: Role of National Governments in implementation of NEPAD

In terms of country-level ownership of its economic development, national governments play a central role in the implementation of NEPAD. The NEPAD Secretariat identifies the critically important functions of national governments as:

• Internalising NEPAD values and principles, with an emphasis on ownership of the development process and increased self-reliance;
• Deepening engagement with the private sector and civil society with respect to NEPAD programmes;
• Accelerating the adoption of NEPAD programmes as frameworks and guidelines for national development plans, such as Poverty Reduction Strategies.
• Ensuring compliance with major African Union and Regional Economic Community (REC) resolutions linked to the implementation of NEPAD programmes; and
• Ensuring that the country takes advantage of international support mobilised for growth and development, e.g. through the G-8 Africa Action Plan.

In preparing South Africa’s national implementation strategy, we have taken all these elements into cognisance.

Development of the NEPAD Implementation Strategy for South Africa

Within South Africa, we believe it is crucial that the linkages to NEPAD be established at the national level to ensure that it is made relevant and has a positive impact on the quality of life of all South Africans. The challenge is to establish a close interface between the top-down approach of NEPAD at the international, continental, and SADC regional levels on the one hand, and the bottom-up approach of South Africa’s national rural and urban development strategies.

To this end, the NISSA, which is in the process of finalisation, will serve as the framework for South Africa’s engagement with the NEPAD process, guiding and coordinating the work and defining the roles of all stakeholders in terms of their engagement with NEPAD at all levels.

The strategy ought to have a positive impact on the lives of ordinary citizens as an interlocking set of programmes and projects, aimed at reducing poverty and improving the lives of all our people.

Definition of a NEPAD Project

To roll-out the NISSA effectively, it is equally important for all concerned to have common working definition of what constitutes a NEPAD Project. This is important as there has been much misunderstanding as to what constitutes a NEPAD project and whether it has made any impact in achieving its stated objectives. The determination of the success factors of NEPAD is thus dependent on an understanding in the first instance as to what constitutes such a project.

A national NEPAD project is defined as a flagship project that supports the goals, principles and vision of NEPAD. It must focus on development and impact positively on people on the ground. It also has to have the potential to be expanded into a regional and/or continental project and must be formally accredited and presented as a NEPAD project to make it visible and relevant to South Africans. Finally, it must be captured on a central database and driven and monitored on an ongoing basis.

This workshop provides all relevant stakeholders the opportunity to review what has been so far considered NEPAD projects and their impact on development. It should perhaps also address the challenges pertaining to the project approach to development and I suspect part of this lies in whether there is indeed any relation between the so-called NEPAD project and the national development plan. You will recall that the promoters of NEPAD themselves acknowledged in the Framework document that they appreciate the dangers of the project approach to development but still went on to adopt this approach because of their promise to “strengthen country and regional development programmes, but they will also go a long way in kick-starting the regeneration of the continent.”

Development of NEPAD Implementation Strategies

If we look at the trend on the continent, it is clear that over the past four years, NEPAD projects have developed around critical sectors. These include:

• The Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme;
• The Short-Term Action Plan for Infrastructure Development;
• The Science and Technology Consolidated Action Plan;
• The Environment Plan;
• The AU/NEPAD Health Strategy;
• The Education Action Plan;
• The Tourism Action Plan;
• Standards and guidelines for the African Peer Review Mechanism,
• Facilitation of some of the AU’s peace-support operations; and
• The Africa Productive Capacity Initiative.

Linkage of NEPAD to Local Economic Development

As you are all aware, the South African government during 2006 launched the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (more popularly known as ASGISA). While this initiative is essentially a South African programme, there is a need to consider it within the broader regional context.

In order to realise maximum impact and to address the development discrepancies that exist between South Africa and the bordering member states of SADC, it is essential that a close alignment be sought between the outward dimension of ASGISA and the inward implementation of SADC programmes (in particular the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP). The obvious focus in terms of this alignment would be the context of spatial development initiatives, such as development corridors, growth triangles, growth centres and transfrontier conservation areas.

Apart from ASGISA, several other national development strategies should also be brought into this equation. These include the National Framework for Local Economic Development, the White Paper on Local Government, Micro Economic Reform Strategy, the National Spatial Development Perspective, the Extended Public Works Programme, the Municipal Infrastructure Grant, the Integrated Manufacturing Strategy, the Urban Renewal Programme and the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme.

The National Framework for Local Economic Development should be considered as the ideal platform for the development and implementation of NEPAD and SADC programmes within South Africa. According to a guideline prepared by the World Bank, ‘…local economic development is the process by which public, business and nongovernmental sector partners work collectively to create better conditions for economic growth and employment generation. The aim is to improve the quality of life for all’.

In this process of finding an alignment between the local economic development programmes and the regional development programmes, it is clear that the private sector can play a valuable role in bridging the gap between national and regional programmes. An example of such an activity is to facilitate South African support to SADC within cross-border initiatives, through the identification, planning and implementation of local economic development programmes in collaboration with neighbouring countries.

Roll-out of South Africa’s APRM programme of action

A major opportunity in terms of the implementation of NEPAD is provided by the roll-out of South Africa’s recent African Peer Review programme of action. The programme of action serves as a country’s response to the issues identified in the APRM Country Report. It should form a comprehensive and coherent package to address the specific challenges identified in the Country Report. It should have the overall effect of improving governance and deepening democracy. It needs clear objectives, actions, results and indicators. It also needs clear timeframes, financial plans, and responsibilities. Finally, it should include collaborative activities that are implemented on a partnership basis.

South Africa ’s programme of action is focused on four thematic areas, as follows:

Democracy and Political Governance ( human rights awareness; access to justice and public participation; crime and violence generally and in particular against women and children; and corruption in public, private and civil society institutions in society );

Economic Governance and Management ( popular participation in policy making; skills and capacity development; blockages to service delivery; unemployment; and lack of deeper economic integration within SADC);

Corporate Governance (company legislation reform; the effectiveness of key institutions; consumer rights; and shareholder and stakeholder activism );

Socio-Economic Development ( poverty; access to rural land and an increased pace of land reform; the quality, access and outcomes of the educational system at all levels; combating HIV and AIDS, TB, malaria and other communicable diseases; and access by all to basic rights and services, especially women, children and people with disabilities).

The Interactive Sessions that will take place tomorrow will elaborate on these areas of engagement.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it should be stated that, as a long-term development programme, critical success factors for NEPAD include the following: enhanced political leadership; ownership by people of Africa; strengthening institutional human and financial capacity of national, regional and continental development institutions; and increased support by the international community. In looking forward therefore, it is crucial that:

• We should strengthen our efforts to accelerate the implementation of NEPAD programmes, maintaining both an internal and an external focus;
• The linkages to NEPAD be established at the national level to ensure that NEPAD is made relevant and has a positive impact on the quality of life of all South Africans; and
• A close interface be defined and maintained between NEPAD and the SADC RISDP, considering the latter as the regional face of NEPAD.

I trust that this conference will enable us to work together, government and the private sector in implementing successful programmes to realise our collective development goals.

 I thank you.