Framework of Collaboration Between the African Peer Review Mechanism and OGP

The Continental Secretariat of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), headquartered in Midrand, South Africa, and the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP), headquartered in Washington, United States of America (the Parties), are both committed to improving governance for the betterment of the lives of African citizens. The Institutions conducted bilateral talks in 2018, and agreed to pull efforts together to collaboratively improve governance and empower the voiceless in Africa:

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM),) is an African Union Organ and the continent’s self-monitoring and peer review tool for promoting good governance. It is voluntarily acceded to by Members States of the African Union (AU) for self-monitoring, peer learning and peer­ assessment mechanism. It has been conceived, established and supported by African leaders after realizing that good governance is the only prerequisite to sustainable and inclusive development of Africa. As the first innovative and ambitious initiative, APRM monitors governance in the four key thematic areas; i.e. Democratic and political governance, Economic governance, Corporate governance and Socioeconomic development. It executes this mandate by assessing the performance of African states that are members of the Mechanism through a review process with the goal of assisting member states to improve on the policies that affect their governance, rectify the deficiencies, adopt best practices and comply with established standards and principles.

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a global partnership that brings together reformers from government, civil society, academia and other stakeholders committed to making their governments more open, accountable and responsive to citizens. Launched at the United Nations General Assembly in 2011, the partnership has grown to 79 participating national governments and 20 local governments.
Reaffirming the desire to work together in areas of mutual interests;

Bearing in mind the challenges of governance require concerted efforts to achieve good governance as a means to better people’s’ lives and attaining sustainable development for all African citizens;

Cognizant of the strategic position of the APRM as an Organ of the African Union tasked with monitoring governance in Africa and providing a governance information platform for the African continent;

Aware of parallels between the APRM and OGP processes, including common member states in Africa and a shared vision of empowering citizens and uplifting lives through improving governance in member states;

Agreeing that the two institutions can complement and strengthen each other.