{"id":30775,"date":"2011-10-13T23:56:49","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T23:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=30775"},"modified":"2011-10-13T23:56:49","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T23:56:49","slug":"nepad-celebrates-10th-anniversary-in-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=30775","title":{"rendered":"NEPAD celebrates 10th Anniversary in New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) concluded its five day celebration as part of its 10th<\/sup> year anniversary commemoration in New York Tuesday.\u00a0\u00a0 Adopted in Lusaka, Zambia in 2001, NEPAD is an African Union program spearheaded by African leaders to pursue new priorities and approaches to the political and socio-economic transformation of Africa. NEPAD’s objective is to enhance Africa’s growth, development and participation in the global economy.\u00a0\u00a0 (Photo: General Assembly President)<\/em><\/p>\n

The week long commemoration kicked off Thursday, October 6 with key events including Special Briefing of the African Group by NEPAD on \u201cAdvancing NEPAD Implementation over a decade of opportunities\u201d at the AU Permanent Observer Mission to the UN located 305 East 47th Street, 5th Floor, New York, followed by a three hour closed reception hosted by the AU Observer Mission to the New York<\/p>\n

On Friday, October 7 United Nations and African officials gathered at the UN Headquarters and elsewhere in the city for series of high-level meetings and events designed to reflect on its achievements, foster debates and generate suggestions for further improvements.<\/p>\n

A High-Level panel discussion on \u201cNEPAD and the MDGs: Progress, challenges and the way forward,\u201d took place in the Economic and Social Council Chamber (NLB) followed by be a press conference in the Dag Hammarskj\u00f6ld Library Auditorium.\u00a0 Participants included: Cheikh Sidi Diarra, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General for Africa; Ibrahim A. Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD; Olesegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria; and Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these are opportunities for us to look back at the role of NEPAD and the remarkable progress Africa has made over the past ten years,\u201d said Mr. Diarra, UN Under Secretary-General and Special Adviser for Africa.\u00a0 Also in his briefings, Mr. Diarra called on developed nations to give Africa access to open international markets for its exports, reduce or write-off their debts and complete the Doha talks on trade. He urged African countries to increase domestic savings and lessen their dependence on foreign aid.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Ibraham Assane Mayaki, CEO NEPAD Planning & Coordinating Agency<\/p><\/div>\n

Speaking at a special briefing to the African Group as part of activities in New York to commemorate NEPAD\u2019s tenth anniversary, Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, the Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, explained that NEPAD had played a crucial part in the steady progress that was being made by the continent both in terms of democratization and development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe African leaders set up the African Peer Review Mechanism to advance good governance and democracy,\u201d he told Africa diplomats. The peer review mechanism is Africa\u2019s unique and innovative approach to governance. Its reports serve as early warning system of impeding threats to peace and stability in Africa. So far, 30 African countries have signed up for the review and 14 of them have completed the process. The mechanism has been one of the NEPAD Agency\u2019s most successful programs in encouraging democratization among members.\u00a0\u00a0 For example, its reports anticipated the violence that followed the 2007 elections in Kenya and the 2008 xenophobic attacks in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The President of the UN General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, on Friday praised the New Partnership for Africa\u2019s Development (NEPAD) for enhancing the continent\u2019s economic growth, development and participation in the global economy. Al-Nasser said the NEPAD had also contributed \u201csignificantly towards Africa’s socio-economic progress achieved over the past decade.\u00a0 Africa has been the home of six out of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world,\u201d he said at the UN General Assembly, which hosted a high-level event to mark NEPAD’s 10th anniversary on the theme: ‘NEPAD and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Progress, Challenges and the Way Forward.’<\/p>\n

NEPAD has also been instrumental in the development of Sierra Leone\u2019s agriculture and Fisheries.\u00a0\u00a0 According to John Baimba Sesay, Communication Specialist at the West Africa Regional Fisheries Program (WARFP) NEPAD \u201callocated U$1, 4 million to carry out target activities within the three Thematic Areas which are (i) support to policy, legal and regulatory framework and needs (ii) development of an operational framework and (iii) Establishment of the National CAADP Sub-Committee of Fisheries for more effective management of both the industrial and artisanal fisheries to ensure that economic benefits accrue to Sierra Leone,\u201d Mr. Sesay said.<\/p>\n

Despite these positive reports of progress, NEPAD\u2019s critics are blasting the organization citing some of its weaknesses.\u00a0 During an African Forum for Envisioning Africa Focus Conference, 50 African scholars concluded that NEPAD\u00a0 adopts social and economic measures that contribute to the marginalization of women, NEPAD does not question the global economic system that, in civil society’s views, plays a major role in Africa’s continued marginalization and NEPAD may be a continuation of the highly questionable Structural Adjustment Programs, now including privatization of public services such as water and electricity supply or health services.<\/p>\n

Yetunde Odugbesan (above) is a graduate of the United Nations Worldview Institute and currently a Ph.D Candidate (ABD) at Division of Global Affairs Rutgers University in New Jersey, in a statement via email she said \u201cas NEPAD celebrates its tenth anniversary, there is both cause to celebrate and to further re-assess NEPAD’s success rate in implementing their various development programs in African countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Yetunde Odugbesan<\/p><\/div>\n

Ms Odugbesan also contends that \u201calthough NEPAD boasts of setting up various programs, the issue of delivery has been a constant problem.\u00a0 Many initiatives of development have stayed in its initial stages due to ineffective implementation which creates a public perception of NEPAD’s ability to delivery results as low. Political instability, high levels of corruption and poor infrastructure are still plaguing African countries according to Transparency International in which many of the African countries are reported to still have high levels of corruption,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The five day celebration ended Tuesday with a First statement of the NEPAD Agency as an Observer Mission (African Union status) on the occasion of the UN General Assembly Debate on NEPAD or \u201cNEPAD DAY\u201d at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York.<\/p>\n

By Dennis Kabatto<\/em><\/p>\n

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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