The Commissioners responsible for this theme were K.Y. Amoako and Linah Moholo.

The work under the Governance theme took account of ongoing initiatives such as the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism and recent work undertaken by the Economic Commission for Africa when establishing its starting point.

Work started with the recognition that weaknesses in governance is the central cause of Africa’s difficult experience over the last decades, and that without good governance, all other reforms will only have a limited impact. Improvements in governance are first and foremost the responsibility of African countries but there are also actions outsiders can take. Two areas were identified as crucial: capacity (the ability to design and deliver policies) and accountability (how the state answers to its people).

Some of the key issues that the Commission set out to address in these two areas include how to ensure donors get fully behind national strategies for capacity building in Africa; building professional skills, including by revitalising Africa’s higher education, especially in science, engineering, technology; improving the power of the parliaments, the media, and the justice sector to hold African governments to account; increasing transparency of revenues and budgets, especially in countries rich in natural resources; tackling corruption, including repatriation of stolen assets; and, strengthening the quality and management of data.

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