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A wide ranging consultation in Africa and around the world was at the core of the Commission's work. These pages explain the main elements of the consultation programme and provide an archive of the main event reports, submissions, discussion forums and surveys that were received and analysed. A full record of all events that have featured the Commission in a significant way since May 2004 is contained in the Timeline |
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| The Commission for Africa produced its initial Consultation Document on 11 November 2004. It was designed to present a snapshot of the Commission's thinking, incorporating ideas received in the first phase of the consultation, and to shape the discussion in the second phase of the consultation. |
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The consultation programme consisted of two main phases. During the first phase, which ran from May to October 2004 the Commission consulted openly with a wide range of stakeholders without a predetermined agenda – allowing the consultation to shape the Commission’s programme. The Commissioners reviewed the results of this at the Second Meeting of the Commission in October. At this meeting they also agreed to publish a consultation document as the basis for the second phase of the consultation from November to December 2004.
The consultation work took the form of formal submissions, consultation meetings in Africa and elsewhere, and online forums and surveys. |
| The Secretariat received over 300 formal written submissions from many different countries. |
| The Commission's website debate attracted over 300 contributions. Additional online forums in Africa around the regional consultation events brought in the views of many more. Two opinion polls reaching many thousand Africans were carried out for the Commission. |
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The main elements of our consultation in Africa were five flagship regional consultation events, aimed mainly at African civil society, which brought in over 500 individuals from 49 African countries. These took place in Senegal, Cameroon, Zambia, Egypt and Kenya, covering each of the five regions in Africa. In addition five regional business consultation events took place in South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Algeria and Tanzania where the views of the African private sector were heard.
National consultations took place in Tanzania (led by President Mkapa), Uganda (led by Commissioner William Kalema), and Zambia.
Individual Commissioners led a number of additional consultations. Fola Adeola’s consultation series involved rural women’s groups, youth groups, business leaders, cultural practitioners and prominent thinkers in Senegal and Nigeria between October and December 2004. The events brought in representatives from across the West Africa region. Dr Anna Tibaijuka hosted a meeting of academics and thinkers in Tanzania and other Commissioners carried out a number of other fact-finding visits across the continent.
Amongst the many contacts with African Governments, Commissioners briefed African Heads of State at the African Union summit and a group of Commissioners consulted with 13 African Finance Ministers in Cape Town in January.
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| As part of the Commission’s work on culture and participation Bob Geldof convened a series of “new thinking” initiatives to collect ideas from a wide range of independent experts. |
| In the United Kingdom wide ranging consultation took place with civil society groups including African diaspora representatives. These concluded with a national civil society meeting in December. Businesses in the UK with an interest in Africa were also invited to a number of specific events to present their views. Commissioners also gathered views during meetings in China, Japan, and the World Urban Forum in Spain. |
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The findings from the consultation are summarised in the reports of the individual meetings as well as in submissions themselves. Where specific ideas and evidence from the consultation have been used these are clearly footnoted in the final report. You can also read here a Secretariat summary of some of the points from the written submissions, with particular reference to the consultation document.
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