REPORT NEPAD CAPACITY BUILDING ROUNDTABLE
8^TH MARCH 2002
INTRODUCTION
Participants from ten countries attended the roundtable consultative discussion on ‘Capacity Building’. Invitations were sent to all 16 countries represented on the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee. In each case, the request was that the meeting be attended by the Heads of the respective Public Services or Public Service Reform departments. The objective of the ‘roundtable’ was to engage in consultative discussions on NEPAD’s Capacity Development focus for the short and long term. Following input from the NEPAD Secretariat on NEPAD’s direction and programme, Mr. R M Ramaite made a proposal on the possible focus for NEPAD over the short and long run.

Building on the initial presentations, the discussions culminated in the identification of a set of guiding principles for the Capacity Development Intervention, the short and long run focus for capacity development and the actions to be instituted to ensure implementation. It is expected that the principles, the focus for the short and long run and the actions suggested will feed into ongoing work on Capacity Development and will be reflected in the proposals and reports to be presented to donors, the NEPAD Steering-Committee and the relevant NEPAD structures.

• It is essential for the Capacity Development efforts to build on the mandate derived from the founding document and the commitment to capacity development from political representatives.

• The capacity development initiatives that are instituted need to be guided by research and should, as appropriate, be linked to national and local programmes, and to local contexts and situations.

• In designing and delivering the programme the initiative needs to build on and align with the capabilities residing within regional organisations.
• Capacity development interventions and research initiatives need to build on existing initiatives, where appropriate, but should not be limited by these initiatives – given the momentum of NEPAD and its overall orientation.
• In designing and delivering the short and long run interventions use should be made of the capabilities that are available in the continent and, only where appropriate, external capabilities may be utilised.

• Given the limited resources available for Capacity Development, external resources should be mobilised and be leveraged with appropriate internal regional and national resources.

• In designing and delivering the Capacity Development Interventions it would be important to utilise established ‘Centre of Excellence’ and where necessary establish these centres.

In defining the required focus for Capacity Development, the need to engage in immediate demonstrable short-run interventions was recognised. However, coupled with this, was recognition that we need to engage in long run research and knowledge exchange interventions. In each case, the specific focus areas and the required actions where broadly identified.

Building on initial presentation there was a general acceptance that the NEPAD Capacity Development intervention needs to be targeted at a set of focused areas. Given the scale and scope of NEPAD and the range of areas that being co-ordinating across the continent, the following where defined as the core focus areas for Capacity Development:

1. Peace and Security
2. Governance
3. Regional Integration
4. Public Sector Reform

Whilst there was some discussions on the content of the focus areas, it was deemed appropriate that these be shaped by experts in the areas of focus. In addition, it is expected that the specific Capacity Development efforts that need to be engaged in will be identified by the various co-ordinating structures working within the NEPAD fold. In order to ensure appropriate implementation, the following next steps where deemed appropriate for implementation:

1. In each focus area a Capacity Development workshop/meeting should be convened with relevant stakeholders and experts across the continent.
2. These focus area workshops should be used as a base to develop detailed capacity development interventions that would be appropriate.
3. To ensure effective design and the delivery of the required interventions Centres of Excellence should be identified and, where appropriate, should be leveraged to lead the capacity development interventions.
4. The stakeholder grouping and the lead Centres of Excellence would be charged with the responsibility of developing a detailed roll out plan for delivery.

Whilst the focus was on the short-run interventions, there was general acceptance that long-run intervention’s are essential for the overall success of NEPAD’s capacity development interventions. In the case of the long run, the emphasis was largely on establishing knowledge exchange platforms, engaging in research and exchanging information. The following were deemed priorities for the long-term (6 months +):

1. Data Base of Research and Knowledge Management
2. Directory of Capacity Development Programmes and Institutions
3. Establishment of a portal for information exchange
4. The Identification of focused research areas/ case development areas and engaging partners to conduct such research and the relevant cases.

In terms of the long-term outputs, there was general acknowledgement that the Conference of the Heads of Public Service planned for November 2002 will be used as an opportunity to present some of the initial research outputs. In planning the November conference, the initiative will be co-ordinated with similar initiatives engaged in by other structures within the continent.

There was general acceptance at the round-table that this was an initial meeting on Capacity Development within NEPAD and that it was a positive step in ensuring broader participation within the initiative. It was however deemed vital that there be rapid movement towards broader participation and that this be balanced with the need to ensure rapid delivery of the Capacity Development intervention. The general sprit of the meeting was an acceptance that NEPAD’s success resides in the pace of delivery and that there are very high expectations from Heads of States that need to be responded too. It was also recognised that the meeting was directed towards broad consultation and that the formal proposals that emanate from the meeting will be presented to the relevant NEPAD decision-making structures.