BACKGROUND
“Guided by our common vision of a united and strong Africa and by the need to build a partnership between governments and all segments of civil society, in particular women, youth and the private sector, in order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among our peoples, the Union shall function in accordance with the following principles; participation of the African peoples in the activities of the Union; respect for democratic principles, human rights, the rule of law and good governance; peaceful co-existence of Member States and their right to live in peace and security and; promotion of social justice to ensure balanced economic development.”
The Constitutive Act of the African Union
The Centre for Citizens’ Participation on the African Union (CCP-AU), which had initially begun its work as a task force on 2007, was established with the mandate of coordinating and facilitating the activities of participating civil society organisations and to encourage that of others around the continent in their engagement with the AU. As its main objective, CCP-AU seeks to support citizens, state and non-state actors to popularise and integrate key African Union (AU) policy standards and legal instruments in national laws, policies and programmes that promote good governance, gender equality, and the realisation of basic economic, political, social and cultural rights, as well as the rights of marginalised groups. The Centre aspires to achieve this objective through deepening, strengthening and systematising civil society engagement with the AU and its various organs through sharing critical information, capacity development, research, coalition building and joint organizing where this is deemed appropriate.
Upon its conception, CCP-AU has registered great success in employing several strategies to realise its mission among which included organising training workshops for varied stakeholders on the structures and functions of the AU’s organs, collaborating with CSOs to brainstorm new and informing of existing policies to lobby for their implementation, supplying CSOs and other stakeholders with detailed and timely updates on the activities of the AU through its website and listserv, and holding biannual Citizens’ Continental Conferences on the sidelines of each Ordinary Summit of the AU Assembly, affording delegates from all corners of the continent the chance to deliberate on issues of common concern and determine developments that have occurred since the last summit, further enabling the gathered CSOs from Africa and the Diaspora to relay concrete recommendations to the Heads of State and Government meeting at the Summit.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
1. To enhance African CSOs’ awareness and knowledge of the African Union’s objectives and working procedures and provide up-to-date information of its activities
2. To serve as a link between African CSOs and the AU in enabling CSOs to access the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) and the Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the official organ for CSO participation in the African Union;
3. To organise, conduct and coordinate Continental CSO Conferences in the lead up to the AU’s bi-annual summits with the view to enhance meaningful participation of African CSOs and generate a communiqué to enable CSOs to lobby Heads of States on AU Summit agenda issues;
4. To lobby and advocate the African Union member states to adopt agreements, protocols and other similar legal instruments that promote political, economical, social and cultural progress of African countries;
5. To advocate for the domestication of such adopted instruments into State parties’ legal system and policy framework according to local legislations;
6. To raise, mobilize and disburse funds and other resources to enable African CSOs to participate in Continental CSO Conferences organised by the Centre.
MISSION AND ROLE
Broadly, we seek the respect and organised inclusion of all African citizens’ voices in the continent as well as in the Diaspora. We envision an African citizenship which is built on the pillars of transparency and accountability and believe in the powerful role Africans’ participation plays in the success of the African Union as a continental body and ultimately, the development of the continent and its people.
As such CCP-AU’s specific roles are as follows:
1. Facilitation the CCP-AU would provide logistical and practical support to its members interested in engaging with AU organs and institutions, as well as with regional entities/pillars. This would include but not be limited to making appointments, booking space, facilitating visa/invitation letters, etc;
2. Engagement the CCP-AU would engage in full and direct advocacy with the above listed institutions.
3. Empowerment CCP-AU would develop the capacity of African organisations to engage the AU, its organs and regional entities.
4. Generating knowledge CCP-AU would generate knowledge for its membership on regional integration issues, and on social, cultural, political and economic concerns on the continent (policy briefing meetings, AU Summit debriefings, etc).
5. Fostering networks CCP-AU would also foster networking, shared learning and solidarity spaces amongst its membership and beyond as would be relevant and useful.
LOCATION
CCP-AU aspires to be working with a four office strategy with one central office in Nairobi that works with three focal points, the African Union Commission (Addis Ababa), the AU Judicial Organs (Arusha and Midrand) and the NEPAD/APRM (Addis and Midrand). However, for our initial phase CCP-AU will be operating with a two office strategy, working out of Nairobi and Addis.
THEMATIC FOCUS
It is within the belief of all who are concerned that, though the identified thematic clusters may not be able to deal with the myriad of issues and agenda of the continent, they, however, present to us pressing matters that require immediate attention:
- AU Government and Regional Integration
- Democracy, Governance, Human Rights and Leadership
- Economic Justice
- Gender Equality and Women’s Rights
- Peace and Security
MEMBERSHIP
CCP-AU is committed to being as inclusive as possible whereby a prospective member should operate in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights. Membership is open for all organisations with a clear constituency and set of interests that could complement and add value to our thematic foci and will mainly be drawn from the African Civil Society, including NGOs; CBOs; Mass Based Organisations; Professional Associations, Academics and Think-tanks; Individuals; Private Sector and the Diaspora.
If you or your organisation would like to become a member of the Centre or assist in any other form please contact us via programmes@ccpau.org and we will be able to address whatever queries you might have.