CHAPTER 1 Box 1.1: The APRM Progress Report The APRM, widely heralded as the jewel in NEPAD’s crown, is a non-adversary learning process among peers that relies heavily on mutual trust among the states involved in the review, as well as shared confidence in the process. It is a commitment to African governance standards and the tool for implementing the codes and standards enshrined in the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. National ownership and leadership by the participating countries are essential to the effectiveness of such a process. This includes leadership in ensuring consistency with existing national processes, such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process, other poverty reduction strategies, the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), National Human Rights Action Plans, Strategies for Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ongoing institutional reforms, and other relevant governance and socio-economic development strategies, programmes and projects. Twenty-three member countries of the AU have so far voluntarily acceded to the APRM. Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda were the first sixteen countries to accede to the APRM. Benin and Egypt signed the MOU of accession at the Extraordinary Summit of the AU held in Sirte, Libya, in February 2004. In July 2004, the last five countries – Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania – acceded during the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius and Rwanda were the first countries in which reviews were launched. At the time of writing this report, further reviews were initiated in Nigeria and Uganda. of experiences and the reinforcement of successful and best practice, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs of capacity building. 3. The APRM is open to all member states of the AU and twenty-three member countries have so far voluntarily acceded, as indicated in Box 1.1. Accession entails undertaking to submit to periodic peer reviews, as well as facilitate such reviews, and to be guided by agreed parameters for good political and economic governance, 2