(v) Develop detailed strategies and action plans on how to engage African companies, foundations and citizens with the capacity and will to make a contribution and implement the same; transparent and competitive recruitment process adopted; (iii) Develop, taking into account the increased responsibilities from Agenda 2063 and SDGs as well as the ambitions contained in this document, a detailed human resources strategy and implement the same; (vi) Develop detailed strategies and action plans on how to reengage our strategic partners and implement the same; and (vii) Explore alternative sources of funding, including through sale of knowledge products that will be developed as part of our knowledge management and communication strategy. (iv) On the basis of the above, prepare a revised organisational structure and staffing requirements, submit for approval to the Committee of Focal Points and implement same; and Outcome 4: Human Resource Capacity Development: APRM Secretariat staffed to full capacity and the quality of APRM Reviews noticeably enhanced (v) Recruit qualified experts to fill all existing vacancies as a matter of urgency. Outcome 5: Development of Monitoring & Evaluation Frameworks and Systems 126. Under the organisation structure approved by the Committee of Focal Points in 2012, the APRM Secretariat is supposed to have 45 full-time staff. And this is for the traditional work of the APRM before the introduction of Agenda 2063 and the SDGs, which the APRM has been specifically instructed to work on. Today, the Secretariat has barely 20, most of them on short-term contracts that are running out shortly. 129. An issue that has constantly come up in the short history of the APRM is what value it in fact adds, what it can show on the ground, and indeed what it can do if countries do not have the political will to implement the recommendations. This is a challenge that needs to be addressed; otherwise, it can put the very credibility of the APRM into question. 127. The capacity constraints of the APRM Secretariat inevitably affect the quality, efficiency, and overall integrity of country review processes and outcomes. 130. In practice the problem has two dimensions: the enforceability of APRM recommendations, on the one hand, and the monitoring, reporting and followup capacity of the APRM Secretariat on the other. If the APRM Secretariat is unable to follow up and report on the performance of countries after a review has been completed, we would not have any credible way of telling whether countries in fact comply with the recommendations. That in turn makes the question of enforceability a largely academic question. That is why these two issues need to be addressed in tandem. For example, different types of reviews are envisaged in the APRM founding documents, such as crisis-triggered reviews and reviews at the special request of a participating state, and indeed the reviews are supposed to take place at regular and pre-defined intervals. The lack of political will provides a major part of the explanation for the complete absence of the special or regular reviews, but the institutional capacity of APRM Secretariat would also have made it nearly impossible to act otherwise. 131. Furthermore, for an international organisation such as the APRM whose primary task is the review of national policies and practices, the development of state-of-the-art monitoring and evaluation capacity is fundamental. Neither the standards against which countries are reviewed, nor the evidence of compliance or otherwise at national level, come in easily quantifiable or determinate terms. They are often subjective and context dependent. As such a sophisticated methodology of measurement and evaluation is critical. This capacity is currently nonexistent and has to be created from scratch. 128. Against this background, during the strategic plan period, we aim to: (i) Give, with immediate effect, relevant current staff one-year contracts in order to stabilise the work environment; (ii) Standardise staff contracts during the early part of the Strategic Plan period according to AU rules and regulations, which require that all positions are properly advertised and a –27–

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