academic institutions so as to enhance APRM influence in setting the agenda of conversation on African governance; 107. According to the Declaration, the APRM “seeks to promote adherence to and fulfilment of the commitments contained in this Declaration” (paragraph 28). It is thus clear that the overall goal of the APRM initiative is to promote, on the part of participating states, adherence to and fulfilment of standards of good political, economic and corporate governance agreed by those states in different forums, be they regional, continental or global. (xv) Develop initiatives on the role of regional and international ratings agencies and the potential role of the APRM in this field; and (xvi) Champion Flagship Projects in order to draw attention to shared challenges that underline the need for transformative leadership, inclusive growth, mobilisation of domestic resources, improving the performance of stateowned enterprises, and universal accession to the APRM. 108. This Strategic Plan aims to deliver on its mandate and pursue its mission by deploying all its energy and resources in the 16 issue areas identified above as categorised within the eight key priorities. 4.2 The Foundations of the Strategic Plan 4.3 Overview of the Strategic Plan: key priorities, anticipated outcomes and related outputs 103. This Strategic Plan is founded on the vision, mission and mandate articulated hereunder. Vision 104. The vision of the APRM is the full actualisation of transformative leadership and practice for the Africa we all want. Mission 105. The mission of the APRM is to promote the African Union’s ideals and shared values of democratic governance and inclusive development by encouraging all Member States of the Union to collaborate and voluntarily participate in the homegrown, credible, rigorous, independent and selfdriven peer review process and the implementation of its recommendations. Mandate 106. The mandate of the APRM is to ensure that policies and practices of participating Member States conform to the agreed political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards contained in the African Union Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. As a voluntary self-monitoring instrument, APRM fosters the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and best practices, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs for capacity building. –21–