African Union CHAPTER 1 1. BACKGROUND AND PROCESS OF THE APRM In recognition of the imperatives of good governance for development, the Sixth Summit of the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of the New Partnership for Africa‟s Development (NEPAD), held in March 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria, adopted the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which has been widely acclaimed as Africa‟s innovation in entrenching democracy and good governance, is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by Member States of the African Union as a self monitoring mechanism intended to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated subregional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practice, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs of capacity building. 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. The overarching perspective of the APRM is good governance predicated on participation regularity, accountability, inclusiveness, openness and transparency and its relationship to efficiency and responsiveness. The APRM is unique both in its scope and breadth, with the review process extending to all levels of government, parliament and the judiciary as well as the private sector and civil society organisations. The APRM also covers simultaneous evaluation in four distinct pillars: Democracy and Good Political Governance, Economic Governance and Management, Corporate Governance and Socio-Economic Development. The core principle is that every review exercise carried out under the authority of the mechanism must be technically competent, credible and free of political manipulation. It is a non-adversarial 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. Participation in the process is open to all member states of the African Union. Accession entails undertaking to submit to periodic peer reviews, as well as to facilitate such reviews, and be guided by agreed parameters for good political governance and good economic and corporate governance. The African Peer Review Mechanism Base Document envisages the following four distinct reviews: 1. Base review when a country officially accedes to the APRM process. Bearing in mind that African countries are at different levels of development, on joining the APRM, a country will be assessed (the base review) and a timetable (programme of action) for effecting progress towards achieving the agreed standards and goals must be drawn up by the state in question, taking into account the particular circumstances of that state. According to the Base Documents, the Base Review is supposed to be undertaken within 18 months of a country becoming a member of the APRM process. 2. Periodic review which are meant to be conducted every two-four years; 3. Ad-hoc review which might be requested specially by an APRM member state; and, 4. Special review which might be initiated at any moment when early warning signs suggest an impending political, economic or social crisis in an APRM member state. This type of review would be 1