Oxfam AU summit reflection february 2015

A Reflection from the African Union Summit

Active Citizenship & WIN at Regional Level A Reflection from the African Union Summit

By Désiré Assogbavi, Head of OI-AU

CSOs Leaders trained by Oxfam on “Understanding & Engaging the African Union”

Led by Sipho Mthathi, Executive Director of Oxfam South Africa , a team comprised of 18 Oxfam staff from 4 affiliates (OGB, ONL, OUS, OZA) and the OI Secretariat operating in 7 countries spent over a week in Addis Ababa from 24th – 31st January 2015 to engage the 24th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union. The Oxfam Team supported more than 120 partners from 20 African Countries to influence various policy discussions and side events held during the Summit.

Hosted by Oxfam International Liaison Office to the African Union, Oxfam’s crew created an 1

Active Citizenship & WIN at Regional Level

unprecedented set of influencing spaces where citizens from all African regions were able to raise their voices over the key issues on the agenda of the Summit. These influencing moments include the following:

Over 40 stakeholders and affected people from the Great Lake Region (DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) hold a face to face dialogue with the UNSG Special Envoy for the Great Lake Conflict, Ambassador said Djinnit on the implementation of the DRC Framework Agreement and the role of CSO in the process: See Report by the UN here: http://monusco.unmissions.org/Default aspx?ctl=Details&tabid=10662&mid=14594&ItemID=20888

Over 70 Activists, policy makers and donor partners participated in A Policy Dialogue on Climate Change “Reflecting on Lima, Gathering momentum for Paris” co-hosted by Oxfam and PACJA (See picture down).

Over 30 CSO leaders, UN agencies and the media participated in the Policy Dialogue on Illicit Financial Flows and Financing for Development co-hosted by Oxfam, Action Aid, Tax Justice Network Africa and other partners.

Several Organizations including Tax Justice Network Africa, The State of the Union Coalition, Oxfam, The Taskforce for the Engagement of Women from South Sudan, Open Society Foundation, The “AU We Want Network” participated in a “Inter-Agency Press Conference on the AU Summit” hosted by Oxfam at the AU Press Center ahead of the Summit

15 Women Leaders from 3 East African countries received a training on “Women and Peace & Security in the context of the African Union Agenda 2063” jointly held by Oxfam and the Institute for International Education.

28 CSOs leaders and media practitioners received an intensive training “Understanding and Engaging the African Union co-hosted by Oxfam Liaison Office to the African Union and the AU Commission: See AU Press Statement: http://summits.au.int/en/24thsummit/events/auc-dic-and-oxfam-organise-awareness-training-understanding-african-union

An unprecedented strategic meeting hosted by Oxfam gathered the Heads of leading International NGOs with Liaison Offices to the AU and the newly elected leadership of the Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC).

In addition, staff and supported partners held several direct lobby meetings with AU and members states Ambassadors, donors and other policy makers on the margins of the Summit.

Two Opinion pieces and several press releases and media reactive as well as media interviews 2

A Reflection from the African Union Summit

held with AFP, BBC, VOA, Al-Jazeera, SABC (South Africa), Wall Street Journal, RFI, the Daily Monitor, The Reporter and Associated Press: http://www.financialtransparency.org/2015/01/29/from-the-atlantic-to-the-pacific-civil-society-organizations-acrossafrica-welcome-au-focus-on-illicit-financial-flows/ and http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/feb/02/africa-tax-avoidance-money-laundering-illicit-financialflows

Oxfam South Africa Executive Director, speaking to the UNSG Special Envoy to DRC

Impacts: While our support to various partners presented an unique opportunity to have a direct dialogue on issues of their concerns with key policy makers and other stakeholders (DRC, Mauritania, Kenya, various AU officials‌) several issues and positions that Oxfam and partners have raised prior to and during the Summit have been echoed by the media, widely discussed and/or mentioned in the AU policy agenda. These issues include the conflicts in the DRC and South Sudan, Illicit Financial Flows, Democracy, Human Rights and Presidential Term Limits, Gender Equality, Ebola, Climate Change, Financing for Development, Citizens’ Participation, Financing of the AU, etc. See a blog published by the Head of OI-AU prior to the AU Summit: http://wp.me/p4ywYV-4h

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Active Citizenship & WIN at Regional Level

Lessons: Regional/Continental Engagement to Complement National Influencing Oxfam’s successful engagement with the African Union is a case to learn from and duplicate in other regions/sub-regions, by complementing national influencing especially when civic space is reducing or becoming risky for activists in certain circumstances and when a particular advocacy issues will be better resolved in a regional or continental context. Today, following the trend of the European Union,

the African Union is evolving into a continental

policy apparatus where adopted frameworks and standards must be followed by national policy makers in dealing with local issues.

In 2014, an article published in our “Active

Citizens” bulletin, directly catalyzed an important change of policy in the African Union’s interaction mechanism with CSOs on the issues of peace and security: See article here: http://issuu.com/assogbavi/docs/active_citizens_livingstone

Every year, Oxfam Liaison office to the African Union supports over 100 African citizens representing various NGOs and civil society coalitions to participate in the African Union decision making process. With this support, a good number of national and regional coalitions have now established strong working relation with various AU policy organs in terms of direct participation and influencing. Our goal is to keep the continental space open as a complement to national influencing.

Contact: Oxfam Liaison Office to the African Union TK Building, Bole Airport Area, Suite 406 Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia - Tel.: +251 11661 1601 / Fax: +251 11 661 2795 Email: addisababa@oxfaminternational.org - twitter@Oxfam_AU - Facebook: Oxfam International Liaison Office with the African Union: OI-AU