African Monitor

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African Monitor
CONFIDENTIAL
Discussion document
24 February 2006
This report is produced by African Monitor with
support from McKinsey and Company, Inc. No part
of it may be circulated, quoted, or reproduced
for distribution without prior written approval
from the originators.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1 OF 2)

• African Monitor (AM) is an independent body,
  acting as a catalyst within Africas civil
  society , to bring a strong African voice to the
  development debate, and to raise key questions
  from an African perspective, in particular
• Are development promises being kept?
• What difference does all this make on the ground?
• Is there real development for real people?
• Thus it will press for the timely, efficient
  and effective implementation of commitments to
  Africa (e.g., those made in 2005, the Year for
  Africa) in ways that deliver tangible
  development at a grassroots level
• AM aims to drive changes at a grassroots level
  by
• Ensuring that the voice of Africas people, in
  particular the poorest, their priorities and
  perspectives are heard in the corridors of power
• Enabling change through advocacy, at both the
  local and international levels
• Supporting advocacy through monitoring
  quantitative and qualitative working as a
  catalyst with existing research and networks
  wherever possible
• AMs reach to communities, both in Africa and
  beyond, Africa will be extended through its
  partner networks
• To ensure that AM enters the debate quickly, it
  will first develop a broad pan-African
  perspective based on existing research and a
  broad-based survey of its African partner
  networks, particularly the faith networks. Over
  time, it will develop the capabilities to support
  more detailed grassroots monitoring efforts in
  specific areas of focus to ensure long term
  sustainability. As the extent of these monitoring
  activities grows, AM will aggregate its findings
  to enhance its pan-African perspective

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (2 OF 2)

• To ensure a strong voice, AM will communicate
  both its broad pan-African perspective and its
  more detailed messages to three key audiences
  policymakers, media and grassroots. These
  messages will be tailored to its audiences, but
  the content will be drawn from AMs growing body
  of research, which will be published in a report
  annually
• AM will appoint a Board which is broadly
  representative of its constituency, including
  geographical, linguistic, faith and gender
  considerations. In addition to the Board, there
  will be the Togona or House of Wisdom who will
  perform broad-based advocacy with policymakers
  and be the public face of AM. The Togona will
  consist of high-profile leaders with credibility
  and influence both in Africa and beyond
• The day-to-day activities of AM will be managed
  initially by a Project Director and in time by a
  fully fledged CEO. The activities will be carried
  out by a small complement of full-time staff
• 2-3 Research and Reporting specialists who will
  compile the pan-African perspective from existing
  quantitative data and qualitative information
• 2-3 Monitoring and Local Liaisons specialists who
  will support grassroots monitoring efforts
  through training programmes and toolkits, and who
  will provide qualitative input, including human
  stories based on the results of monitoring
  activities
• 2 PR Communications specialists who will craft
  communications materials to support advocacy
  efforts, e.g. newsletters, speeches and reports

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A STRONG, INDEPENDENT AFRICAN VOICE IS NEEDED IN
THE DEVELOPMENT DEBATE . . .

• Western governments and institutions

Western civil society
The development debate
?
African governments and institutions
African civil society
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. . . IN PARTICULAR TO TRACK THE IMPACT OF RECENT
COMMITMENTS
Context

• 2000, international communities commit to
  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• 2001, the then OAU through NEPAD commits to
  sustainable development through good governance
  and appropriate capacity building
• 2005 proclaimed Year for Africa, yielding
  extensive commitments to development by donor
  governments and institutions, e.g., Commission
  for Africa, G8 Gleneagles Summit, UN Special
  Summit, WTO Doha Round

Underlying questions

• Are development promises being kept?
• What difference does all this make on the ground?
• Is there real development for real people?

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AFRICAN MONITOR (AM) AIMS TO PROVIDE THIS STRONG
AFRICAN VOICE TO DRIVE CHANGE
Goals
Impact

• Ensuring that the voice of Africas people, in
  particular the poorest, their priorities and
  perspectives are heard in the corridors of power
• Enabling change through advocacy, at both the
  local and international levels
• Supporting advocacy through monitoring
  quantitative and qualitative working as a
  catalyst with existing research and networks
  wherever possible

• Create the link between macro input and micro
  output
• Raise expectations and awareness, improve
  accountability, motivate the grassroots
  communities to engage
• Build a bridge between Africa and donor
  communities

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THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH ADVOCACY,
SUPPORTED BY MONITORING ACTIVITIES . . .
Advocacy
Monitoring

• Synthesise existing quantitative data and
  qualitative research, leveraging the right
  network of partners
• Collect and synthesise additional qualitative
  data on the realities at the grassroots level,
  leveraging faith networks

• Engage with governments and lobby international
  donor bodies and other constituencies to enable
  change
• Broaden and contribute to the public debate
  through media activity
• Raise the expectations and awareness among
  grassroots communities who then pressure
  governments through community action

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. . . LEVERAGING PARTNER NETWORKS FOR GREATER
REACH
Local partner networks
International partner networks
Recipient governments
Donor governments
Local communities
International communities
Networks include NGOs, CSOs and faith networks
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AM WILL FOLLOW A STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH TO
ACHIEVING ITS GOALS
Step 2
Ensure long term sustainability
Step 1
Enter the debate in the short term

• Present a broad pan-African perspective on
  development at key development forums including
  APF, AU and G8 summits
• This perspective will include an overview of aid,
  debt, trade and financial flows in Africa by July
  2007. This will be based on
• Existing research conducted by both international
  and African-based organisations. International
  research will be re-analysed from an African
  perspective
• Additional research commissioned to fill gaps
  which may exist
• Broad survey of faith networks and partners to
  understand what is happening on the ground
• Communicate messages based on perspective to
  media and grassroots

• Make grassroots communities aware of their rights
  and what they should expect from government using
  local partner networks
• Develop a detailed perspective in areas of focus
  by
• Enabling grassroots communities to conduct their
  own monitoring, and to use these results to
  conduct advocacy with local and national
  governments
• Aggregating the experiences across different
  communities to create a detailed picture
  incorporating grassroots experiences
• Communicate the results with African and
  international networks, forums and governments,
  and feed back results to inform grassroots
  activity

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IN EACH STEP, THE ADVOCACY EFFORTS WILL FOCUS ON
THREE AREAS
Policymakers
Media
Grassroots
Content

• Primarily technical, economic story illustrated
  by human stories and grassroots experiences

• Compelling messages that contain key facts but
  are also emotive
• Calling for action
• Highlighting successes and areas of concern

• Clear, straightforward, messages, tailored to
  local audiences that encourage local communities
  to engage with governments and multilaterals

Tools

• Speeches at forums, e.g. APF, AU and G8 summits,
  conferences
• Meetings with government ministers, key multi-
  and bilaterals and policymakers

• Emails
• Press releases
• Interviews, op eds, etc.

• Speeches
• Sermons
• Newsletters
• Community action / mobilisation

Requires a coherent message developed in
collaboration with partners
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AMS MESSAGES WILL INITIALLY FOCUS ON ITS OVERALL
STRATEGY
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Key components of initial message

• International communities committed to MDGs
• The AU through NEPAD committed to sustainable
  development through good governance and
  appropriate capacity building, and to Peer Review
  Monitoring
• 2005 was the Year for Africa, and this momentum
  must be maintained

Why now?

• Provide pan-African perspective on the state of
  development, incorporating human stories
• Encourage and motivate citizens to be able to
  question how policies are shaped / delivered and
  to demand transparency, by making them aware of
  their rights and building their capacity to
  participate in policy-making
• Explaining key policy decisions and how these
  should impact grassroots communities
• Create an umbrella body networking between civil
  society organisations that will work to help
  donors / NEPAD keep their vision

What is AMs overarching vision?

• The African voice, and especially the grassroots
  voice is seldom adequately heard in the corridors
  of power
• Most grassroots communities are unaware of policy
  decisions that are made, and how these decisions
  could impact their lives
• In order to reverse the current situation in
  Africa, it is important to transform from a
  culture of patronage to accountability, by
  raising the level of expectations
• Focussing on outputs and measurable targets
  rather than on inputs will help to increase
  accountability, highlighting successes and where
  things need to change

What is the underlying theory?
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STEP 1 AM WILL QUICKLY DEVELOP A PAN-AFRICAN
PERSPECTIVE
Tailored advocacy messages

• Pan-African perspective

Policymakers Overall economic story, based on
quantitative data supported by broad anecdotal
evidence to indicate that there is monitoring
activity
Initial analysis of the state of development in
Africa

• Performance of African governments against
  targets, e.g. national commitments linked to MDGs
• Performance of donors against targets and
  commitments
• Broad view of grassroots and partner experiences

Tailor the message
Media AMs perspective on how accountability can
be improved, what is working well and what is
not, supported by key facts and examples
Aggregate and collate information
Grassroots The AM concept, the need to work to
improve accountability and examples of successful
local action
Potential information sources

• Existing quantitative data from governments,
  international institutions, think tanks, NGOs,
  CSOs

• Existing qualitative information from
  universities, NGOs, CSOs, and other partners

• Additional qualitative information from broad
  survey via faith networks

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STEP 2 TO ENSURE LONG TERM SUSTAINABILITY THERE
SHOULD BE INTERACTION BETWEEN AM, COMMUNITIES AND
GOVERNMENTS
Enable local communities to do self- sustainable,
independent monitoring
Provide African Monitor with qualitative and
quantitative information

• Local communities

African Monitor
Focus on a specific area
Conduct monitoring activities and engage in
dialogue
Catalyse relationship between governments and
local communities
Provide information needed and engage in dialogue
Give African Monitor feedback on areas of focus
for local governments
National/local govern-ments
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AM WILL AGGREGATE FEEDBACK FROM COMMUNITIES TO
SUPPORT ADVOCACY EFFORTS
Tailored advocacy messages
The human story on an area of focus
Policymakers Examples of community activity that
support the technical pan-African perspective,
and the implications for governments and other
policy makers
Aggregation of community experiences highlighting

• Successful development initiatives
• Successful engagements with government
• Examples of increased transparency
• Areas of concern

Tailor the message

• Media
• Examples of what is happening in communities, how
  accountability is increasing, and how communities
  have been affected by specific policy decisions

Focus on a specific area
Aggregate across communities
Grassroots Clear messages that reflect community
experiences and activities, and which motivate
communities to continue to promote accountability
and to engage in monitoring and advocacy
LOCAL MONITORING EFFORTS SUPPORTED BY AM
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AM WILL HAVE A FULL-TIME STAFF TO SUPPORT
RESEARCH, MONITORING AND COMMUNICATION EFFORTS
( ) No. of FTEs

• Board
• (15-20)

Togona (7-15)

• Conduct broad-based advocacy
• Advise on strategy
• Raise profile and funds

• Discuss and approve budget and strategy
• Oversee legal compliance
• Raise profile and funds

Provide secretarial, HR and finance support
Develops strategy and oversees day-today
operations
Project Director/CEO
Office Manager
Research Reporting (2-3)
Monitoring Local Liaison (2-3)
Public Relations Communications (1-2)

• Aggregate, analyse and synthesise existing
  quantitative and qualitative data to support
• Broad advocacy
• Monitoring efforts within a specific area
• Compile research report in collaboration with
  Monitoring

• Craft messages for advocacy using research and
  monitoring results
• Review and edit materials produced by Monitoring
  and Research and Reporting, ensuring that the
  human story emerges

• Conduct qualitative survey to support broad
  advocacy
• Enable communities to monitor by providing
  toolkits, guidelines and support
• Synthesise information from monitoring activities
  on the human story, which will be inputs into
  overall research report