Towards attainment of Agenda 2063 within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic context

Johannesburg, November 5, 2020 – Challenges and opportunities in the development and implementation of innovative regional response strategies to COVID-19 in Africa are being interrogated by AUDA-NEPAD and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). This is in line with their responsibility for building and strengthening African Union Member States and regional capacity for the implementation of development priorities.

AUDA-NEPAD and the RECs are fostering regional support to the most vulnerable countries and strengthening regional mechanisms for disasters, as well as capacitating regional surveillance and early warning systems.

Following the recommendations of the high-level coordination meeting held by the African Union Commission, AUDA-NEPAD and the continent’s eight RECs on 18th May 2020, regular meetings will be held on to ensure coherence in the implementation of the multisectoral strategies towards the attainment of Agenda 2063 within and beyond the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the AUDA-NEPAD and RECs Coordination Mechanism to institutionalise the mechanism, on 5th November, Mrs Fotabong, AUDA-NEPAD’s Director of Programme Innovation and Planning acknowledged the presence of the following RECs: COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, IGAD, SADC and UMA.  Mrs Fotabong highlighted the purpose of the meeting as being to finalise the work plan that was jointly developed.  

“A number of our populations on our continent are living in very challenging circumstances. Going beyond the emergency measures that were put in place for COVID-19, we need to take a holistic approach in implementation of identified strategic interventions and projects,” Mrs Fotabong said.

The work of the AUDA-NEPAD and RECs Coordination Mechanism comes in the wake of a call for continued to support to countries in strengthening their health systems in the areas of digital tracking systems, adoption of harmonised regional testing systems for COVID-19, to allow cross border movement and enhance the human capacity to track, test, trace and treat.  This support will be aligned under the Africa CDC strategies. Another request is for support in information-sharing, through the promotion of information technologies, experience capitalization across the region and through south/south cooperation and sharing of data amongst regions and Member States.

Another call was to incorporate the rural sector into all recovery efforts, through building resilience in rural communities; increased access to market, the digitalisation of rural services and spatial planning.

The parties also recognised the need to accelerate implementation of all actions to increase food security across all regions, including local and regional food production, agro-processing and food distribution and to minimise dependency on food imports. They also recognise the need to align resources with priority activities and interventions.

The focus areas for the Coordination Mechanism work plan include: Regional surveillance mechanisms; promotion of indigenous knowledge; building resilience into rural communities (for example in climate adaptation, tourism and innovation technology); food production along strategic value chains; implementation of the post COVID-19 recovery strategy; capacity building and strengthening health data systems for evidence-based planning; and resource mobilisation.