14th Day Reflections

I have now worked at ECA for 14 days, and I think it's time to share some thoughts about the work that I am doing. My first task was to compile all of the guidelines that have been created for the clusters and sub-clusters of the Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM) into one document. I have also worked on some concept notes and the editing of documents. This week I summarized sections of a longer document so that the summaries could be incorporated into a report. And today, I researched and reported on various entities that provide financing for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Yesterday, I sat in on a meeting of the Gender Sub-cluster (which is part of the Social and Human Development Cluster). Just a reminder, in case this is not your area of expertise :), the clusters are groupings of UN agencies that are part of the RCM. They work to support the African Union Commission (AUC) and NEPAD in accomplishing the NEPAD agenda. Present at the Gender Sub-cluster meeting were UNAIDS, UNWOMEN, UNDP, ACGC, FAO, WFP, etc. Their discussions centered around joint activities that they had agreed to undertake as part of their yearly work plan. They are in the process of planning a gender audit of the different clusters, and organizing a retreat to increase coordination between the Gender Sub-cluster and the Agriculture, Food Security, and Rural Development Cluster. Clearly, the purpose of the sub-cluster and thus the meeting is to enhance coordination between the agencies around gender issues in support of the AUC and NEPAD agenda. However, it just seemed that they were meeting to arrange other meetings to discuss more about coordination. I didn't quite understand (although this was my first introduction to this sub-cluster) how what they were doing was improving development. However, their discussions did indicate the work that they are doing to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in agendas and present in discussions at important meetings, etc.

I am certainly learning a lot about the work of my department, the RCM, NEPAD, the AU, etc. However, I am finding it difficult to understand how all of the work being done in this department is ultimately contributing to better development outcomes. I understand the importance of ensuring that agencies are working together, and the importance of increasing the capacity of the AUC so it can better support and carry out the objectives of NEPAD. But I think I would learn a lot about how this is/is not working by meeting with those working in government tasked with incorporating the NEPAD agenda into their National Development Plans. What challenges do they face in ensuring that their NDPs are aligned with the NEPAD agenda? What do they see as the benefit of the work of the RCM? Does it really work to have a unifed development plan for the entire continent? 

I still have a lot to learn and understand about how this process actually works, but the glimpse that I have had so far raises many questions about the resources devoted to these activities and what they are ultimately accomplishing. Today I will go to the African Union with my team for the presentation of the Ten Year Capacity Building Work Programme to the AUC. It is a plan to enhance the capacity of the AUC which was created based on a review of the AUC's capacity needs. I'm very excited for this field trip! :)

Side note: I apologize if these ramblings are not your cup of tea...I will try to intermingle them with discussions of much more juicy subjects like advice on buying used clothes in the market. And I have tried to link some stuff which could better explain what I'm talking about just in case you're interested. :)