On 20 September 2024 the Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Dr Vasu Gounden, was invited to be a resource person at a United Nations General Assembly side event hosted by the African Governance Institute (AGI), TrustAfrica and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The event was held in New York, USA, and focused on the theme “Governance Challenges in Africa: Are we winning the battle?”
The high-level invitation-only event convened a selected number of African political leaders, policymakers, civil society representatives, experts and institutional partners, together with external stakeholders with the aim of 1) leveraging expertise and facilitating resource mobilisation from the private sector in support of the continental, regional and national development agendas; 2) Assessing the efficacy of established African governance mechanisms in their efforts to tackle the governance challenges faced by fragile and conflict-affected countries; and 3) charting the way forward for a unified strategy that addresses the Continent’s governance challenges and advance long-term peace and stability.
The Executive Director was one of the panellists in the High-level Panel session, which included H.E. Claver GATETE, the UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa; H.E. Cristina DUARTE, the UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa; H.E. Professor Ibrahim GAMBARI, the Former Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria; Dr. Abdoulaye BATHILY, the Special Envoy to the President of the Republic of Senegal; Dr. Christopher FOMUNYOH, Snr. Associate & Regional Director for Central/West Africa at the National Democratic Institute; and Mr. Brian KAGORO, the Managing Director of Programmes at the Open Society Foundation. The High-Level Panel session was followed by a general discussion on the topic.
The event brought together representatives from the African Union Member States and key Member States Leadership, government institutions, industry actors, technocrats, academia, the private sector, professional bodies, development partners, legislators, judiciary, financial institutions, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other relevant stakeholders, to discuss and share experiences on the implementation of the (AU) Agenda 2063 as Africa’s development tool, while exploring the effectiveness of mechanisms such as the APRM and other governance frameworks as good governance catalysts in realisation of the “Africa We Want”.
