african peer review mechanism march 2006

8/3/2019 African Peer Review Mechanism March 2006

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African Peer Review Mechanism:

An independent preliminaryassessment of Namibia

March, 2006


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OUTLINE

Terms of Reference

Democracy & Good Political Governance

Economic Governance and Management

Corporate Governance Socio-economic Development

Conclusion


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Terms of Reference

To assess Namibias status against the fourAPRM focus areas

To review Namibias adoption of policies,standards and practices identified by NEPAD.

To providenecessary information to theNamibian government, that might encourage itto participate in the APRM initiative.


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Method

A combination of desk study and interviews withrelevant stakeholders or informed key people inrespective sectors.

It was common for interviewees not to want their

opinions to be quoted or they were reluctant tooffer it altogether in some cases.

Use ofevidence from existing reports


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Democracy & Good Political

Governance

Main objective of the APRM

The key to successful economic, corporate andsocio-economic governance


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A Guaranteed Framework ofEqualCitizen Rights

Potential as a democratic state

Held four democratic elections

NSHR 2005 Report improvement in civil &

political rights Delay in decentralisation process


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Institutions of Representative &Accountable Government

The Public Service Act & Commission

Transparency International CorruptionPerceptionIndex 4.1 in 2004 to 4.3 in 2005

Anti-CorruptionCommission


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A Vibrant Civil Society Women in decision making positions at political level

3

4.7%

Namibia MDG Report, 2004 only a third of higherlevel positions are held by women

GenderEmpowerment Measure 0.572 in 2004 to0.603 in 2005

C

hildS

tatus Bill an

d the

C

hildren

C

are

an

d Prote

ction

Bill Orphans and VulnerableChildren Program Government efforts towards vulnerable groups 90% of persons with disability still unemployed


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ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND

MANAGEMENT

Good Economic Governance includestransparency in Financial management

Essential Prerequisite for promoting growth,

reduci

ng pov

erty a

nd

enha

nci

ng sustai

nabl

edevelopment


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Sound Macroeconomic Policies

Inflation rate (11.3% in 2002 to 3.9% in 2004)

Total debt to GDP ratio (31.6% in 2004)

Agricultural (5.3% in1999 to 4.6% in 2003).

Manufacturing (10.4 in1999 to 11.1 in 2003) Unemployment stands at over30%


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Sound Management of PublicFinances

medium-term fiscal framework (2001)

Medium Term Expenditure Framework - 3-yearrolling budget- revenue & exp forecasting

Budget debate Accessibility of budget documents


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Fighting Corruption and MoneyLaundering

N$ 650 (2003) - N$ 11.1 mill.(2004)

Know YourCustomer Policy

Financial Intelligence Bill


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Acceleration of RegionalIntegration

SADC, SACU & CMA

Namibia is performing in linewith SADCmacroeconomic targets SADC inflation rate

target for 20

12 is s

et at 5

%


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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Good corporate governance provides a level ofdisclosure and transparency regarding theconduct of corporations and their boards anddirectors


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Institutional Players

Commercial enterprises: Public & Private ListedCorporations, State-owned enterprises

Banks & Microfinance institutions

Non-Banking Financial Institutions


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Ensure that corporations act asgood corporate citizens

Addresses the adherence to Labour obligations,social responsibility and matters relating to theenvironment

Labour Act 15 of 2004

Safeworking environment NamDeb CorporateSocial Responsibility projects

NamDeb Social Fund & Sanlam Education &Training


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Adoption of codes of goodbusiness ethics

Combating WhiteCollarCrime through thebanking Institutions Act

The Medias involvement inexposing such

crimes


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Accountability of corporations,directors and officers

Disclosure ofInformation Generally AcceptedAccounting Practice

BoN is trying to enforce information disclosureamong banking institutions


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Socioeconomic Development

Implies the continuous improvement in thewell-being and standard of living of the people

The Namibian government is committed to the

above


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Self-Sustaining Development

National Development Strategies NDPs,Poverty ReductionStrategy, Vision 2030

Strategies formulated through a process of

shared visio

ns a

nd

natio

nal dialogu

e


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Accelerating Socio-economicDevelopment

Affirmative Action Policy

Adoption of the Millennium Declaration in 2001

Universal primary education 2006 target 95%,

92%enrolled in 2003 Lack of reliable data on poverty makes it difficult

to assess its progress


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Strengthening Policies, DeliveryMechanisms and Outcomes in key

Social Areas

Budgetary allocation to the Ministry ofEducationcontinues to increase

Campaigns against HIV/AIDS has increased National Strategic Plan onHIV/AIDS


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Affordable Access to Services forAll

Water and Sanitation Policy 1993

Department of Rural WaterSupply in the MAWF

Exploration and Exploitation ofenergy sources

in a sustainableway


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Broad-based participation indevelopment by all stakeholders

The Agenda forChange allows CSOs toparticipate in development policy debates

Civil Society Organisations involvement in

formulation of National Budget encouraged


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Conclusion

Namibia has adopted most of the standards andcodes required by NEPAD

Various Policies, regulations and institutions are

in

place

to promote

the

goals of NE

PAD

Stable Political environment

Favourable macroeconomic environment


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Challenges

Ensuring broad-based economic growth whileattempting to address historic inequalities

Lack of adequate objective information to assess

the

impact of policie

s an

d framew

orks Implementation of policies and programs


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Benefits of Acceding to APRM

Positive assessment should Namibia accede toAPRM

Positive impact advertise Namibia todevelopment partners and investors and assist

government in strengthening the capacity toimplement principles the country has subscribedto


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african peer review mechanism march 2006

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