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REJUVENATION REPORT 2015-2016

ABOUT THIS REPORT

This report provides an overview of CCPAU’s engagements in

2015 and 2016, and the activities that CCPAU participated in

during the years under review.

Picture on the Cover courtesy of Oxfam AU Liaison Office of the

6th Citizens Continental Conference, held in January 2016.

©CCPAU 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ........................................................................................................................................................ 3 ABOUT CCPAU: WHO ARE WE AND WHAT WE DO ................................................................................................................................................. 6

Description and Theory of Change .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 Vision Statement ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Mission Statement ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Values Statement ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Goals ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

INTERVENTIONS....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Campaigns ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Solidarity Actions ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Invited, Claimed and Created Spaces for Engagement ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 Relationship Building ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 Capacitation ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13

HOW DID WE GET IT DONE? .................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Secretariat................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 16 Board ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Members ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16

Message from the Executive Director

Rejuvenation is defined as the action of restoring, bringing

back or re-establishing! Our actions in 2015-2016 have been

about just this. Bringing CCPAU back from a hiatus to reclaim

its place and mandate in being a bridge between the citizens of

Africa and our continental and regional institutions. The one

thing that has been reiterated again and again throughout this period, by our

partners and members, is that there is even more of a need now for the work that

CCPAU does, than before.

It has not been an easy journey working in a climate of increased repression of civic

space, the decline of democratic governance and adherence to human rights, and the

eruption and continuation of conflicts like in Burundi, Libya and South Sudan.

Despite the increase in work to be done, there has conversely been a decline in the

availability of funding to African civil society organisations leading to an

overburdening of an already small and fragile movement.

So even less African civil society organisations have had the energy or resources,

whether human or financial to grow their advocacy to continental levels. The desire

has been expressed by several organisations to learn what they can do in and how

they can utilise those spaces, and CCPAU has continued to provide the training and

advice on engagement, but often the organisations lack the capacity to follow

through with the designed advocacy projects.

But it has not all been dire. CCPAU has been able to negotiate and provide spaces

for engagement with policy makers, has been able to grow engagement capacities, do

solidarity actions and grow our partnerships and membership. Our team has

worked doubly hard to make all this happen and I appreciate their efforts and

sacrifice for the development of our continent and its institutions.

How we resolve these enduring challenges in Africa was the heart of the strategic

planning process that CCPAU undertook during this period. With the need to

reevaluate the landscape and to have a better sense of what gaps there still were, we

underwent a process that included various engagements with our partners, well-

wishers and AU actors, to assess the viability of our work. We also sent out a

SurveyMonkey to individuals and organisations who knew us and also those who do

not know of us, to get an indication of what they felt was important for us to focus

on. This culminated in a comprehensive Strategic Plan for the next five (5) years viz

2016-2020.

One of the main things which came out of the consultation was the need to expand

our mandate. The proposal was therefore to rebrand the organisation, a process

which we have begun consultations on with our Board, members and partners. This

transformation will enable us to meet our existing mandate as a network of national,

regional and continental African civil society organisations and citizens working

towards creating the Continent we want. and will allow us to expand the scope of our

programming that was previously limited to only organising around the African

Union.

I take this opportunity to thank our Board, supporters, partners, members, team,

volunteers and interns for their contributions to the work of CCPAU and to the

growth and development of the institution.

Achieng Akena

CCPAU Executive Director

Picture 1: CCPAU Team enjoy a light moment during in-house training

About CCPAU: Who are we and what we do

Description and Theory of Change

CCPAU is a network of national, regional and continental African civil society organisations and activists working to bring citizens to the AU and taking the AU to the citizens of Africa. CCPAU believes that the African Union was created and exists for the citizens of Africa. To be relevant and legitimate it must respond to African citizens. Being an intergovernmental body, the AU’s mandate is to work directly with national governments. By doing so, the space for citizen engagement with the AU is reduced. CCPAU believes that the relevance and legitimacy of the AU can be enhanced if more space is created for citizen’s direct participation in the AU agenda. CCPAU is driven by a social accountability motive through which it aims to coordinate national and regional civil society formations into a continental voice on key issues affecting the citizens of the continent. As a link between the citizens and the African Union and vice versa, CCPAU sees itself playing two key roles: to bring the AU to the citizens and to bring citizens’ voice to the AU. Through this, CCPAU believes that citizens will be more informed and empowered to demand for the implementation of resolutions and protocols at local and national levels, and that the AU will be better informed in ensuring citizens’ agendas. CCPAU thus seeks a more symbiotic relationship between the AU and the citizens.

Vision Statement

CCPAU envisions a people driven African Union, which is

accountable and accessible to African citizens.

Mission Statement

CCP–AU exists to ensure effective civil society engagement with

the African Union in the interest of the citizens of Africa.

Values Statement

CCP-AU believes in and upholds the values of:

i. Social Justice and Equity – being conscious of

power in all its forms e.g. gender, language, location,

class, race, disability etc.

ii. Accountability – being accountable and demanding

accountability from all stakeholders and individuals

that we work with.

iii. Credibility – Striving to be respected, legitimate and

representative by and of all our key internal and

external stakeholders.

Goals

In order to realise its vision and accomplish its mission CCP-AU

will pursue five organisational goals. These are:

i. To promote civil society engagement with the African

Union, its organs, institutions and processes;

ii. To enhance African citizens’ awareness and knowledge

of the AU and provide information on its decisions and

activities;

iii. To facilitate continental advocacy initiatives that

strengthen democracy, human rights, rule of law,

equity and equality etc in Africa;

iv. To serve as a leading knowledge centre regarding the

African Union from an African perspective;

v. To promote knowledge on African CSOs expertise,

operations and activities particularly to African

government and pan African institutions such as the

AU.

Picture 2: Participants at a side event of the 57th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR organised by the Right to a Nationality Coalition

Interventions

Campaigns

Chairperson of the African Union Commission – Throughout

2016, CCPAU rallied for the inclusion of the voices of African

citizens in choosing the next Chairperson of the African Union

Commission (AUC). CCPAU engaged several actors and civil

society organisations with a view to expanding civic space for

CSOs and citizens to contribute their views on candidate for the

position of Chairperson of the AU Commission. We solicited and

facilitated the publication of a series of articles provoking much

interest and debate on the role of the Chairperson of the AUC, our

expectations of the incumbent and future Chair, and the space for

our participation in the election of the candidates. Due to the

heightened spotlight on this issue the AUC held its 1st ever public

debate by the candidates for position of Chair that was

livestreamed and extensively tweeted.

Freedom of Movement in Africa – This project which has been

running from early 2016, built on CCPAU’s extensive research and

engagement at continental and regional levels on this issue, and

was aimed at creating champions on free movement on the

continent. It sought to trigger a citizen-led accountability process

for the commitments made by Kenya’s government for free

movement, while building champions for free movement who

would then engage their counterparts in other countries. The

activities included stimulating discussions from published

advertorials in the newspaper, radio talk-shows and the targeted

distribution of IEC materials. There was complementary use of

social media and online platforms for engagement with citizens of

COMESA and Africa in general, including a video competition

specifically targeting youth, and newspaper and radio coverage.

The project rallied for COMESA member states to sign and ratify

the Free Movement Protocol and fully implement the Protocol on

the Gradual Relaxation and Eventual Elimination of Visas under

the hash-tag #VisaFreeCitizens. We met with the COMESA

Secretariat to discuss ways of speeding up of the ratification and/or

implementation of the treaties. The achievements of this project

will be most beneficial to travellers, short and long distance traders,

business persons, students, civil society actors, the private sector

and cross-border communities, and will also reduce the risks for

women and youth migrants. In addition to our research work, the

information we have received in implementing this project has

already been feed into the protocol development processes of the

AU Commission, which is developing a continental protocol on

free movement in Africa to be adopted in January 2018 and a

common passport.

Gender Responsive Public Services – in collaboration with

ActionAid, Oxfam and Southern Africa Trust, we embarked on a

campaign to raise awareness on the gendered dimensions of public

service delivery. In particular, that women were disproportionately

affected by poor public service delivery especially since basic

services were crucial to human development, access and

participation, and overall wellbeing. We held two panels in

Johannesburg (December 2015) and Addis Ababa (January 2016)

and submitted a position paper on the issue to the Office of the

Chairperson of the AU Commission in January 2016.

Unfortunately, the project did not proceed further due to

institutional changes in our partner organisation.

Solidarity Actions

Burundi – CCPAU in collaboration with other civil society

organisations in East Africa held a series of solidarity activities with

the people of Burundi. Prior to the EAC Summit that was

scheduled for 2 March 2016, CCPAU led a vigil hash-tagged

#Africa4Burundi on 1 March, in order to demonstrate our

solidarity with the people of Burundi, express our outrage at their

plight and remind them that they were not alone in their struggle.

Despite previous strong pronouncements on Burundi by the AU

Peace and Security Council (PSC), the January 2016 Summit

reneged on taking the logical next steps towards stemming the

violence and human rights abuses in the country. As the regional

bloc, the EAC which should have been taking the lead in resolving

the crisis, only offered lacklustre leadership, we held a vigil to

demonstrate to EAC leaders on the eve of the Summit, that the

citizens of the region were concerned about Burundi and that they

could not just sweep the problem under the carpet and had to

address it boldly and robustly.

Sign-ons – CCPAU also signed on to several solidarity campaigns

initiated by other actors on a number of issues including cessation

of conflict in Burundi, Gabon, DRC and South Sudan, and the

importance of the adoption of the Treaty for the protection of the

rights of older persons.

Invited, Claimed and Created Spaces for Engagement

The 6th Citizens’ Continental Conference – was held from 21-

23 January 2016, and was attended by 179 African citizens, social

movements, CSO representatives, journalists, representatives of

African Union bodies, intergovernmental and multilateral

institution representatives, and other relevant stakeholders. The

organisations and institutions working in all five geographical

regions of Africa, and the diaspora, met ahead of the 26th African

Union Summit of Heads of State and Government in Addis

Ababa, Ethiopia. The conference, which was focused on the theme

of the Summit, provided a forum for civil society organisations and

African citizens to critically reflect on the progress to date, current

challenges, gaps and opportunities in addressing Human Rights in

Africa, and to share narratives and insights on what ought to be

done, and also provided clear, concise and co-ordinated

recommendations addressed to AU Member States and the

African Union itself, related to the strengthening of institutions,

reforming of discriminatory laws and policies, addressing structural

causes of rights violations, ratifying and domesticating key legal

instruments and mobilising and deploying adequate resourcing for

human rights commitments. The Conference Communique was

shared widely including to various AU institutions. It is important

to note that it is difficult for civil society organisations to organise

around and have access to the AU Summit, and so this created

space by a coalition of organisations engaging with the AU,

provided an opportunity for CSO representatives to raise the

profile of critical issues during the political discourse and decision-

making that takes place during an AU Summit.

Picture 3: Participants at the Africa Regional Meeting of the Policy Forum for Development (PFD), September 2016

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

(ACHPR) – this is the most open civil society space amongst AU

bodies. The session happens twice a year and is preceded by an

NGO Forum organised by the African Centre for Democracy and

Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS). During the period of this

report CCPAU was able to host 2 panels at the NGO Forum, one

to mobilise civil society action on the theme for 2016 on Human

Rights and the 2nd graced by the AUC’s Department of Political

Affairs, was to brief the 300+ civil society organisations that attend

the forum on the developments with the Protocol on, and

challenges with free movement in Africa. In addition, we have

collaborated with various partners on side events on the margins

of the session of the ACHPR on Burundi, on the Right to a

Nationality and on Youth and Participation. The ACHPR

Commissioners attended these events and in these claimed spaces,

were able to have frank conversations with the attendees on the

scope and limitations within which the ACHPR were able to work

for the protection and promotion of human rights.

Policy Forum for Development (PFD) – CCPAU is a member

of the PFD and is one of the representatives of African Civil

Society in that space. The PFD is a Structured Dialogue, which

brings together Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Local

Authorities (LAs) from regions in which the European Union has

partner countries. In September 2016, we co-organised a regional

meeting for Africa in Dakar, Senegal to which we invited African

civil society organisations from different sectors and regions to

deliberate on the EU developmental agenda for Africa. In this

invited space, as part of the PFD, we also participated in the CSO

Forum organised by the European Commission in Brussels.

Zinduka Festival - (zindukafestival.com) is an annual regional

festival that brings together people from across the East African

Countries to interact, celebrate their diversity and engage with the

integration process. Zinduka, now in its 4th year of existence, is a

conscious festival that offers people a unique opportunity to

contribute to the East African integration process through art and

culture, policy dialogue and movement building. We worked with

the Zinduka Organising Committee to part-brand the event on visa

free citizens and provided t-shirts, caps, flags and vehicle

decorations, and also hosted discussions on freedom of movement

in the EAC and COMESA, on a Right to a Nationality and what it

would practically mean for their lives to achieve a visa free Africa.

Africa-EU Migration Dialogue – we co-hosted with Friedrich

Ebert Stiftung (FES) an Africa-EU Migration dialogue in

September 2016. In an effort to contribute towards a more

beneficial political dialogue between the two continents on the

controversial issue of migration, we co-hosted a seminar in Addis

Ababa on the 14th September 2016. The seminar brought together

relevant representatives from the African Union (AU), the EU

Delegation to the AU and to Ethiopia, European and African

states, UN organisations, experts, academia and civil society

organisations, to discuss this topic in an informal and constructive

manner.

Relationship Building

AU Institutions – CCPAU has been working to rebuild

relationships that collapsed during the hiatus of activities and

leadership in the organisation. In this regard, we have made

concerted efforts to engage with different AU organs and

institutions including the Pan African Parliament (PAP), the

ACHPR and the AUC. CCPAU attended a partner dialogue at PAP

in November 2015, and the Parliament officials greatly welcomed

collaboration with civil society. CCPAU also rekindled its

relationships with the Commissioners of the ACHPR during the

sessions that took place during the period under review (56th -59th).

We have also been continuously engaging with different

departments of the AUC but primarily with the Department of

Political Affairs. It is with them that we began the process of

negotiating for a Memorandum of Understanding with the AU

Commission. However, the process has stalled primarily due to the

AUC decision to rationalise their existing MOUs with civil society

organisations before entering into any more.

Partnerships – we have been able to resume the collaborative

activities of the AU We Want Coalition, which is a loose network

of organisations engaging with the AU. We were able to jointly

host the 6th Citizens Continental Conference and continue to

exchange ideas, information and cooperate in joint programming

on AU-related advocacy. We also joined two (2) new partnerships

during the period in review, one on the Right to a Nationality and

another on Anti-Corruption. In both the Right to a Nationality

Coalition (R2N Coalition), as well as in the Multi-Stakeholder

Working Group for East Africa (MSWG-EA), we bring a

comparative advantage of understanding the continental

institutions and having knowledge of the different actors and

players on the scene. In addition to hosting convenings, the R2N

Coalition has also been effectively able to engage the ACHPR

Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Migrants and IDPs who is the

focal point at the ACHPR on issues of nationality and

statelessness, the UNHCR and some Member States. We joined a

walk organised by another member of the Coalition, Kenya

Human Rights Commission (KHRC), in solidarity with Makonde

people of Kenya, in their protracted quest for nationality. As part

of the MSWG-EA we have engaged with the African Union

Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC) and with other civil

society organisations fighting corruption. We have also worked

with other organisations to brainstorm on, raise awareness about,

craft joint solutions and do advocacy on crisis situations happening

across the continent, especially on Burundi (as part of the Burundi

Action Group) and South Sudan.

Capacitation

Training – CCPAU continues to provide training for many

organisations wanting to learn about the AU System in order to

amplify their work beyond national level activities. During the

period in review we provided this training to several organisations

which work on issues of policing, torture, health, SOGIE and

human rights defenders. In June 2016, as part of the R2N

Coalition, we co-facilitated (with OSF), a training of a civil society

coalitions on advocacy with AU institutions and on the content of

the Proposed Protocol to the African Charter on Specific

Elements of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of

Statelessness in Africa.

Advice and Mentoring – in addition CCPAU provided advise on

how to engage to organisations that were already aware of the

existence of the space and the opportunities available but not sure

of what their most strategic entry points would be. We also

mentored new activists and youth activists orienting them to the

space and helping them to navigate their way.

Awareness raising and Communications – CCPAU has

deliberated and actively grown our social media profile and online

presence, taking advantage of new technologies and the growing

online movements to reach a broader audience, through our

extensive listservs, Facebook page and twitter account, that help

us reach over 10,000 people with our messages. Consistent updates

and postings have helped us grow our following significantly.

How did we get it done?

Secretariat

Credit has to go to the CCPAU Team at the Secretariat based in

Nairobi for the accomplishments we are celebrating during this

period under review. In particular,

Claire Mwango – Communications and Admin Assistant

Edwin Sang’anyi – Finance Officer (part-time)

Laban Machogu – Programmes Associate –

Anthony Baraka – Programmes Associate – Monitoring,

Evaluation and Learning

Nelson Kasaija – Programmes Associate

Irwin Iradukunda - Campaigns Associate

Doreen Owino – Legal Associate

Chris Muange – intern

Achieng Akena – Executive Director

We have made efforts into and have identified a potential person

to work for us in Addis but have not, unfortunately, been able to

secure sufficient resources to retain them or fulfil certain elements

of our strategic plan.

Board

The Board met three (3) times during the period under review and

have considered and given direction on the requests before them

including, the institutional finances, the fundraising needs, staffing

issues, the Governance manual, and engaged in the strategic

planning process.

Members

The members of CCPAU are the lifeline of the organisation

providing us with much information about the work we are doing,

from the ground up, and informing us on how to better serve them

with information, connections and facilitation.

Picture 4: Scenes from the Zinduka festival