AU Campaigning in Botswana for the ECOSOCC General Assembly Election

Gaborone, Botswana, 9th September 2014: The African Union Commission (AUC) convened a sensitization and motivation meeting on the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC) for civil society organizations based in Botswana. The meeting took place on Tuesday, 9th September 2014, at Cresta President Hotel, Gaborone, Botswana.

Mr. John Thomas Dipowe, Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in his welcome remarks, he appreciated the role the African Union is playing in contributing towards the implementation of the critical steps identified in the roadmap for the overall ECOSOCC election process.

Mr. Thomas stressed the need to work together to achieve the objectives through fostering and consolidating partnerships between the African Union Commission, member states and the CSOs, followed by the effective sensitization of its members and the general public at large in order to benefit from extensive feedback.

Dr. Alhaji Sarjoh Bah, AU Liaison Officer to SADC and Representative of the African Union Commission said on his part that the 23rd AU Assembly directed the AUC to undertake a sensitization and motivation campaign after the election process was constrained by lack of eligible candidates in several Member States. The African leaders mandated the AU to ensure that it worked constructively with the African civil society groups to facilitate the establishment of the next ECOSOCC General Assembly by the end of 2014.

Beyond fostering interest in the purposes of electioneering, Dr. Sarjoh said that the meeting aimed for the African civil society to buy into ECOSOCC and make it their own so that the framework of partnership that would support the integration and development project of the continent would be truly people-centered and people-driven.

He also noted that the African Union ECOSOCC is a unique institution that has no existing parallel. It not only provided the civil society with direct presence at the portal of decision-making, but it is also elected and managed by civil society, and in which they share visibility, privilege, power and responsibility in active interaction with other stakeholders in the African policies and programmes processes.

The Representative of the CSOs community Dr. Bookie Kethusesile thanked the AU for providing this superb opportunity to Batswana CSOs to get acquainted to the election process of ECOSOCC. She said this event was a sign that the transformed Union really wanted to see the African CSOs engaged and involved vigorously in the activities of the continental organization, and encouraged all the participants to apply for a seat in the General Assembly as the country should be represented in this important organ.

The Head of the Delegation, Mr. Filipe Furuma, made a thorough presentation on the history, role, functions and importance of ECOSOCC. He stressed on the need of all eligible CSOs to submit their candidature towards the next 2nd General Assembly as a commitment to voice out the concerns of the national CSOs. By taking part in this organ, it would be an opportunity to improve the Statutes and the engagement of other organizations into the Sectoral Clusters, he added.

Focusing on the ECOSOCC election process, Mr. Bright Mando, the Representative from the Office of the Legal Council explained to the gathering the details of the application procedure and process. In his presentation, he highlighted on the earlier steps taken till the present phase.

Emphasizing on Africa’s need of all its children in government and in civil society for renaissance and development, he called the civil society community of Botswana to participate in ECOSOCC and the affairs of the African Union.

Organized by the AU Citizens and Diaspora Organizations Directorate, the meeting is part of the AU sensitization and motivation campaign in preparation for elections of the ECOSOCC 2nd General Assembly.

The consequent discussion reflected on broad range of issues related to ECOSOCC election. These included the requirement for registration and the need for continental ECOSOCC to be complemented and interlinked to correspondent regional structures at RECs level. Some CSOs also stressed the need to balance obligations arising from participation in policy-making processes with normal watchdog responsibilities of CSOs.

The campaign was held in compliance with Decision EX.CL/Dec.849(XXV), adopted at the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea fro, 24-27 June 2014. The Decision called on the AU Commission to conduct a sensitization campaign among Member States that did not have a sufficient number of eligible candidates for elections into the 2nd ECOSOCC General Assembly.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Botswana civil society community and representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Labour and Home Affairs of the Republic of Botswana.

For any further information please contact :

Ms. Afrah Thabit, Directorate of Information and Communication, E mail : Thabitma@africa-union.org,
afraht@hotmail.com

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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