11/12/2017, Djibouti (Djibouti): The Stakeholder’s Meeting on the Sub-regional Coordination Mechanism (SRCM) for Eastern and Southern Africa, which is being hosted by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), this morning opened at the Djibouti-based IGAD Institute of Diplomatic during a brief inauguration ceremony presided over by IGAD Executive Secretary, H.E. Amb (Eng) Mahboub Maalim, with the Deputy Secreatry General of the East African Community (EAC), Eng Steven Mlote as Guest of Honour, and the Director of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa.
This meeting is bringing together Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs), UNECA’s Sub-regional Offices (SROs), and UN agencies with a view to identifying opportunities for joint planning and programme implementation at the sub-regional level.
The 17th Session of the RCM-Africa, which took place in April 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, reiterated the need to support the African Union (AU) in implementing the Agenda 2063 and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the framework for a renewed UN-AU Partnership for Africa’s Integration and Development Agenda (PAIDA).
The outcomes of the Arusha meeting, which reiterated that strengthened leadership and coordination among UN agencies was still required and alignment with regional priorities needed, and the 17th RCM are to inform the meeting that opened today, with a view to ensuring a more functional and inclusive stakeholder participation, enhanced ownership of SRCM by RECs and IGOs, and a more effective coordination of UN agencies and other partners in supporting RECs’ and IGOs’ work programmes.
The theme of this meeting is “Refocusing the Sub-Regional Coordination Mechanism (SRCM) for enhanced awareness and implementation of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
The overall objective of the meeting is to provide a forum for stakeholders to dialogue and make recommendations on how to reorient and refocus the SRCM for strengthened delivery and programme implementation, and on how to raise further awareness about the AU Agenda 2063 and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at REC/IGO and Member State’s level for policy mainstreaming purpose.
IGAD Executive Secretary praised UNECA for their leading role in sustaining the SRMC process during the last seven years. He added that the gathering was of the highest technical level in the best position to inform change makers. The EAC Deputy Secretary General declared the meeting open following his remarks.
The meeting will contribute to the transformation of the SRCM into an effective and efficient coordination mechanism in Eastern and Southern Africa; enhanced mainstreaming of the AU Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the establishment of a dialogue platform for further information sharing, awareness raising and networking at all levels.
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