South Africa’s approach to implementing the APRM

South Africa’s approach to implementing the APRM

South Africa recognises the opportunity provided by the APRM to meet its African leadership responsibilities and our approach to its implementation seeks to contribute to setting precedents in good practice.

The strategic objectives underlying South Africa’s implementation of the APR process are:

• To establish benchmarks that can be used in future review processes
• To contribute to strengthening national systems for assessing government’s performance in delivering on its development objectives
• To build and popularise a broader sense of ownership for the People’s Contract and government’s national development priorities
• To support the building of African based knowledge and experience in utilising the Peer Review Mechanisms.

The South African approach seeks to ensure that, while government leads the review process, non-State actors should also champion it so that it is participatory and a broad base of South Africans can own the result.

Intergovernmental and civil society engagement should take place throughout the process and also come together in one collective, the Governing Council.

Our approach aims to avoid the proliferation of structures by using already existing bodies, and where bodies have to be created, their purpose and lifespan are clearly defined by the needs of the review process.

The approach followed also seeks to ensure that operational support is provided by already existing bodies so that the various deliverables are produced on time.