The African Participatory Monitoring Initiative (APMI)

Introduction:
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) are prepared by governments  in low-income countries through a participatory process involving  domestic stakeholders as well as external development partners,  including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. To date, the involvement of civil society in PRSP processes has been  minimal in most African countries. As a strategy to analyze the degree of civil society engagement and also develop plans to promote  civil society participation, the African Regional Youth Initiative (ARYI) proposes a series of civil society consultations to:

1. Amplify Stakeholders' Voices - Collect and disseminate the opinions, critiques and suggestions of CSO regarding the PRSP.
2. Coordinate CSO Around Policy Issues - Foster discussion and debate amongst CSO regarding the PRSP process, foster greater CSO networking and greater regional CSO cooperation and cohesiveness in PRSP processes.
3. Integrate Stakeholders Views into Viable Macroeconomic Policy Prescriptions.
4. Mobilize for Open Dialogue - Mobilize CSO from all over the continent to advocate for greater participation in the PRSP process and/or alternative consultative processes where stakeholders' concerns and ideas are valued and used to make policy.

ARYI's PRSP Consultations:
Based on the organization's expertise and outreach in Africa, ARYI has developed a model consultation process for implementation in twenty countries in Africa to achieve the above objectives. By incorporating civil society's views and voices in a concrete macroeconomic plan we hope to open up policy dialogues and make them representative of stakeholders.

ARYI will conduct a series of CSO consultations in 2007 to take place in African countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The first consultation took place in Yaounde, Cameroon on March 5, 2007.

Consultation in Cameroon:

The consultation took place on March 5, 2007 from 10:30 am-3:00 pm at the MIFED Conference Hall in Etoa-Meki neighbourhood in Yaounde, Cameroon. For more information, please contact the APMI Coordinator, Theodore Tangie at or .

Special thank you to Myles Lennon who conducted both qualitative and quantitative research on PRSPs in Africa, and lead the development of  the APMI.
Interested to join the APMI initiative? get additional information about APMI? Visit the new APMI blog site at http://participatorymonitoringinitiative.blogspot.com.