MANAGING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCILS AS A DRIVING FORCE OF THE NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON ECONOMIC AND

SOCIAL POLICIES

FINAL REPORT ON A CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP HELD ON

7TH TO 8TH MARCH 2001

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, NAIROBI, KENYA

(INCORPORATING REPORT ON BREAKFAST MEETING AT THE INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL ON THE ROLE OF THINK TANKS AND LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF

NAIROBI ON THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCILS IN POLICY MAKING AND DEVELOPMENT)

Nairobi, March 2011

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Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... iii ACRONYMS ...........................................................................................................................iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................v 1. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 1 2. OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP.............................................................................. 2 3. PARTICIPANTS............................................................................................................... 2 4. OPENING SESSION ....................................................................................................... 3 5. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT BY

DR. ULRICH GRAUTE, INTER-REGIONAL ADVISER, UNDESA.................................. 5 6. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: THE

KENYAN CASE BY JULIUS MUIA, SECRETARY, NESC, KENYA................................ 6 7. PRESENTATIONS BY THE PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES ON THEIR RESPECTIVE

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCILS .............................................................................. 9 7.1 The National Economic and Social Council of Kenya (NESC) by Mr. Leonard Kimani, Director of the Economic Sector, NESC Secretariat .............................................. 9 7.2 The Economic and Social Council of Benin by Mrs Huguette Akplogan Dossa ..... 14 7.3 The Economic and Social Council of Guinea by Mr Michel Kamano, Chairman of the ESC ............................................................................................................................. 16 7.4 The Economic and Social Council of Senegal........................................................ 20 7.5 Discussion in Plenary ............................................................................................. 22

8. MANAGING ESCS AS A DRIVING FORCE OF THE NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES – THE EXAMPLE OF HUNGARY BY MR. THOMAS HALM, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ESC OF HUNGARY AND SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE HUNGARIAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION................................... 23

9. CONCEPT FOR SIMULATION: STUDY CASE OF THE TURMOIL IN NORTH AFRICA 25 10. FIRST ROUND OF GROUP DISCUSSIONS: STUDY CASE OF THE TURMOIL IN NORTH AFRICA ................................................................................................................... 27

10.1 Group 1................................................................................................................... 28 10.2 Group 2................................................................................................................... 29

11. SECOND ROUND OF GROUP DISCUSSIONS: RE-VISITING THE STUDY CASE OF THE TURMOIL IN NORTH AFRICA.............................................................................. 30

11.1 Group I.................................................................................................................... 30 11.2 Group II................................................................................................................... 31

12. LOOKING AHEAD – WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO IMPROVE ESC MANAGEMENT 32

12.1 Proposals from Benin ............................................................................................. 33 12.2 Proposals from Guinea........................................................................................... 33 12.3 Proposals from Kenya ............................................................................................ 33 12.4 Proposals from Senegal ......................................................................................... 34 12.5 Proposals from AICESIS ........................................................................................ 34

13. WRAP UP SESSION ..................................................................................................... 34 14. BREAKFAST MEETING WITH LEADING THINK TANKS IN KENYA, WEDNESDAY 9TH

MARCH 2011, INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, NAIROBI, KENYA .............................. 36

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14.1 Topic-Theme of the Meeting................................................................................... 36 14.2 Objectives............................................................................................................... 36 14.3 Keynote Speech by Dr. Ulrich Graute, Senior Adviser, UNDESA, New York......... 36 14.4 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 38 14.5 Remarks/Responses by Mr. Julius Muia, Secretary, NESC, Kenya....................... 40

15. LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI ON THE ESCs AS INSTRUMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE POLICY FORMULATION AND CONSENSUS FINDING, WEDNESDAY 9TH MARCH 2011, BY DR. ULRICH GRAUTE, SENIOR ADVISER, UNDESA, NEW YORK .................................................................................................. 42

15.1 Objective................................................................................................................. 42 15.2 The Lecture ............................................................................................................ 42

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Appreciation is recorded for the following organizations and their officials:

The National ESC of Kenya for providing local support to the organization of the workshop.

UNDESA for coordinating the preparation, implementation and follow-up in cooperation with the ESC of Kenya and AICESIS and for providing travel costs and living expenses for the representatives of ESCs travelling to Kenya, i.e. the delegations from Benin, Senegal and Guinea. Further, UNDESA has supported the expenses for a resource person from the Hungarian ESC as well as a national consultant who was the rapporteur for the workshop.

AICESIS for providing a resource person for the workshop.

UNDP for the recruitment of the consultant on behalf of UNDESA and for facilitating the meeting of the local think tanks.

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ACRONYMS AICESIS: International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions BPO: Business Process Outsourcing COMESA: Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa DANIDA: Danish International Development agency ECOWAS: Economic Community of West African States ERS: Economic Recovery Strategy (of the Government of Kenya) ESC: Economic and Social Council ESEC: Economic, Social and Environmental Council EU: European Union GCCN: Government Common Core Network GDP: Gross Domestic Product IADGs: Internationally Agreed Development Goals) ICT: Information and Communication Technology IDRC: International Development Research Centre (of Canada) ILO: International Labour Organization IPRS: Integrated Population Registration System KAM: Kenya Association of Manufacturers KEPSA: Kenya Private Sector Association MDG: Millennium Development Goals NCST: National Council for Science and Technology (of Kenya) NDO: National Development Office (of Hungary) NESC: National Economic and Social Council (of Kenya) NGO: Non Governmental Organization SME: Small and Medium Enterprises UCESA: Union of African Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions UNDESA: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDP: United Nations Development Programme WFP: World Food Programme

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As part of capacity building in knowledge management in Economic and Social Councils in Africa, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in collaboration with the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS) and hosted by the Kenya National Economic and Social Council (NESC), held a two day workshop on “Managing ESCs as a Driving Force of the National Dialogue on Economic and Social Policies” in Nairobi, Kenya, from 7th - 8th March 2011. This was followed by a breakfast meeting with Kenyan think tanks with the theme “The Role of Think Tanks in Kenya and their Collaboration to Support the Development and Implementation of National Development Strategies” and a lecture at the University of Nairobi on “Economic and Social Councils as an Instrument for Effective Policy Formulation and Consensus Finding”. This forms part of a partnership in which UNDESA and AICESIS have entered on a long term basis in order to strengthen ESCs in moving forward their agendas.

The workshop was attended by about 24 participants from Benin, Guinea (Conakry), Kenya and Senegal.

The principal mandate of Economic and Social Councils (ESC) is to advise the government on bills aimed at promoting economic, social, political and cultural development. To do this, Councils are composed of representatives from relevant groups of the society and they have staff who support the preparation, implementation and the follow up of Council deliberations.

The participants recognised that the work of ESC is not done by just submitting a consensual proposal on a given subject to the government. Feedback is not only welcome but necessary. More generally, constant “political” dialogue with the executive and legislative powers is a condition for efficiency. Decision making on major social and economic subjects is often an ongoing process over a longer period and Council members and their supportive staff are involved in it. The form of involvement of ESC can vary a lot. If not asked for a statement by the government and if not engaged on own account, ESCs may completely stay out of the process – and as a matter of fact, there are many countries in the world which do not even have an ESC. Where involved, ESC may intervene at several stages of the process. Depending on the flexibility of their given mandate, ESCs may either focus on advising governmental bodies or may also go public and act like an advisory body to governments, groups of the society and individual citizens. They may even become a driving force in a nationwide discussion on a given social and/or economic subject.

The accomplishments and outputs of the workshop were:

• Better understanding of the management, requirements and strategies of Economic and Social Councils. At the end of the workshop, participants were able to better define activities which could help improve the management of their ESCs.

• Increased capacities of participating Council members, chief executives and staff of ESCs with respect to their own fields of work and as part of a result-oriented management of the entire Council.

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• Identification of further demand for action to be taken by ESCs, UNDESA, AICESIS, including demand for capacity building workshops, research and evaluation of ESC work. It was recommended that this type of workshop should be implemented by/with other ESCs.

• Recommendation to implement focused training sessions by AICESIS and UNDESA for ESCs members/staff.

• Recommendation to map out national and regional think tanks in Africa.

• Each country as well as AICESIS came up with a number of proposals for follow up and implementation.

• The breakfast meeting with think tanks in Kenya brought out their roles and challenges in contributing to national policy making. It was resolved that clearer and more inclusive definition will be formulated, a complete enumeration of the think tanks will be undertaken and their resource constraints will be addressed. NESC will involve them more in the following phases of policy making: problem identification, determination of alternative policy options, selection of the policies, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, among other processes of policy formulation.

• The lecture at the University of Nairobi exposed the students and lecturers to the work of NESC and urged the students and lecturers not only to get more involved in policy making but also to include knowledge management issues in the themes of their thesis.

1. BACKGROUND The principal mandate of Economic and Social Councils (ESC) is to advise the government on bills aimed at promoting economic, social, political and cultural development. To do this, councils are composed of representatives from relevant groups of the society and they have a staff supporting the preparation, implementation and the follow up of council of Council deliberations.

Most ESCs meet twice to four times a year, have heterogeneous composition and have relatively few staff. These practical limitations increase the challenges for Councils to be driving force in the process of social dialogue and consensus building on major economic and social issues. In this situation, the staff, its qualification, training and management become key elements of successful work of the entire ESC. Consequently, efforts to strengthen the role of ESCs need to consider also the role of ESC staff and their capacity building.

UNDESA, with the help of AICESIS, carried out a survey among African ESCs and their members. ESC members were asked about the composition of their ESCs, their working methods, impact, satisfaction, comments and suggestions. Twelve ESCs participated in the survey. The results of the survey have shown that Presidents/Chairmen and Council Members of ESCs consider the visibility and acknowledgement of their work by governments and the public to be unsatisfactory. Indeed, if not asked for a statement by government and if not engaged on their own account, ESCs may stay completely out of the process. As a matter of fact, there are many countries in the world which do not have ESCs.

Depending on the flexibility of their given mandate, ESCs may either focus on advising government bodies or may also go public and act like an advisory body to governments, groups of the society or individual citizens. They may even become a driving force in a nationwide discussion on a given social and/or economic subject.

The role of an ESC may be defined by the constitution or by a specific law. Its functions may be limited or rather broad and open, but its real place in the process of discussion and decision making on economic and social policies will become visible only in the practical internal work and external relations of each Council. How this looks like depends on the one hand on leadership and activities of the Council and, on the other hand, on the reaction of government. The role and function of ESC staff may revolve more behind the scenes but it should not be overlooked either. The wider the mandate and the more ambitious the objectives of an ESC are, the more it requires an appropriate organizational and human infrastructure.

Considering that resources are limited, it is necessary to ask:

• How is it possible for ESCs to contribute in a most effective and efficient way to ongoing and emerging discussions and to find consensus on controversial issues?

• Aren’t ESCs overloaded with expectations while at the same time held short on necessary resources?

• Or is there a way to manage ECSs in an effective and efficient manner to allow the strengthening of the practical roles of ESCs?

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2. OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP The number of evaluations and researches on the work of ESCs and their impact on decision making is limited. There is therefore a substantial lack of knowledge on these institutions and the operational modalities they can leverage to enhance the development of their countries. To overcome this knowledge deficit on the ESCs a number of initiatives have been mentioned. These include a survey or a research project. However, these require substantial resources and they may never be comprehensive enough to capture the internal machinery of the ESCs and the qualitative but key nuances that may never be captured in a questionnaire. With the experience of the two workshops held on ECSs on 17 to 18 December 2009 in Paris and on 1 to 3 June 2010 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, it has been assessed that a workshop on the management of ESCs would provide a better understanding and thus help to prepare future complimentary/supporting activities such as surveys and studies.

Borrowing from the cooperation among Council presidents/chairmen and members, it is now envisaged to launch the exchange and cooperation between staff of these institutions. This has been initially launched as a pilot workshop with participation of delegations of staff members from just a few ESCs in Africa. That way, the selected ESCs and participating staff members may not necessarily be representative of all ESCs but, as mentioned before, the objective is to get better insight and to start an exchange process – not to launch right away a globally comparative and representative effort. The Capacity Building Workshop was interested in:

• Specific opportunities and challenges related to the management of a National Economic and Social Council.

• Identifying future capacity building activities for support to the ESCs.

• Creating an opportunity for international exchange among colleagues with similar challenges and problems: Over the years each ESC and its staff have developed their own approach to address these challenges. The workshop facilitated the exchange of experience and the discussion of best practice.

• Focussing on practical-oriented management development in the face of the challenge to achieve IADGs (Internationally Agreed Development Goals), including MDGs. All related development goals also constitute a major challenge for themselves but they require also coordinated and concise action.

3. PARTICIPANTS The workshop was attended by about 30 participants. The participating ESCs came from Benin, Kenya, Guinea (Conakry) and Senegal.

It was attended by chief executives and members of staff working on knowledge management in the ECS of those countries. In addition, one member from each of the participating Councils was also invited to attend. The chief executive of the ESC of Hungary provided support as a resource person.

UCESA and AICESIS were also represented.

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The Secretary of the NESC of Kenya acted as the national host and coordinated and moderated the workshop jointly with one Senior Adviser from UNDESA.

4. OPENING SESSION The welcoming addresses were given by:

Mr. Julius Muia, Secretary, NESC Kenya who welcomed the participants, introduced the programme and wished the participants a successful symposium.

Mr. Michael Kamano, President of UCESA, who expressed appreciation for Kenya’s hospitality. He further thanked the organisers of the workshop i.e. UNDESA, AICESIS and NESC of Kenya. He noted the important role ESCs are playing as advisers on national development and in engaging civil societies for national dialogue, representative democracy and the national debate. He further added that ESCs have a concentration of high level brains representing various sector of the economy. He noted that dialogue is good for resolving conflict, promoting good economic, social and environmental governance. Emerging forces such as civil society organisations are growing and cannot be ignored. Dialogue can manage protests such as those being experienced in the Arab countries. ESCs can be used to bring wide consensus to national development. The workshop would facilitate shared practices good experiences and help the ESCs to be listened to by national and international authorities. He wished the workshop success.

Dr. Ulrich Graute, Inter-Regional Adviser, UNDESA: Welcomed Dr. Edward Sambili, the Permanent Secretary who would deliver the keynote address on behalf of his Minister, the Minister for Economic Planning an, National Development and Vision 2030 and all the participants. He delivered greetings and well wishes for a successful workshop from the Under Secretary General of the UN Economic and Social Affairs Department. He noted that although there are issues of financing various activities, there is strong willingness to support the ECSs in their work. He added that training meetings are going on but this is the first time a joint workshop involving embers of the ECS and their staff is being done on a pilot basis. This is the first time that UNDESA has mounted this initiative. In this regard, Council members should understand the needs of their staff.

Dr. Graute noted that in working through knowledge management, ESCs work by words and social dialogues while other institutions express their visibility through projects such as buildings. He noted that the workshop would do a simulation on solving a national problem to bring into focus the operational processes in the workings of the ESCs. The workshop would also help to identify future activities for the ESCs. Immediately after the workshop he would give a lecture to local Think Tanks and another one at the University of Nairobi to students and lecturers to promote and help understanding the work and relevance of ESCs. Finally he noted that although ESCs are sometimes perceived as slow moving, they can be a driving force on economic and social policies. In this regard, he noted that the workshop would see some examples from Hungary.

He thanked all for coming to the workshop and AICESIS and UNDP for their collaboration as well as Kenya’s NESC for its inputs in the organization of the workshop and for its hospitality.

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Ms. Samira Azarba of AICESIS: Brought greetings from the Secretary-General of AICESIS who sent his apologies for not being able to attend the workshop. She noted the importance of capacity building in the African ECSs. AICESIS teamed with UNDESA to organise previous training forums in Paris and Ouagadougou and to strengthen ESCs’ role in development. She said that in order to effect strong involvement of civil society in the national development efforts, the ESCs must be supported by highly qualified staff who must produce high quality work for them to be valued at all. Therefore training programmes for the ESCs must be strengthened. She added that the sharing of best practices between the English and French speaking countries would help strengthen the work of the ESCs. She thanked NESC Kenya for inviting AICESIS and the other participants to Nairobi and the warm welcome.

The Keynote Speech was read by Dr. Edward Sambili, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Economic Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 on behalf of his Minister, Hon. Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, EGH, MP. The theme of his speech was on “The Role of the National Economic and Social Council in the Implementation of Kenya Vision 2030”.

The Minister acknowledged the role of UNDESA and AICESIS in organising the workshop. He noted that UNDESA, in partnership with AICESIS, has launched a project on Enhancing the Role of National Economic and Social Councils for Inclusive Socio-Economic Policy Development under which the workshop falls.

The Minister’s speech highlighted Kenya’s struggle with fluctuating economic growth rates since the 1990s leading to a decision to prepare a strategic plan for economic and social recovery. This resulted in the publication of the Economic Recovery Strategy for Employment and Wealth Creation, popularly known as the ERS in 2003. The ERS ran for five years and was deemed to have been a great success. The formation of Kenya’s ESC was formed against this background in 2004 under the Office of the President to offer practical advice on sustaining the momentum of the social and economic gains brought about by the ERS and to generate a national development strategy that would be implemented after the expiry of the ERS in 2007.

The Minister noted that although the literature indicates a general weakness in the ability of ESCs to shape public policy in many parts of the world, NESC rose above the challenge and prepared the Kenya Vision 2030 document to be implemented through a number of successive five year plans. The Minister described Vision 2030 as a profound set of recommendations which is guiding the country through its development path and an indication of the seriousness with which the government takes the recommendations of NESC. He pointed out that a priority list of flagship projects under Vision 2030 has been established and many of these projects are under various implementation stages. Referring to the 2008 global economic/financial crisis and the post election violence in Kenya in 2008, the Minister pointed out that Vision 2030 is contributing to the resolution of the problems arising thereof, among others. He also gave credit to the country’s civil society for campaigning for the new constitution which contains safeguards against the abuse of office and has a comprehensive Bill of Rights and for NESC’s independent and non-partisan inputs into the new constitution.

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The Minister emphasized that NESC members encourage the secretariat to bring in expert advice from think tanks such as the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and other research institutions and rely on evidence-based policy formulation.

The Minister looked forward to the recommendations from the workshop and hoped that Kenya’s development partners, notably UNDP and DANIDA who have been supporting the work of NESC, would join government and the other stakeholders in seeing how the recommendations can be applied to Kenya. 5. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL

DEVELOPMENT BY DR. ULRICH GRAUTE, INTER-REGIONAL ADVISER, UNDESA

The main highlight here was that social dialogue is a long process. It begins with ideas, followed by design and the preparation of a strategy which goes through an approval process. This leads to implementation in which the ESC may also be involved. A monitoring and evaluation function is also included in the process. Other qualitative inputs in these processes are discussion, trust building, clarification of goals, commitment, timelines and allocation of responsibilities.

Many actors are involved in these stages. The ESC is focussed on national dialogue and must determine and consider all relevant interests in this dialogue. If sections of key interest are left out then serious problems may arise in implementation or even getting the policy initiatives approved. Historically decisions were made through single persons in whose hands power was concentrated, usually politicians. Power was focussed on leadership. Today there are many actors, including many political parties. Events may therefore erupt from nowhere arising from any of the many actors. For example the recent events in Tunis and Egypt in which the governments have been toppled overnight arose unexpectedly through situations which were leaderless. Did knowledge and management play a big role in these cases? Was this a case of poor youth acting through good information management through media such as face book? A major movement arose out of nowhere with hardly any signs and was a surprise to all. Indeed this was a human and socio-political ‘tsunami’. The problem is that because of their structural and cultural rigidities, institutions, society and people, especially leaders, lessons may not be learnt quickly and history is bound to rapidly repeat itself across many countries, most of them in the developing world. The challenge here is: Could an astute ESC and its associated think tanks play a role in foreseeing these events and managing the country towards participatory democracy and a just society before these cataclysmic and disruptive events occur?

This presentation also noted that the global financial and economic crisis still with us. There are also issues of rising food and oil prices as well as the HIV pandemic which are having major worldwide impacts, particularly in the developing world. These are issues relevant to the ESCs. The impact of the ESCs will depend on whether they are involved in setting priorities and the resources they have to generate sound policy advice. In so doing they need to include all expertise available. It was emphasized that in the demand and generation of the necessary knowledge, the ESC must be empowered with resources and expertise to be able to effectively:

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• Manage external relations of the Council in order to have the goodwill of the various stakeholders that may impact on the effectiveness of the council such as the people, civil societies, development partners (donors), etc.

• Manage the Council and its internal workflow in order to eliminate inefficiencies and enhance operational effectiveness.

• Manage the Secretariat of the Council as the core centre of the collection and management of knowledge for effective decision making.

6. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL

DEVELOPMENT: THE KENYAN CASE BY JULIUS MUIA, SECRETARY, NESC, KENYA

This presentation started by an extensive exposition of the socio-economic indicators behind which the Kenya ESC (NESC) operates. Mr. Muia then discussed Vision 2030 which, as the Minister indicated in his keynote speech, was the brainchild of NESC. He pointed out that the Vision is based on three pillars i.e. the Economic Pillar which will address issues on tourism, agriculture (agri-processing), wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, business process outsourcing/off-shoring (BPO) and financial services to drive the country’s annual growth rate to a minimum of 10%; the Social Pillar focussing on transforming a number of sectors which are education and training, health, water and sanitation, the environment, housing and urbanization, gender, youth and vulnerable groups; and the Political pillar which seeks to transform Kenya’s political governance in constitutional dispensation, electoral and political processes, democracy and public service delivery, transparency and accountability/rule of law, security, peace building and conflict resolution.

The role of knowledge management was stressed and illustrated in moving forward the above pillars whose flagship projects are in various implementation stages. In Kenya, it has been recognized that knowledge production and its judicious management will be key in driving vision 2030. Kenya has therefore put in place efforts aimed at knowledge management. These include efforts in the development of an ICT infrastructure and universal access to ICT technologies, web content development to enhance access to information, promotion of e-government for the improvement of governance and accountability to the people, human capacity development and the application of knowledge for poverty reduction.

The presentation recognized that while knowledge management does not have to be ICT-based, it benefits immensely from ICT. Further details on these ICT based efforts were given. These include:

• ICT Vision 2030 Programmes. • NESC leveraging on knowledge in public policy formulation process. • NESC bridging gap between knowledge society and government, e.g. NESC has

organised a networking/knowledge sharing breakfast meeting with think tanks on 9th Mar 2011.

• National ICT Sector Master Plan 2008-2012 which addresses: – Infrastructure and connectivity.

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– Africa connectivity. – Government e-applications. – Digital content. – Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and development of a Techno polis

(ICT Park). • The development of 80% of the national ICT infrastructure by government and the

private sector. • Kenya connected to 3 fiber optic cables – TEAMS 1.3Terabytes, SEACOM 1.3T and

EASSY, 1.3T. • Over 20,000 km of terrestrial fibre. • Government Common Core Network (GCCN) construction completed. • Government data centre: To be complete in 2012 under public-private partnership. • Long term evolution of Open Access Rollout. • Data and disaster recovery centers. • Closing the loops in national optic fiber broadband infrastructure. • Development of digital villages throughout the country and undertaking the necessary

training. • Analog to digital migration in broadcasting. • Provision of free broadband to universities and low-priced laptops to students. • Training at primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. • Development of an internationally recognized and sustainable software developer

certification program for Kenya. Developments in e-government are aimed at improving connectivity, transparency and efficiency in government. These efforts include digitization of the Judiciary, Lands records, State Law Office, teleconferencing at the Judiciary, recruitment through internet, financial management in government, procurement and human resource management across government for efficient service delivery, government interoperability - seamless data sharing for cross-border services for citizens, businesses and public administrations. On the other hand, the private sector has been a key player in Kenya’s economic development. It has formed associations to network, share knowledge and lobby government as a bloc to further member interests. This includes organizations such as the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), the Kenya Private Sector Association (KEPSA). Kenya is now credited worldwide with innovations in mobile money transfer and banking which bring appropriate services to low income earners, among others. The small and medium enterprises have now surpassed the formal establishments as the largest employer.

On the academic side, there are many think tank opportunities, both present and developing, which NESC will continue to tap through active encouragement for them to take part in the long process of policy making. A bill on Science, Technology and Innovation is being prepared. It will incorporate the transformation of the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) into a Commission. The Commission will define the country’s public research agenda. Currently, universities need to undertake applied research. However, resources are severely limited and the pursuit of the university lecturers has been ‘publish or perish’ thereby leaving them to concentrate on basic or undirected research or research directed by whoever has some resources to fund a research activity of the funder’s interests.

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There needs to be an appropriate mix of applied and basic as they are both useful for development, but with greater emphasis on applied. E-learning is now available in most institutions. Currently, the country has 27 Universities with both regular day classes as well as evening modules. Some have started distance learning through the internet. The universities have specialized institutional think tanks such as the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Nairobi. NESC has been tapping and will continue to tap these sources of knowledge. As in the case of the private sector, there are more minds joining government after many years of research and teaching, thereby bringing in more linkages with academia think tanks. On the civil society front, many networks have been formed covering various areas and institutions such as human rights, media, the NGO Council, the Federation for Women Lawyers, savings societies, farmers, employees, women, youth, SMEs. There are many opinion leaders who shape the national discourse which include politicians, religious leaders and the labour movement fraternity. This has resulted in the enrichment of the think tank groups in the country. An on-going survey has so far indicated the existence of about 47 think tanks in the country.

However, going along with all the above positive developments, the presenter identified a number of challenges. These include the global financial crisis which has reduced funding from all sources; duplication of efforts on knowledge management in some cases; poor recognition of those leveraging on knowledge for productivity and growth such as NESC; high cost of ICT infrastructure; low ICT penetration; with the increase of internet connectivity and use there has been increase in cyber crime – banking frauds, money transfer frauds, immoral behaviour, hacking of websites; need for culture change to embrace formal education to acquire knowledge-intensive skills; little recognition of indigenous knowledge which can be harnessed for economic empowerment and the sustainability of the rural poor; a constitution which has not encouraged knowledge sharing under the Government Secrecy Act; uncoordinated benchmarking practices that are not shared; and, failure to share knowledge thereby encouraging an empire building and silo mentality.

Suggested solutions to the above challenges in which NESC will spearhead some of them include:

• Mapping all knowledge management initiatives and seeking to create synergies.

• Guaranteeing sustained investment for long-term benefits of efficiencies, savings, knowledge, and wealth creation.

• Promoting inter-ministerial public-private partnerships, a key component of these efforts.

• Awareness campaigns to get buy-in by all players especially citizens for a knowledge-friendly culture.

• Investment incentives and other marketing strategies.

• Demonstrate link between knowledge management and economic performance or value addition.

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• Promoting support to knowledge management at the top levels of government and society.

• Development of standards, clear purpose and language.

• Promoting a National Values System to curb cyber crime.

• County governments to be encouraged to individually and jointly leverage on knowledge for economic and social development as well as using their social-cultural and environmental richness gainfully.

• Encouraging and rewarding innovations – Kenya has been ranked 6th globally in research and innovation.

• Enablers: Kenya to become regional financial/services hub due to fiber optic connection-boost innovation, film industry, e-health, etc

7. PRESENTATIONS BY THE PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES ON THEIR

RESPECTIVE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCILS (Answering the questions who they are, what they do with knowledge management and how they do it)

7.1 The National Economic and Social Council of Kenya (NESC) by Mr. Leonard Kimani, Director of the Economic Sector, NESC Secretariat

Background

NESC is a high level advisory body to the Government of Kenya and it coordinates advice to Government on strategic policies aimed at promoting economic growth, social equity and employment creation, thereby reducing poverty and inequality. NESC has 49 members who serve for a term of 3 years. Half of the members are cabinet Ministers and the others are persons with diverse experiences, knowledge and skills from government, industry, academia and civil society. It is chaired by H.E. the President and the alternate chairman is the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister. It reports to the Office of the President but operates semi-autonomously.

Previous attempts to create a similar body were unsuccessful due to lack of political support. NESC was subsequently formed through a Kenya Gazette Notice in 2004. That means NESC is neither embedded in the constitution nor set up by its own act of parliament. A bill has therefore been drafted in order to strengthen NESC autonomy.

Functions

The main functions of NESC are:

• Creating forums for government, businesses, academia and labour unions to discuss policy issues.

• Gathering, analyzing and compiling information on key economic development trends and proposing policy alternatives.

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• Developing and recommending to the Cabinet strategic policy interventions to promote social equity, economic growth, create employment and reduce poverty and inequality.

• Appraising government policies for their effectiveness in achieving economic and social transformation.

• Mobilizing knowledge and technical resources from relevant knowledge networks, including research and education institutions.

Mode of Operation

The Council meets 4 times a year and is serviced by a Secretariat of 18 staff, 4 Research Fellows and 4 Interns. The Secretariat originates Council agenda and follows up on issues raised and recommendations made during Council meetings. The policy assignments are usually in the form of research papers prepared either by government ministries or strategic research institutions and think tanks such as the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) or innovative ideas on economic and social issues from individual researchers or corporate institutions. NESC facilitates these assignments through sub-committees, taskforces, working groups and consultative forums. Currently, NESC has seven permanent committees, five dealing with economic issues (energy, competitiveness, leveraging on US-Kenya links, national industrialization and the global financial crisis) and two dealing with social issues (food security and water; and, housing development).

NESC receives funding mainly from the Government of Kenya (80%) and development partners, currently DANIDA and UNDP (20%).

The key stakeholders with whom NESC deals with are government ministries, departments and state corporations/agencies; development partners; the private sector including businesses and associations; the media; research institutions; the academia; professional groups and associations; and, the general public.

The key outputs of NESC have been:

Output 1: Work plan implementation:

Benchmarking and study tours for best practice.

Development of the Nairobi Metro 2030 plan and strategy.

Facilitation and sponsorship of dissemination of Vision 2030 stakeholder forums and specialized groups.

Capacity building for the Resource Center Manager, Administrator, Research Fellows, interns as well as sponsorship in courses, seminars and conferences.

Output 2: Support facilities for NESC strengthened:

The Resource Centre with Intranet.

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Capacity building of NESC senior staff.

Output 3: A process of interaction and monitoring with the public and private sector established.

Communication Policy and Strategy Framework developed.

Monitoring and Evaluation Framework –on going.

Public–Private forums with KAM, KEPSA, Media owners, etc.

Overall, NESC outputs can thus be summarized as:

• Policy recommendations to government.

• Research and studies-published and disseminated related to policy agenda of NESC.

• Opinions - mainly through policy briefs on ongoing agenda of NESC.

• Initiation of action on some policy agenda e.g. It has initiated a cluster strategy for productivity and competitiveness.

• Influence on implementation of policy as members of task forces, etc.

NESC has a Medium Term Plan (2008 – 20120) whose main thrust is to spearhead, together with the stakeholders, the development of the drivers that move the economy which can be summarised as: deepening the drivers identified in Vision 2030 (Category 1); bringing in additional drivers not identified in vision 2030 (Category 2); and, searching for and developing drivers that will influence national development beyond 2030 (Category 3).

NESC has a Monitoring and Evaluation module which includes evidence-based results as a measure of the effectiveness of policy implementation (score cards, annual progress reports compiled by the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of Ministry of Planning, National Development & Vision 2030); and, future use of an electronic monitoring and evaluation module which NESC is currently developing.

Past Outputs

Past policy initiatives/interventions have been substantial. They include:

Formulation of Vision 2030 which is a Long term development plan (already described in the previous section).

Re-naming of a Ministry to Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030.

Building a positive image for Kenya, locally and internationally.

Making Nairobi a Regional Services-Hub that led to the establishment of the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development in 2008.

Science, Technology and Innovation Policy that led to the re-establishment of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology in 2008.

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Formation of the Monetary Policy Advisory Committee of Central Bank of Kenya.

Introduction of infrastructure bonds in Kenya as an alternative means to finance infrastructure: an infrastructure bond report has been prepared.

Value addition on tea, cotton and textiles, hides, skins and leather and leather products, nuts and edible oils.

Transformation of pension and retirement savings into long-term funds which are utilized to finance investments.

Harmonization and utilization of all devolved funds.

Comprehensive geological survey to determine the mineral potential in the country.

Strategies to transform Kenya into a 24 Hour Economy.

Cluster Strategy for productivity and competitiveness in industry.

Advise on policy on mining and mineral deposits.

Formulation of National Value Policy for Kenya.

Proposals for accessible and affordable health care financing strategy.

Integrated Population Registration System (IPRS).

Initiation of Integrated Employment Creation led to Youth Enterprise Fund as well as the Women Enterprise Fund.

Government to embrace economic diplomacy in its foreign policy.

Leveraging US-Kenya links.

Suggested policy interventions on growth, poverty and inequality in Kenya:

24 Hour economy as the next frontier in Kenya’s development.

Lake Victoria Fish Value Chain Project under the Ministry of Fisheries.

Unemployment in Kenya: A situational analysis.

Communication Policy and Strategy Framework for NESC.

Guidelines for publication and dissemination of NESC Papers.

On-going Studies and Reports

Ongoing studies and reports include:

Integrating Vision 2030 into the curriculum of educational institutions.

Unemployment in Kenya: Proposed Policy Interventions.

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National Values for Kenya: Policy and Publications

Review of the marketing infrastructure in Kenya.

Enhancing Kenya’s competitiveness in COMESA and the East African Community.

National Cluster Policy and National Cluster Programme.

The knowledge management activities of NESC arising out of the above activities can be summarised as:

Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 is spear heading the programme on “Knowledge Management Africa Initiative”.

Science, Technology and Innovations Bill being formulated under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

E-government as a department in the Office of the President.

Key ICT developments under the Ministry of Information and Communication.

Preparation of NESC policy agenda on the Knowledge Economy in Kenya.

Knowledge Management

Further, NESC not only manages knowledge, it also creates/produces it through Council members who are experts in their own right; committees of NESC that co-opt experts; the NESC secretariat which has experts, including contracted Research fellows; use of the NESC Resource Center-Internet/Library Resources; commissioning research on policy agenda; consultative meetings/brainstorming; workshops to seek consensus and disseminate; and, receipt of comments and suggestions from public and experts.

NESC has also been improving and upscaling its knowledge assets through capacity building of the NESC Secretariat and Council members through training courses, study tours, participation in workshops and conferences; seeking best practices through its membership in UCESA, AICESIS; collaboration and support from development partners such as DAIDA and UNDP; use of ICT cutting technologies by all members of staff, use of the Resource Center facility which has many facilities available; and, the use of intranet facility for the Resource Center to store/preserve key documents/materials.

All the initiatives/interventions described above have helped to improve the environment, including its political dimensions, in which knowledge is produced, managed and disseminated.

Challenges

Challenges faced by NESC include:

Too many requests and proposals from various stakeholders.

Interest of different groups for consideration as members of NESC e.g. the disabled, medium and small scale enterprises.

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Achieving coordinating policy development in the face of silos, empire building and information asymmetry.

Financial requirements to carry out tasks in the face of limited budgetary allocations and associated capacity constraints of resources: time, space; human resources; information (data), research requirements, etc.

As a developing country Kenya has its share of many urgent and diversionary problems.

Ethics and values of Kenyans that hinder policy formulation and implementation.

Slow implementation of policies.

Limitations on effective communication to both internal and external stakeholders.

Indiscipline among various actors within the country in the timely delivery of results.

Interferences in policy formulation and implementation by international organizations with incongruent interests.

Conclusion

The presentation arrives at the conclusion that NESC has and continues to have an effective policy leverage position in the country in view of the observation that:

NESC has established close relationships and interaction at all levels with government, the private sector, academia, development partners, etc.

NESC has a huge capacity to share knowledge and research on many areas by mounting inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral initiatives.

NESC has an established a research network through experienced research fellows and is respected by stakeholders.

A lot of the initiatives by NESC are believable and are linked to the Kenya Vision 2030, which NESC closely monitors and evaluates.

Government ministries, other institutions and members of the public have in practice found NESC to be a viable vehicle to channel policy issues.

The location of NESC within Office of the President, enables it to reach out to many stake holders for wide consultations.

Recommendations of NESC are taken as official government policy but arrived at and enhanced in value through consultations with other stakeholders outside government.

7.2 The Economic and Social Council of Benin by Mrs Huguette Akplogan Dossa

Introduction

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The Economic and Social Council of Benin was incorporated into the Constitution of 1958, two years before Benin became independent. However, the institution started operating in 1969 but stopped operations after six months because of political instability. It was re-established in 1992 and started operations in 1994. Today it is in its fourth cycle of operation.

Membership

The ESC is a consultative assembly of 30 members composed of government representatives, various socio-economic institutions and civil society organizations. It considers any issue relating to the economic, social, cultural and technical concerns in the country. The Council is appointed for a 5 year period.

Mode of Operation

The Council meets in sessions. The first ordinary session is held in February and March while the second is held in September and October. (Compare this with Kenya’s NESC which meets on quarterly basis i.e. four times a year). Extraordinary sessions are also held as the need arises. However, both the regular and extraordinary sessions cannot exceed 160 days in a year.

The Council has three Standing Committees one for Economic and Financial matters, another for Rural Development and the Environment, and the third for Social affairs and Education. There is regular consultation between the Chairman of the Council and the Chairmen of the Standing Committees.

The Council operates through an executive Board or Secretariat headed by the Secretary-General. In Secretariat, there are three Technical Directorates aligned along the three Standing Committees. An Administrative Directorate forms the fourth Directorate.

The Council Chairman, its members and the Secretariat often receive enquiries from various persons and institutions on the operations of the Council and advice that they can give on various issues and projects.

The ESC plays an important role in the management and prevention of national crises through the Chairman’s dialogue with national institutions. Examples include:

• The Chairman has led efforts to defuse labour crises which have paralysed the country because of strikes.

• The ESC showed its solidarity by giving financial aid and good advice to the people affected by floods.

• The ESC and the High Commission for Concerted Governance with the support of the United Nations Development Programme, acted in jointly to design and implement a “ public awareness campaign for peaceful elections in Benin in 2011”.

• Organising a national symposium on “Fifty years of independence and the problems of prosperity in Benin”.

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• Organising a seminar on: “The Economic and Social Councils as promoters and actors of the implementation of the Global Jobs Pact” jointly organized with AICESIS and ILO.

• It has been involved in the promotion co-operation both within the country and internationally.

• Partnership with many agencies of UN.

The Council operates through what may be summarised as participative and prospective approach through inclusive social dialogue; negotiation; management and social discourse; advocacy and lobbying; as well as partnerships.

Challenges

The challenges faced by the council include the fact that it has to operate through consultations which can be a lengthy and difficult process. There are also difficulties in being able to have representation of all the social, professional and territorial/regional interests. Implementation of the recommendations of the Council also pauses challenges because of resource constraint. The visibility of the Council has also been noted to be an issue. However, it was not made clear why the Council’s visibility is in question while it is not only involved in resolving highly visible crises in the country but it is in the forefront or leadership in the resolution of those crises.

The following solutions were proposed in the resolution of the above challenges:

Revision of the legal and statutory framework of the Council.

Developing innovative mechanism for discussion and exchange of views between the members of the Council, professional groups and all the citizens.

Prepare a strategic plan of capacity building based on equity and gender.

Promotion of a mechanism of fundraising, monitoring and evaluation in order to implement the main projects.

Implement an effective communication plan in order to show what the Council does for the well being of the people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it was stated that the ESC of Benin plays its advisory role to the President of the Republic and Parliament through its inputs in the economic, social, scientific and technical fields. To promote sustainable development in the country, it is recommended to allocate more resources to support the new vision of the authorities of this institution. Partnership between the Councils in various parts of the world especially Africa is recommended.

7.3 The Economic and Social Council of Guinea by Mr Michel Kamano, Chairman of the ESC

Formation, Mandate and Composition

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The Guinea ESC was created on June 19th 1997 by presidential decree. The ESC ranks as the country’s fourth most important institution after Head of State Office and his Government, the Parliament and the Constitutional court, thereby underlining its critical role in the affairs of the country.

The main mission of the Guinea ESC is to guide, when needed, the President of Republic and the National Parliament on the management of economic, social, cultural and scientific national policies. The law provides that the ESC is a consultative Parliament in charge of advice and makes recommendations on the matters referred to it by the Head of State or by Parliament. The law further stipulates that the ESC is authorised and obliged to review legal bills as well as projects of economic and social development submitted by authorities.

The Guinea ESC is composed by 45 members. Twenty are representatives from various sectors and activities (agriculture, craft industry, self employed people, services, SMEs, etc); twelve represent public and private sectors employees; ten are appointed by the President of the Republic, according to their scientific, technical, economic, social and cultural skills; and, three are representatives from social associations. The members are proposed by their organisations and are appointed by a presidential decree. The Chairman’s mandate is 5 years renewable while the others board members mandate is two and half years renewable.

The members are not paid a monthly salary but receive some compensation (equivalent to some kind of sitting allowance) and refund of expenses.

The organs of the Council are the General Assembly, Executive Board, Working Groups and Office of Secretary General. The General Assembly is composed by all members, the Secretary General and the Members of Staff. Major decisions are taken by the General Assembly. The General Assembly meets in ordinary session twice a year, or in extraordinary session when needed. The Executive Board is composed of the Chairman of the ESC, two Vice Chairmen, two elected secretaries and the Treasury.

They are four working groups, namely:

• Group in charge of rural and environmental development.

• Group in charge to the infrastructure, decentralisation, town and country planning.

• Group in charge of employment, social, cultural and scientific affairs

• Group in charge of economic matters, good governance and regional integration.

The working groups meet regularly, according to the submission of cases by the Government, Parliament or the ESC itself.

The staff is composed of 42 employees headed by the Secretary General. The Council also uses “Associated Advisors” when needed. The office of the Secretary General is regarded as the main think tank of the Council.

Operational Modalities

The government and Parliament communicate to the ESC, when needed, all important economic, social, cultural, scientific and environmental projects concerning the national life,

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as well as the sub region and the African continent matter for studies, evaluation, advises and recommendations. The ESC, through the relevant technical Working Group prepares reports with recommendations to the Council Assembly which are then passed to the government or the Parliament as the case may be. That is what is called submission of case to the ESC. ESC can also commission studies by itself on all matters which are of importance for the nation. After doing so, the ESC then transmits its conclusions and recommendations to the Head of state and/or to the Parliament. This process is called self submission of cases.

The ESC collaborates with the government in bipartite dialogue and in multiparty dialogue with trade unions, employees and employers. The ESC has good relations with the constitutional court concerning information sharing and meetings on specific matters.

Achievements

During the first mandate which ran from 1997 to 2002, the ESC undertook the following studies and activities:

• Fishing development in Guinea.

• Urban transport development in the capital city Conakry.

• The national policy on employment.

• The civil service personnel qualifications.

• The cultural positives values rehabilitation in the youth training programs.

• Conflicts management and resolution.

• Sport Development in Guinea.

• The challenges facing Guinea in globalization of international trade.

• Support of Guinea for the West African monetary integration policy.

At the end of the first mandate, the ESC published the General Report on its main Recommendations to the President of the Republic, the Parliament and the Private Sector.

During its 3rd mandate which is running from 2008 to 2013, the Council is studying several issues concerning:

• Budget, Money and Credit.

• Mining code review with some international conventions.

• Civil service organisation.

• National Environment Policy.

• Promoting rural development through local modern forums.

Visibility

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The Council is doing its best to let the authorities and the people know more about the ESC. The Council has undertaken the following main actions to increase its visibility:

• Organisation of a round table between the ESC and the other national institutions of Guinea.

• Several conferences have also been organised to sensitise the Ministry of Foreign Affairs civil servants and particularly to sensitise the Army, the national Gendarmerie and Police on the links and relations between the national institutions.

• Organisation of various other meetings (seminar, workshop, forums) to inform economic, social and political partners, as well as students, about ESC.

• Promoting participatory democracy through the Guinean Civil Society.

• Organisation of national consultations between all economic, social and political partners, the National Army, Gendarmerie and Police.

Further Action by the ESC

A further range of activities that have been undertaken by the council are:

Now the country has reached a consensus on one definition of civil society coming from more than 205 local definitions. The definition is: “Civil Society is composed by all traditional and modern non apolitical and nongovernmental organisations, which have common objective, which are working for the economic, social, political and cultural development to promote sustainable peace and effective democracy, playing the intermediary role between State, Political parties and citizens, in accordance to the acting laws in Guinea”. Further, the ESC has set up a National council of Civil Society Organisations.

The ESC has participated as a key partner to find the solution to the deep economic, social and political crisis the country was dealing with, particularly from the year 2006 to the recent presidential Elections in November 2010. During that difficult period, the ESC has mediated between government, trade unions, the private sector and political parties, helped by other national institutions. At the international level, ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) sent several high level mediation missions for example with the former President Babangida of Nigeria , the Acting President Compaore of Burkina Faso and the ECOWAS Secretary General. An international contact Group on Guinea was also set up to help in finding a solution of the crisis. As a result of all those efforts in which the ESC played a critical part, a peaceful solution has been found and the country has successfully conducted the Presidential elections.

The ESC has also established good relationship between the following African, European and Asian ESC: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, China, France, Gabon, Cote D’ivoire, Luxembourg, Mali and Senegal. At the multilateral level, Guinea ESC has good relationship with UCESA, AICESIS, UNDESA, ILO and it is preparing to organize two important events in April 2012. The first event will be a meeting with all Africans Ambassadors accredited in Guinea on the Role and Importance of ESC, to give them opportunity to contribute to the promotion of ESC’s in Africa. The second meeting will be a working group on the good

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governance in Africa. The two meetings will give all participants good opportunities to share their experiences on the good practices implemented in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Challenges

The ESC face a number of challenges. As is in the case with many African ESCs and Similar Institutions, Guinea’s ESC lacks sufficient technical and financial resources to achieve its goals. That is the main challenge facing the ESC. Further, many authorities in the country do not seem to know the Council well. As a result, ESC is often not consulted by Authorities on very important matters concerning the population’s well being.

Conclusion

It is reiterated that the Guinean ESC has been created in order to reinforce economic and social governance, to consolidate the democracy by promoting the participative one. The ESC goal is to contribute to the government and private sector efforts to promote good governance in the country. But the reality is that the ESC still have a lot to do to get to be well known by authorities and the population, and to build its capacities both at the technical and financial levels. That is why it needs big support from local authorities and international partners like UNDESA, ILO and other International Organisations and Financial Institutions in charge of Economic and Social Development. It is hoped that other international partners will follow UNDESA to help the ESC be more efficient and effective.

7.4 The Economic and Social Council of Senegal

Formation, Mandate and Composition

The Senegal ESC was formed in 1961 by an Act of Parliament. It can be directed by the President of the Republic, Parliament or the Government to review or study requests for all economic and social issues. The ESC is also a mediator in social conflicts. The ESC is now included in the new constitutional act which states that "The ESC is, within the Government, a consultative assembly with expertise in economic, social and cultural fields”.

The Council is composed of The Council consists of 80 members appointed for 5 years and 40 associate members appointed for 1 year. It has representatives form trade unions, commercial and banking professions, transportation and agricultural occupations, professions and crafts, industrial and mining occupations, artistic and cultural professions, local councillors, Senegalese people living abroad, associations and agencies.

Organizational Structure and Operations

The ESC is composed of the Plenary/General Assembly led by a Chairman, the Liaison Committee, the Bureau, the Conference of Chairmen, Commissions, ad hoc Committees, Inter-Commissions involving two or more committees, Groups and the Secretariat.

The Plenary/General Assembly holds two regular sessions each year which may not exceed two months duration. The ESC may be convened in special session by order not exceeding

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15 days. The Chairman of the Council has sole authority to act on behalf of the ESC and represent it in all actions and events. The Liaison Committee meets to bridge the gap between the sessions of the General Assembly. The Bureau is composed of the Chairman of Council, 4 Vice Chairmen and 2 Secretaries and has some authority in assisting the Chairman of Council in making decisions. The Conference of Chairmen brings together the officers and all the Chairmen of Commissions and Groups.

There are 14 commissions covering:

1) Economy, finance, overall economic situation and trade.

2) Rural development.

3) Health and social affairs .

4) Education, training, employment and youth.

5) Industrial development, energy and technology.

6) Urban and regional planning.

7) Infrastructure and transport.

8) Tourism, crafts, culture and sports.

9) Gender equality, equity and good governance.

10) International affairs.

11) Decentralization and local development.

12) Environment and sustainable development.

13) Mediation.

14) Planning, general studies and synthesis.

Ad hoc committees are formed for a specific purpose while Inter-Commissions are for cases involving several committees. There are two Groups, namely, the Socio-professional Group and the Group of elected officials.

The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary General and has four departments for Studies and Legislation; Administration and Finance; Communication and Information ; and, the Treasury.

Functions

The ESC has the ability to deal with any matter within its jurisdiction on its own and may choose to deal with any social issue. It can also be directed by the President of the Republic, the Government or Parliament to deal with any matter within its jurisdiction. Reference to the ESC is required for all plans of economic and social nature, bills and draft decrees except finance acts.

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7.5 Discussion in Plenary

In the ensuing discussion, it was clear that ESCs are different in the various countries in the way they are constituted and the way they function. But there are also challenges which are common to their operations. Some of the issues arising during the discussions are highlighted below.

Structure of the Councils and Mode of Operation

As is evident in the reports of the different countries, there is considerable variation in the way the Councils are structured and operated. Some operate through specific sittings per year while others have sessions similar to parliamentary sessions. Remuneration modes of the members also differ from country to country. While these different approaches were of interest to note, there was no clear emerging preference of any, there being need to take into account each country’s situation.

Who Chairs the Council and How is Autonomy Assured?

In Kenya the ESC is chaired by the country’s President, while in the other countries the Chairman is someone appointed by the President. Participants were curious as to whether it is easy to advise and to maintain autonomy of the Council when it is chaired by the country’s President. It was admitted that with the President being Chairman there are perceptions that he may be influencing the decisions. However, it was reported that does not happen because the Secretariat ensures that recommendations coming from the Council are generated from serious research and hard facts. The Council engages think tanks such as KIPPRA to make sure that the advice given is sound and practical. Secondly, NESC has a strategic plan which defines how to choose their agenda so that they can make sound preparations for the Council meetings. Autonomy is further assured through the composition of the Council members who have solid credentials, including academia, and come with authority in their areas of expertise and, for that matter, the President respects and seeks their opinion. So the quality of output must rely on good research so that people do not see the Council as simply an arm of government.

On the other hand, there are positive trade-offs to be gained when the President chairs the Council. The President represents a strong institution in the country. So results from the Council are taken seriously. Indeed some ministries bring their ideas to the Council so that if they are passed by the Council they will have the Council’s stamp of authority and can be acceptable by government. Another advantage is that visibility is also good. It was noted that in the case of the other countries, even if the Chairman is not the President of the country, he/she has to be someone not only from the President’s political party but must be personally close to the President. If the Chairman comes from the opposition, the government will tend to ignore the Council’s recommendations. So whether or not the President chairs the Council, either way he/she can still influence the decisions of the Council. The solution to this situation is to ensure that matters brought to the Council are thoroughly researched and that persons appointed to the Council can speak confidently and with authority in their areas of expertise so that the Chairman or Council members have little leeway to tamper with decisions of the Council. This is an important lesson for the Councils to learn.

How are Ideas Generated by the ESCs?

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In Benin, it was noted that the present Council uses priorities established by the previous Council whose implementation has not been exhausted. So there is some continuity and stability in the work of the Council. However, the Council generates ideas by engaging the people. They invite the people for discussions. However, the Council has had some limitations with this approach because they do not offer any financial incentives for engaging the people. They only cover the cost of transport for the people they call for discussions. In Kenya, the ESC generates ideas through think tanks and paid research and consultancies. Like Benin, Kenya is also looking at the recommendations of the first council. In the case of Guinea, there is some political process involved in the generation of sides. In Guinea, the law provides that the ESC is a consultative body in charge of advice and makes recommendations on matters referred to it by the Head of State or by Parliament. The law further stipulates that the ESC is authorised and obliged to review legal bills as well as projects of economic and social development submitted by authorities. Further, an interesting situation in Guinea is that the Council has been spending valuable time mediating between the army, police, trade unions and civil societies, following the difficult turmoil in the country in 2006. Although this has consumed time which they could have utilised generating and managing knowledge, it has eventually led to much needed peace.

Knowledge Production versus Knowledge Management

An issue was raised on whether the Councils are concentrating on knowledge management only while the knowledge they manage must be produced by someone else. It was agreed that there was no clear defining line which excludes the Councils from producing knowledge or sponsoring the production of knowledge. Whenever they ask for advice from think tanks or the people, the Councils are actually sponsoring the production of knowledge. So the theme on knowledge management goes with knowledge production.

Visibility

There was an emerging consensus that the ESCs tend to suffer some measure of low visibility. Kenya was admittedly rescued by virtue of having the President of the country being the Chairman of Council. So there is need to explore ways in the workshop on how to enhance the visibility of the ESCs.

Resource Constraints

All the ESCs suffer from both financial and human resource constraints. They are characterised by small Secretariats and limited financial resources to hire experts for research and information gathering for decision making. For the latter, they often depend on development partners, with the possibility that the ESC priorities may not always coincide with the priorities of the development partners. So the ESC may end up shaping priorities to fit in what the development partner is willing to fund. Again, this is also a matter tied up with visibility and should be addressed along with such issues.

The following session on experiences from Hungary was presented to shed some light on some of the challenges seen in the above country presentations and in the discussion above. 8. MANAGING ESCS AS A DRIVING FORCE OF THE NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES – THE EXAMPLE OF HUNGARY BY MR.

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THOMAS HALM, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ESC OF HUNGARY AND SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE HUNGARIAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION This presentation was made to give the participants an indication of how they can enhance the effectiveness of their ECSs, in particular how they can harness civil society to promote development. The presenter indicated that one of the key challenges in dealing with civil society organizations is that it is difficult to establish priorities of their wishes. This is unlike traditional situations where development planning is government centred. In the latter situation one deals with elected representatives who are tied to party discipline and interests and highly focussed development proposals and projects which minimise the problem of choice. In civil society situations, one has to deal with many people pringing up various ideas reflecting various interests. A relatively large number of citizens are active in this process and there is a problem of conflicting ideas and interests. This enrichment of ideas is a positive development but how does one prioritise the various ideas? The presenter illustrated how to go about dealing with this challenge by discussing how Hungary went about it as Member of the European Union (EU). The Euriopean Commision has established the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund. These funds are governed by Council Regulation (EC) no 1083/2006. In essence, the regulation lays down elaborate rules on the requirement that the Funds must be utilised on the basis involvement of an extensive range of economic and social partners as well as integration of women and environmental issues in the matrix of interventions. For Hungary, this was quite a challenge in learning the preferences of these stakeholders and integrating them into development plans as these are not matters which are amenable to traditional economic analysis. Hungary, prior to the fall of the Wall of Berlin, had also been a state and centrally controlled economy and did not have much experience in economic management through public consultative processes.This presentation dicusses how they met the requirements of the Funds. The National Development Office (NDO) went all out of their way to launch an unprecedented effort to bring in extensive civil enagement in their developement planning. This action included organization of 51 fora in which frank discussions were held on the long-term vision of the country, direct mail to over 3000-plus NGOs in which 388 positive response were obtained, 529 on-line questionnaires filled in and more than 100 comments and proposals were submitted on paper. Over 3000 votes were also cast on the list of priorities on the website of the NDO. Special emphasis was laid on the involvement of personalities belonging to the opposition (e.g. former ministers) as well as experts of the opposition parties of the Parliament. Even the opposition acknowledged that this partnership had been “exemplary”. The European Union lauded this action as beyond question and congratulated Hungary on a highly inclusive process well managed. Further, this partnership procedure was nominated in a competition for “best practices in public administration”. The partners’ interest in taking part in the long term development of the country was awakened. 20,000 copies of information brochures were published, 3,000 CD-ROMs were prepared, 140,000 visits registered on the website, there were 25,000 downloads of the Development Concept and officials of the NDO attended more than 200 events to discuss priorities. In bringing in partnership for the National Development Plan (2007-13), mail was sent directly7 to 5500 potential partners; a website/questionnaire was developed for comments

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and proposals; negotiations with national (non-regional/local) NGOs were held; there were regional forums held in each of the 19 counties in the country, co-organised with local daily newspapers; and, forums with national newspapers and magazines representing various interests were held. In order to generate and sustain interest from the partners as well as maintain integrity, trust and respect for the NDO among the partners, each written comment/proposal received a personalised answer as to what happened to the proposal and why, each letter was posted on the website unedited and in the original form, and answers to the questions were also published. This procedure developed by the NDO has become general practice required by law. There is now a long series of partnership developments in the preparation of a number of national policy documents, though not all of them are required by the European Commission (EC). Further, the civil societies themselves have prepared their own proposals. Some of the proposals submitted by civil society organizations include improvement of the state of the (physical) health of the nation; raising the level of employment; and, increasing the level of education and reinforcing the knowledge based society. 65 % of the civil societies accepted that competitiveness should lead the list of priorities. In January 2006 the private office of the Prime Minster started negotiations with mayors and regional officials belonging to his party on what they would like to see in the development plan. The result was portfolio of development projects which were, however, in use until the elections of April 2006. In Hungary, one can now recognise various levels of partnerships. These are:

National macro-forums, umbrella organisations with direct contact with the National Development Office.

“Specialised” civil society organisation – partners of the line ministries. Regional civil society organisations – partners of the Regional Development

Agencies. There are lessons to be learnt in the Hungarian case. First, the partnership procedure in Hungary was built upon the proposals of the partners and the whole process must be geared to moving from suspicion to mutual understanding and respect. Therefore ESCs should bring in the various partners to agree on the consultative procedure to be used in preparing policy documents. This will greatly enhance mutual respect and goodwill between government and the various stakeholders in development. Secondly, civil engagement is not only a must for governments. It brings genuine enrichment and value addition. Thirdly, civil representatives have to be involved in the whole process of development policy, including planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation. Fourthly, development policy can involve very complicated and bureaucratic procedures. In this case, civilians can be watchdogs against over-complication. Fifthly, civil engagement presupposes the freedom of expression of the press, can contribute substantially to better regulation and better governance and is indispensable for the transparency and accountability of government. However, all these initiatives require the civil society organizations involved to practise honesty, be tolerant and have considerable expertise. 9. CONCEPT FOR SIMULATION: STUDY CASE OF THE TURMOIL IN NORTH AFRICA

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The turmoil in North Africa was presented as a study case for the participants to advise on what should be done to resolve the issues and to prevent such occurrences. In particular, the groups were to discuss the case study presented on the recent unrests and regime change in the North African countries and analyze the situation, its threats and opportunities in relation to what the ESCs can do to prevent and forestall the occurrence of such crises in their countries and in the wider African context. They were also to prepare a realistic management plan of tasks, resources, responsibilities and timelines.

There were two rounds of Group discussions followed by plenary sessions. Each round of discussions had two Groups.

In the first round of Group discussions, the participants were randomly broken into the two Groups so that Chairmen, Members of Council, the Chief Executives and Members of Staff were represented in both Group I and Group II.

In the second round, Group I was composed of Chairmen, Members of Council and the Chief Executives. Group II was composed of the rest of the staff of the ESCs. The aim was to see whether there would be differences in the decisions made. The following was the case study presented:

“Cairo is calling!!! Last night and in preparation of this workshop Heads of state of the African Union (AU) and observers from countries of the Middle East attended an informal meeting of the AU in Cairo, Egypt. The Meeting was not publicly announced and that’s why you did hear about it until today. Shaken up by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt many governments in the Africa are concerned about what happened, what comes next and what should their own government do. By going to Cairo they wanted to get a first hand picture of the situation. Of course, this would have been more difficult in the framework of an official meeting with all its diplomatic and security measures. Therefore, they have chosen the informal and private character of the meeting.

In Cairo Heads of state went on a tour across the town and met with government and opposition representatives. What followed was a heated debate during a common dinner at one of the African embassies. Unfortunately, opinions and proposals were too different and the time for discussion was too short to find a common approach. Therefore, each delegation left basically with its own ideas and strategy for the own country.

Nonetheless, there was one exception where a consensus was found: Of course, looking at the many more or less autocratic and/or democratic governments in Africa it was clear that they could not agree on the extend to which citizen should get more rights and should be engaged. What they agreed on is that satisfaction of citizen will be the key to stability in individual countries and the region.

Heads of state are not agreeing on all possible means to be applied which range from increasing subsidies and symbolic reforms to the introduction of far reaching political reforms. A partial agreement was achieved among those countries that dispose of an

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Economic and Social Council (ESC). All respective Heads of state see a major chance to foster stability and development by engaging their ESC and in addition, by fostering cooperation between ESC in Africa. Being aware that some members and staff of ESC are meeting today and tomorrow in Nairobi they gave me a call as moderator of the event and asked me to change the agenda as follows:

The participants of the informal meeting of the AU in Cairo asked me to convene the following information to you: Dear Presidents, Secretary Generals, Members and Staff of African ESC,

We are living in challenging times. Revolutions and uprisings in the Arab world and especially in Northern Africa are only coming on top of the many crises and developments our people and governments are facing. Financial and economic crises, food crisis, increasing oil prices, the overall global integration and interdependence, HIV/Aids, population dynamics, diversification of the society … the list of challenges seems to get longer from day to day. Fortunately, progress in science and technology, in education, in international cooperation and the availability of new tools (including ICT) provide us also with better opportunities to cope with these challenges.

We need new approaches to cope with an increasing complexity. Economic and Social Councils are not an invention of these days. Nonetheless, due to their composition and due to the experience, perspectives and interests represented in ESC they might be especially suited to deal with challenges of our time and to formulate consensual solutions for the most pressing problems.

Therefore, we urge the participants of the workshop in Nairobi to use the opportunity of their meeting

- To discuss the general situation, its threats and opportunities ( orientation) - To outline objective driven and result oriented actions of ESC within their countries

and in the wider African context ( teaming up cooperation, setting of goals, defining intended outputs, results and impacts)

- To prepare their implementation by outlining a respective and realistic management plan ( assigning of tasks, resources and responsibilities, timeline)

Considering the urgency we ask you to present your proposals to us in the evening of 8 March 2011. We are confident that you will do your very best and to help us to cope with the current challenge. We are confident that you will be successful and thank your very much.”

The results of the Group discussions are presented in Chapters 10 and 11. However, it is to be noted that because of time constraints, none of the groups reached the level of depth of analysis required. They mainly gave outlines of the situation analysis and what needs to be done. 10. FIRST ROUND OF GROUP DISCUSSIONS: STUDY CASE OF THE

TURMOIL IN NORTH AFRICA

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Recap: Participants in this round of discussions were randomly mixed in both Group I and Group II. 10.1 Group 1

Situation Analysis

In analysing the situation, the Group asked the following questions: What kind of society are we talking about? What is the ownership structure of key resources in the country? What is the place of the youth and gender? What is the nature of institutions in the country? Are they functional? What is their overall importance? Do they protect the authorities or oppose them?

It was felt that one of the factors that limit knowledge use and management in African countries is that their societies tend to take on authoritarian structures such as in SSA – Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Gabon, etc. The rulers also often stay in power for a long time, leaving few opportunities for the rest of the potential leaders to participate in leadership and governance. There’s a limit to these states of affairs - hence the proliferation of crises. In Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon there came a time when the situation could not continue any more.

The Group noted that sometimes this inevitably requires external intervention such as in Cote d’Ivoire where there is a stalemate on who won the Presidential elections. The international community and governments have called the leaders to accept the proposals on the election outcomes. Such an agreement cannot be discussed outside the country where the impact of the power in parts of the population especially the youth and women is not visible. Part of the population support for Gbagbo out of that invisible power.

In Tunisia the population was not happy but the government kept saying the economy was growing and everyone was happy. Few weeks later, the uprising began. If the authorities did much for the population, and had devolved power, perhaps things would be different.

Some governments such as Libya have blamed these events on the impact of Al-Qaeda. However, the situation is complex. These countries were not affected by the 1980s democratisation across Africa. In Libya, Col. Gadhafi cushioned the social issues of the people but did not strengthen institutions, making people feel excluded. Globalisation& democratisation also contributed to the loosening of societies which have been previously in the grip of autocrats wielding absolute authority.

Fundamental causes of these crises are therefore to be found within the borders of these countries. There is lack of social equity and historical inequities are entrenched in these countries. Most resources are geared towards protecting the interests of the few. So spontaneous violence escalates into revolutionary violence because of the bottled up frustrations of the people.

The African Union (AU) was also seen as a club of the few who have failed to appreciate the youth and only views them as trouble makers.

Way forward

The Group brainstormed on how ESCs can advise the governments to manage these situations in the face of globalisation to give free space to the people so that the people’s

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energies can be harnessed for the common good of the country in the long-term. Good examples given included Rwanda where the government is reported to be handling youth issues well and the youth are in some of the key positions in government. The Kenya’s Vision 2030 also appreciates the youth – there’s a Ministry of Youth with programmes on their economic and social empowerment. Another example is Mozambique where, out of its experiences during the war, it realised the importance of the youth and has over the years developed programmes for them, thereby managing to contain the situation.

Thus the Group focussed on harnessing the energies of the youth, social empowerment and creation of job opportunities. Further the Group added that there is need to develop institutions, cultures and attitudes which respect the rule of law in order to be able to deal with economic and social factors which may lead to the disruption of society. In other words regimes and their institutions must expand democratic space and a sense of participation in economic, social arena – resulting in empowerment. Levels of poverty must be addressed. As the few people in power continue to concentrate wealth in their hands, the masses become marginalised. This will lead to a revolution.

Therefore in the way the ESCs are constituted, the above agenda lies squarely in their portfolio. At no other time is the sense of urgency so great for them to start addressing the issues expounded above.

10.2 Group 2

Situation Analysis

The situation analysis was basically similar to that of Group 1. Group 2 members discussed and observed the following as the description of the current situation in the troubled countries: lack freedoms (association, expression, speech, movement etc.); disruption of social infrastructure networks; people seeking to be liberated from oppressive regimes; dissatisfaction with current situation; bad/poor management of resources; lack of democracy; poor national dialogue and communication; unemployment; bad management of natural resources; and, high levels of inequality.

All this has led to breakdown in state structure and rule of law resulting in great uncertainty and instability in the countries involved with the looming possibilities of civil war as has come to pass in Libya. It is also foreseen that the problem may extend to other countries. Problems of unemployment and poverty which have been left to pester over a long time may not be solved overnight. That not withstanding, the citizens might demand immediate solutions to their problems.

Way forward

Again there were similarities and complementarities with Group 1 in the way Group 2 saw as the way forward. The group saw the way forward in a range of opportunities that can be exploited and promoted by the authorities, including ESCs. It was felt that citizens or people are now more receptive to change and new ideas after the current crisis and therefore this creates an opportunity to build new and appropriate institutions to enable productivity and competiveness. Close co-operation among African governments could also be encouraged to exchange ideas and bolster one another in promoting best practices in good governance.

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ICT skills/technology can also be used for positive results in improving the growth of the economy, creating job opportunities and improving transparency and governance.

It was concluded that the situation gives ESCs the chance to introduce policies that have been discussed with a wide section of society. 11. SECOND ROUND OF GROUP DISCUSSIONS: RE-VISITING THE STUDY

CASE OF THE TURMOIL IN NORTH AFRICA Recap: In this second round of discussions, Group I was made of Chairmen, Members of Council and Chief Executives. Group II was made of the rest of the Members of Staff of the Councils.

11.1 Group I

Situation Analysis

The group identified a number of main tasks which must be addressed. These are good governance and national dialogue, economic tasks, social tasks and resource mobilization. Good governance was said to involve expansion of democratic space, respect of separation of powers between the executive, the legislative and judicial arms of government, respect of the supremacy of the people, respect for fundamental freedoms, encouragement and sustenance of political, social and economic participation in the national processes.

Way Forward

Under economic tasks a call was made for the eradication of poverty and corruption as well as institutionalisation of the sharing national wealth. There must also be efficient management of natural resources and promotion of a competitive private sector which is as vibrant as those found in the Asian tigers’ economies e.g. Hong Kong, Korea and Malaysia.

Social tasks to be undertaken included enhancement of social security system in Africa, enhancement of healthcare systems to ensure healthy and productive citizenry and enhancement of social equity, justice and fairness. Further it was indicated that there is need to create and sustain employment opportunities to cater for the disadvantaged groups especially women, the youth and the minorities. Drug-trafficking is a drain on the national economy and facilitator of social decadence and should be eradicated. Other initiatives include enhancement of the research portfolio to improve the national development activities, offering and sustaining educational opportunities without any discrimination, including sustainable technical education at all levels to facilitate technological innovativeness to improve job opportunities, arresting the urban – rural migration by creating employment opportunities in the rural areas, prevention and countering religious fundamentalism and regional tendencies.

At the national level, all sectors of society were urged to promote dialogue, create opportunities for professional Think Tanks, civil society, religious organisations and NGOs to pre-empt national crisis. There is also need to identify the social forces interest groups, pressure groups in each country and mobilise them to efficiently participate in the national debates and political processes. Authorities should adopt pro-active approaches in national dialogues, social, political and economic participation. Correctional measures should also be

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ensured in respect of historical injustices, public corruption and individual thievery. National governmental schools should be encouraged to look for physical capital for the common good. In countries with technological problems, it was recommended that they explore technology transfer to address this problem.

The Group also called for resources for the ESCs to be able to do their work. In this regard, three important resources were identified, namely, human capital, physical capital and material capital. In the case of human capital, the professionals, academia and technological graduates should be effectively deployed. The ESCs should also help to tap the intellectual resources of Africans who are resident in the US, Asia and Europe. ESCs should come up with policies to discourage the migration of talent out of their countries. They utilise the professional expertise of their home grown experts and hire local researchers and consultants within their respective countries.

Each ESC should accordingly and appropriately identify its tasks in the short term and the long term respectively with regard to the activities/interventions outlined above.

11.2 Group II

Situation Analysis

This group concentrated on how to improve the ESC management which can be used to improve ESC effectiveness in the African countries and therefore ultimately improve governance in the countries. They did not address political issues directly. They therefore started by reviewing the functioning of the ESCs in the different countries. However, it must be pointed out that the reviews were not comprehensive going by the report of the Group. Apparently the Group concentrated on the communications portfolio of the ESCs.

In Benin, a Communications Department forms part of the structure of the ESC. The Council also publishes a newsletter and uses the media for communication. They also have a documentation centre. There is also a website which is not up to date because of lack of capacity to update it. It contains information on the previous mandate.

In Guinea there is no Communications Department and the Documentation Centre is not fully operational. However, there is a journalist the Council.

In Kenya there is also no Communications Department though the organizational structure provides for it and recruitment is ongoing. However, there is a Communications Strategy developed through a consultant. For now, communications work is shared out among the ESC staff and other government departments who have communications staff and consultants. The Secretary to NESC is responsible for all communication to the public and the authorization of information for dissemination.

NESC has an up to date website which is interactive (www.nesc.go.ke). It also has a Resource Centre which is operational. The Centre has e-resources on subscription, physical information materials relevant to economic and social issues, and an institutional repository which is only accessible to members (intranet).

The Council has Publication & Dissemination Guidelines and it holds stakeholder and dissemination workshops. It publishes and disseminates Annual Reports, Discussion

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Papers, Policy Briefs. It does not have a fully fledged newsletter for the Council but it has started a specific newsletter for cluster development in the country.

In Senegal there is a Department of Information and Public Relations which has Divisions of Information and Press Relations, Computer and Multimedia and Publication. It has a Communications Advisor and a website (www.ces.sn) which is up to date. It also produces a newsletter.

Way Forward

It was recommended that the ESCs should improve their websites (design, implementation, content management), update content and add functionalities e.g. intranet. They should also develop a general Communication Strategy on a consultative basis. The strategy must be part of the ESC’s Strategic Plan. The ESCs should also endeavour to have communication staff, operationalise Documentation Centres and produce a regular newsletter.

It was recommended that communication work should be handled under a Director of Communication and Documentation or a Director of Knowledge Management under whom there is an ICT Officer, a Documentation Officer (multimedia) and a Communication Officer (with training in editing, writing, media relations). The staff could be complemented by some interns.

The Group recommended cooperation with the European Commission and to request it to support the exchange of staff and training sessions of one week duration twice a year. They also recommended to request UN agencies to support the equipment of Communications Offices and Documentations Centres.

It was also emphasized that the Councils’ websites should be improved and have a portal reserved only for Council Members and Staff to get input and specific information on the Council (agenda of meetings, minutes, etc). The ESC should also have e-discussion forums (wikis) for staff of ESCs in Africa. The Group raised the possibility of the use of the AICESIS website to enhance networking and knowledge-sharing among ESCs worldwide.

In the Plenary, the different approaches by the two groups were noted. The Members/Chief Executives Group concentrated on policy/political issues while the Staff group concentrated on policy/political issues. This can assist in planning training sessions for each group but also a training workshop combining both groups can bring in added value in which one side enriches and understands the other more.

The simulation/study case has managed to bring into sharp focus the socio-political as well as economic issues which the ESCs have to deal with. The next chapter looks at the type of activities in which the ESCs propose to be involved in the near as well as long term future. 12. LOOKING AHEAD – WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO IMPROVE ESC MANAGEMENT After the simulation exercise, the ESCs embarked on preparing practical proposals for the improvement of the work of their respective organizations. AICESIS also made proposals which will backstop the efforts of the ESCs.

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These are presented below.

12.1 Proposals from Benin

1. Revise the legal framework of the BENIN ESC in order to let the Council play its real role of driving force of the national dialogue on economic and social policies.

2. Promote capacity building of Council Members and the staff of the ESC.

3. Create legal permanent framework (fora) with the main stakeholders (government, labour unions, businesses, etc) to discuss policy issues.

4. Mobilize knowledge and technical resources from relevant knowledge networks and national institutes of research on key economic development trends and propose policy alternatives.

5. Publish all of ESC activities by using the tools of Information and Communication Technology.

6. Improve exchange experiences with African ESCs, AICESIS and UN agencies.

12.2 Proposals from Guinea

1. National Dialogue to be promoted among economic, social and political partners.

2. Sponsorship of studies and investigations on the economic, social and political situation in our respective countries and publication of regular notes on that situation to the authorities.

3. National public and private policies as practised by ESCs to be evaluated and advise for correction provided.

4. Exchange of good practices on good governance experiences between ESC’s at the sub-regional, regional and international levels.

5. Encouraging creation of ESCs in other parts of Africa and elsewhere around the world.

6. The African Union has been hosting the representative of UCESA and other NGOs. It should host ESCs before hosting NGOs.

12.3 Proposals from Kenya

1. Understanding better the role, strengths and future opportunities of ESC to contribute to the achievement of IADG, including MDG:

• ESC Partnerships with Think Tanks. • Sponsor studies of Economic Social Councils.

o Effectiveness o Structure o Operations

• Sponsor studies on how ESCs can promote values for development. • Use NESC as a model to support/promote ESC in the East African Community.

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• Offer scholarships for Masters/PhD, and Post Doctoral to study about ESCs.

2. Capacity building for ESC, their members and staff: • Programme to develop efficient/effectives and appropriate governance systems. • Programme to have strong functional resource centre and communication

function. • Knowledge management (documenting/database system for indigenous

knowledge) between NESC activities and development planning. • Documentation of memoirs. • Rapporteur training. • Repackaging of research for different audiences. • Creating a database of academic research thesis (Masters and PhD) for ease of

availability). • Publishing academic research for commercialisation. • Use of experts in the Diaspora – engage with them – offer monetary incentives. • NESC to support triple HELIX (govt, academia, private sector joint initiatives and

networking) and associated spinoffs. • Engagement with key stakeholder groups such as the youth. • Development of ESC critical functionality model for a country at various stages of

development.

12.4 Proposals from Senegal

The participants from Senegal arrived for the workshop a day later and they had not prepared any proposals. However, they stated that they would go with the proposals from Benin.

12.5 Proposals from AICESIS

1. AICESIS wants to be involved deeply and entirely in the workshop conclusions and the future concrete initiatives which will be decided today.

2. AICESIS is working on a global knowledge base to be available online in July where all AICESIS members will be able to find all texts and documents available in each member (status, opinions, studies, etc.)

3. AICESIS organized in July 2009 a summer school for youth involved in the AICESIS member Councils. We would like to organize a second session in summer 2012.

4. AICESIS intends to put more and more time and efforts into training sessions for staffs of ESCs and also to continue to organize seminars to give the possibilities to its members to exchanges on their best practices. For instance from 12 to 14 April, the Dakar conference will be held with the partnership of UNDESA and ILO to give the possibility to exchange on their best practice concerning the Global Job Pact implementation in their country. Also from July 21 to 23 AICESIS will hold in Rome its annual General Assembly with an international roundtable on the main topic on the role of ESCs on the new economic, social and environmental global governance.

13. WRAP UP SESSION During the wrap up session, the Rapporteur read the follow up proposals made by the various countries and AICESIS.

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The Workshop Coordinator, Mr. Ulrich Graute, felt that the proposals made by the different countries and AICESIS are good and UNDESA will support their implementation as capacity building and knowledge generation is in the ambit of the ESCs. The discussions have brought out a better understanding of the role of the ESCs. The outcomes of the Group discussions have also shown clearly the difference of focus between Council Members who focus more on political and policy dimensions of the ESCs in their analysis of the issues while Council Staff focus more on the operational issues of the Council. Hence the need to bring both types of personnel to a workshop like this in order to enrich and have balanced discussions. The ESCs can organise both national and regional meetings and also invite experts such as Mr. Halm from other parts of the world to enrich it with inputs from long term experience. Requests can be made to institutions such as UNDP to support the participation of such experts. The Coordinator promised to post the report of this workshop in the UN Public Administration Network website (www.unpan.org) translated fully into French to enable the ESCs to access for their use of the proceedings and as a model for their own workshops. He noted that the proceedings of the Ouagadougou workshop are already in the website. He also encouraged the ESCs to seek to create networks whose impact can be very big.

Dr. Graute expressed his appreciation for the hospitality extended to the participants by the Government of Kenya and the organisation put in place for the workshop by NESC.

Mr. Michel Kamano in his capacity as the Chairman of UCESA emphasized the need for the support of dialogue and workshops among the ESCs. He emphasized the need to especially promote south-south dialogue among the African ESCs. In this regard, he noted that before the AICESIS General Assembly in July, Guinea will organise a meeting of the African ESCs in Conakry. He further felt that more African countries should be encouraged to form ESCs and to co-organise workshops. He noted that the example from Hungary was good and such expert inputs can be incorporated in these workshops. Mr. Kamano thanked the ESC of Kenya for hosting the workshop.

Ms. Samira Azarba reiterated the commitment of AICESIS to promoting the agenda of the ESCs and to follow up on the commitments and proposals which AICESIS made at the workshop. She emphasized that AICESIS has committed itself to strengthening its collaboration with UNDESA in promoting the ESC agenda. She urged the ESCs to continue working together and to make joint visits for exchange of experiences and to strengthen the ESC movement. She said this should start with neighbouring countries beginning to make such contacts to discuss and strengthen ESC activities in each region. She thanked NESC for hosting the workshop.

Mr. Muia, Secretary NESC thanked UNDESA, AICESIS and UNDP for co-sponsoring the workshop and looked forward to future similar initiatives as was expressed by the participants. He thanked the participants for making the workshop a success. He noted that NESC has flexibility on what it can do and it will participate fully in all the initiatives that have been proposed at the workshop. The Secretariat of NESC sets the agenda on the basis of extensive consultations with its stakeholders and sometimes on the basis of research and no agenda has been rejected. He looked forward to the follow up on the proposals made at the workshop which will be the ultimate measure of the success of the workshop. He urged each ESC to invite others and start exchange visits to learn from one another.

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14. BREAKFAST MEETING WITH LEADING THINK TANKS IN KENYA, WEDNESDAY 9TH MARCH 2011, INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, NAIROBI, KENYA

14.1 Topic-Theme of the Meeting

The topic to be addressed at the meeting was “The role of thinks tanks in Kenya and their collaboration to support the development and implementation of national development strategies”.

14.2 Objectives

The objectives of the meeting were to:

Offer a networking opportunity among think tanks in Kenya and provide a forum to consider possibilities of information sharing and policy dialogue among them.

Reveal opportunities for a more elaborate engagement framework among Kenyan think tanks and government.

Establish potential areas of strengthening cooperation.

14.3 Keynote Speech by Dr. Ulrich Graute, Senior Adviser, UNDESA, New York

Mr. Graute made reference to the seminal work of Prof. James McGann on The Global “Go to Think Tanks” Report 2010, The Leading Public Policy Research Organizations. In this report, McGann defines think tanks as “public policy research, analysis and engagement institutions that generate policy-oriented research, analysis and advice on domestic and international issues that enables policymakers and the public to make informed decisions about public policy issues. Think tanks may be affiliated or independent institutions and are structured as permanent bodies, not ad hoc commissions. These institutions often act as a bridge between the academic and policymaking communities, serving in the public interest as an independent voice that translates applied and basic research into a language and form that is understandable, reliable, and accessible for policymakers and the public”.

McGann considered 6480 think tanks worldwide. As exhibited in Table 1, only 8% of these were in Africa. The highest concentration was in North America and Europe. Table 1: Think tanks worldwide Country Number %

Africa 548 8 Asia 1200 18 Europe 1757 27 Latin America + Caribbean 690 11 Middle East and North Africa 333 5 North America 1913 30 Oceania 39 1

Total 6480 100

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Further analysis showed that the United States (1816), China (425) and India (292) had the highest number of think tanks being number one, two and three respectively on the list. Kenya came to a very commendable number 20 with 53 think tanks. Kenya is ranked among the countries with a comparatively high number of think tanks as shown in table 2. Among the 75 leading think tanks worldwide, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) is one of them. Further, among the 25 top think tanks in Africa, the African Economic Research Consortium and KIPPRA are listed as numbers 8 and 25 respectively.

Table 2: African countries with largest number of think tanks

Country Number

South Africa 85

Kenya 53

Nigeria 46

Ghana 36

Uganda 27

Ethiopia 25

Zimbabwe 24

In another set from the McGann data, Kenya hosts a regional think tank, the African Population and Health Research Center, which ranks number 8 among the health policy think tanks of the world. The top 3 are in the United States. Similarly, the African Wildlife Foundation based in Kenya, ranks number 23 among the world’s environment think tanks.

Thus there is a substantial number of think tanks both national, regional and international based in Kenya from which the policy making institutions such as NESC can seek inputs to come up with policy decisions that based on disciplined analysis. Indeed, in a recent survey, NESC has identified 51 such think tanks. A more comprehensive survey will be undertaken and it may come up with more. NESC is potentially an instrument for effective policy formulation and consensus finding if it uses all the expertise available in these institutions and if it considers all relevant interests. He noted that the process of policy formulation is long and involves many phases. It includes generation of ideas, designs, preparation of strategies, approval of those strategies, implementation, monitoring and evaluation function, extensive discussions and consultations, trust building, clarification of goals, commitment, time lines and allocation of responsibilities. This complex and long process can be substantially aided through the involvement of the think tanks and other stakeholders such as the civil society and the academia which themselves have a concentration of think tanks in their own right.

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The question is: How many think tanks and of what kind are needed? Facebook can also be a new form of think tank. The diaspora is also another form of think tank. And how intensive should the collaboration of think tanks be?

The options to include all expertise available calls for joint projects (studies, conferences), joint working groups, regional and thematic networks, surveys, interactive ICT tools (including blogs), and other forms of “loose/informal coupling”.

The options to consider all relevant interests requires the uses of direct ones such as the interactive ICT tools and direct encounters of all kind as well as indirect ones such as joint projects (studies, conferences), joint working groups, regional and thematic networks and surveys.

However, Dr. Graute pointed out that the relationships between think tanks and governments have not always been smooth sailing. There are love-hate relationships between these two institutions. The love part is when government provides funds to the think tanks on the one hand and when government receives information from the think tanks. The hate part is when the think tanks give honest criticism of the government which government bureaucrats do not want to hear or when government harasses the think tanks for one reason or another. He noted that governments have a habit of engaging think tanks only when they need urgent information which is held by think tanks. In the past, leaders had a lot power concentration around themselves and decisions were made with little consultation. Things were done as the leaders wanted them. Times have changed. There are many actors who need to be consulted and the need for information to facilitate making the right decisions is great.

What can be done to have synergy between think tanks and government? As noted above there is need to promote the half formal/half informal working relationships such as joint working groups, e.g. the ESC of France has 230 members and is still planning to expand the membership to include the youth and other groups; formation of regional as well as thematic networks; joint surveys; interactive ICT tools such as internet blogs; and, other forms of “loose/informal couplings”. There should be options to consider all relevant interest groups and avoid the marginalization of some think tanks as much as possible if they are producing good quality work. Think tanks can push government to implement vision 2030 and other development initiatives.

There are also love-hate relationships between the institutions themselves. In such situations there is hardly any exchange of information between these institutions and disruptive suspicions abound. Inter-disciplinary work becomes difficult. However, competition is healthy and it is not necessarily bad for think tanks to work on similar topics as it also creates synergy.

Mr. Graute pointed out that these love-hate relationships can cost the country much in terms of reduced growth. It is therefore important for the ESCs and other stakeholders to bring every one to the same table to find ways of working together.

14.4 Discussion

The discussion was held under the facilitation of Professor Michael Chege, a Member of NESC. It was noted that Kenya has many regional and national think tanks. However, the quality of policy research has been declining. It was also noted that university lecturers have

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been publicly challenged on the quality of their work, some of which is unfortunately copied from the work of other researchers when preparing proposals for funding. The university lecturers were also said to have no time to think as they are often busy “moonlighting”” and moving from one university to the other lecturing to earn as much as possible at the end of the day. Thus there are poor policy options to inform the country’s transition to Vision 2030. It was nevertheless, also pointed out that Kenyans have a tendency of listening more to external experts than their own.

It was argued that in Kenya there is poor policy analysis to inform on gender issues. The quality of data is poor. Institutions should endeavour to generate evidence to assist government in policy analysis.

The definition and identification of think tanks in the country was challenged. What are the parameters for measuring think tanks? How does one justify including Habitat and leaving out other UN institutions such as UNDP and WFP as well as other international institutions such as IDRC?

Another suggestion was to use the diaspora as another de facto think tank.

It was further pointed out that the problem of think tanks was that of being in a poor environment of low resources and poor infrastructure. It was felt that in order to resolve the resources problem, institutions should endeavour to specialise into niches so that they do not spread themselves thin. Although sometimes there are criticisms from development partners for such institutions as being single issues institutions, observations worldwide show that specialised institutions tend to do better that others.

It was also indicated that there is a problem of attracting talent into research because research does not pay well. Some institutions tend to turn to training because there is public demand and good immediate financial returns. The question was asked: Who should fund the think tanks? It was suggested that NESC should push government to prioritise research so that this can facilitate good policy decisions. Currently, the country spends only the equivalent of 0.3% of its GDP on research as compared to, for example, up to 2.5% in Europe.

The think tanks in the country were also criticised for lack of cooperation in their work even among departments in the same institution. Many researchers “keep their work to their chest”.

Think tanks were urged to work and be encouraged to link with other institutions within the HELIX triangle of government, private sector (including civil society) and the academia. They often set the criteria for research without relating it to the needs of the society. They should consider the applicability of their research to development and the link between theory and practice.

It was also pointed out that think tanks should relate their work to the unfolding East African cooperation, including how the cooperation can be strengthened and how Kenya can benefit from it.

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The think tanks were urged to use language which the ordinary person can understand when disseminating the results of their research in the media and other outlets. However, the press was also blamed for poor investigations on issues which they write about.

The implementation of the constitution, particularly devolution and the Bill of Rights will require a lot of inputs. Think tanks should think out of the box and be involved in this work. They should study/analyse the value systems in the country and those engendered by the new constitution and make recommendations.

Considering the poor resources environment in which think tanks were said work, it was indicated that government will try to bridge this gap to facilitate research/think tank inputs into policy making. It was also reported that there is a bill to turn the National Council for Science and Technology into a more autonomous Commission which should be able to engage the think tanks more closely. There are also bills to create an authority for universities and other tertiary institutions which will facilitate the ‘socialization’ of science by targeting research to the practical problems which the country faces such as drought in some parts of the country and floods in others.

In reply, Dr. Graute said that basic research should generally be paid for by government. For applied research, think tanks were urged to diversify their sources of funding. On the issue of external experts being listened to more than Kenyan experts, he encouraged the institutions to involve more local experts in their workshops so as to build confidence in them. On the question of the definition of a think tank and who gets included, he said that the concept is not closed. More institutions such as UNDP should be included.

14.5 Remarks/Responses by Mr. Julius Muia, Secretary, NESC, Kenya

Mr. Muia thanked the participants for attending the occasion. He said this would enhance NESC’s efforts to dialogue with think tanks bring them closer into policy making.

Mr. Muia indicated that there is need to arrive at a mutually agreed definition of think tanks. There is also need to determine how many think tanks there are in the country. This will lead to a directory of think tanks in the country showing the names, telephone and e-mail contacts, physical location, year of establishment and area of focus. Such survey should determine how various think tanks interact and engage with the government. The country should use this information to create a framework for various government ministries, departments and agencies to know the think tanks in the country and what they do.

It should be possible to determine and agree on which think tanks to engage in the various areas of policy/law. Such areas include problem identification, determination of alternative policy options, selection of the policies, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, among other processes of policy formulation.

Mr. Muia pointed out that NESC and the Ministry of Justice are currently working on a very topical agenda regarding national values with the objective of finalising a national values policy, drafting the law which would put into practice the specifications in the constitution regarding values and publishing relevant books for reference by various levels in the Kenyan society.

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He further noted that with regard to diaspora, it is possible that they can be attracted by developing a program which remunerates them when they engage with and support activities with think tanks. He further suggested that the challenge of university professors and lecturers spending little time on research due to engaging in several jobs can be addressed by re-orientating them from ‘publish or perish’ to a disposition of publish, patent and prosper. This would give them the opportunity to earn from their research efforts and therefore act as an incentive to engage in ‘think tank’ activities.

Another meeting of think tanks will be organized in the course of the year to deliberate on these recommendations.

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15. LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI ON THE ESCs AS INSTRUMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE POLICY FORMULATION AND CONSENSUS FINDING, WEDNESDAY 9TH MARCH 2011, BY DR. ULRICH GRAUTE, SENIOR ADVISER, UNDESA, NEW YORK

15.1 Objective

The objective of the lecture was to interest professors, lecturers and students in the work of ESCs, in particular the NESC of Kenya, and to interest them to carry out research and postgraduate studies on areas of policy making which NESC addresses. This will be in line with the strategy of engaging think tanks in the country in policy making.

The lecture was attended by a mix of undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as some lecturers.

15.2 The Lecture

Definition and Functions of an Economic and Social Council

Dr. Graute illustrated the definition and functions of an ESC by using concepts from three different countries, namely, Romania, France and Kenya, and from the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS).

In Romania, the ESC is defined as an autonomous tripartite public institution of national interest, set up for the purpose of achieving the social dialogue between employers, trade unions and the Government, and building a climate of stability and social peace. The Economic and Social Council has an advisory function in working out strategies and economic and social policies, and it plays a mediator role at industry and national levels in case of disputes between its social partners. The Council helps to achieve, promote and develop social dialogue and social solidarity.

In France, the ESC is regarded as France's third most important constitutional assembly. It is institutionalised as:

• A constitutional assembly which is completely independent of both the Executive and Parliament.

• A representative assembly consisting mainly of members designated by nationwide social and economic groups.

• An advisory assembly, which issues opinions and recommendations to the government on matters of economic and social relevance.

In France, constitutional reforms of 2008 transformed the ESC into the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (ESEC) and added 33 members from the environmental associations and foundations to the membership of the council. It is planned that the now 233-strong consultative assembly will further open its doors to the young, students and competent personalities coming from the cultural, scientific and sports fields, and the disabled.

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In Kenya, the National ESC is a standing committee comprising of eminent persons with diverse experience, knowledge, and skills that is chaired by H.E. the President or the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister in his absence. The committee provides expert advice on economic and social matters to H.E. the President and the Cabinet.

The NESC has a membership of 49 as follows: 26 Government officials (The President, Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Prime Ministers and other government officials) 7 Members from private sector 3 Registered professional bodies 1 Labour unions 1 Commission for Higher Education 1 National Council for Science and Technology 1 Private health care providers 4 Local experts 1 Farmers association 4 International experts

According to AICESIS, ESCs are independent assemblies established in their national constitutions, either by a law or a decree, or else officially recognized by the public authorities; moreover, they genuinely represent economic and social interests.

It was noted that ESCs are part of the democratic institutions of the country because, if appropriately constituted, they have to be as representative as possible of the various stakeholders in the country. There is a wide distribution of ESCs throughout the world which network and collaborate directly as well as through the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS).

Effective Policy Formulation and Consensus Finding

Policy formulation can be done by a variety of institutions. These include government, parliament, Economic, Social and Environmental Councils, civil society organizations and think tanks. Policies can be effective depending on the substance of proposed policies in terms, for example, of the ideas and actions proposed, readiness for the country to implement them and availability of resources. Their effectiveness also depends on their acceptance by decision makers and by the public. Governmental bodies, Members of Parliament, councils, committees, thinks tanks, individual experts, stakeholders and advocacy groups are some of the actors involved in the making of substantive policy proposals. In turn, decision makers, various stakeholders, advocacy groups, media and the public are involved in the sanctioning (accepting) of those policies. Thus the ESC can be an instrument for effective policy formulation if it uses all expertise available and for consensus finding if it considers all relevant interests. In addition, the effectiveness of policy formulation depends also on other factors such as orientations and capabilities of the actors involved and input-output relationship of policies. In other words “garbage in, garbage out”.

Conclusion for Research

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Challenges are different and so are ESCs. There is no one-fits-all solution, and no need to make ESCs uniform. While it is up to the ESCs to prove their added value, social science research can help to provide advisory support. There is demand for knowledge on how best to combine different actors to provide solutions for given problems in given institutional settings and policy environments. The domain in which the actors would operate is wide and involves generation of ideas, designs, preparation of strategies, approval of those strategies, implementation, monitoring and evaluation function, extensive discussions and consultations, trust building, clarification of goals, commitment, time lines and allocation of responsibilities.

Possible guiding questions for a research agenda are:

• What makes/could make the NESC of Kenya a driving force of the national dialogue on economic and social policies?

• What would be the best approach to use all expertise available? (e.g. Think Tank network).

• What would be the best approach for consensus finding to increase acceptance and accelerate MDG achievement?

A wide range of research agenda for the universities and other think tanks can be generated out of these questions, leading to linkages with the ESC and involvement in and contribution to sound policy making. The universities were urged to take up some of this research agenda as part of their thesis work.

Discussion

The main discussion centred around the issue of employment and poverty which were the main interest of the audience. Mr. Muia, the Secretary of NESC who was present assured the audience that those are the key goals that Vision 2030 was addressing. He noted that Vision 2030 was born out of a very consultative process and it has a wide range of representation, nearly half of whom come from the private sector in its membership. The Commission of Higher Education is also one of the members of NESC. He explained the three pillars of vision 2030 under which efforts are being made to transform the economy. NESC is working on the Vision drivers which were identified during the formulation of the Vision as well as working on new ones.

He gave the example of the ICT sector which is the most rapidly growing sector in the country, partly as a result of the focus given to it under Vision 2030. He noted that many young people are engaged in ICT in activities such as business process outsourcing. The government is also developing an ICT technopolis which is expected to create jobs. The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector is another one which is growing rapidly with the potential to create jobs. There is also the drive towards the 24 hour economy which was decided as a result of studies funded by NESC. Before that all businesses had to close by 5 pm due to a by-law which they found to have been introduced by the Nairobi City Council in 1963! The government has also created a number of funds such as the youth and women enterprise funds, and the economic stimulus fund, among several others, to assist the youth and other groups to take advantage of these developments and be involved in the creation of their own businesses. These are a few examples of the efforts being made by ESC, other

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government bodies and the private sector to generate higher economic growth and jobs. He assured the audience that NESC would continue to involve key stakeholders and think tanks such as the universities in dialogue to find a solution to these problems.

A representative from Senegal who attended the lecture, noted the good work of NESC. He said that there is great potential for ESCs in Africa to increase the democratic space and to turn the tide of economic growth upwards. He hoped that more collaboration would be developed among the African ESCs in order to learn from each other and improve their performance even further.