Press Release
African Civil Society Organizations' Strategic Plan of Action for the World
Summit on Sustainable Development

Delegates of African Civil Society Organizations, comprising of 70
participants from 35 countries of the six sub regions of Africa, met under
the auspices of the African Civil Society Steering Committee for WSSD, from
17-19 July 2002 in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire to consolidate the regional agenda
towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and beyond.

The Conference, the last gathering of African CSOs prior to the Summit, was
a unique opportunity for African CSOs to comment on the draft implementation
plan for sustainable development, elaborate a strategy for effective
intervention in the up-coming Summit, to prepare the civil society and to
come up with a post-Summit plan of action.

Participants noted with great concern the numerous brackets in Chapter 8 of
the Chairman's text, on Africa and other sections of the plan, which may
have adverse implications for Africa's capacity for sustainable development.
Even though the introduction of chapter - 8 suggests the intention of the
international community to support Africa's efforts towards development,
concerns have been expressed that the brackets could indicate the possible
unwillingness on the part of those developed partners to support efforts
addressing development challenges in Africa. Similarly the common but
differentiated responsibilities, which was adopted as one of the principles
of Rio has also been bracketed. The participants worked on reducing the
number of brackets and comments will be sent to the Chair of the CSD as soon
as possible.

In addition to these key issues, the Conference covered issues related to
poverty alleviation, energy and technology transfer, governance, natural
resources management, financing sustainable development and New Partnership
for Africa's Development (NEPAD). CSOs affirm their engagement with NEPAD
and expressed their willingness to be involved in all of its aspects, they
further urge African leaders to partner with African civil society
organisations in all processes for its implementation and monitoring.

Furthermore, strong recommendations have been made in favour of an "active
participation of women and men at all levels of decision-making" in
sustainable development processes. It was recommended that 50% of African
delegates attending the Summit should be women.

The African Civil Society has not fully achieved its desired goals in terms
of participation and thematic input throughout the WSSD international
preparatory process and in the on going discourse on sustainable
development. The African CSOs strategy of intervention during the Summit and
beyond has the major objective of compensating this drawback. The strategy
is articulated around the following: the structure of the African CSOs, the
pre-Summit and Summit activities with a particular focus on networking and
partnerships initiatives with international groups, the relation with the
Global Forum and Summit itself, the management of information among African
networks and the post-Summit activities.

In light to make its voice heard through African political leaders, the
African Steering Committee drafted several letters to Friends of the Chair,
African Heads of States and Governments, and to President Mbeki, in
particular, as the Chairperson of the African Union (and its programme
NEPAD) who has unequivocally expressed the "partnership among countries and
partnerships between governments, the private sector, the labour unions, and
civil society" (Address to the 3rd Summit of the ACP Heads of State and
Government, Nadi, Fidji, 18 July 2002). The letter has already been
transmitted to President Mbeki thru the South Africa Ambassador in Cote
d'Ivoire.

The conference renewed a strong commitment to work cohesively to promote
the African Civil Society's voice through effective communication and
networking, before and during the Summit; and develop and adopt a plan of
action for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Johannesburg
outcomes.

Contact:
African Civil Society Steering Committee for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development
NESDA acting as the ASC for WSSD Secretariat
24 BP 95 Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Tel. +225 20 20 54 19
Fax. +225 20 20 59 22
Email: [email protected]
Attention: Mr. Abou Bamba