The African continent has taken a positive step towards monitoring its own good governance in the African Peer Review Mechanism. In light of this, and the numerous promises made by European countries in 2005 to increase aid to Africa, there is a need for a similar method whereby European parliamentarians can hold their governments to account.

European Development Policy Tracking Mechanism

In 2006 AWEPA therefore launched a new research project called the European Development Policy Tracking Mechanism, and produced a resource publication giving an overview of recent progress and statistics in the European development field.

Following publications will take a similar format, and will provide an oversight table of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) disbursements and future commitments of European states, as well as reviewing their basic policies towards Africa. Information about European-wide policies such as the EU Strategy for Africa and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness will also be provided.

The most recent ODA report "Tracking European Aid, Debt and Trade Commitments to Africa" was recently released and can be found here:

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NEPAD Contact Group of African Parliamentarians

In addition, AWEPA is embarking on a pilot project with NCGAP, the NEPAD Contact Group of African Parliamentarians, to monitor how ODA is spent by governments. This project will initially collect detailed statistics about the ODA that 3 European countries disburse to 5 African countries.This information will be passed on to national parliamentarians, correlated with the government statistics available and a report published and discussed with a variety of stakeholders.

This project is an exciting new development for AWEPA and will help to strengthen the oversight role of African parliamentarians, as well as further strengthening the mutual understanding, confidence and trust which AWEPA helps to build between Africa and Europe.