Africa: saving NEPAD

African heads of state are set to gather in Senegal on Thursday in an effort to breathe new life into the flagging New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

NEPAD was launched in 2001, as an 'African-owned' strategy for the continent's wholehearted integration into the global economy. Its signature project has been the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), through which states would submit to a thorough vetting of economic, political and social policies, and agree to monitoring of progress for reforms suggested by the process.

However, the APRM -- and NEPAD itself -- has been undermined by two factors, namely:

• ambiguity over just how distinct NEPAD is from the African Union and its existing structures; and
• controversy over South Africa’s participation in the APRM process, which has been less than whole-hearted.

The APRM reports for Ghana and Rwanda, the first to be released, showed the potential of the process: both countries are recipients of significant foreign (non-oil) investment and are seen as reformers.  South Africa's report, finally released earlier this year, was clouded by intimations that it had been sanitised before being sent to the APRM committee. Turnout at the Dakar meeting will provide an indication of how much support the APRM -- and NEPAD -- retain on the continent, and whether the project has a real future.