Conference on Democratic Governance and Human Rights kicks off in Nairobi

A five-day conference on governance, democracy and human rights begins today in Nairobi for the East Africa Data for Governance Alliance Project.

The convention is organised by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi, in partnership with the European Union and Afrobarometer.

The Stakeholders’ Convening on Governance, Democracy, and Human Rights in Africa brings together regional Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and African Union organs in discussion to promote data-based advocacy.

Prof. Winnie Mitullah, the Afrobarometer East Africa Core Partner Director and Research Professor at IDS, University of Nairobi will deliver a keynote on leveraging Afrobarometer data for governance, human rights, and democratic practice in Africa.

Participants will include representatives from the African Union Anti-Corruption Advisory Board, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, the African Commission of Human and Peoples Rights, the African Peer Review Mechanism, and the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council.

The Sentry, a human rights think tank recently published a report about Kenya’s and other foreign powers’ involvement in South Sudan’s war and how individuals and companies profit from that. Over a billion dollars meant for food, drugs and aid was misappropriated. It appears that millions of dollars’ worth of essential pharmaceuticals, fuel, and food were not delivered. The government failed to repay the borrowed money and entered arbitration proceedings initiated by QNB at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes,” The Sentry.

The civil society organizations include the Eastern Africa Child Rights Network, Human Rights Watch, East African Civil Society Organizations’ Forum, Life and Peace Institute, Horn of Africa Regional Programme, and Plan International African Union Liaison Office.
The CSOs will be trained on use of public data from Afrobarometer and digitizing African Union documents to advocate effectively.

Participants are expected to create plans to collaborate and strengthen relationships to promote the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

As part of the project, two regional convenings were held in Accra, Ghana (West Africa leg) and Cape Town, South Africa (Southern Africa) and attended by pan-African civil society organizations, the African Union Pan African Parliament, the Office of the AU Youth Envoy and the African Governance Architecture Secretariat.

The Sentry’s investigations into the LCs programme found that multimillion-dollar contracts were awarded to inexperienced middlemen and foreign-run companies that only existed on paper.