AU WATCH

Policy Analysis Seminars and Workshops


“The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man’s basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act – and if necessary, to suffer and die – for truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected and unremedied”

Haile Selassie

Our policies and analysis are based on lessons learned from years of working in Africa and with AU. A major strand of our work is our events. We stage hundreds of events every year. Every day, something is going on somewhere around Africa or even around the world for or on behalf of AU Watch. We have learnt that for our leaders to engage with us, we have to continually remind them that we are around and do not intend going anywhere in a hurry – that we are determined to keep their feet close to the fire, as an aide memoire, that they have promises to keep on behalf of the African peoples. We have therefore set up a series of platforms to engage with our leaders.

● The ‘NGO Forum on the (African) Summit of Heads of State and Government’. At the margins of every Summit and for three days before the policy organs meet, AU Watch organizes an NGO forum, bringing together various NGOs to strengthen cooperation on democratic values, defend common interests, and debate the major issues facing the continent, and which are of importance to the African people.
● At the margins of all the Ordinary Sessions of the African Commission, the African Court, the Expert Committee of the Rights of the Child, the PSC, and other organs of the African Union, AU Watch will convene a one-day ‘Human Security Ideas Workshop’ event to discuss important developments and challenges in human security and human rights theory and practice with experts, practitioners and academics. The events, which comprise of keynote speakers and open discussion, help to frame topics, generate ideas and support programming.
● Agenda 2063 Forum. AU Watch’s Agenda 2063 Forum is the bi-annual gathering of Africa’s key leaders from government, the private sector, academia and civil society to accelerate the adoption of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and boost the dynamism of Africa to attain its growth potential.The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. The meeting explores how the Fourth Industrial Revolution can support the region’s transition to prosperity, and its entry into 2063.
We hope to bring together more than 500 members to address topical regional issues, as well as emerging or cross-cutting topics related to the realisation of Agenda 2063. The outcomes of this meeting will directly inform what individual Member States are doing in preparation of 2063, as well as the Forum’s ongoing regional initiatives designed to create a more purposeful, inclusive and sustainable Africa.