The Social & Human Development Cluster 2011

1. The Social & Human Development Cluster 2011 Achievements, Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons learnt

2. Outline • Membership • Cluster Meetings • Alignment of business plan with regional priorities • Joint capacity building activities and achievements • Challenges • Opportunities • Lessons Learnt • Youth Employment Initiative –preliminary report

3. Membership (i) – Sub clusters

4. Membership (ii) - Organizations • Co-Conveners : AUC –Department of Social Affairs (AUC-DSA) and ILO • Secretariat : UNECA- African Centre for Gender and Social Development. • Members: AUC/ Human Resources Science and Technology (HRST), AUC/Directorate of Women, Gender and Development (GWDD), UNHCR, WHO, UNAIDS, UNFPA, FAO, UNICEF, UNESCO, IOM, UNWOMEN, UNDP, UNOCHR, and WFP. • In 2011 cluster membership was extended to RECs i.e ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, IGAD, EAC and ECCAS, as recommended by the 11th RCM meeting.

5. Cluster Meetings Following the recommendations of the 2008 Kuriftu Consensus, which stated that ‘The Cluster should meet at least three times a year’, the SHD cluster met four times in 2011, while sub-clusters met several times during the year.

6. Alignment of Business Plan with Regional Priorities and Commitments • Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment and Poverty Alleviation • Productivity Agenda of Africa • Africa Youth Charter • African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, • Call for Accelerated Action on the Implementation of the Plan of Action Towards Africa Fit For Children • the Cairo Platform for Action for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship in Africa . • Recommendations of fifth session of African Union Conference of Ministers of health • Seventh and Eighth Ordinary Session for the Labour and Social Affairs Commission of the AU • AU Strategic Plan 2009-2012 • AU Social Development Strategic Plan (2009-2011) • Social Policy Framework for Africa, • African Regional Nutritional Strategy • Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases in Africa, • Charter for African Cultural Renaissance • Policy Framework for Sustainable Development of Sport in Africa • AU Decade for African Women • Africa Unite Campaign • 2nd Decade of Education in Africa Plan of Action(as well as other AUC educational strategies and programmes such as the Pan African University)

7. Operationalizing TYCBP • Capacity-building incorporated into BP • Technical input into the development of TYCBP workplan during and after Kuriftu retreat • AUC/UN sub-Cluster level engagement to identify capacity needs and joint capacity building activities. • TYCBP implementation work plan matrix populated. • The cluster and sub-cluster business plans take into consideration capacity building initiatives and priorities of RECs

8. Joint capacity building activities and achievements(i) • RCM Africa sensitized to mainstream gender, decent work and HIV/AIDS –pre RCM • Development of joint plan of action by the RECs on human trafficking -AU.COMMIT • Joint substantive support to the AYF and the 17th AU Summit in Malabo contributed to increased commitment of member States to accelerate implementation of youth related commitments • Joint support and facilitation of second training batch of the AU YVC resulted in 138 young Africans empowered with skills to address development issues at programme and national level in Africa

9. Joint capacity building activities and achievements(ii) • Supported AUC in monitoring progress of Ouagadougou PoA on Employment and Poverty alleviation resulting in the preparation of the report on the status of implementation of the Plan of Action. • Through the joint mapping of youth employment programmes in Africa, a knowledge base is available to inform effective joint programmes on youth employment. • The cluster provided technical support in the preparation of the Africa Common Position of HIV and AIDS during CAMH5. The common position was tabled to the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting

10. Joint capacity building activities and achievements(iii) • Joint advocacy and support regarding inclusion of PMTCT during CAMH5 led to the revision of the CARMMA strategy to include Newborn and Child health. • Strengthened capacity of AU member states for improved reporting and monitoring of progress on HIV/AIDS commitments through pilot training workshop on harmonization of Abuja and Maputo indicators. • Commitment from African Ministers of Culture to ratify the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance and develop a policy framework on Sport for Development was ensured through an awareness raising workshop on the ratification of the charter.

11. Joint capacity building activities and achievements(iv) • Cluster members jointly funded and executed collaboratively the Pan African conference on Teacher Development in Africa(PACTED) in April 2011 and the Conference of Ministers of Education to AU in May 2011 where the Pan African University was launched. • Recruitment of a campaign manager to oversee the Africa UNiTE campaign roll out process has enhanced the human resource capacity to successfully deliver intended objectives of the campaign .

12. Joint capacity building activities and achievements(v) • Capacity building in developing the legal framework for the setting up of the HRST Observatory on Education. • Institutional capacity strengthening of two institutions in Tanzania -- Tanzania Institute of Education and the Open University of Tanzania (TIE and OUT) to offer post-Graduate diploma for curriculum developers and Teacher trainers.

13. Challenges • Failure to dedicate resources including human, limits capacity to fully implement cluster priorities. • Lengthy and delayed planning processes including development of TYCBP • Coherence and cohesion in the interventions of various members still needs improvement i.e joint programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, reporting, funding and resource mobilization still need to be improved.

14. Opportunities • Progress in the formulation of the AU UN TYCBP implementation work plan will help the cluster and its sub-clusters to provide more concerted and demand driven capacity building support to AU organs. • Strengthened cooperation and harmonization of work plans between the UN and AUC and RECs. • Commitment and interest on the part of RCM clusters to partner with the SHD Cluster with the view of enhancing the inter-cluster coordination. • The current development of a longer term business plan is expected to make the cluster’s and sub-clusters’ work easier to coordinate, more efficient and streamlined.

15. Opportunity & highlight 2011 • SHD Coordinating the RCM for meeting with Madam Michelle Bachelet, the first Executive Director and UN USG for UN Women. Useful exchange for RCM to understand the new entity (and Bachelet –the RCM) as well as expressing each others expectations and identifying areas of cooperation.

16. Lessons Learnt • Work with RECs to bring continental policies to concrete implementation. • Improved understanding and appreciation of the RCM process. • Carry out the planning and development of the annual work plan in advance i.e post-RCM planning session. • Clear indication of budgetary commitment on the part of cluster and sub-cluster members. • Enhanced engagement in constructive dialogue and meaningful exchange of information.

17. Mapping of youth employment interventions in Africa Employment and Labour sub-Cluster, Social and Human Development Cluster

18. Background • African youth face a myriad of challenges with Unemployment and Underemployment remaining the main concern of youth in the region. • In Africa, many actors (incl. AU and UN) addressing youth development in general and youth employment in particular with different approaches and capacities. • Tackling the employment challenges faced by young Africans requires coherent, integrated, effective and innovative efforts. Hence, the YE initiative of RCM-A • The mapping of YE interventions is taken as a first step towards the move to the YE initiative of the RCM.

19. Objectives • To map out and document various scattered youth employment interventions in order to consolidate and coordinate more effective and rationalized support in this area. • To assemble a knowledge base to effectively assist African states in their efforts to tackle youth unemployment and underemployment challenges. • To identify comparative advantages of different AU organs, UN agencies and development partners with a mandate on youth issues, create a network among them and develop a strategy for more effective partnerships. • To set out initial framework for the crucial elements that constitute good practices in promoting youth employment conditions and outcomes of youth in Africa. • To identify challenges in implementing initiatives and opportunities for revitalization.

20. Methodology • The report made assessment through; • Analyzing Questionnaires, conducting interviews and literature review • Scope : projects, programmes and knowledge products that are ongoing and those completed in the last two years • AUC, ECOWAS, ILO,UNHCR, UNFPA, UNECA,UNESCO,UNESCO BREDA, UNIDO,UNDP,UNEP, UNHCR UNFPA

21. Regional Initiatives of AUC • The African Union Youth Volunteer Corps (AUYVC) • The Pan African University Initiative • TVET in post-crisis countries • Nyerere Scholarship

22. Analysis • Geographical coverage - sub-regional distribution, countries covered, rural-urban coverage. • Expected outcomes • Implementing institutions (private sector, civil society, governmental bodies, etc). • Financing (the principal donors and budget of the initiatives). • Implementation modalities/strategies. • Thematic areas (policy advisory services, employment services, employment creation, skills development etc). • Characteristics and number of direct and indirect beneficiaries, including the needs of specific groups of young people which face more or different employment challenges, • Innovativeness of interventions as well as replicability. • Assessment of impact including lessons learnt (where evaluations are available) and challenges experienced • Sustainability

23. Preliminary findings • 47 interventions in almost all 54 African countries. • Most interventions have their primary thematic area on skills development and training. The second highly prioritized thematic area is employment creation followed by employment services . • There are concentration of interventions in certain sub regions and countries in Africa. • Youth employment interventions are closely implemented with national and local governments while the participation of the private sector is low. • Project and programme evaluations not easily available. • Lack of clearly outlined exit strategies to ensure sustainability, however wide engagement with national and local governments to build capacity. • Minimal targeting of rural areas.

24. The next steps • Finalization of the report within the first quarter of 2012 • Identification of capacity gaps • Joint YE programme proposals including implementation, reporting, M&E. • Joint resource mobilization • The report to the 13th RCM in 2012 will give tangible results

25. Tribute to DSA Commissioner • The SHD Cluster would like to pay a very special tribute to H.E Commissioner BienceGawanas who contributed immensely in the success of the Cluster. She demonstrated leadership and commitment to the coordination mechanism and brought in the appropriate ownership and leadership of the AUC. Some of the initiatives such as CARMMA will be synonymous with the very important part she played in the Cluster.