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The Commission network met again for its Second Annual Meeting in Mexico City December 4-7, 2002. Over 150 Co-Chairs, Commissioners and specially invited guests participated and discussed issues including... free trade and social equity, migration... and pathways to a sustainable civilization. ... The Commission was established to engage in “dialogue-and-action” [PRAXIS] as a single integrated concept.... The Commission catalyzed, supported and/or assisted in the development of the following projects by various Co-Chairs and Commissioners:
G8 NePAD - with Commissioners Gordon Smith and Barry Carin, who worked within the context of the G8 and NePAD commitments on African development, and with the support of the Mott Foundation and the International Development Research Centre, to establish specific projects fulfilling the NePAD vision. Access - a partnership between Hewlett Packard, the Hewlett Foundation, Center for Global Development, Klaus Schwab Foundation, Medley Global Advisors and State of the World Forum,... International Interfaith Investment Group - ...developed in an active collaboration with Citigroup, the Mott Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, the Pilkington Trust, and major religious institutions to develop common socially and environmentally sensitive guidelines for religious institutional investment. ...Learning and Education -...to formulate more effective educational and learning policies within the G8 commitments on education and the ongoing work of UNESCO NEPAD's e-school Project kicks off in Rwanda: The initiative dubbed "e-schools" is intended to lead to a steady and sustainable process in which young Africans graduate from primary and secondary schools equipped with skills which will enable them to function as equals in the emerging knowledge economy and information society of the 21st century. The initiative would involve establishment of an Africa-wide satellite network that will connect the schools to the internet as well as points within each country from which, educational content will be fed to the schools on a continuous basis. ...Nepad’s e-schools initiative has assigned technology giants Cisco Systems and Microsoft to supply and install the digital ICT equipment in 6 Rwandan schools. Saturday May 6, 2006 Africa review governance programme moving slowly : Africa’s plan to open governments to closer scrutiny and make them more accountable is moving slowly due to a manpower shortage and a reluctance to punish countries that do not conform, analysts said on Thursday. As South Africa launched its draft self-assessment, joining Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana, it was increasingly clear that basic problems such as crime, unemployment, graft and poor financial management were dogging the continental project. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) — under which governments rate each other’s economic performance and advise on how to improve — is a core project of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the 53-member African Union’s (AU) homegrown economic recovery plan. The APRM has won acclaim from G8 wealthy nations which have pledged support for well-run countries. But it has strong critics in Africa who say it is being implemented too slowly and too gingerly to force real change in poorly-run countries. RWANDA: Top world leaders converge for governance summit : “Under the peer-review mechanism--an African instrument aimed at encouraging good governance practices in individual countries-such a function is a moment of truth. It is when all government leaders humble themselves, take in positive criticisms and commit themselves to go and do what is missing in their governments,” Musoni said. The meeting, to take place at Intercontinental Hotel, will be held under the theme: ‘Implementing the African Peer Review Mechanism—Challenges and Opportunities’, and over 350 delegates from 32 African countries and beyond are expected to attend, organisers say. Francis Gatare, President Paul Kagame’s Permanent Representative to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), said some arrivals were registered as early as Saturday. Those already in town in include officials from the South Africa-based APRM Secretariat and several other technical delegations. Africa's growth to take centre stage at WEF meeting : South African President Thabo Mbeki, Armando Guebuza of Mozambique and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania are among the leaders joining about 650 participants for the three-day conference. "The general environment in Africa probably could not have been better. For three years in a row Africa as a continent has grown at more than 5%," the WEF's Africa director Haiko Alfeld said. ...Alfeld admitted that despite being given great prominence at previous WEF meetings, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) economic rescue plan "seems to have disappeared from the public discourse". "I cannot speak on behalf of business ... but clearly there is a sense of disillusionment at the lack of progress and the lack of steam of Nepad," he said. Nepad is a home-grown plan, proposed to pull the continent out of poverty by encouraging investment, and in return embrace key principles such as good governance and public and financial accountability. Four years ago at the end of the WEF's meeting in Durban, the plan received strong backing from businesses, with about 130 major companies signing up to it, with others following suit.
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