Annex B

‘Friends of Nairobi Declaration’
Organisation and Terms of Reference

Background
The proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons are exacerbating conflict in the Great Lakes region and Horn of Africa. In recognition of the problem 10 countries from the region signed the Nairobi Declaration in March 2000, which set out the principles for a coordinated regional approach to promote human security and ensure that all states have in place adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures to exercise effective control over the possession and distribution of small arms. The Declaration was followed in November 2000 by agreement among the state parties to establish National Focal Points to oversee the implementation of the Nairobi Declaration at national level and to mandate the Nairobi Secretariat to coordinate the regional Agenda for Action.

Nairobi Secretariat
The Nairobi Secretariat was established first within the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and operates since March 2003 as an independent entity in its own premises. Its primary responsibilities are:

Coordinate and Implement the Agenda for Action.
Coordinate the activities of National Focal Points.
Facilitate interaction between National Focal Points.
Interact with other agencies (sub-regional, regional and international) to implement the Agenda for Action.
Assist and coordinate interactions with civil society.
Assist and coordinate the exchange and dissemination of information.
Conduct and facilitate appropriate research.
Identify and gather lessons during implementation.
Assist and coordinate capacity building of national focal points, the secretariat itself, other relevant national and regional agencies and civil society groups.
Develop guidelines for implementation on key issues, such as legislation, collection, safe storage, destruction and disposal and information exchange.
Assist and coordinate public awareness campaigns.
Coordinate, seek support, solicit funds and sustain interaction with the international community in support of the Declaration.

At their Ministerial meeting on 7th and 8th August, 2002 to review progress on the implementation of the Declaration state parties re-affirmed their political commitment to tackling the proliferation of small arms and emphasised the need to implement agreements already reached, in particular the need to strengthen the Nairobi Secretariat so that it is able to fulfil its mandate and develop a regional character. At the same meeting Ministers welcomed the establishment of the Friends of Nairobi Declaration initiative.

Friends of Nairobi
The Friends of Nairobi initiative was originally launched by Kenya’s current Minister for Foreign Affairs in New York in July 2001 where he appealed for the creation of a group of ‘Friends of Nairobi Declaration’ to support the implementation of the Declaration in the region. The group officially met on 8th of August 2002 and draft Terms of Reference were shared among the participants. Other meetings of the Friends took place on the 18th of June and 24th of September 2003. At a the 8th August 2002 meeting already, the Nairobi Secretariat saw the role of the Friends to provide impetus and encouragement to them, help ensure the work plan was adhered to, and provide broad advice on the direction of the programme.

Terms of Reference

Objectives
The objectives of the Friends of Nairobi will be:

To provide broad political support to maintain the momentum behind the Nairobi Declaration to ensure it will have lasting impact on the region.
To provide resources where required and agreed on a bilateral basis to ensure that the Secretariat is able to fulfil its mandate while ensuring basic principles of cost effectiveness and value for money are closely adhered to.
To provide a forum for donor coordination to the Nairobi Declaration to ensure overall coherence of the programme.
To ensure information exchange and sharing between different donor funded small arms and conflict management programmes in the region and the Nairobi Secretariat.
To provide practical and operational support to the Secretariat in the form of advice and guidance on implementation of its mandate.

Composition
The Friends will comprise a broad group of donors representing the international community and international and local civil society partner organisations with regional mandate interested to participate and help support the Nairobi Declaration. A list of interested partners is attached. This list may expand over time.

Membership of the group should not be based on any other criteria than interest in the process and willingness to engage in a constructive way in dialogue and discussion to help achieve the objectives outlined above.

Donors who have provided funding to the Secretariat will sit on a separate Programme Steering Committee to monitor the Secretariat’s progress in implementing its plan of action and use of funds.

Operation
The Friends should meet at least once a quarter to review progress. The chairmanship will be decided at every meeting. The Nairobi Secretariat or the Chair will organise the meetings, ensure an agenda is distributed in good time, minute the meetings and be responsible for finding an appropriate venue. The organiser will cover the cost of the meeting.

The Programme Steering Committee should meet more often. Initially, this should be once a month, but this may later be reduced to once every two months in light of experience. These meetings will need to be organised by the Nairobi Secretariat.

List of Declared Friends of Nairobi (as of 24.09.03)

Donors
Austrian Embassy
Belgian Embassy
Canadian High Commission
DFID/ British High Commission
European Commission
Finnish Embassy
French Embassy
GTZ
Netherlands Embassy
Norwegian Embassy
Swedish Embassy
Swiss Embassy
UNDP Kenya
UNDP Small Arms Programme GLR

Partners
Africa Peace Forum
Saferworld
SaferAfrica
SRIC