APR questionnaire

General guidance

Background
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) foundation base document (AHG/235 (XXXVIII) Annex 2) defines the Mechanism as:
To ensure that the primary purpose is realised, the participating states have committed themselves to adopting appropriate laws, policies and standards, as well as building the necessary human and institutional capacity. They have also committed themselves to adopting specific objectives, standards, criteria and indicators for assessing and monitoring progress in key areas on a regular basis in accordance with the African Peer Review Mechanism foundation base document and the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance, as endorsed by the inaugural Summit of the African Union (AU) in Durban, South Africa in July 2002 (AHG/235 (XXXVIII) Annex 1).

The overarching goal of the APRM is for all participating countries to accelerate their progress towards adopting and implementing the priorities and programmes of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), achieving the mutually agreed objectives and compliance with best practice in respect of each of the areas of governance and development. This can only be achieved through the sustained efforts of the country itself, involving all stakeholders. It requires that each country carefully assess its own situation through a broad participatory process led by the government that results in a Programme of Action with time bound objectives to guide all stakeholders in the actions required by all – government, private sector, civil society – to achieve the country's vision. However, given the differences of historical context and stages of development, countries will start from different base lines and will not be expected to reach their highest level of performance at the same time. The rate of progress will also depend critically on the level of commitment and political will of each country to take deliberate steps to realise its vision.

Stage One of the APR process, as defined in the APRM Base Document, starts with the following steps:
1. The APR Secretariat will send all participating countries a questionnaire on the basis of the mutually agreed Objectives, Standards, Criteria and Indicators (Box 1 of the Chart);
2. The country will develop a self-assessment on the basis of the questionnaire, and with the assistance, if necessary, of the APR Secretariat and/or relevant Partner Institutions ( Box 2C1 ).
3. Having completed the self-assessment, the country will formulate a preliminary Programme of Action building on existing policies, programmes and projects ( Box 2C2 ).
The purpose of the questionnaire

The purpose of the Questionnaire is two-fold: First, to provide Participating Countries with a format that can serve as a check list to determine whether the various stakeholders participating in the process have responded to their concerns, and second, as a convenient summary to provide an overview of the results of their own self-assessment processes.
The components of the questionnaire

The Questionnaire is divided into four major sections corresponding to the four chapters in the “Objectives, Standards, Criteria and Indicators for the APRM” document:
1. Democracy and Political Governance
2. Economic Governance and Management
3. Corporate Governance
4. Socio-economic Development
In each chapter the overall objective of the focus area is defined, followed by the components in terms of which country action with regard to the overall goal will be assessed:
1. Objectives . The objectives define the essential elements of the overall goal that must be achieved in a measurable way. This is the ‘what' part of the matter.
2. Standards and Codes . The Standards and Codes are those that have been approved by African countries, individually or collectively, with regard to ‘how' they govern themselves and manage their societies, economies and socio-economic development.
3. Questions . The questions serve to focus on what the country has done with regard to the objectives and the codes, how it does it and with what results.
4. Indicators . The indicators are the type of evidence that is expected in the responses of countries. The indicators serve to highlight aspects of the objective, standard or code that are generally recognized as measures of performance and results.
Cross cutting issues

Given NEPAD's holistic approach to development, the focus areas in the four chapters cannot be treated entirely separately. These areas are recognised as interconnected and requiring an integrated or holistic response on the part of all partners in society and development. This interconnectedness has many strands, but for the purposes of the APR the following cross-cutting issues have been identified as requiring systematic attention across all areas of the Questionnaire:
- Poverty eradication
- Gender balance
- Decentralisation
- Country capacities to participate in the APRM
- Access to and dissemination of information
- Corruption
- Broad-based participation
- Sustainability in both financial and environmental senses.
Questions and indicators on these cross-cutting dimensions are not systematically built into every Chapter of the Questionnaire. It is suggested that countries ensure that all participating stakeholders are aware of these cross-cutting issues, as well as others that might be of special significance within the context of the country, and that they be invited to identify other cross-cutting issues they consider important from the perspective of the country. Thus the intention is that countries would mainstream these cross-cutting issues in all areas by taking these dimensions into account in their responses, providing specific indicators wherever available.
How to complete the questionnaire

It is expected that the APR Focal Point in each Participating Country would draw up a list of the stakeholders that would participate in responding to the Questionnaire. It would then distribute the entire Questionnaire to all stakeholders through their representatives in the Focal Point. The APR Focal Point would provide the APR Secretariat with a list of the recipients of the Questionnaire. All stakeholders would be invited to concentrate on a Chapter in the Questionnaire corresponding to their sector, mandate or mission, but to feel free to respond to any question in the other Chapters. All stakeholders would be required to provide available documentation and specific references for the responses that they provide so that the documentation of the sources of the country's self-assessment can be as complete as possible.

The stakeholders would be given a time frame within which to complete and return the Questionnaires along with an overall report on their assessment and available documentation.

The Technical Committee of the APR Focal Point would then collate the responses and compile a consensus response to submit to the APR Focal Point for consideration. It would also use the responses and the available assessment reports to compile the country's Self-assessment Report, based on the Questionnaire responses and other research. It would ensure that there are detailed references to the sections of the Self-assessment Report in which a question is answered and the indicators are defined more fully.

Thus the limited space provided in the Questionnaire for responses should not limit the freedom of the country to elaborate on its responses to the questions.
The structure of notes on the questionnaire

Every effort has been made to make the Questionnaire as respondent-friendly as possible. The Questionnaire contains explanatory notes at several levels to facilitate the task of the respondents:
1. At the start of each Chapter there are notes on that particular focus area and any peculiarities that respondents need to take into account in responding to the questions;
2. At the start of each objective there are brief notes to remind respondents on what is required, as well as of the flexibility of the content with regard to both questions and indicators to allow respondents to take into account the specificities of their own situation.
3. At the level of the questions and indicators there are explanatory notes with regard to specific indicators that need clarification.
The use of the questionnaire

The completed Questionnaire with the consensus responses and data references would be annexed to the main Self-Assessment Report as an Executive Summary or an Annexure.

The APR Secretariat would be using the same Questionnaire to compile data on each Participating Country and to develop the Background Paper on the country. This will facilitate a detailed comparison of the findings of the APR Team with the information submitted by the country and the development of a shared assessment of the country's situation. On the basis of this assessment and the country's preliminary Programme of Action the APR Secretariat would identify the remaining issues that need to be addressed in the Issues Paper. The Issues Paper in turn would serve as the basis for identifying any further issues for technical assessment and the agenda of the Country Review Visit.

The Questionnaire is thus a fundamental building block in the APR process as an instrument for developing a common assessment on the situation in the Participating Country. It is thus in the interest of the country to ensure that every effort is made to complete the Questionnaire as best as is possible. The APR Secretariat recognizes that some countries might have capacity problems and is willing to extent assistance where requested.