A team from the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) under the leadership of the Executive Director facilitated a five-day retreat for staff of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) in December 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa. The retreat was to organize a workshop at the Irene Country Lodge, Pretoria, South Africa to enable the staff of PAP to take stock of the year; deliberate on some of their internal processes and how to become more efficient; and plan for 2024.
The retreat covered several key areas that are germane to the effective functioning of the PAP including strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, internal audit reviews, the Africa Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Tool (AMERT), Systems Applications and Products (SAP) within the AU, Results Based Management & Budgeting, and team building. The team from ACEPA was responsible for the overall facilitation of the programme, team building sessions, and sessions related to Results-Based Management & Budgeting. Other aspects of the retreat were led by teams from PAP and the African Union Commission (AUC).
Dr. Rasheed Draman, Executive Director of ACEPA speaking at the start of the retreat drew the attention of the participants to the need for the PAP to demonstrate results as an institution. He noted that based on unemployment data for the continent, the trend of military takeovers on the continent, and the migrant situation, there is enough evidence to suggest that citizens have lost trust in democratic institutions. It is therefore imperative that institutions like the PAP lead the way, demonstrate results, and win the trust of the African people.
