Briefing Paper

The AU Reform Agenda: What areas of Reform are most Transformational and of the highest return for the Continent?

This policy brief argues that to be transformational (impact and extent of the delivery), the AU reform agenda needs to position poverty eradication and constitutional democratization as the new frontiers for the re-conceptualization of Pan-Africanism. With the focus on poverty eradication and democratization, challenges, including conflicts and corruption, will be addressed at their root causes. The policy brief further argues that such a transformation is unlikely without self-financing, which is necessary not only for the radical reform of the AU Commission towards making it an effective delivery machine for implementation, but also for the total overhaul of the AU-RECs relationship that will ensure faster integration. With an effective and efficient AU Commission, the relevance of the AU in its totality will be stronger, and in a much better position to deliver and address continental threats. More robust, strategic and well-thought-out collaboration between the AU and RECs is a prerequisite to creating a larger scale of economy that will help Africa escape from a state of permanent deprivation.