Author Description

This report is the first independent, substantive and public assessment of the progress of the African Union. Towards a people-driven African Union: current obstacle & new opportunities analyses the preparations of African Union member-states, the AU Commission and civil society organisations during the twice-yearly AU summits. The main finding is that despite some welcome new opportunities for participation, the African Union's vision of 'an Africa driven by its own citizens' remains largely unfulfilled. Detailed recommendations are offered to help deliver on this vision in future. These include that member states should broaden and deepen their consultation processes in advance of summits; that procedures around preparations for and follow-up to summits need to be revised and strengthened; that the distribution of information about AU processes needs to be greatly improved; and that if the Economic Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the AU's new civil society organ, is to play the role intended for it, it must become a much more genuinely representative body.