Background Research by the Secretariat

Once a country has formally acceded to the APRM, the Secretariat begins preparations for the country's review process. Preparations for a country to undertake a peer review can be quite lengthy, and are determined by a combination of the availability of staff at the secretariat to gather materials, the availability of a member of the Panel of Eminent persons to lead a review and the preparedness of the individual country concerned to undertake review.

Whilst the country is given time to prepare itself for peer review, the Secretariat commissions technical research experts and/or institutions to prepare a background paper on the status of governance in that country. This background paper is used as a baseline assessment of both historical and topical governance issues experienced in the country in question. The background paper is also part of the background survey materials prepared by the Secretariat for official Country Support Missions (CSM) and the official Country Review Mission (CRM). The Secretariat is also responsible for preparing a dossier of any other relevant technical materials which might aid the missions in carrying out their work.