National Structures

The composition and nature of a country's national APRM structures varies from country to country. Once a country has acceded to the APRM (see Accession to APRM), the APRM Secretariat supplies the government with the Objectives, standards, criteria and indicators for the APRM, as well as the MOU on Technical Assessment and the Country Review Visit. The government then appoints a National Focal Point, which is usually a government ministry, to act as a liaison office between the government and the APRM structures, and to oversee the implementation of the APRM in that country. The government focal point, taking into consideration the unique structures and profile of the country, instigates and commissions such national structures and processes as are necessary to carry out the country's responsibilities in relation to the APRM.

The APRM allows individual member states to implement and organise their structures in the manner which is most suitable for their unique circumstances, provided that these structures remain within the general guidelines outlined in the APRM documentation. The Objectives, Standards, Criteria and Indicators for the APRM states in Section 1.4 that "given the differences of historical context and development, countries will start from different base lines and will not be expected to reach their highest level of performance at the same time." This allowance provides for diversity and creativity in the design of the national structures and processes for implementing the APRM, and does not place unnecessary administrative or structural burdens on individual APRM member states by assuming a common base line from which to start. As a result, the national APRM structures of each country tend to be unique, and multiple approaches to a country's APRM organisation and structures are apparent.

For more specific information on a country's national structures, see Ghanaian self-assessment process, Kenyan Self-Assessment process and Rwandan Self-Assessment process.