Foreword by Denis Kadima

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) presents civil society organisations with a unique opportunity to engage directly with governments and state institutions on the critical area of accountable and transparent governance, and represents the attainment of a goal for which civil society organisations and other groups have long worked towards in African states. The opportunity which the APRM presents for engagement on democratic values and governance ties in directly with EISA's own mission statement, which is "To promote credible elections and democratic governance in Africa". EISA has observed and participated in APRM reviews and related activities in several African states, including Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi. The organisation has also provided technical assistance directly to the APRM Secretariat, as well as official and civic bodies in several APRM signatory states. As a result of this experience, EISA was approached in 2005 by the Southern African Integration Network (SAINET), with the objective of developing closer regional ties between Southern African civil society organisations through the APRM.

In order to equip civic groups and organisations with appropriate knowledge and resources in the field of democratic governance, and the APRM specifically, EISA in collaboration with its partners in from SAINET, has developed this toolkit with the aim of enhancing the knowledge and information available to civil society organisations on many aspects of the APRM process. In addition to mere factual information, however, this toolkit also provides practical experiences and guidelines for civil society organisations on how to go about engaging with official APRM structures, and as new countries experience their own peer reviews, this section of the toolkit will be continually expanded to offer ever more practical and applicable guidelines and strategies which civil society organisations can apply to their own circumstances. EISA hopes that this contribution to the ever-expanding knowledge base of the APRM will be both a useful and valuable resource to the efforts of civil society organisations throughout the continent to engage with the APRM process at the local, national and regional levels.

Denis Kadima
Executive Director, EISA