African academia, civil society organisations (CSOs), government representatives, media, private sector, women and youth groups are meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to deliberate and propose a concrete accountability framework for the post-2015 development agenda.

The three-day forum, organised by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca),  opened on Thursday.

It is part of efforts to ensure African ownership of the forthcoming global development agenda that will replace the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Stakeholders are determined to play a leading role in the post- 2015 development agenda given the limited role Africa played in the formulation of the MDGs, which many claim resulted in weak ownership and slow progress by many African countries.

It is now time to establish a more robust accountability framework for the post-2015 development agenda, said Abdalla Hamdok, ECA Deputy Executive Secretary, at the opening of the meeting.

Hamdok called for Africa’s insights and perspectives for an accountability framework that complements the current Common African Position (CAP).

He also underlined that Africa’s accountability framework needs not be restricted to implementation of the CAP alone but should also serve the global accountability architecture.

Hamdok also said Africa needs to design an accountability framework for the post-2015 development agenda, putting into consideration the experience in the last 15 years.

 "We will have to take into consideration Africa’s experience in implementing the 2015 development agenda so as to avoid future pitfalls,” he said.

 "The development of the accountability framework should put into consideration the fact that Africa has developed the African peer review mechanism which is relevant to the region as well as individual countries,” he added.

He further said the accountability framework, which is under design, should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of  various actors, governments, civil society and Africa’s development partners.

The meeting in Addis Ababa provides African stakeholders an opportunity to contribute to the global discussions on robust approaches to monitoring, review and accountability for the post- 2015 development agenda, according to Uneca.

"Africa has indeed been visible in the Post-2015 development agenda and as early as 2011, the continent initiated consultations to articulate its priorities for the successor global development framework,” Hamdok noted.  

Such a framework is expected to provide alignment from the global through continental to national levels, said Uneca. 

The forum has been organised by the African Union Commission and Uneca with support from the UN Development Group.