TrustAfrica is pleased to present the ARO Wiki, an online database of African Regional Organizations. The ARO Wiki builds on our 2007 survey of more than 150 African regional organizations (AROs), civil society organizations (CSOs), research institutes, and think tanks throughout the continent. Through the wiki, we seek to make information about this vital sector more widely available to funders, scholars, policy makers, civil society leaders and other stakeholders.
The aim of the ARO survey was to help identify opportunities and strategies for donor agencies—and especially private foundations—to consider in helping to strengthen the effectiveness and sustainability of African regional organizations. It is the first time an audit of this kind has been conducted.
The survey focused on organizations with a continental or sub-continental mandate in five broad thematic areas: peace and security, human rights, environment, governance, and population. It also identified a number of cross-cutting organizations that work across themes. Two main types of organizations were surveyed: (1) treaty-based organizations (TBOs) or intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), which in the past constituted the main continental and regional actors, and (2) CSOs and networks, which now occupy center stage in advocating continentally on the themes of the survey.
The first phase of the survey, spanning February to April 2007, involved gathering data, including information on their track records and details of donor support for their work. The second phase entailed putting together a report—a draft of which was submitted at the end of May, peer reviewed, revised on the basis of feedback, and completed in October 2007.
Using the survey findings as an entry point, TrustAfrica convened a conference in April 2008 in Dakar to discuss wider issues of sustainability around existing and future support for AROs and CSOs. Participants included senior leaders of CSOs, think tanks, and research institutes; representatives of donor agencies (private foundations as well as bilateral and multilateral funders); and a cross-section of experts.
The purpose of this wiki is to make information about the organizations surveyed more widely available to funders, scholars, policy makers, civil society leaders and other stakeholders. By using the wiki format, we seek to present it in a way that eventually enables it to be updated by organizations themselves.
Click here to visit the ARO Wiki.