Institutions and actors

Participation of state and non-state actors

The Cotonou Agreement envisages an open partnership not only between the respective governments but also between the societies. It intends to encourage the integration of all sections of society into the mainstream of political, economic and social life.

The ACP states shall determine the development principles, strategies and models of their economies and societies. However non-state actors play a complementary role in the development process.

According to Article 6 of the Agreement, non-state actors comprise the

Recognition by the governments of non-governmental actors shall depend on the extent to which they address the needs of the population, on their specific competencies and whether they are organised and managed democratically and transparently”.

According to the Cotonou Agreement, non-state actors shall be given access to financial resources and capacity building support. The EU as well as the ACP governments are supposed to inform non-state actors on their cooperation policies and strategies as well as on their priorities for cooperation. As a first step, civil society organisations have already been invited to contribute to the Country Strategy Papers and Regional Indicative Programmes.

The Institutional Structure

Institutions of the ACP States

Joint ACP-EU Institutions

The joint institutions are formed by an equal number of ACP and EU representatives, plus a member from the EU Commission.

Support of institutional mechanisms for business and agriculture

In addition to the above-mentioned institutions, the annexes of the Agreement note that cooperation has to support intuitional mechanism that provide assistance for business and promote agriculture.

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• Kathleen.Jah@fes.de

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