The ‘Strengthening State Capacities and Women’s Participation in Covid19 Response and Broader Peacebuilding Initiatives’ a campaign funded by UN Women in collaboration with the British High Commission, had the goal of enhancing Women’s leadership and participation in decision making in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project sought to advance women’s meaningful participation in the COVID-19 response and beyond in Kaduna state.
Through implementing coherent, comprehensible and multi-dimensional civic engagement, Connected Development [CODE] leveraged on its citizen mobilization and multidimensional engagement expertise, resources and strategies; presence and network in Kaduna states to broaden collaborations between relevant government agencies, enhance the capacities of 45 women, girls and men in the development of a checklist and tracker that served as a tool for monitoring and tracking government’s response and recovery decisions from a gender perspective. 18 out of these groups we trained using the checklist and monitored the Kaduna State Government’s COVID-19 response, actions and policies, across 5 local government areas in Kaduna state.
The fight against corruption and illicit financial flow plays an indispensable role in ensuring state security, wealth redistribution, economic prosperity, realization of socio-economic rights and sustainable development. Corruption endangers unimpeded functioning of the public sector, weakens public trust and as such citizens must take this fight as an obligation for a better Nigeria. The Malabu Scandal is adjudged to be one of Africa’s most controversial and corrupt oil deals. It has been 23 years (1998) since the illegal award of the OPL 245 and 9 years (2011) since the deal was consummated for about $1.1b.
Connected Development [CODE] in partnership with OXFAM Novib, galvanized Nigerian citizens against corruption by amplifying the putrid details, investigative reports and developments of the Malabu “OPL 245” Scandal – effectively calling on the federal government and key anti-corruption agencies to properly investigate and accelerate their prosecution of the actors indicted in the scandal which robbed Nigerians of $1.1 billion – through a series of strategic advocacy campaigns and activities designed to achieve the project goals notwithstanding the COVID-19 Pandemic.
BeyGOOD Global Citizens Fellowship has appointed leading social accountability activist and one of Africa’s most influential leaders in youth development, Hamzat Lawal, on the advisory council for the 2021 Global Citizen Fellowship Program.
The Global Citizen Fellowship Program, powered by the world renowned singer, Beyoncé Knowles Carter’s Charity, BeyGOOD, and financially supported by award-winning American actor and filmmaker, Tyler Perry, is an initiative aimed at unearthing the remarkable potential and talent within African Youths.
According to a statement on the Global Citizen website, “we’re happy to announce an advisory council made up of incredible young leaders from both Nigeria and South Africa whose experience and creativity will help to take the Fellowship Program to the next level. The Advisory Council board will assist in providing insights to break new ground and guide the execution team on meaningful pathways to develop the 2021-2022 Fellows”.
Expressing excitement about the appointment, Lawal says; “I am truly honoured to be a member of the advisory council. My experience working with young people across Africa will enable me to guide and inspire the selected fellows to achieve the fellowship’s mission of empowering young people with skills that will help them shape policies that will alleviate poverty while being active citizens.”
The Advisory Council board which includes 2 Nigerian advocates— Hamzat Lawal and Aisha Yesufu and 3 South African youth advocates—Bonang Matheba, Charmaine Houvet, Nozipho Tshabalala and Tumi Sole; will provide insights to break new ground and guide the execution team on meaningful pathways to develop the 2021-2022 Fellows.
The Global Citizens Fellowship Program is committed to advancing innovations of black youth. Beyoncé has enrolled ten promising young South Africans and five Nigerians to the Global Citizen Fellowship Program. The Program is aligned to Global Citizen’s vision of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030.
In the wake of the recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the House of Senate, fiscal transparency CSOs, Connected Development (CODE) and OXFAM Nigeria, have raised concerns over key issues in the reviewed bill, especially the marginalization of host communities where oil is explored.
According to CODE, the reviewed PIB did not sufficiently address the grey areas affecting host communities and has stripped the oil regions of the management, governance and administration of issues that affect them directly. The bill suggests that the constitution of the host communities development trust shall contain provisions mandating the management committee to set up an advisory committee (“host community advisory committee”), which shall contain at least one member of each host community. CODE believes that this is grossly inadequate and advises that the membership of the host community advisory committee should have at least 50% representation from the host communities.
CODE notes that the lack of adequate representation of the host communities in the advisory committee is an unfair approach that limits the ability of the Trust to fully develop needs assessment and development plans that can only be designed by the people in the community themselves.
Expressing displeasure, CODE’s Lead on natural resource governance and the extractives, Dr Onyekachi Onuoha, noted that restricting host communities’ sense of ownership as pointed out in the gaps in the bill, would fuel agitation in the region as it shows a blatant disregard for the needs and priorities of the people that are the worst hit by the impact of oil exploration. “The Senate is dashing the hopes of people directly affected by oil pollution, terminated livelihoods and underdevelopment caused by environmental degradation and other disasters occasioned by oil spills in the Niger-delta region,” Onyekachi added.
To worsen matters, the draft PIB proposed 2.5% of the annual operating expenditure of the Settlor (operator of an oil licence) to fund development in the area. Although the House of Representatives recommended 5% for settlors operating in the upstream and 2% for the settlors in the midstream and downstream sectors, lawmaker Sani Kaita from Katsina moved an amendment for it to be reduced to 3%, which the senate has adopted.
CODE’s team with community youth in Ogoni Land, Niger-Delta.
In addition to the call by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo- Agege, for the funds from gas flaring penalties to be channelled towards developing affected communities, CODE & OXFAM urge the Senate to rethink the grey areas highlighted and promote a greater sense of ownership that is acceptable and fair to the host communities.
Connected Development [CODE] in partnership with OXFAM since 2018, have driven a campaign in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria that raises awareness on improving accountability and transparency in the dealings between host communities, oil and gas companies, and the government, particularly to address challenges relating to the negative impact of the business operations of the extractive sector in these host communities, which usually has a causal relationship with conflict and fragility.
In a bid to provide African citizens with access to evidence on COVID resources, leading social accountability initiatives, Follow The Money and BudgIT, with learning partners Global Integrity, have launched a comprehensive user-friendly COVID-19 Fund Africa website as part of the COVID-19 Transparency & Accountability Project (CTAP).
The COVID Africa Tracking website has flexible navigation and functionality that allows visitors to access all data on COVID in Africa, including intervention resources, funds allocations, palliative distributions, accurate number of cases, data on COVID funds, vaccine management and government’s responsiveness.
“Our primary goal for designing the website is to improve citizens’ use of data for advocacy and government engagement in a manner that promotes transparency, accountability and open governance,” Follow The Money Founder, Hamzat Lawal, said.
The website currently displays information on $51.05B resources committed to COVID-19 across Africa, $5.08B In-Kind Donation as well as over 2,532 COVID Datasets across Africa. Published resources featured on the website analyse post-COVID economic environment and its impact on marginalized communities.
“In tracking government’s level of responsiveness, we have shown, through data on the CTAP website, overarching issues such as discrepancies in palliatives and cash transfer distributions, substandard healthcare compounded by the pandemic, disintegration of COVID data, vague procurement processes and blatant corruption by government officials.” BudgIT’s Chief Executive, Gabriel Okeowo added.
CODE and BudgIT team at the Press Launch of the COVIDAfrica Tracking Website
The COVID tracking site also featured COVID analysis and research resources for seven focus countries: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Nigeria. It highlights COVID status in these countries and also features knowledge centres on human angle stories curated from citizens across the countries. Built with a focus on user’s experience, the one-stop website (https://www.covidfund.africa/) has some of these attributes;
Live Updates on COVID data on a daily basis from all over Africa.
Data Display to provide face-level information on the total number of COVID fund allocation to Africa and COVID cases.
Resource Filters which allows citizens to easily narrow down to the country or specific resource portfolio by clicking the African country they would like data on.
Research and Papers on COVID tracking and government’s responsiveness in Africa.
Rapid Response Functionality allowing the site to be compatible with all browsers and mobile devices.
Under CTAP, the 3 CSOs seek to advocate and collaborate with governments in Africa to provide and institute proper accountability measures for all financial and material donations received. Since it kicked off 8 months ago, the project has inspired increased citizen engagement with issues of government’s transparency and accountability and a zero-tolerance for corruption in some countries. A case in point is the termination of public officials in Liberia for the misappropriation of COVID funds.
Overarching insights;
Weak transparency and poor government accountability impede the implementation of standard policies. This is evident in the inability of social accountability activists to access accurate data of funds received and disbursed by their government to tackle the pandemic.
Citizens’ apathy as a result of distrust in government. Citizen participation could have augmented the impact of certain relief packages such as the food packages which could have targeted the most vulnerable in society, including women, the disabled and the aged. Several sources at the local assembly level revealed to the CTAP team that the very poorest in their communities did not benefit from initiatives that were broadly distributed.
As a result of leveraging the media to amplify discoveries of misappropriations, embezzlements, and lack of preparedness by the government and institutions, there was an increased response to citizens’ demands for accountability.
In view of these highlights, the CSOs urge citizens to utilise the new COVIDAfrica platform to access data that they need to engage with their governments.
“We believe this is also an opportunity for African governments to improve communication with citizens and adopt progressive governance mechanisms in advancing transparency and accountability and regaining citizens’ trust”, Onigbinde added.
Social Accountability CSOs in these countries are aligning in their mission to hold their respective governments to account, mobilize citizens for social change, counter fake news and misinformation while using digital tools to engage with government accountability issues.
***
Footnotes:
Top findings from 7 African Countries;
Liberia
The research conducted in Margibi County on the stimulus package for private schools’ teachers revealed that only 15% of teachers in the private schools received their shares of the $1 million, while 85% of the participants did not receive their shares of the $1 million budgetary allocation for private schools’ teachers in the 2020/2021 national budget.
The emergency standard operating procedure under sub-section seven (7) states that COVID-19 funds should be operated in dual currency and a separate bank account either at the central bank or commercial and will be managed under six (6) signatories from MOH & NPHIL Office. However, we observed that COVID-19 funds totaling USD750, 000 and a cash donation of USD246, 300 has been mixed up with the Ministry of Health’s operation account at the Central Bank of Liberia.
Nigeria:
Conditions of primary healthcare centres have further deteriorated during the pandemic. In a recent research conducted by the CTAP team in fifteen states, a significant number of PHCs fall below the minimum PHC standard set by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), with their grossly dilapidated infrastructure, poor and inadequate staffing, and incapacity to administer vaccines.
Corruption in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that involved allocation of funds to combat COVID dated before COVID-19 happened.
Kenya
The Auditor General’s special report on Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA), revealed that, the following procurement procedures and processes were violated:
Utilization of unbudgeted funds- according to the special report, Ksh.4.66 billion was allocated for Universal Health coverage (UHC) when actual cost should have been Ksh.2.9 billion.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) allocated KEMSA Ksh. 13.04 billion and the actual expenditure amounted to Ksh.8.52 billion. However, the special audit report notes conflicting information as National treasury notes that Ksh.4.82 billion to MoH for Covid-19 related expenditure at KEMSA.
Cameroon
The FCFA 180 billion (US$335.24 million) granted to the National Solidarity Fund and the additional contributions, donations and financial gifts received by the Government are clouded by a hail of corruption allegations, as the health sector struggles to keep workers motivated and secure, and to grant access to COVID 19 related services to the public.
The government has not carried out any formal audits and there are no open contracting platforms. Access to information remains a challenge. In terms of overarching transparency architecture in Cameroon, the existence and use of military ordinances and decrees in administering funds casts a cloud of opacity and works to suppress public opinion formation on accountability
Sierra Leone
The Ministry of Health and Sanitation officials expended Le5.22m ($475), allocated for COVID-19 response on the procurement of personal gadgets such as Apple airpods, JBL Bluetooth Speakers and Headsets.
During the Audit exercise, we observed that Le2.1bn ($191,414 ) was paid to an unidentified NaCOVERC Staff/Consultants. Further, procurement carried out by some MDAs were not only highly inflated, but also awarded to middlemen who know nothing about the goods and services.
Ghana
Irregularities in the procurement of antigen testing kits which cost $150 per kit, to be conducted at the Kotoka International Airport. The contract between the Ghana Airport Company and Frontier Health Service stipulated that an amount of $10 would be paid to the former with the latter taking $140. This constituted an uncannily lucrative deal for the testing company especially since the company was incorporated just days before the contract was awarded and had not registered with the PPA. Furthermore, some state agencies were bypassed in the awarding of the contract.
Malawi
Lack of preparedness by the Department of Disaster Management affairs in the way they disbursed funds without proper orientation of controlling officers. The Malawian experience seems to have a core problem of not just transparency and accountability but also prioritisation and management, despite the existence of the procedures in writing.
Despite allocation of huge sums of money through the Ministry of Education and District Councils, there was less to show as to what the funds have been used for. The Malawian CTAP research documented evidence that COVID-19 funds were “marred by incidences of abuse, maladministration, fraud and misplaced priorities.
President Buhari could leave a disreputable legacy if he does not assent to the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB)
Perhaps, because President Buhari is a retired General, many Nigerians see him as a strongman. He was a Brigade Major at the 3rd Infantry Brigade in Nsukka during the Nigerian-Biafra war. Later on, in 1983, he plotted a successful coup d’état that aborted Nigeria’s Second Republic on claims of widespread corruption. Of course, coups begets coups. General Buhari was later toppled. Today, he is a politician, an elected president, a “democrat”.
Being careful of his new image, the president is uncertain of how he will be remembered after his tenure. He wants to be treated fairly and kindly by history, Nigerians and indeed humankind. Having won elections in 2015 and 2019, he knows that being remembered as a military dictator is no longer fashionable. Could he successfully erase his past as a coupist that overthrew an elected government.
Colleagues at CODE deliberating on the desirability of the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB).
It is no news that political leaders want good legacies after active service. They want to be reckoned with as builders and statesmen who provided public services and listened to the people. But this is not the norm in Nigeria’s political sphere. Otherwise, why are they not uplifting lives, creating wealth and respecting the social contract as obtainable in advanced democracies? Instead, many of them promote political vulgarity; corruption, mistrust and poverty. If politicians passionately care about what legacies they would leave behind, they would govern differently. But good legacies aren’t cheap.
World history teaches us that when President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented himself for election in the middle of the great depression, he knew the challenges, risks and opportunities but he dared. With time, he succeeded – becoming the 32nd President (1933-1945) of the USA. Against the odds in this era, President Roosevelt helped Americans regain faith in themselves and their systems by defeating the great depression – the worst economic crisis in America’s history. Also, he famously “ended” World War II.
Back to President Buhari. In Nigeria, our dilemma is corruption – how to end public theft. In 2015 when the President presented his tripodal agenda: Reducing Insecurity, Fighting Corruption and Economic Diversification; upon which he defeated an incumbent president, Nigerians believed him and gave him the constitutional mandate. As such, President Buhari’s legacy would be judged by the tripodal agenda, especially “Fighting Corruption”.
Nigerians would remember him for his anti-corruption policies and positions, including his action or inaction to implement the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB). The bill was passed by the National Assembly (House of Representatives – April 2016 and Senate – May 2019) and transmitted to him for assent. Since then, the President has neither assented (signed it into law) nor declined assent. The President’s silence on FASCB is worrisome because corruption continues to rob Nigerians of opportunities to live prosperous lives.
Historically, before the military intervention of 1967, the Audit Ordinance of 1956 was the statutory instrument empowering the Audit Office to discharge its mandate. At the time, the Audit Office had fewer encumbrances and discharged its responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Military interventionists changed the landscape of audit administration by abolishing the National Assembly that houses the Public Accounts Committee in democratic administrations.
In the second republic (1979 to 1983), appreciable progress was made through the 1979 Constitution to re-engineer and re-position audit administration in the country. The 1979 constitution gave the Audit Office extensive powers to audit all public funds and public institutions without exception. For example, section 79(2) of the 1979 constitution states inter alia: “The public accounts of the Federation and all offices, courts and authorities of the Federation, including all persons and bodies established by law entrusted with the collection and administration of public money and assets, shall be audited and reported on by the Auditor-General”.
Sadly, the coup of 1983 led by the General Buhari-Idiagbon regime brought a serious setback to the Audit Office and audit administration. In the Buhari-Idiagbon regime, the powers of the Auditor-General were watered down with the promulgation of Decree 17 of 1985 that prevented full audit coverage of public funds and institutions. Without doubts, this provision that exempts some agencies from the scrutiny of the Auditor-General is an impediment to effective public audit administration in Nigeria.
Since the fourth republic (from 2001 till date), the National Assembly has spent huge resources – material and otherwise, to amend Nigeria’s audit law, but none of these efforts has been successfully done. The failure of successive administrations to amend or enact a modern audit law to complement the provisions of the 1999 Constitution is a major impediment to the effective management of public funds.
Nonetheless, President Buhari has a window to right his past wrongs. He should exploit the renewed agitations by Nigerians and civil society led by Connected Development (CODE) under its Money Trail Project to append his signature to the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB) and give the commission all required political backings to subject all government agencies to yearly audit processes, scrutiny and accountability. There is no better way to fight corruption than instituting process-led anti-corruption policies or laws and giving teeth to the laws.
For three reasons, President Buhari has a moral burden to sign the FASCB. First, it will largely influence how he will be remembered. Two, a new audit law will redeem and repair his infamous role in the past when he enacted Decree 17 of 1985 which effectively withdrew the power of the Auditor General to audit statutory agencies, commissions, established by law. The third reason is the institutionalisation of the rule of law in resource/fiscal governance – that no government agency can afford fiscal recklessness and go scot free. The ball is in his court!
Like President Roosevelt, Buhari should help Nigerians regain faith in themselves and their systems especially in this era of pervasive depreciation of trust in public institutions – ministries, departments and agencies. For this to happen, the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB) should be signed into law without further delay or complacency. This is one way President Buhari will be remembered!
Author: Ani, Nwachukwu Agwu: Mr Ani writes from Enugu. He’s a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nigeria. He can be reached via his email: nwachukwu@gmail.com.
CODE is pleased to celebrate the appointment of its Senior Legal Adviser, Nnanna Oketa Esq. as a member of the newly established Corporate Counsel Forum of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), alongside Seye Kosoko, the Company Secretary of FBN Holdings PLC, as the Chairman.
Nnanna Esq. and other Board Members of CODE
Beyond advising the Board and CEO on regulatory frameworks, statutory requirements and compliance, policies and internal control systems, Nnanna Esq., is also the In-House Counsel (Deputy Manager – Special Projects) of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) where he offers and applies his legal expertise on Legal and Regulatory Advisory on Projects and Infrastructure, Securitisation and Corporate Finance, Gas and Power Resale Contracts, including Cross-Border Sale of Power.
In addition, we commend the NBA President, Olumide Akpata Esq., for driving a united, progressive, courageous and citizen-centric Bar, and for the recent establishment of a Lawyers With Disabilities Forum to effectively advocate for issues concerning Lawyers with disabilities, appointment of young lawyers into several fora and committees, and the creation and appointment of young lawyers as permanent observers at the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NBA.
We are in no doubt that Nnanna Esq. will continue to leverage his decade-long multi-sectoral experience in corporate legal advisory to bring invaluable contributions to the development of this new Forum as they drive issues concerning corporate counsels and governance.
Once again, a heartfelt Congratulations to you, Nnanna Esq. from the CODE family and we wish you greater and exciting feats in the future.
Infographics: Eighty Percent of PHCs in 15 States Do Not Meet NPHCDA Standard, Unfit for COVID19 Vaccination — CODE
As Nigeria continues to battle COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 166,730 cases and 2,117 deaths already recorded, only 20 percent of the Primary Health Care Centres in fifteen states are functional, research investigations and tracking conducted by leading Civil Society Organisation, CODE has revealed.
A Primary Healthcare Centre in Sango, Lagos.
Nigeria’s health sector has struggled to meet up with modern standards in terms of quality, efficiency, and accessibility to its vast population. With the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the wide devastating gaps in the health system became more pronounced, as citizens at rural and semi-urban communities particularly grappled with poor healthcare amidst a pandemic.
In March 2021, Nigeria received 3.92 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, the first trench of the expected 16 million doses, according to an announcement made by the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib.
Concerned by the condition of the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) where average citizens receive treatment, and where COVID vaccines would be stored and administered, CODE through its social accountability initiative, Follow The Money, commenced tracking the distribution of these vaccines and assessed the preparedness as well as the quality of Primary Healthcare Centres across the country to receive and administer the vaccines at the community level.
This research was birthed as part of the objectives of the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability project supported by Conrad Hilton Foundation and Skoll Foundation, currently being implemented by Follow The Money, BudgIT Foundation and Global Integrity across 7 African countries to assess government’s transparency & accountability in the management of COVID intervention funds and support to citizens.
Follow The Money champions in 15 states – Cross River, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kebbi, Osun – across the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria, assessed the readiness of 90 PHCs to receive, store and effectively administer vaccines with the purpose to equally drive quality standardisation of PHCs in Nigeria.
CODE and OXFAM are implementing a project on the Power of Voices Partnership (PVP) fair for All project within 6 extractive states- Delta, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers and FCT. The project seeks to build capacity and raise awareness on the socio-economic costs associated with the Nigerian extractives sector.
PVP will focused on advocating for improved governance in the sector to ensure that corporations operate in human rights and conflict-sensitive demeanour. This project seeks to address by building new structures and strengthening existing ones to achieve sustained efforts and interventions across communities, the private sector and the government. Influence policy debates and other initiatives to ensure sustained and judicious management of tax revenue, other revenues within the extractive sector while promoting accountability.
The Power of Voices Partnership (PVP)- Fair for All (F4A) program, therefore, shall be used to amplify civic education and advocacies to promote:
Prudent management of natural resources (oil and gas)
Participatory budget
Fiscal transparency
Fair natural resources governance
Economic literacy
Fair taxation that energizes voice(s) of socially oppressed and marginalized segments of society, particularly, women, through:
Gender justice.
Other programmatic propositions are;
Fiscal inclusion through participatory needs assessment (community and shadow budgeting),
Tracking of expenditures (public procurement) mobilizing for fair taxation and participatory democratic rights and empowerment through (collective) voices.
Through PVP, CODE will strengthen community voices and increase awareness on the socio-economic costs of challenges within the Nigerian extractives sector pertaining to the marginalisation of host communities. It will also advocate improved corporate governance in operations and the management of human rights in these communities.
One of the objectives of the project is to promote transparency and efficient management of State budgets for the extractive sector.
To achieve the project objectives our team will strengthen the capacity of local organizations and citizens to increase the level of accountability of public actors within the extractive sectors. The project also seeks to raise awareness within the civic space, schools and the public through outreaches and followthemoney radio.
The United Nations has granted CODE special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. The Non-Governmental Organizations Committee made the selection as a continuation of its 2021 regular session. CODE was one of 65 organizations granted general and special status to attend meetings of the Council and issue statements.
CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal and the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Amina Mohammed
The consultative status provides NGOs with access to not only ECOSOC, but also to its many subsidiary bodies, to the various human rights mechanisms of the United Nations, ad-hoc processes on small arms, as well as special events organized by the President of the General Assembly.
Having fulfilled the requirements proffered by the 19-member Committee, CODE is excited to begin attending exclusive meetings of the council. According to the Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, “CODE’s selection offers the opportunity for partnership to advance sustainable development in Nigeria.”
The United Nations Economic and Social Council as a meeting point for partnership to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. Now in its 75th year, it is regarded as “the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.”
