How African Renaissance Trust engages with the AU Commission, AU Assembly, and regional economic communities — from pre-session coalition building to post-session domestication follow-through.
Continental decisions are made at specific moments — AU Assembly sessions, ministerial conferences, regional body summits. Most civil society engagement happens after the fact, responding to decisions already taken. We work before and during those moments, placing evidence where it can still shape outcomes.
We also follow decisions back to the national level — coordinating the civil society and parliamentary networks that hold governments accountable to what they agreed at the continental level.
Structured presence at AU Assembly sessions and AU Summits — placing briefs, coordinating civil society observer delegations, and tracking session outcomes against prior commitments.
Working directly with AU Commission departments — particularly the Departments of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development; and Women, Gender and Youth — on programme design, data sharing, and domestication support.
Engaging the East African Community, Economic Community of West African States, Southern African Development Community, and Intergovernmental Authority on Development on regional implementation of continental commitments.
Each regional body has its own legislative calendar, treaty framework, and political dynamics — we work within each rather than treating them as interchangeable.
Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda. Legislative assembly and partner state summit engagement on gender, health, and integration frameworks.
Fifteen West African member states. Engagement on gender protocol implementation, health system integration, and intra-regional trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area corridor.
Sixteen member states across Southern Africa. Engagement on SADC Gender Protocol domestication and health financing reform in the Southern African regional bloc.
Eight member states in the Horn of Africa. Engagement on gender and health commitments in a region characterised by fragility, displacement, and cross-border health challenges.
The recurring events that anchor our continental engagement cycle — we build programme activities around these windows.
AU Assembly of Heads of State & Government
Primary annual continental decision-making moment — adopts new commitments and reviews implementation of prior decisions. Pre-session brief placement deadline: four weeks prior.
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights — Ordinary Session
First ordinary session of the year — shadow reports, state party examinations, and protective measures. Window for shadow report submission: six weeks prior.
AU Ministerial Conferences — Health and Gender
Specialist ministerial sessions ahead of the mid-year coordination summit. Key window for technical brief placement with AU Commission departments.
AU Mid-Year Coordination Summit
Heads of state coordination on implementation of January Assembly decisions — and the first formal review of domestication progress mid-cycle.
African Commission — Second Ordinary Session
Second session of the year — state party examinations and follow-up on outstanding concluding observations. Key window for advocacy follow-through.
Regional Economic Community Summits
EAC, ECOWAS, SADC, and IGAD heads of state summits — regional implementation review and legislative agenda-setting for the following year.
The Vault is publicly accessible — a free resource for civil society organisations, researchers, parliamentarians, and journalists across Africa.
Explore the Vault →See the frameworks we work within and the full policy index alongside this continental affairs engagement.
