The warm welcome and hospitality of the ACCA’s membership from East Africa created a memorable ambiance during the week of the 2018 ACCA GA. The ACCA is pleased to have collaborated with two of its partner organisations who arranged two side events which took place during the ACCA GA. The events included: a workshop on access to remedy and the First Annual conference of the African Private Security Governance Observatory (Observatory). Articles on the access to remedy workshop may be found here and here.
The convening of our GA reaffirms the important role played by the ACCA in providing African CSOs a platform on which to meet, network and share experiences on business and human rights, corporate accountability and community rights across the continent. The Kenya Natural Resources Alliance (KeNRA) played an instrumental role in the organisation of this important event on the ACCA calendar for which the ACCA expresses its humble gratitude to the staff of KeNRA for their tireless efforts.
Requests from the ACCA membership during the 2017 ACCA GA shaped the 2018 ACCA GA agenda. As such, this year’s ACCA GA allowed more space for community narratives, which guided the meeting’s processions. The 2018 ACCA offered more capacity-building sessions (with a particular focus on FPIC). The ACCA Secretariat wishes to express its gratitude to all organisations for hosting successful capacity-building sessions at this year’s GA.
This year’s keynote address was delivered by community representative, Ms Raya Ahmed from Save Lamu in Kenya and Ms Hannah Owusu-Koratgeng from Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) from Ghana. Attendees expressed their appreciation for their keynote addresses, which helped set the tone for this year’s ACCA GA. The ACCA Secretariat wishes to express their gratitude to these extraordinary individuals for their knowledge and experience sharing.
Participants at this year’s GA made use of Facebook Live through which moments of the GA were captured in real time, and enabled members of the broader ACCA community to follow the event’s proceedings in real time. The use of various social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter helped improve the ACCA’s visibility on social media platforms.
A significant addition to this year’s GA was the first-ever NGO Fair; participants were offered stands through which they were able to display their daily work and distribute information. Ahead of the GA, meeting participants sent videos of their organisations to the Secretariat, which were displayed on the big screens. Participants expressed their satisfaction with this initiative, as it helped enhance the visibility of their organisations and their daily work.
While walking through the hallways and rooms where interviews and press conferences were held, it was gratifying to hear participants express their satisfaction with the ACCA’s progress since its inception. Following this event, an ACCA press statement was released.
The 2018 ACCA GA report will be released in within the first quarter of 2019.
Damian Oakes