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Mission

In order to realize it's vision, the journal commits itself to:

Justification

There is a strong case for a regular scholarly and policy publication devoted to human rights and democracy in East Africa. The unmet needs are chiefly in the following areas;

Long term Processes:

Sustainable democratic institutions take a long time to build and strengthen but much of the past and present efforts at supporting capacity for promoting and advancing human rights and democracy have focused on short-term projects.  To this extent, once an important issue ceases to be on the agenda then it is ignored and there is little consistent follow up. Furtherance of democracy and promotion of human rights are long-term process issues and therefore demand for mechanisms for coordination and consistent follow up.

Operational neutrality

Many of the actors in the Human Rights and Democracy scene have entrenched positions, are wary of co-operation due to competition for funding and over profiles.  Thus there is need for a new entity which is able to facilitate in the dissemination of useful information on and by the various actors as opposed to the prevailing stand-alone exercises in dissemination, information sharing and networking.  A substantial part of the journal’s agenda will be non-partisan, informative and all embracing as regards to its relations both with and between the various actors (Government, NGOs and inter/national/governmental polities). The idea of the journal, therefore, is to provide a forum for furthering the various agenda in the human rights and democracy scene in East Africa.

Professionalism

Many of the attempts at publishing policy oriented /scholarly/ operational (activity) reports have been carried out as side issues, the main tasks and foci of various organizations are in other areas.  Sometimes there are other impeding factors with regard to the dissemination of the information concerning their activities. This publication will attempt to provide a professional forum for dissemination of important information and reception of useful and constructive critiques on the activities of various actors: donors, NGOs, GROs, governments etc. (The publication will provide constant professional, scholarly and operational leadership in the area of Human Rights and Democracy).

The justification for this journal therefore lies in the importance of functioning and sustainable democratic development processes and strong institutions for human rights, mutual security, peace and development.

The Working Group on this project has not been able to identify any existing organization, bulletin or journal that is meeting these needs or could do so with some change of its mandate. The Working Group’s conclusion is that a new independent publication should be launched.  It should be autonomous and preferably have links with actors at all levels (GROs, NGOs, National/Regional bodies and the UN agencies) engaged in the issues set out in the scope and thematic focus of the journal. 

Framework of the Journal

This initiative will try to evolve a regional model for the advancement of democratic values, human rights issues as well as a mechanism for conflict resolution. It will especially target ongoing developments in poverty reduction and constitutional reform processes by trying to influence the environment in East Africa to renew, incorporate and support commitments to human rights and democracy as enshrined in international law.

The second component of this program is the search for and advancement of an elaborate mechanism for early-warning and preventive action and especially on developments incompatible with the objectives and values of democracy and other civic ethos. The Journal’s committees will attempt to garner the necessary good will for generating decisive preventive actions in volatile situations before they erupt into full-blown conflagrations.

FOCAL POINTS FOR ACTION

These include, but are not limited to the following:

Data base establishment and Networking

The Working Group on the journal will solicit information from entities working in this area for inclusion in a database. The database will include actors and actions by NGOs, Governments, private institutions, religious bodies and academic/research institutions etc. A comprehensive synthesis of the information obtained will be disseminated appropriately.

Research and Analysis

The Working Group will constitute a network of persons and entities actively engaged in research, advocacy, financing and/or in any way pursuing actions aimed at improving human welfare, democratic governance and security. This will facilitate the creation of an infrastructure for sharing ideas and insights on a continuous basis.

Fora for Reflection

The Journal and its various committees will endeavour to facilitate the convening of regular broad-based meetings, seminars, expert workshops and conferences to discuss new developments as well as review on-going issues and to suggest/formulate new areas for intervention and action in various spheres of development and especially in those areas related to the field of human rights and democracy  

Publication

The Editorial and management committees will endeavour to publish a regular Quarterly Journal devoted to the themes set out in the Annexes.

Activity Program

It has been indicated that this initiative will have both conceptual and operational elements. Emphasis will be placed on the practical fusion of the two aspects. The program activities may be divided into three (3) phases as follows:

Phase 1 - The Startup phase - March-June 2001

Acquisition of equipment, convening the first session of the editorial committee and recruitment of required personnel.

Phase 2 -  July - December 2001

Work on the establishment of a database. Commissioning of specific case studies on the state of human rights and democracy in East Africa and elsewhere.

Phase 3 - January - December 2002

Continuing work on the publication and activities on existing and emergent issues.

Activity management

This program will be housed and managed for the first year by The Independent Review through a Project Manager. The Review is a Non Governmental professional research group for Eastern Africa based in Nairobi and has a Ugandan and Tanzanian committee. It has received most of its  funding  from the Government of Sweden through the Embassy in Nairobi and  from the Government of Finland    

Administration of the Project

This project will be hosted and managed by The Independent Review. The Journal will however evolve into an autonomous program with time and as appropriate for the conduct of the proposed activities.

Evaluation

All projects undertaken will be evaluated for efficiency and impact both by external and internal evaluators and the results of the evaluations will according to  practice be  made public.