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For nearly two decades, good governance has been emphasised as a determined factor of development in the broad sense, encompassing not only economic growth but also social progress. However, the concept of good governance did not become truly operative and was not effectively introduced in French-speaking African countries until recently, following the initial evaluations of structural adjustment programmes. Since then, it has become a dominant and even strategic concept in the management of public affairs. I attempt, in this paper, to provide an overview of global and regional initiatives in the area of governance in the 1990s, as an important background to the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa�s Development (NEPAD) and its groundbreaking initiative, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), at the turn of the 21st century. Global initiatives During the past few years, the United Nations, like other development partners, has devoted numerous activities to good governance some of which we intent to focus special attention. Among the global initiatives was the Cairo Agenda for Action adopted, in June 1995, by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which recognised that good governance, like democracy, peace, security and stability, is an essential factor in economic and social development. This was followed by the United Nations� launch, in March 1996, of the system �wide Special Initiative on Africa to provide support for the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa (UN-NADAF). Within that framework, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) created a subsidiary programme, the Special Initiative on Governance in Africa (SIGA). This programme was intended to promote good governance by developing sound institutions, increasing the role of civil society and encouraging transparency, responsibility and effective results. Furthermore, in April 1996, at its resumed fiftieth session, the General Assembly adopted resolution 50/225 concerning public administration and development. In this resolution, the General Assembly affirmed, in this resolution, inter alia, that the �transparent Governance and administration in all sectors of society are indispensable foundations for development�. General Assembly resolution 50/225 breathed new life into the management of public affairs in Africa. Most initiatives currently under way in the area of governance draw their mandates from it. In May 1997, the Group of Experts on the United Nations Programme in Public Administration and Finance gave an in-depth consideration at its thirteenth session to the question of good governance from the point of view of General Assembly resolution 50/225 and, above all, made recommendations for action at the national and international levels on the basis of the theme, �redesigning the State for socio-economic development and change�. Regional initiatives Added to the global initiatives, are the number of activities devoted to good governance at the regional level. First, was the seminar on governmental management and economic development organised by the World Bank in Senegal in February 1991. The seminar brought together several experts and political decision-makers to analyse the interaction between development activities and conditions for governmental management. Significantly, too, the seminar focused on criteria for analysing good governance. In November 1991, the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IRAs) and other development partners organised another regional seminar in Dakar (Senegal) on the theme of institutional capacity for change and support of public policy. The seminar brought together a number of Government representatives from African countries, political decision-makers and experts to consider the importance of an appropriate institutional framework for public affairs management. Five years after, in November 1996, a regional seminar on good governance and development was organised, once again in Dakar, by the African Institute for Democracy, in collaboration with UNDP, USAID, the Agency for the French-Speaking Community and other multilateral development assistance agencies. The very concept of good governance and its content and purposes were reconsidered at this important meeting. In July 1997, an African Governance Forum was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the auspices of UNDP and the ECA. In attendance were representatives of a number of African Governments, which devoted considerable time and energy to an in-depth analysis of their national governance programmes. And in March 1998, the United Nations organised a conference in Addis Ababa on the theme, �Governance in Africa: Strengthening the Institutional Framework�. The goals of the conference were to encourage discussion of the best means of strengthening State institutions as an essential condition for good governance. These activities consolidated and highlighted the significant aspects of good governance. For example, the concept and meaning of good governance were clearly identified. Furthermore, the links between good governance and development were reaffirmed, with the understanding that the latter meant sustainable human development as defined by the United Nations. Besides, basic principles for building an institutional framework for good governance were stabilised. Governance initiatives in the 21st century: NEPAD and APRM It was against the background of the global and regional initiatives in the area of governance in the 1990s, that the need for a new governance regime in Africa to address the challenges of political legitimacy, highlighted in our first article, led, at the turn of the 21st century, to initiatives in the areas of governance and democracy spearheaded by the newly inaugurated African Union, which for the first time embraced democracy and rejected undemocratic seizures of power. It launched the New Partnership for Africa�s Development (NEPAD) as a blue print for the continent�s renewal. The emphasis of NEPAD is on the promotion of democracy, human rights, participatory governance, transparency and accountability. Democracy should reduce the scope for conflict and make good governance more likely. In turn, good governance should bring about the political stability, the institutional consolidation and the operation of the rule of law that are universally seen as the necessary framework for investment. Greater investment should facilitate economic growth and growth should provide the foundation for development. �Governance� is at the centre of the NEPAD programme, not only as one of the principles and conditions identified for sustainable development, but also it is among the top priorities of the programme. Accordingly, with NEPAD�s Democracy and Political Governance Initiative, African leaders committed themselves to (i) creating and consolidating basic governance processes and practices; (ii) leading in supporting initiatives that foster good governance; and (iii) institutionalising NEPAD commitments with the view to ensuring that the programme�s core values are abided by. In recognition of the imperatives of good governance for development, the Sixth Summit of the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of NEPAD, held in March 2003 in Abuja , Nigeria, adopted the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The Mechanism, which is turning out to be the most innovative aspect of NEPAD, is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by member states of the African Union as a self-monitoring initiative for good governance. Peer review under NEPAD focuses primarily on the state of democracy, political, economic and corporate governance, and the spelling out of criteria based on governance norms and democratisation goals to which African leaders have committed themselves. Through the APRM, African countries wish to demonstrate, once and for all, that they strive towards good governance and that this process is central in addressing past mismanagement of resources, poor economic management, the economic decline of Africa and its diminishing role in world affairs. The first of its kind in Africa, the APRM has the potential of playing a decisive role in �collective self-governance� thereby unleashing the continent�s economic and political energies. It serves as a double contract between African governments and their citizens, on the one hand, and between Africa and its development partners, on the other. Above all, it provides a forum that speaks with an African voice to Africans, thereby enhancing ownership of the debate about development and security issues. What has been the governance performance in Africa over the past decades? What benefits are the African countries deriving from the newly embraced governance process? How has the new governance regime changed the political and economic landscape in Africa? What impact has the changing governance landscape in Africa had on the current Africa � European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations ? These are some of the issues to which attention would be focused in the next contribution.