The Caribbean Pan African Network was established as a mechanism to facilitate the Caribbean region’s engagement with the African continent in general and the African Union in particular. The network was formed on the 12th of September 2004 at a meeting in Bridgetown Barbados held at the Commission for Pan African Affairs. It was a joint initiative of the Clement Payne Movement of Barbados, the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago and the African Union.
MISSION STATEMENT
The network’s mission is to develop and expand cooperation between Pan Africanist formations in the Caribbean Region, to work with other regional Pan African Networks and to engage in a formal institutional relationship with the African Union, in pursuit of the goal of empowering, developing and integrating the African peoples of the Continent and the Diaspora.
GOALS
- To develop an agenda for Caribbean civil society engagement with the African Union.
- Provide Caribbean representatives for the relevant African Union organs.
- Fostering people empowerment and development throughout the African world.
- To strengthen and empower Pan African organizations in the Caribbean to play an effective role in the development of the region
PROGRAMME AREAS
- Education and Culture
- Trade, Travel and Investment
- Caribbean Unity
- Reparations
- Youth Mentorship and Leadership Development
LINKAGES WITH THE AFRICAN UNION
Executive Members of CPAN, Khafra Kambon of the Emancipation Support Committee and Marta Johnson of the Afro Costa Rican Research Centre have served as representatives of the African Diaspora on the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC). ECOSOCC is an organ of the African Union which has a distinct character in that it provides an opportunity for African civil society, including that in the African Diaspora, to play an active role in charting the future of the Continent by organizing itself in partnership with African governments to contribute to the principles, policies and programmes of the Union.