At the First African Union-Western Hemisphere Diaspora Forum in Washington, DC, December 17-19, 2002 The working group on DEMOCRACY, GOVERNANCE AND THE RULE OF LAW stated in their final report, “190. We, the participants of the above-named Working Group, move that the African Diaspora establishes itself for full regional representation at the African Union.” In response, Dr Jinmi Adisa, Senior Coordinator and Head of Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation (CSSDCA), Interim Commission of the African Union stated in his closing remarks, “We will take all your resolutions and recommendations to Chairman Essy and the Commission of the Union in Addis Ababa and through them to the Summit of the Union and while we may not be able to implement all of them immediately, you can be rest assured that they will eventually be reflected in the purposes, goals and programmes of the Union.”
"The objectives of the Union shall be to . . . (q) invite and encourage the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the African Union in its capacity as an important part of our Continent."
Working Group 4: Modalities for enhancing effective partnerships between the African Union and the African Diaspora and Diaspora participation in ECOSOC Recommendations included: ix. The AU Diaspora Initiative should establish criteria for selecting NGOs, private industries, universities, professional associations, and primary and secondary educational systems for partnership in the AU Diaspora Initiative. Regarding NGOs, this refers to the development of selection and evaluation criteria for the twenty NGO positions allotted in ECOSOCC.
"African Diaspora organizations shall establish an appropriate process for determining modalities for elections and elect twenty (20) CSO's to the ECOSOCC General Assembly"; [ECOSOCC Statute Article 5 section 3.]
"59. The question on how to structure the Diaspora to make it as the 6th region was raised. To that effect: . . . . c) Establishing The Diaspora as The Sixth Region of The African Union The Diaspora should initiate and, wherever it already exists should, broaden a process of consultation and regular meetings culminating in the establishment of transparent representative organs, to engage with the African Union."
The African Union Technical Workshop on the Relationship With The Diaspora held in the Port of Spain, Trinidad, June 2-5 2004 stated, “all NGOs and coalitions of NGOs in the Western Hemisphere desiring to participate in the African Union Development of the Diaspora Initiative should register with WHADN as the first step of membership in this movement.” Thus, following these instruction, in December of 2005, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed creating the AU 6th Region Education Campaign whith Ras Nathaniel, now known as Siphiwe Baleka, serving as the Director. Along with Dr. David Horne, the 6th Region Elections began but were never completed.
The African Union webpage announcing the launch of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of The African Union (ECOSOCC) states, "The impulse is not for the African Union to organize civil society. Rather the organizing principle of the ECOSOCC of the African Union is one in which civil society would organize themselves to work with the Organization.The distinctive character of the African Union's ECOSOCC is that it is an opportunity for African civil society to play an active role in charting the future of the Continent, organizing itself in partnership with African governments to contribute to the principles, policies and programmes of the Union."