In 2002, the European Centre for Conflict Prevention (ECCP), in response to Recommendation 27 of the UN Secretary General’s Report on the Prevention of Armed Conflict (A/55/985-S/2001/574, initiated a process of mobilizing civil society actors dedicated to conflict prevention and peacebuilding worldwide to come together and form the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. Through the Global Partnership, fifteen regional lead agencies collaborated closely with the actors of their respective conflict prevention and peacebuilding communities in order to voice their concerns and formulate recommendations in the form of Regional Action Agendas. The overarching themes of these Regional Action Agendas served as the foundation for a Global Action Agenda which was presented to the UN Secretary-General at the opening session of the Conference.  

 In West Africa, WANEP was selected to be the Regional Initiator for the process. As Regional Initiator, WANEP was tasked to design an inclusive and participatory process that will stimulate discussions among civil society groups from the community level to the regional level, towards the development of an action agenda for the prevention of violent conflicts in West Africa.  To achieve this WANEP developed a regional process to be implemented in two phases involving 12 West African countries. The countries are Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. These countries were selected because WANEP already had established national secretariats with full time coordinators supervising the implementation of WANEP’s programs in those countries. In order to make the process inclusive, WANEP included Benin, Guinea Bissau and Mali which were non-presence countries at the time but in which WANEP had strategic working partners^[1].  Through the network coordinators and the working partners, WANEP executed The West African regional process.

Phase one had three stages:

1. Identify viable and credible CSOs, NGOs, CBOs and other actors in the target countries;
2. Organize preparatory meetings;
3. And conduct research.

Phase two had four stages

1. Organize regional conference of CSOs,
2. Set up regional steering group,
3. Participate in Global Conference in New York,
4. And hold national consultations to form national conflict prevention forums.

All these stages have been implemented successfully.

Identification of target groups: WANEP through its network coordinators and working partners identified viable and credible CSO NGOs, (CBOs) such as women groups, traditional leaders, religious groups, the media, academic practitioners and other relevant actors operating in areas relevant to human security. These groups were identified to be involved in the process because WANEP has learnt from its field experience these groups and actors play a significant role in the prevention of violent conflict in their communities.

Preparatory Meetings: Following the identification of participants, a one-day preparatory meeting was organized in the target countries. These took places between the period October 2003 and May 2004. The meetings served as raising awareness of the objectives of GPPAC in general and for WANEP to share its envisioned regional process. Through a brainstorming participants fine-tuned the regional process to include specific country needs within the wider program.  Working groups/task forces were also formed during these meeting to assist in regional process at national level. In all, a total of 175 civil society groups took part in the Preparatory

Research: A research was conducted in all 12 countries to assess the capacity of CSOs engaged in conflict prevention in the sub-region as well as level of collaboration among themselves and with governments.  The research’s main finding revealed that while CSOs, CBOs, associations etc were involved directly or indirectly in conflict prevention or peacebuilding endeavours, there was a gap between the activities of CSOs and policymakers in preventing conflict. This gap often gave the impression that CSOs and policymakers were at cross purposes. Specifically, the research revealed that

a) CSOs were working in isolation;
b) Link between CSOs and government in conflict prevention is weak, and
c) The human and financial capacity of CSOs in conflict prevention is inadequate 

In addition, the research findings suggested the formation of national conflict prevention forums to serve as links between CSOs and government to advocate and lobby national governments to pursue conflict sensitive policies.  The findings led to WANEP organizing some target trainings for some of its networks and also informed the agenda of the Regional Civil Society Conference that was to be organized later.

Regional conference: A four-day regional conference was organized under the theme “Consolidating the Role of Civil Society in Promoting Good Governance and Preventing Armed Conflicts in West Africa”.  The Conference was organized against the backdrop of intra and inter-state conflicts and the need to develop integrated and coherent approaches and strategies by civil society organizations engaged in peacebuilding and good governance. The primary aim of the conference was to set a regional agenda/framework whereby civil society organizations would collectively contribute to the prevention of armed conflicts and promote good governance at local, national, and regional levels in West Africa. 70 representatives from civil society and non-government organizations participated in the conference from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.  Participants were drawn from thematic areas central to peacebuilding in the sub region such as small arms, election, good governance, media, religion as well as governmental, intergovernmental and international organizations and embassies[2]. The conference provided the space to deliberate on structures for partnership towards regional stability and peace among CSOs, government institutions and international agencies, especially the UN.

West Africa Action Agenda for Prevention of Violent Conflict: One major outcome of the conference was the development of a West Africa Action Agenda for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts.  The Agenda serves as a framework informed by critical human security issues of the sub-region and provides action recommendations on thematic areas and issues such as women and youth in conflict prevention, small arms, elections, human rights, religion, media and chieftaincy. The Agenda recommends networking among CSOs and partnerships with government in conflict prevention as well as CSOs advocacy and lobbying to influence government policy on human security issues. Please refer to appendix I for a full version of the agenda.

Regional Steering Group (RSG):  A regional steering group (RSG) made up of representatives of the 14 countries present at the Conference was formed at the end of the Regional Conference.  The group was tasked to facilitate the localization and implementation of the Action Agenda at the national level. The RSG organized its first consultation in Accra from February 18-19 2005. By the end of the consultation, a framework to galvanize national support for the Agenda as a working document for conflict prevention was developed.  The framework was also to assist in the formation of national civil society forums for prevention of conflict, promoting good governance and ensuring networking among various groups across borders. These forums which are already been formed are intended to serve as links between CSOs and policy makers.

Global Conference: WANEP in July 2005 led a twenty-20 member delegation representing CSOs working in conflict prevention and other areas relevant to the promotion of human security as well as policy makers, to participate in the Global Conference at the United Nations Headquaters: From Reaction to Prevention: Civil Society Forging Partnerships to Prevent Violent Conflict and Build Peace. Some members of the delegation served as resource persons and facilitated some thematic work groups, e.g. early warning and response; women in peacebuilding; civilian peacekeeping; and peace education groups while others participated actively in various working panel sessions. The conference provided yet another opportunity for the delegation to network with participants from other regions.