GPPAC Consultation in
COte d’Ivoire
See Consultation in
Pictures
National context
Cote’ d’Ivoire, a one time economic giant
and “Paris of West Africa” has in the recent years become a
theatre of war. The struggle for access to political power by
the political elite introduced a new dimension to the social
fabric of the society - the re-definition of Ivorian identity.
The redefinition of identify not only polarised and excluded
minority groups from political participation but it also led to
the deportation of long term migrants from neighbouring
countries who for years have being the backbone of the Ivorian
economy, from the country. Critics of the Ivorian media
blame it for intensifying the conflict through their
non-conflict sensitive reportage of the crisis. Furthermore, the
refusal of government and rebels in the Ivorian crisis to
respect various Agreements that have been signed with the aim of
resolving the crisis continues to fuel the violence and indeed
the instability in the country. The recruitment of youth
into rebel armies has destroyed the social and moral fabric of
the Ivorian society. It must however be stated that there
has been significant progress when for the first time the four
key actors in the conflict held discussion on Ivorian soil under
the leadership of the Prime Minister in February 2006.
The consultation
In Cote d’Ivoire the national
consultation was organised from March 14th to 15,
2006.
Holding under the theme “Civil Society
Organisations in Conflict prevention Reflect for Peace”, the
consultation brought together representatives of thirty CSOs
working in various fields related to theme. Participants were
made up of fifteen (15) women and seventeen men (17).
There were also government representatives as well as
international agencies. The UN OCHA in Cote d’Ivoire supported WANEP-Cote d’Ivoire to
organise the consultation. The consultation aimed to
contextualise the GPPAC recommendations to realities of
Cote d’Ivoire; define a common strategy to
prevent conflict; and revamp WANEP-Cote d’Ivoire.
The consultation reviewed
available information from previous intervention by other actors
on the causes of conflict in Côte d’Ivoire. Participants added to
the identified causes and categorized them under political,
socio-cultural and economic headings. Political causes included
lack of access to power; lack of political and democratic
culture; bad management of political alliance; and tribalisation
of political power. Under the category for socio-cultural,
causes cited included new Ivorian identification policy,
violation of human rights, religious intolerance, lost of
parental control over children, and social frustration. Among
the economic causes identified were bad economic governance,
effect of population increase in the face of economic crisis and
diminishing economic resources.
In regards to
contextualizing the GPPAC recommendation to the realities of Cote d’Ivoire,
participants identified five salient areas to address:
Early warning and early response
Capacity Building of CSO
Networking
Gender mainstreaming with particular reference to UN Resolution
1325; mainstreaming youth, focusing building their capacity
through education and skill training.
2006 was identified as an area of priority
that called for the immediate attention of all stakeholders.
After an in-depth analysis of the various
issues participants developed strategies with specific actions
and actors for the five priority areas identified. For example
recommendation made for early warning include training of
monitors and data collectors, development and dissemination of
indicators, sensitization on non-violent election and
collaboration with policy makes for early response to warning
(Refer to appendix III for full version of the strategic plan in
French).
By the end of the two days participant adopted
the activities as the future plan for the forum
See
Consultation in Pictures