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Annual Report 2001

Program Report:
Network Coordination, Research and Documentation - Esther Gordon-Mensah, Coordinator

Network and Coordination promotes harmony and cohesion among civil society based peacebuilding organizations and individuals in West Africa. The program assumes that the strength of civil society groups is in their cohesion, collectivity, and cooperation. Core strategy includes mapping of the multi-dimensions of conflict, locating the various actors and enabling them to identify their comparative advantages, designing frameworks for complementarity, and encouraging cooperative responses.

Objectives
· Compile and publish member and resource person directory.
· Produce and publish quarterly newsletters, annual report, occasional papers and monographs. · Design and maintain website.
· Link related programs within and between countries.
· Establish contact with local, regional and international media to promote collaborative peacebuilding in West Africa.
· Profile member organizations in order to promote and legitimize their works.
· Conduct research on indigenous methods for peacebuilding in West Africa.
· Conduct lessons learned consultations with practitioners.

Highlights of Activities
· During the period under review, communication in and outside the secretariat improved considerably. At the beginning of the year the office was networked for easy internal communication and access to information.

· We designed and piloted the maintenance of a website. Visit to the developing website was encouraging. We hope to contract a website designer to complete the web design and a website assistant to maintain the site. In order to expedite access to the web we installed radio link facilities at the Secretariat.

· Weekly and monthly reporting (of activies) system was instituted at the Secretariat. This enhanced coordination greatly. Innovation and commitment on the part of staff to share report on activities of their programs still needs improvement.

· We launched WANEP Link, a quarterly newsletter designed to report events and reflections on peacebuilding in West Africa. WANEP Link is widely circulated on the web and through the post.

· A ‘lesson learned’ quarterly issue titled, From the Field was also launched. Three papers were published and disseminated. Initially, members were less enthusiastic to contribute to this project. It is a common belief that practitioners find it difficult to write. They prefer to go uninterrupted with their daily activities. Through this less theoretical and academic paper, WANEP wants to catalyze reflective practice. We are pleased to report that the number of practitioners eager and willing to contribute has increased considerably since the first three publications.

· We planned to publish two in depth monographs. The monographs would be research reports on indigenous resources for and perspective on peacebuilding in West Africa. We are still looking for funding.

· A directory for civil society based peacebuilding organizations that are members of WANEP in West and Central Africa is being compiled. The project could not be completed in 2001 because of the difficulty in communicating with some members. A draft of the directory will be discussed at WANEP’s Annual General Meeting in January 2002.

· We translated WANEP objectives into media objectives. The department looked at reasons for the media campaign, the people WANEP wants to reach, what WANEP wants to tell its target audience and the relevant media that will help WANEP achieve its goal(s). Thereafter the department identified relevant media who were invited from time to time to cover programmes of the secretariat both in and outside Accra. This created more public awareness of WANEP and its activities in the subregion.

· Coordination and Networking was also enhanced during the year. We constantly researched other peacebuilding organizations in the region and extended partnership to them. We made more use of resource persons from WANEP members in implementing regional programs. We built teams of resource persons across countries. Members now see the value of sending their resumes to the Secretariat as they saw some of their colleagues benefit from consultancies and other programs.

· More is to be desired in this program: the process of building national networks and establishing liaison offices in countries where WANEP envisages active engagement is still ongoing; we are yet to produce a more elaborate research on how West Africans build peace; bickering manifested as duplication, lack of cooperation, credit-seeking and control continue to prevail among some members.

CHALLENGES
Among the challenges we faced, three were outstanding:

· Communication—In West Africa three major languages (French, English, and Portuguese) are spoken officially. These languages place artificial barrier between communities. As a regional organization we make every effort to mitigate the impact of this linguistic barrier. Interpreters who charge exorbitant prices are hired for all regional meetings. We have requested our partners to donate some interpreting equipment to minimize the cost for simultaneous interpreting and all staff at the Secretariat are been encouraged to speak at least French and English. A tutor was hired to assist each staff with one of the three languages. We learned that speaking the language of the other is most effective in relationship building and expediting cooperation.

· Travel—Travel in West Africa is a nightmare. There is only one airline (Ghana Airways) that provides air travel services along the West Coast. Other private planes fly into one or two cities. Several times flights are cancelled without notice. Consequently, we are forced to plan for at least two or three day contingency in every travel and at each regional meeting. This extra cost was never budgeted for but it has become a major budgetary item because of the consistency and frequency of flight irregularities.

· Trainers—The services of WANEP especially in the area of direct intervention in inter-communal conflicts and training are highly demanded in and out of the subregion. Increased burdens have been placed on the few training staff at the Secretariat. It has become clear that these individuals can no longer cope with the demand. We are, therefore, launching a search for potential trainers in each country. These individuals (at least two in each country) will undergo both training and mentoring to fully understand the philosophy and strategies of WANEP as well as the various training methodologies we apply in our training. These could be drawn upon when invitations come to the Secretariat. Emphasis has been put on female trainers in the search. We are asking members and individuals to recommend trainers in their organizations. The use of members in regional training was tested in the Peace and Nonviolence Education Program and it proved to be very successful.

· We have learned that the more one lets-go of control, the more one is exalted and made powerful. Power is truly gained by celebrating the abilities and gifts of others.

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