Youth and Peace Education (YPE)

CIVIL SOCIETY POLICY AND ADVOCACY PROGRAM

WANEP reconceptualized its Civil Society Program (CSP) based on key findings and lessons learned in the two years. The CSP, working with the Capacity-building Program I and the Global Partnership for Armed Conflict Prevention (GPPAC) Projects, contributed to three general areas: linking Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the region along the defined thematic area of peacebuilding; understanding the capacity-building needs of CSOs at all levels in the region; and ensuring that the West Africa agenda for peacebuilding and conflict prevention is part of a wider Africa/global strategy.

Experiences of the pilot phase corroborate WANEP’s growing role as the leading peacebuilding organization in the region; a role which requires it to strategically target policy makers, other than existing partners such as ECOWAS, on a regular and formal basis. Therefore, the CSP was reconceptualized into Civil Society Policy and Advocacy Program (CSPA).

The aim of CSPA is to become a filtering ground for emerging policy issues and an advocacy mechanism for Civil Society’s engagement with policy makers, linking practice to policy.


Objectives

• Coordinate emerging policy issues from WANEP programmatic areas

• Collaborate with policy makers to input WANEP’s perspective into human security policies

• Mobilize NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, sub-regional networks, practitioners and academics to research into human security threats and advocate for policies that will address the human security needs of the sub-region.

• Collaborate with relevant national and regional civil society actors to develop an integrated and cohesive framework for promoting human security

• Enhance partnerships between CSOs and policy makers at the national level

• Enhance national and cross-border collaboration among peacebuilding organizations and other relevant actors in conflict prevention, good governance and human security.

• Build capacity of local civil society groups for advocacy and lobby

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HIGHLIGHTS

West Africa Regional Steering Group Consultation Meeting
The 14-member West Africa Regional Steering Group (RSG) which was set up during the CSOs regional conference in 2004, held its first consultation meeting in Accra from February 18-19 2005. The RSG members reviewed the regional Action Agenda and developed a framework to localize and galvanize support for its working document for conflict prevention. The framework is also built to assist in the formation of national peace and security forums, and ensure networking among various groups across borders. WANEP intends to use these fora to build a bridge between CSOs and policymakers.

Common Africa Agenda for conflict prevention
As part of the process towards developing a common Africa action agenda for conflict prevention to contribute to the global action agenda, four delegates represented the West Africa region at an “All Africa Expert Consultation in Nairobi”. The delegates included WANEP Liaison Officer at ECOWAS, the Policy and Advocacy coordinator, and representatives from Togo and Burkina Faso. The input from the West Africa team contributed enormously to developing a comprehensive and consolidated document for conflict prevention and human security in Africa.

Global Conference for the Prevention of Armed Conflict
WANEP, under the CSPA, led a 20-member delegation of CSOs and policy makers to represent West Africa at the Global Conference: “From Reaction to Prevention: Civil Society Forging Partnerships to Prevent Violent Conflict and Build Peace”. Members of the WANEP delegation played key roles as resource persons in various thematic group discussions: Early Warning and Early Response, Women in Peacebuilding, and Civilian Peacekeeping. For the West Africa delegation, the highlight of the Conference was when the first Regional Coordinator of the Women in Peacebuilding Program (WIPNET) was presented with one of the first two copies of the book “People Building Peace”, in which she contributed a chapter. She was honored for her contribution toward the advancement of women’s involvement in peacebuilding process in West Africa. The Global Action Agenda (GAA) for the prevention of Violent Conflict was presented to the UN Secretary-General. The GAA is a consolidation of regional action agendas from the 14 regions that participated in the global process under the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. For further information on this conference, please visit GPPAC online at www.conflict-prevention.net and WANEP at www.wanep.org
 

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ADVOCACY & LOBBYING

Popularizing the Global Action Agenda
Members of the West Africa delegation initiated various activities to create awareness on the Global Action Agenda in their respective countries. Radio and television talk shows were held to popularize the document and the GPPAC process. The GAA was also discussed in civil society forums to inform and encourage CSOs to adopt the GAA as a human security advocacy and lobby tool.

In Niger, the RSG members organized a meeting for civil society groups to discuss the GAA and identify local priority areas. The GAA was also introduced and discussed at the Fourth Annual Regional Conference of WIPNET in Benin and the West Africa Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) meeting in Accra, which committed to adopting the GAA as a working document. Copies of the document have also been circulated to development agencies, embassies and donor partners.

Reaching out to Policymakers
As part of WANEP’s strategy to link experiences in peacebuilding practice to policy formulation and influence, the CSPA paid courtesy visits to the Ghana Minister of Interior and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the meeting was, among others, to officially congratulate Ghana for being elected to the Security Council as a non permanent member; create awareness on the CSPA, the GPPAC process and the GAA; and explore opportunities that will inform how CSOs could support the work of the Government of Ghana to the UN Resolution 1625 which endorses civil society groups’ participation in conflict prevention. The Minister of Interior and the Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commended WANEP for its constructive contribution to peace and security in Ghana and West Africa at large and called for closer collaboration with the organization.

National Conflict Prevention Forum in Togo
As part of its efforts to mainstream inclusive and democratic dialogue to prevent violent conflicts, CSPAP organized a consultation from the 5th to 8th December for over forty Social and Political actors in Togo. Held under the theme “Togolese socio-political actors in the development of a shared vision for the prevention of violent conflict in Togo,” the consultation created space for civil society actors and political parties to discuss and reflect on the content, form and process for inclusive national dialogue and reconciliation. The consultation was facilitated by WANEP in partnership with the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG).

The four day consultation was attended by representatives from CSOs, government and international agencies. It enabled an open and constructive dialogue about challenges confronting peace and stability in Togo and the strategies to move forward. At the end of the four days the participants, formed a Civil Society Platform to engage themselves actively in the process of National Dialogue as well as promote human security and sustainable peace. They made a declaration of their commitment to engage socio-political actors and the government in the construction of lasting peace in the country.

The first phase of the consultation resulting in a Civil Society Platform was funded by the French Foreign Ministry under the Global Partnership for Armed Conflict Prevention (GPPAC) while the Dutch Government through its Embassy in Ghana is supporting WANEP efforts at contributing to the process of National Dialogue and building peace.

WANEP at UN Expert Group Meeting on Social Integration
WANEP participated in an Expert Group Meeting on “Dialogue in the Social Integration Process: building peaceful social relations by, for and with people” at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from the 21 to 23 November 2005. It was organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

Peacebuilding practice experiences recognize dialogue as an important tool to facilitate change in social relations, which is key to social integration/transformation, as well as to conflict prevention and peacebuilding. However, dialogue is not a panacea, and may not provide the solution at a specific time. Other tools are sometimes more effective, or needed to complement dialogue. In this sense, dialogue should be seen as part of a comprehensive process.

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Financial Support

During the year under review, the CSPA received support from GPPAC for participation in the West Africa’s Global Conference in New York. The program also won a grant from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a joint proposal presented by WANEP and ECCP. The grant is to support civil society platforms at the national level to influence policy in the area of human security.

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Outputs

• Increased global political leverage of WANEP as a major regional actor in peacebuilding and human security.

• Participation of West Africa in the Global Civil Society Conference.

• West Africa regional agenda from foundation for GAA.

• Established formal links with national policy makers.

• Development of a framework for localizing and implementing the West Africa Action Agenda for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts at the national level.

• Increased awareness of the Global Action Agenda at the national level.

• Strengthening of WANEP-Togo as CSOs Platform for advocacy on human security and engaging policy makers.

• Enhanced collaboration and networking with CSOs at continental level

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CSPAP QUICK LINKS

Objectives

Highlights

Advocacy & Lobbying

Financial Support

Outputs