SWAC/ECOWAS Workshop on Post-conflict and Development

ECOWAS and the SWAC held a regional workshop launching a process to develop a community post-conflict and development policy in West Africa. Developing the policy will be a participative process, facilitated by the Regional Working Group.

Background | Objectives | Topics | Interventions | Results | Partners | Contacts & Documents | Images

  Background

The meeting on post-conflict and development, co-organised by ECOWAS and the SWAC, was a new phase subsequent to the establishment of a Regional Working Group on Post-conflict and Development. This Working Group was formed following the workshop organised in Abidjan in May 2006 the Regional Approach to the DDR and in Praia in February 2007 on Post-conflict.

This Group brought together civil society actors from all of the countries in the region having set up a DDR programme, researchers and experts, development agencies as well as regional institutions.

The new phase demonstrates the desire to develop a regional policy which will include post-conflict actions to be undertaken in support of sustainable development in ECOWAS member States.

  Objectives

• Validate, capitalise on the conclusions of the 2007 Praia Workshop
• Identify all areas and countries specifically concerned
• Draft and validate terms of reference of studies, missions and actions to draw up an assessment and priorities of regional post-conflict policy
• Define and validate a work plan and planning for implementation

  Topics

• First day: focus on strategic and organisational working frameworks on contextualised post-conflict

• Second day: various aspects of post-conflict challenges based on the following cases: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone

• Third day: establishing a road map: this involves defining orientations and establishing field working methods based on these cases as well as Terms of Reference for studies and the planning of missions.

  Interventions

• ECOWAS 2020 Strategic Vision, by Prof. N’Galadjo Lambert Bamba, ECOWAS Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy 
• Comments relating to the Praia Workshop on DDR, Post-conflict and Development, by Colonel Yoro Koné, Director, Early Warning - Political Affairs, Peace & Security Department of the Ecowas Commission
• The NEPAD Post-Conflict Strategy within the framework of the ECOWAS Strategic Plan, by Souleymane Zeba, NEPAD Counsellor, Regional Integration & Co-ordination 
• The role of the private sector in the post-conflict reconstruction process in Guinea-Bissau, by Dr. Ousmane Biram Sane, FCPC Guinea-Bissau
• Orientations and challenges of economic and social reconstruction in Sierra Leone and Liberia, by Dr. Byron Tarr, Consultant
• Restoration and Strengthening of the State: the case of the Côte d'Ivoire, by Dr. François Komoin, President of the Ivorian Association for the Development of Rights (AIDD)
• Lessons learned from the post-conflict reconstruction in Rwanda, by Mr. Kladoumadje Nadjaldongar, CELHTO/African Union
• Women and Post-conflict: the need for women to be at the negotiation tables, by Ms. Kaudjhis-Offoumou, Lawyer, Côte d’Ivoire
  

  Results

The regional policy shall provide the community with an effective response capacity not only to address emergencies (humanitarian, food, social and security) but also to define the paths and means for sustainable solutions. ECOWAS shall rely on the Regional Working Group coordinated by the SWAC. Developing the policy will be a participative process, while respecting subsidiarity and complementarity taking into account also the achievements resulting from international community actions as well as those obtained by countries concerned already involved in national post-crisis or post-conflict programmes. While actively associating regional expertise and civil society, ECOWAS will also involve its member States. > final synthesis

  Partners

• ECOWAS specific financing
• Members of the Women’s Group and Youth Coordination Group of West Africa as well as State entities, civil society organisations, experts, governance and/or post-conflict management experts
• Members of the Regional Working Group on Post-conflict belonging to co-operation agencies such as AFD, AfDB, CIDA, CPLP, GTZ, OIF, UNOWA, USAID, World Bank.

  Contacts: 

• Massaër Diallo, Head of Unit
• Gwénola Possémé-Rageau, Programme Officer

  Read more:

• Workshop Agenda
• Presentation Note
• Final Synthesis
• Interventions