On 04 October 2016 ACCORDs Founder and Executive Director, Vasu Gounden, was invited to be a resource person at the above Roundtable Retreat that was held in Gauteng, South Africa. The Roundtable was the first of several discussions scheduled to take place from October 2016 – February 2017. The aim of the discussions were to reflect on whether peacekeeping and peacemaking best practices in Africa are being adopted.
Mr Gounden presented a research paper on the emerging trends and challenges in Peacekeeping today. This was one of six (6) research papers that were presented. The papers presented were then discussed by South African academics and experts in the field of peace and security. Following the above Retreat, an African Seminar is scheduled to take place in early February 2017, centred on the six (6) papers presented, and which will be attended by national and international organisations working in the field of peace and security on the continent.
Since 1996 ACCORD has run the Training for Peace in Africa programme, which is funded by the Royal Norwegian Government. Over the last twenty (20) years ACCORD has conducted training in the civilian aspects of peacekeeping for African Union and United Nations Peacekeeping Missions. ACCORD has also developed a Civil Affairs Handbook for the United Nations’ Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO) and a Mediation Support Handbook for the African Union.
