On 8 December 2007 ACCORD hosted its Annual Trustees meeting at the Polana Serena Hotel in Maputo, Mozambique. The meeting was attended by five of ACCORD’s eight Trustees, who were accompanied by their spouses. During the late morning ACCORD was honoured to have former South Africa President H.E. President Nelson Mandela meet informally with ACCORD’s Trustees and Staff.
ACCORD worked with H.E. President Mandela when he was the facilitator of the Burundi Peace Process.
The format for this Trustees meeting was different from previous meetings in that it was divided into two meetings. The first meeting consisted of a guest speaker, Dr. Alioune Sall (Executive Director of the African Futures Institute in Pretoria, South Africa), who presented an overview to the Trustees on the Contemporary Challenges in Africa. This was then followed by how ACCORD as an Institution is responding to these challenges. This presentation was led by the Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, who was followed by ACCORD’s General Manager of Operations and Business Development, Pravina Makan-Lakha. It also included presentations by the three Managers in ACCORD’s Operations Department – the Manager for Interventions, Kwezi Mngqibisa; the Manager for Programmes, Karishma Rajoo; and the Manager for Knowledge Production, Angela Ndinga Muvumba. They outlined to the Trustees the strategies for their Units and how through the work of ACCORD that the Institution is addressing these challenges, especially within ACCORD’s current five year vision (2007-2012) which is to encourage and consolidate dialogue towards the prevention, management and transformation of conflict. The second meeting which then began after a short break was a closed Board meeting which consisted of only the Trustees.
