From 10-19 December, ACCORD participated in the African Union (AU) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) led Country Structural Vulnerability and Resilience Assessment (CSRVA) of Malawi. The Malawi government volunteered to undertake the process and subsequently requested the technical and financial support of the both the AU and COMESA. The purpose of the CSRVA is for a state to identify areas of structural vulnerabilities as well as indicators of conflict resilience to develop a more comprehensive approach to conflict prevention.
The process in December was conducted by a team made up of representatives from the AU, COMESA, Malawi government, Southern African Development Community (SADC), African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and independent consultants and experts. This team conducted regional consultations across Malawi, in the country’s three regions, namely the north, central and south. The regional consultations were conducted with individuals from the region representing civil society, local government, local law enforcement and traditional leadership structures amongst others. The purpose of the regional consultations was to gather information on six priority areas relevant to identifying drivers of conflict. These six areas include; the security sector; good governance, rule of law, human rights and democracy; socio-economic development; environmental degradation and climate change; gender, youth and persons with disabilities and; conflict prevention, mitigation, peacebuilding and strengthening national infrastructures for peace.
Following the regional consultations, the official launch of the CSRVA and country structural vulnerability mitigation strategy for Malawi was held. This launch was conducted by H.E Nancy Tembo, M.P. the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of Malawi and attended by government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, traditional leaders and representatives from civil society. The launch was followed by a national consultation, which sought to identify structural vulnerabilities and instances of resilience at the national level, beyond those discussed at the regional level.
ACCORD provided technical support to Malawi’s CSRVA process and will continue to support the government of Malawi, COMESA and the AU during this process.
