ACCORD, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), co-hosted the African Consultation webinar on the 2020 Review of United Nations (UN) Peacebuilding on the 10th of June 2020. The consultation took stock of progress made with the view to further integrate the UN peacebuilding work with that of the AUC, Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs), national authorities, and local peacebuilders. The discussions emphasized the importance of breaking the silos, working together and strengthening coherence in order to achieve sustainable peace, and with accelerated emphasis being placed on the importance of prevention and peacebuilding throughout the conflict cycle.
Highlighted during the webinar, was the need for a multi-stakeholder approach that will empower the population in advancing peacebuilding efforts, and the importance of national ownership in all facets of peacebuilding. This approach would in turn build trust and buy-in from communities. Therefore, governments should endeavor to include critical segments of the society in their peacebuilding efforts such as women, youth, and civil society organisations. The webinar further stressed the crucial role of women in peacebuilding and that their inclusion and participation should be a priority. There was consensus amongst the panelist that, funding committed to peacebuilding is both unpredictable and at times insufficient resulting in challenges to implementation of certain strategies.
The comments and contributions from the participants probed on how to harness enough resources to execute peacebuilding activities especially at the time when the rhetoric of multilateralism has been to focus on individual country’s instead of the collective good. Further emphasis was placed on partnerships particularly at the national level, between beneficiaries and the government, State and non-State actors, deemed critical to nationally driven successful peacebuilding processes. There was also a call for closer collaboration between the AU, RECs/RMs, and UN country teams.
The key discussions, and recommendations of the Africa Consultations webinar will inform the upcoming UN Secretary General’s report on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace. For more information on the consultation, please reach out to ACCORD’s Programme Officer, Ms Nontobeko Gcabashe, at nontobekog@accord.org.za.
The full report can be accessed here.
