With the aim to strengthen partnerships and support the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s peacebuilding process, ACCORD’s Peacebuilding Unit undertook a five-day consultation with key peacebuilding stakeholders. The DRC is one of the Unit’s focus countries and the consultations did not only inform the Unit about the peacebuilding process in the DRC but also enhanced new partnerships and strengthened existing ones. The consultations were useful in shaping the Unit’s current engagements with the DRC and confirmed a partnership with the DRC’s Ministry of Planning for increased engagement of national and local actors in identifying strategies for a sustainable peacebuilding process. An activity is scheduled to take place in September 2012.
A delegation from ACCORD went to Kinshasa, from 13 – 17 August 2012, to attend the consultations. A total of 10 key organizations were consulted during the visit and represented the Government, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the Diplomatic sector. The delegation also attended the official launching ceremony of the The New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States in Kinshasa on 16 August 2012 and the CSOs preparatory workshop on the implementation of the New Deal on 17 August 2012.
The consultations and participation of the delegation in the launching of the New Deal by the Ministry of Planning and the CSOs workshop have reaffirmed ACCORD’s commitment to locally driven peacebuilding processes and the enhancement of local ownership in the DRC. The consultations enhanced the Peacebuilding Unit’s understanding of the peacebuilding processes in the DRC. This led to the identification of several qualitative baselines, including the security situation in Eastern DRC that continues to hinder national peacebuilding efforts; issues in relation to independence and coherence of CSOs; need for awareness of the New Deal; post-electoral situation; and challenges in relation to the country’s security sector.
ACCORD remains committed in its engagements with the DRC peacebuilding process. The consultations have better informed ACCORD on its future engagement with the DRC and the themes selected for the peacebuilding workshop scheduled to take place in September 2012 are direct outcomes from the consultations.
