ACCORD’s African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme (APCP) will conduct a series of consultation meetings in Monrovia, Liberia, from 12-19 March 2008. The consultations with key stakeholders in the peacebuilding process are aimed at reflecting on the years of regional conflict that have impacted on Liberia, and on the implementation of the peacebuilding process currently underway in that country.
Peacebuilding is an ongoing and long-term undertaking in all countries emerging from conflict. The planned consultations will assess the current status of the peacebuilding process, assist in the identification of challenges to the peacebuilding process, and aid in the design of a peacebuilding workshop and training course, which are planned for Liberia for later in the year.
Through the process of conducting consultations, creating an analysis of the peacebuilding process, identifying challenges, hosting a consultation workshop for key stakeholders to the peacebuilding process, and then providing training and skills-development for those directly engaged in the peacebuilding process, the APCP seeks to positively contribute to the peace process and the development of a sustainable peace in Liberia.
The Programme works in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia and Sudan, and is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. An initial research visit to Liberia took place in August 2007. Following this, peacebuilding stakeholders from Liberia (as well as the other countries in which the Programme works, representatives of the United Nations and the African Union, and peacebuilding experts from Africa and beyond) were invited to participate in a consultative stakeholders forum on peacebuilding in Africa, held in Durban, South Africa, in November 2007. Building on this work, the Programme will now conduct targeted consultations in Liberia in preparation for the country workshop and training course.
