From 01-02 September 2018, ACCORD hosted a two day Capacity Building Retreat for the Africa Initiative (AI) Secretariat as well as the Central African Republic (CAR) Government at the Ledger Hotel in Bangui, CAR towards enhancing the African Initiative’s capacity and confidence to manage the CAR peace process.
The Retreat specifically aimed to strengthen the Africa Initiative’s capacity for managing the negotiations process through Confidence Building, Capacity Building, and Dialogue as well as provide access and on-demand technical and strategic guidance from negotiation experts to the Africa Initiative’s Team to support the negotiation process. The Retreat was designed as a training presented by ACCORD’s Project Leader in Bangui, Ambassador Ntahuga, and acting General Manager, Mr Mngqibisa. The first day of the Retreat focused on various thematic topics such as understanding the context of African conflict, a conflict analysis in CAR, the principles of mediation, negotiation and facilitation as well as confidence building a deadlock breaking techniques. On the second day, the participants partook in a simulation exercise which provided a practical approach to mediation in a conflict situation. The simulation exercise comprised of dividing the participants into two different groups, each role playing a specific mediation technique in different scenarios, thereafter providing an opportunity for the trainers to comment and provide feedback.
The Retreat provided an opportunity for the AI and CAR government to interact, work together and share their experiences and expectations of the Africa Initiative moving forward in the CAR peace process and afforded ACCORD the opportunities to strengthen our presence, networks and relationships with the CAR Government and the AI Panel. The Brainstorming Session is as part of ACCORD’s CAR Project which is designed to provide support to increasing and strengthening the negotiation capacity of the Government of CAR’s negotiation team, the African Initiative and local and national stakeholders engaged in the current peace negotiations in CAR.
