On 30 November – 1 December 2023, ACCORD as a member of the Strategy Group of Nett4Peace attended a member meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Nett4Peace sits in the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security (DPAPS) at the African Union. It looks to promote strategic long-term collaboration between Think Tanks working on peace, security and development in Africa and DPAPS, to ensure that the department benefits from the research, advisory and advocacy work from a network of Think Tanks while providing a viable platform for research to feed into policy development. ACCORD is a member of the Nett4Peace steering committee, whose role is to support the leadership structures, i.e. the Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretariat, and to provide strategic direction and assistance in producing knowledge products.
Held under Chatham House rules, the two-day meeting was an important opportunity to reflect on the network’s activities and outputs in 2023. The meeting also featured engagement with Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner of the Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department (DPAPS) (AU); Dr Sarjoh Bah, Director, Conflict Management (AU) and Ms Patience Zanelie Chiradza, Director for Governance and Conflict Prevention (AU).
The reflections at the meeting focused on the importance of strengthening African agency in the area of conflict management and how the network presents an opportunity to enhance the AU response to different continental challenges. In keeping with discussions around African agency, future engagements with non-African think tanks was also debated. The meeting reinforced the need to support evidence-based policymaking and promote the meaningful uptake of research done throughout Africa.
