The Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, was invited to be a resource person at a workshop hosted by the Embassy of Finland in honour of a delegation of eleven individuals on a study tour of South Africa on 17 November in Pretoria. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has launched a programme to familiarize top Finnish decision-makers with global development issues and the practices of development cooperation.
The African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme at ACCORD hosted a Consultative Workshop in Kampala, Uganda, bringing together stakeholders to the peacebuilding process in Sudan from 20-21 November 2008.
On 10 November 2008 Lee Ann Sedowski, Research Associate on the Global Development Programme, from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in the United States visited ACCORD House. Ms Sedowski visited ACCORD to learn more about its trade negotiation trainings which it has conducted on the Continent as part of its partnership with the International Senior Lawyers Programme (ISLP), based in Washington in the United States.
From 3-4 November 2008 the African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme at ACCORD hosted a Peacebuilding Consultative Workshop in Bujumbura, Burundi for stakeholders to the peacebuilding process in that country.
On 3 November 2008 the Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), a partner on ACCORD’s Training for Peace (TfP) Programme, visited ACCORD House. This was Mr. Egeland’s first visit to ACCORD. Mr. Egeland was in Durban to attend the International Advisory Board Meeting for the TfP programme.
On 21 October 2008 H. E. Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes visited ACCORD House. Ambassador Holmes is the Cyrus Vance Fellow in Diplomatic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in the United States (US), where he focuses on Africa and directs the Roundtable Series on African Policy Issues.
On 11 November 2008 May-Elin Stene, Minister Councilor at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria, visited ACCORD House where she and the Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, signed a new grant agreement for the Training for Peace (TfP) programme. The TfP programme has been running at ACCORD since 1995.
On 12 November 2008 the Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, provided a presentation on current global developments and their impact on Africa to a delegation of senior members from the Government of Burundi and senior officers from the College of Defence Management (CDM) from Secunderabad in India.
The Senior Programme Officer of the African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme, Mr. Walter Lotze, participated in a seminar hosted by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Oslo, Norway, from 29-30 October 2008.
The African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme at ACCORD conducted a training for peacebuilders in Monrovia, Liberia, from 8-10 October 2008. The training was aimed at developing and building on the skills of those engaged in the peacebuilding process in Liberia.
On the 16th and 17th of October 2008 ACCORD hosted the new Swedish Ambassador to South Africa, H.E. Ambassador Tejler and Mr. Kaj Persson (Minister and Deputy Head of Mission at the Swedish Embassy in Pretoria) in Durban. The Ambassador was in Durban to meet with various role players to learn more about the Province of KwaZulu Natal.
