While on a recent trip to the Jordan Valley, ACCORD founder and executive director, Vasu Gounden, was moved to write this poem:

SUNSET ON THE JORDAN VALLEY

Centuries ago they came together
Walking across the desert plains
Across the flowing rivers
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Centuries ago they lived together
In peace and harmony
They sang and danced
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Centuries ago they prayed together
Built their places of worship
Alongside each other
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Centuries ago they ate together
In the homes of each other
Without boarders or fences
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Today each came alone
Walking across the desert plains
Across the dry rivers
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Today they live apart
In conflict and violence
They kill and maim
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Today they pray apart
And fight over places of worship
They claim as their own
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Today some eat and others starve
Separated by boarders or fences
Guns and checkpoints
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

I dream of tomorrow
To walk across the desert plains
And see the rivers flowing
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

I dream of tomorrow
To see them live together
Singing and dancing
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

I dream of tomorrow
To see them pray together
Respecting each other
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

I dream of tomorrow
To see them share their bread
Across fields without boarders
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Your race for tomorrow
Is a race against time
See the sun before it sets
Against the sunset of the Jordan Valley

Vasu Gounden
Amman, Jordan
18h45 on 31 October 2006 

ACCORD has been invited to the launching event of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation on 31 October and a Roundtable discussion on 1 November, for a group of leaders from the academic community. Under the direction of Dr. Mo Ibrahim, one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has been established to recognise and reward excellence in African leadership, and promote understanding of the challenges and opportunities for good governance in Africa.

The Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, will conduct a training session at the South African Foreign Service Training Institute in Pretoria on 25 October 2006, as part of their Heads of Mission training.

Major General JN Mutwii, Deputy Commander of the Kenyan Army, presented CIMIC certificates to 35 participants who had successful completed the third East African CIMIC course. The course was hosted by the Peace Support Training Centre (PSTC), GTZ and ACCORD, as part of the Finnish-funded African Civil-Military Coordination (ACMC) programme, from 4-15 September 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya.

ACCORD’s Angola Country Programme, Building Peace and Democracy in Angola: Enhancing Capacity for Managing Conflict, will host a conflict management and mediation training in Luanda, Angola, from 16-20 October 2006. This activity is part of the overall objective of the Programme to build the capacity of civil society to respond to conflict.

Ms Pravina Makan-Lakha, ACCORD’s Programmes’ Co-ordinator, attended a workshop on ‘The Role of Leading Edge NGO’s in the Next Decade’ which took place in Kenya from 26-27 October. The workshop was hosted by the TROCAIRE East Africa Regional Office in collaboration with ABANTU for Development, and aimed to reflect on the roles played by NGOs from a historical perspective, with a focus into the future.

The Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, will be in Amman, Jordan, from 26 October to 1 November, where he will be a resource person at a leadership course hosted by the United Nations University’s International Leadership Institute (UNU-ILI), based in Amman. The title of the course is “Non Violent Approaches to Conflict Resolution, Peace Building and Reconciliation”.

ACCORD’s Training for Peace (TfP) Senior Programme Officer, Ms Yvonne Kasumba, will participate in the 12th Annual Conference of the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres (IAPTC) from 16-20 October 2006 in Santiago, Chile. The conference is hosted by the Chilean Joint Centre for Peacekeeping (CECOPAC), and the main theme for this year is “The Integrated Missions Approach: Implications for Education and Training.”

ACCORD’s Training for Peace (TfP) in Africa Programme has conducted a Specialisation Course in Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR), from 18-22 September 2006. This was the second course in the Civilian Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Course (CPPC) series that ACCORD has organised for 2006. 

The African Union (AU) is hosting a Technical Experts Workshop, focussing on the Civilian Dimension of the African Standby Force (ASF), at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC) from 29 August-1 September 2006 in Accra, Ghana.