In January 2012 ACCORD was recognised, for a second year running, as the 5th most influential Think Tank in Sub Sahara Africa, in the annual "Global Go To Think Tanks" Report released by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. The ranking puts ACCORD 5th out of the top 30 Think Tanks in Sub-Sahara Africa. Overall 550 Think Tanks from Africa were included in the survey.

On 6 December, over 90 decision makers and experts at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) attended a Panel Discussion titled Climate Change Adaptation, Conflict and Cooperation: a diplomatic approach for Africa? in Durban, South Africa. The event was organised by ACCORD and OneWorld Sustainable Investments.

Angela Ndinga-Muvumba, Senior Research Fellow at ACCORD and Doctoral Candidate at the University of Uppsala's Department of Peace and Conflict Research (DPCR), attended the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) 4th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government (HoSG) and Special Session on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the Great Lakes Region, in Kampala, Uganda on 15-16 December 2011.

Under the Sudan Conflict Transformation Initiative (SCTI), ACCORD have conducted a high-level conflict management course in South Africa for ambassadors of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Centre for Diplomatic Studies, Khartoum. The initiative is part of ACCORD's in-country programmes, and its goal is to strengthen national and local peacebuilding initiatives by providing technical assistance to partners in the governments and civil society of Sudan and South Sudan. Through these strategic endeavours, the initiative has contributed towards a consolidated approach to transforming the conflict environment in the Sudans, ensuring a sustainable and feasible peacebuilding approach and developing a culture of peace.

At a top-level celebration of Universal Children's Day in Pretoria, the hidden face of the girl-child soldier was exposed amidst a call for a global ban on using child soldiers in war.

In a symbolic celebration of the day in the year 2011 dedicated to championing children's rights, 20 children, all 11 years old from countries which were at war or which have recently emerged from war attended the luncheon as special guests and drew sharp focus on the plight of the girl-child soldier. Among them was Andrew Adansi-Bonnah, the 11-year old Ghanaian schoolboy who has launched a global campaign to raise USD13 million for victims of famine in Somalia after being inspired by images of skeletal babies and stick-thin children he saw on television.

Cedric de Coning, ACCORD's Research Fellow, has been appointed to the United Nations (UN) Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Board by the UN Secretary-General, H.E. Mr Ban Ki-Moon, for a two-year period that started in January 2012. The appointment follows Cedric's nomination to the position by the Government of South Africa, through its Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, and on the recommendation of the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding, Ms Judy Cheng-Hopkins.

ACCORD is involved in ongoing efforts to highlight the role gender plays in peace and security. In its three pillars of intervention, namely peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, ACCORD is cognisant of the role of gender in peace and conflict such that gender is a cross-cutting theme in the organisation's training manuals and operational documents. Against this backdrop, ACCORD's Knowledge Production Department (KPD) hosted a two-day authors' roundtable on the topic: "Women, Peace and Security: Approaches to Gender Empowerment."

In efforts to strengthen existing mediation-support capacity on the continent, and to enhance African countries' capacities to effectively and peacefully resolve their own conflicts, ACCORD has recently conducted an advanced mediation training for government representatives and academics from French-speaking parts of the continent.

Twenty 11-year-old children from Ghana, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi celebrated Universal Children's Day in Pretoria. The focus was on girl-child soldiers used in armed conflict on the continent as they are the most vulnerable and of great concern. This, amidst a call for a global ban on using child soldiers in war. At least 300 000 children are carrying rifles, waging wars in 30 conflict countries across the world, with at least two-thirds in Africa. They're recruited by both government and rebel forces and are subjected to drugs, indoctrination and abuse.

11 years old Andrew Adansi Bonnah (Initiator of Save Somali Children From Hunger Project) is to visit South Africa from 18th – 22nd November 2011 at the invitation by the African Centre for Constructive Resolution to Disputes (ACCORD) based in Durban, South Africa. The invitation is to enable Andrew to meet with an African Assembly of 20 Child Ambassadors selected from countries who are in conflict, or emerged from conflict, and are 11 years old, to deliberate on the "Plight of the Girl - Child Soldier in Africa" and its eradication.