ACCORD has adapted to the new COVID-19 reality, refocusing and restructuring a significant proportion of its staff and its effort on identifying & monitoring, tracking &, analysing, and preparing & responding to COVID-19 related social-unrest and violent conflict in Africa.
Through our networks across Africa, and supported by available online data, ACCORD identifies COVID-19 related incidents and trends that may provide early warning of rising tensions that could develop into social unrest and violent conflict. Once the incidents are captured in the dataset, ACCORD analyses the trends and publishes a weekly COVID-19 Africa Conflict and Resilience Monitor, in order to share the information and analysis with all stakeholders.
ACCORD then works with its in-country networks and other local, regional, continental and international partners and stakeholders, to encourage and support interventions aimed at mitigating, and where possible preventing, COVID-19 related social unrest and violent conflict.
The first annual Peacebuilding Week took place from 22-26 June 2026, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the inaugural session of the United Nations (UN) Peacebuilding Commission in June 2006. ACCORD has accompanied and supported the work of the UN’s Peacebuilding Architecture since its inception, and is, amongst others, currently co-chairing the CSO-UN Dialogue on Peacebuilding. In recognition of this Peacebuilding@20 anniversary, the June edition of the Monitor is featuring a number of peacebuilding related articles.
We begin with an article by Cedric de Coning, Andrew E. Yaw Tchie, Freedom Onuoha, Saibou Issa and Thor Olav Iversen, who write about the Regional Strategy for the Stabilisation, Recovery and Resilience of the Boko Haram-Affected Areas of the Lake Chad Basin Region (RS-SRR). Their article assesses the influence of the regional strategy on preventing and managing climate-related insecurity.
This is followed by Lesley Connolly’s piece on the importance of incorporating upstream prevention efforts in peacebuilding. While the African Union (AU) has developed a number of peace and security frameworks, they tend to focus on downstream efforts, leaving a gap between continental and international peace efforts, and local and nationally driven efforts.
Andreas T. Hirblinger contributes an article on the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in peacebuilding. AI can be used in various phases of the peacebuilding process, but questions have arisen over the trustworthiness of AI models. For example, most AI tools have been developed in the West, and may therefor contain biases and lack training data on conflict conditions in Africa.
The final article in this edition by Shaun Kinnes, discusses the increasing influence of biotechnology, computing and clean energy on geopolitics. The interconnected nature of these three sectors gives them strategic importance for states, particularly in warfare and economic security. Control over various aspects of their production gives states a strategic advantage over others, and the interaction between these sectors should be closely observed.
Countries in the Lake Chad Basin have adopted a regional approach to improve stability, resilience and recovery in the face of climate-related threats to peace and security
Upstream prevention in Africa has yet to be operationalised in a way that connects continental institutions to grassroots networks
AI is recognised as playing an increasingly important role in efforts to promote peace and security, including in Africa
If you are able to share information from your experiences on the ground with the crisis in Africa, we'd really like to hear from you. Please get in touch!
