ACCORD’s African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme will conduct a series of consultation meetings in Burundi from 28 April-07 May 2008. The consultations are to be with key stakeholders in the peacebuilding process, and are aimed at reflecting on the years of regional conflict that have impacted on Burundi, and at the implementation of the peacebuilding process currently underway in that country.
Recognising that peacebuilding is an ongoing and long-term undertaking in all countries emerging from conflict, the African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, seeks to support the peacebuilding process in Burundi through strengthening and enhancing the skill-set of those directly involved in the process of building long-term peace. The planned consultations will assess the current status of the peacebuilding process, assist in the identification of challenges to the peacebuilding process, and aid in the design of a peacebuilding workshop and training course which are planned for Burundi for later in the year.
Through the process of conducting consultations, creating an analysis of the peacebuilding process, identifying challenges, hosting a consultation workshop for key stakeholders to the peacebuilding process, and then providing training and skills-development for those directly engaged in the peacebuilding process, the African Peacebuilding Coordination Programme seeks to positively contribute to the peace process and the development of a sustainable peace in Burundi.
The Programme, which works in Burundi, the DRC, Liberia and Sudan, conducted initial research visits to the DRC, Liberia and Sudan in August 2007. Following this, peacebuilding stakeholders from Burundi (as well as the other countries in which the Programme works, representatives of the United Nations and the African Union, and peacebuilding experts from Africa and beyond) were invited to participate in a Consultative Stakeholders Forum on peacebuilding in Africa, held in Durban, South Africa, in November 2007. Building on this work, the Programme will now conduct targeted consultations in Burundi in preparation for the country workshop and training course.
