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PEACE AND SECURITY

  1. WACSOF HOSTED THE GPPAC SECRETARIAT IN WEST AFRICA (GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP IN THE PREVENTION OF ARMED CONFLICTS)
  2. WACSOF’S WORKS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ECPF (ECOWAS CONFLICT PREVENTION FRAMEWORK), COVERING THEMATICS LIKE:DEMOCRACY, ELECTIONS, GOVERNANCE,EARLY WARNING MONITORING & EVALUATION WOMEN, HUMAN RIGHTS; CHILD RIGHTS; YOUTH; MEDIA,   NATURAL RESOURCES

ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) faces several challenges in the areas of peace and security. Some common challenges include: RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS; WEAK INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY; PERSISTENT CONFLICT ZONES;  TRANSNATIONAL THREATS; POLITICAL INSTABILITY;  HUMANITARIAN CRISES; INTER-STATE DISPUTES: Civil society organizations (CSOs) contribute in the following ways:

  1. ADVOCACY AND AWARENESS: Civil society advocate for peace and security, raise awareness about the impacts of conflicts, and encourage governments and ECOWAS to take appropriate actions.
  2. CONFLICT PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION: Civil society organizations engage in conflict prevention and resolution initiatives at the community level, promoting dialogue and understanding.
  3. HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING: CSOs play a role in monitoring human rights abuses, holding governments accountable, and advocating for the protection of vulnerable populations.
  4. CAPACITY BUILDING: Civil society contribute to building the capacity of communities and local institutions in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and resilience.
  5. COLLABORATION WITH ECOWAS: Civil society collaborate with ECOWAS in various ways, providing expertise, feedback, and grassroots perspectives to enhance the effectiveness of regional peace and security initiatives.
  6. PROMOTING INCLUSIVITY: Civil society advocate for the inclusion of diverse voices, including women and marginalized groups, in peace processes and decision-making.
  7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION: CSOs monitor the implementation of peace and security initiatives, assess their impact, and provide recommendations for improvement.
  1. WACSOF’S works on implementation of ECPF (ECOWAS CONFLICT PREVENTION FRAMEWORK), covering thematic like: democracy, elections, governance, early warning monitoring & evaluation, women, human rights; child rights; youth; media, natural resources
  2. WACSOF hosted many sensitization and capacity building activities on ecpf (ECOWAS conflict prevention framework)
  3. WACSOF hosted the GPPAC secretariat in WEST AFRICA (GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP IN THE PREVENTION OF ARMED CONFLICTS)
  4. In partnership with GPPAC, WACSOF successfully implemented an innovative project on USING THE ECOWAS HARMONIZED MINING CODE (EMMMDA) AS A TOOL FOR CONFLICT PREVENTION, in mining communities of NAMPALA, KALANA in the SIKASSO Region in MALI, training more than 300 participants in the mining communities of NAMPALA AND KALANA IN THE SIKASSO REGION on the EMMMDA. Additional to that WACSOF organized a High Level Dialogue on the Conflict prevention and published a booklet on the provisions of the ECOWAS Harmonized mining code
  5. WACSOF Supports ECOWAS PEACE AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE AND OPERATIONS (EPSAO) to contribute to prevent and manage conflicts and security threats in West At African Union level, WACSOF supports the AFRICAN PEACE AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE (APSA)

Due to bad governance in the extractive industry, ECOWAS adopted in 2019, with the support and leadership of WACSOF in mobilizing the West African Civil Society, the ECOWAS Model Mining and Mineral Development Act (EMMMDA), to standardize practices in the mining sector, for the benefit of the citizens.

WACSOF is innovating in using this important code as conflict prevention tool, as an implementation of the ECPF (ECOWAS CONFLICT PREVENTION FRAMEWORK), by sensitizing and training all the stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities in the implementation of the EMMMDA. WACSOF has been leading training, sensitization and advocacy activities in MALI (in the SIKASSO region, especially in the mining communities of KALANA and NAMPALA), with the full involvement and support of WACSOF-FOSCAO MALI and GPPAC (Global  Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts) CSO members.

The following are the activities of WACSOF summarizing  the solution implementation: 

WACSOF and CSO members met with commnities and religious leaders to present our plans and have their blessings. They helped identify participants among hundreds. The discussion was held to identify challenges with exploitation of mining in their communities.

WACSOF and CSO members met Mining community members to discuss their key challenges with the exploitation of mining in their communities. Technical Trainings were performed with different groups including CSO’S community and religious leaders, Women, youth and government experts on the provisions of the EMMMDA.  Advocacy training on the provisions of the EMMMDA related to the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders and how the EMMMDA contributes to conflict prevention and peace building. Approximately 300 persons were met and trained. This includes community leaders, religious leaders, CSO, Media, community members youth, women from the KALANA and NAMPALA mining communities.

Was organised with more than 50 participants. This policy dialogue served as a forum for policy makers and other relevant stakeholders to have an inclusive discussion on their roles and responsibilities and the use of the EMMMDA as a tool for conflict prevention. 

A series of communications and media interventions to sensitize the region of and around Sikasso and the whole Mali.