News

Supporting ECOWAS' mediation capacity
21 Apr 2017 - 11:36
Source: Clingendael Academy 2016

Clingendael Academy organised a one-week skills training in negotiation and mediation for ECOWAS. Participants included Commission staff from the Mediation Facilitation Division, ambassadors to ECOWAS and civil society partners. Through this cooperation between the Clingendael Academy and ECOWAS, Clingendael is directly supporting the enhancement of conflict resolution capacity in West Africa.

Regional Human Security

ECOWAS is heavily involved in, and aims towards, the strengthening of the human security architecture in West Africa. In light of this aim, it structurally works together with its Member States and external partners on conflict prevention and peace-building matters. Together they are pushing for predictable and institutionalised action to defuse and eliminate real threats to human security in the ECOWAS region. The negation and mediation training offered to ECOWAS by Clingendael directly contributes towards this aim.

Knowledge Exchange

This year’s training marked the 3rd edition of this course offered to ECOWAS. The group consisted of very diverse and high-level participants, whom all brought a wealth of experience to the table. Besides learning the theoretical and practical in-and-outs of conflict negotiation and mediation, this course also placed a key focus on making sure that all participants learned from each other’s experience through the sharing of practical and real-life cases related to conflict prevention is West Africa.

Enhance Conflict Resolution

The ECOWAS Mediation Facilitation Division staff, ambassadors and civil society partners also worked on a reflection assignment together. This allowed them to think critically about ECOWAS interventions in the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali in particular. The assignment was a great success and led to the creation of an action plan with various priority items that will be brought back to the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, Nigeria. The action plan will in the future be utilised there in order to further enhance the region’s conflict resolution capacity.