Governance,
Security & Development Programme area:
Militarism,
poverty and violent conflict have all been a part of life in
West Africa for too long. A major premise of CDD’s work sees
good governance as a means to address the roots of these
problems, rather than addressing them on a superficial level. We
believe that a genuine, participatory and credible
democratisation process, will lead to the creation of strong,
representative governments capable of promoting economic reform,
peace building and enduring, democratic institutions across the
region.
The
primary goal of the Governance, Security & Development
component of CDD’s work is to coordinate a research, training
and advocacy programme in governance, regional security,
conflict prevention and peacebuilding as a means of enhancing
human security and human development. Over the last five years,
we have developed six projects either on our own or in
partnership with other institutions with similar ideals. The
summary below explains what we have been doing in these areas
and our plans for the future:
a)
Promoting
Constitutionalism in Africa: Our
initial work in this area started with the constitution-making
process in Nigeria, with a conference in 1999. As a direct
outcome of this initiative, The Citizen’s Forum for
Consitutional Reform (CFCR), a coalition of civil society
institutions, emerged, with its secretariat at CDD. CFCR is
leading a successful campaign for the reform of the 1999
constitution.
From
this success, CDD’s work on constitutionalism has grown
tremendously in Africa, with its work on the Zimababwe
Constitutional Referendum as the most cited example. The fact
that no fewer than twenty countries are currently engaged in
constitutional reform initiatives makes CDD’s work all the
more relevant. To support to the range of countries and civil
society institutions involved in constitutional reform and
ground these national initiatives within a regional framework,
CDD organised a highly successful consultative conference on
‘The Role of Regional Institutions in Constitutional
Development’ in 2001.
b)
Promoting
Dialogue as a means of conflict resolution, and Building the
Capacity Of Security Actors, Oversight Bodies & Civil
Society: Since inception, CDD has
gained prominence for its promotion of dialogue amongst
stakeholders in countries in conflict. Apart from organising a
series of brainstorming sessions on the way forward in countries
in conflict or emerging from conflict, in Nigeria, Liberia and
Sierra Leone (see reports of these initiatives on www.cdd.org.uk),
it also played the role of mediator between the government of
Sierra Leone and the rebel leadership in process which led to
the Lome Peace Agreement. CDD played a significant role in
facilitating the presence of key civil society leaders and
players, and so ensured crucial consultation of non-political
actors in the negotiations. The task of multilateral diplomacy
is an area that CDD is determined to promote and utilise.
CDD
has extended this promotion of dialogue among critical
stakeholders in the security sector, through a network of
African researchers and civil society organizations. The network
consists of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD),
Nigeria and UK; African Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR)
Ghana; and the Southern Africa Defence & Security Network (SADSEM),
South Africa. The network collaborates on key issues in the
security sector, such as professionalism, transparency,
accountability and confidence-building, and has sought to
combine expert analysis of security issues with dialogue, policy
development and capacity-building across the sector. In
addition, members of the network have played a significant role
in influencing many of the emerging international initiatives in
security sector reform.
In
order to entrench the research and capacity building dimensions
of the work, CDD is taking a major step with the establishment
of a Regional Institute for Peace & Security, a Training
Institute aimed at providing long-term capacity-building
programmes in the areas of peace and human security. It is our
expectation that this Training Institute will become a leading
centre of excellence in the region on peace, governance, human
rights and human security issues.
c)
Governance
in the Security Sector Handbook: Spearheaded by CDD, in collaboration with the Centre for International
Policy, USA and the Institute of Security Studies, South Africa,
the project is producing a security sector transformation
handbook as a policy guide on the processes of transformation in
the African security sector, and as a training tool for
individuals and policy-makers. The Handbook goes to press in
June 2002. |
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d)
Private
Military Intervention & Arms Proliferation in Conflicts in
Africa:
This
advocacy, public policy and capacity building project is derived
from our much-acclaimed book on Mercenaries – Mercenaries:
An African Security Dilemma (Pluto Press, 2000), which
continues to receive critical acclaim: The prominent American
journal, Foreign Affairs, recently described the book as
‘strong on solutions to this growing problem, from controlling
the spread of weapons in the continent to addressing fundamental
issues of governance…’ A recent green paper, Private
Military Companies: Options for Regulation, released by the
British Government in February 2002 also used the book as one of
its primary sources. It represents, in the true tradition of our
mission, the best example of deploying research to achieve
public policy changes.
After
its initial advocacy and capacity-building phase in the conflict
torn Mano River basin in collaboration with local partners, this
project now focuses on a wider dimension of the convoluted
relationship between private military operators, small arms and
light weapons proliferation and resource exploitation. Working
at the regional level, we are now developing a supplementary
protocol to the West African Moratorium on Importation,
Exportation, Manufacture of Small/Light Weapons, specifically
focusing on the link between private military players and arms
proliferation. This protocol will be presented to the ECOWAS
Heads of Government Summit in December 2002
e)
Peace
& Security Cluster in NEPAD: The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), launched by a
number of prominent African leaders in Abuja, Nigeria, October
2001, is a wide-ranging vision for promoting better government,
ending Africa’s wars and reducing poverty.
Working with its partner, Safer Africa in South Africa as facilitators
for the OAU and NEPAD Secretariat, CDD has been involved in
helping to shape the Peace & Security section of the NEPAD
strategy document, by serving as facilitators at the Seminar of
the OAU Ambassadors on the Central Organ, and also by seeking to
popularise the strategy document. Several advocacy initiatives
for the scheme are planned to take place in the near future.
f)
Children
in Armed Conflict:
A specific objective of our current strategic plan, is to
develop youth programmes aimed at demystifying the culture of
violence and re-integrating young combatants back into society.
In many ways, this is related to our work on mercenaries and
arms proliferation in the Mano River area. Indeed, it is of
utmost importance to the stability and future of these
societies, that young combatants are successfully reintegrated
into society.
To
this end, CDD took part in the consultative conference on
‘Children in Armed Conflict’ in May 2000.
We have since entered into discussions on popularising
recently approved UN protocols and developing tools for capacity
building initiatives aimed at rehabilitating war affected
children with the UN Office of the Special Representative on
Children in Armed Conflict and War Child, an international
charity working on war affected children and World Computer
Exchange, USA. The project aims to set up youth centres that
will ensure the youths are engaged in leadership and skills
development as well as assisting them in bridging the digital
divide, pervasive in society.
g)
Stability-Security
Monitor(SM):
The idea behind the Stability-Security Monitor started
two years ago as a conflict prevention module that enable us to
assess risks and track conflict signals from the local to the
national as well as regional levels.
Through the project, CDD seeks to monitor threats to
holistic security and develop the capacity to understand,
anticipate, plan and forecast security problems and articulate
their solutions.
Given
the size of the initiative, we are currently undertaking a pilot
study in the Niger-Delta of Nigeria, with the intention of
broadening the scope to the rest of the sub-region. The products
of the project include a library and archives of materials on
each country in West Africa; a functional website and an
information database to aid multi-directional information flow
as well as monthly, quarterly and annual publications on the
State of War and Peace in West Africa.
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Human
Rights, Gender and Environment Programme:
Some
of the most exciting work at the Centre takes place in this
crosscutting programme area. The work has enabled CDD to combine
research with public policy work in sectors that have been
traditionally been neglected and marginalized during West
Africa’s period of prolonged, authoritarian rule.
Since
CDD spearheaded the coordination of the London Tribunal of
Nigeria’s civil society groups in 1997, transitional
justice issues have become a permanent fixture of the
Centre’s agenda. On the return of civilian rule to Nigeria in
1999, CDD was prominent campaigner for the establishment of a
truth and justice Commission to investigate past human rights
violations in Nigeria, and in the two and a half years, since
its establishment, has also been proactive in the provision of
technical assistance. As the Commission now prepares its final
report, CDD has also been working with it on identifying
challenges that will require civil society responses in the
aftermath of the Commission’s work. CDD is now finalising
plans to promote similar initiatives in the subregion, as other
countries in West Africa embark upon their own truth and justice
ventures.
In
light of the abuses revealed by the work of Nigeria’s Oputa
Commission, and others before it, which can only be fully
addressed in the context of national judicial reform, and the
improvement of access to justice mechanisms, the Centre has also
been active in the campaign for the ratification of the Rome
Treaty and the establishment of the International Criminal
Court. In
addition to this, CDD has commenced discussions with partner
organisations as well as some national human rights commissions
and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),
aimed at institutionalising processes and practices that enhance
access to justice. Moreover, CDD is in the process of launching
a regional human rights report that will be published
annually for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of
international and regional instruments signed and ratified by
West Africa states, as well as monitoring the work of regional
and inter-governmental bodies on the promotion of the culture of
rights.
One
of the core values that CDD espouses is the promotion of a gendered
understanding of democratisation, security and development
issues in our work. Indeed, it is our opinion that the promotion
of a gender-balanced society will also enhance our other efforts
to strengthen civil society and promote democracy within the
sub-region.
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Although
women constitute the vast majority of the population in West
Africa, they feature least in the processes of re-establishing
peace and security, democracy and development in the sub-region.
Our Gender programme is specifically targeted at
redressing this imbalance, through training and public policy
leadership empowerment initiatives. Since 1998, these leadership
empowerment-training initiatives have trained women in Ghana,
Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone.
We have also organised a one-off training programme for
women leaders and activists from French-speaking West Africa in
collaboration with the African Women Leadership Institute, and
currently coordinate a Graduate Fellowship scheme for Women
Lawyers on behalf of the Ford Foundation.
Our
‘training of trainers’ approach is a means of ensuring that
we reach the maximum amount of beneficiaries with the minimum
amount of resources, and as a result many of our trainees have
now found themselves in key positions where they can influence
and shape policies and processes. To this end, CDD now plans to
expand subsequent training to include women and men, especially
those involved in youth work. This will be done through
workshops and awareness-raising schemes for government
officials, military practitioners and politicians; training
workshops on security issues and public sector reform processes;
dialogue sessions between women leaders and key actors in the
reform processes; offering technical assistance to women
interested in entering into public life; and developing gender
sensitive curricula for tertiary institutions. It is our
expectation that a successful fundraising effort for the
organisation would enable us to strengthen this core programme
area of our work.
Our
environment programme has largely concentrated on one of
the most abused ecosystems in the world, the Niger-Delta. CDD’s work has focused on:
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Capacity
Building in the area of environmental assessment and
conservation.
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Peace
Building.
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Information
& Database Management.
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Civic
Education & Leadership Training for Women and Youths in the
Delta;
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Research
& Public Policy intervention on Environment and Security, Resource control and Development.
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