Archives May 2021

Livingstone, Zambia, Friday, May 21, 2021: COMESA in partnership with the African Union, Economic Social and Cultural Council, (ECOSOCC) and the Save the Children International, have launched an online information sharing platform to facilitate civil society organisations in the region to play a bigger role in conflict prevention and peace building.

The platform https://gps.comesa.int was launched in Livingstone, Zambia by the Assistant Secretary General of COMESA, Dr Kipyego Cheluget.

The development of the platform followed a study and stakeholder consultations done by COMESA on the root factors of conflicts in the sub-region. These activities revealed that conflicts in the region were not only complex but required joint approaches to address them.

Dr Cheluget said state actors need to complement their strengths and competencies with non-state actors in the region to address the conflicts sustainably and comprehensively.

“While national governments have the primary responsibility to ensure peace and security within its borders, civil society and private sector organisations also have an important role to play, particularly being close to the grassroots, where most intra-state conflicts start,” Dr Cheluget said.

The platform is therefore aimed at enabling robust networking amongst these actors to create strong partnerships for peace and security by sharing information on relevant themes to keep the wide population of CSOs informed.

Besides, it will encourage debate around key topical issues and build consensus on the positive role that CSOs and Private Sector Organisations can play and at the same time, showcasing their work to encourage replication of good practices.

Over 30 CSOs from 17 Member States have been accredited since 2012 and have been partnering with COMESA in the development and implementation of its peace and security programme.  This includes the development of the COMESA Early Warning System (COMWARN). They also serve in the COMESA elections observer missions, with some of them providing analysis of the electoral environment in their respective countries.

Speaking at the launch, ECOSOCC representative, Mr Osei Kyeretwie said his organization is keen to support strategic partnership with COMESA in building the capacity of CSOs to be more effective in their role.

Ms. Hortense Minishi, Head of Programmes at Save the Children International, said the responsibility of protecting the children and youth from situations of conflict is a multi-stakeholder undertaking that should bring everyone on board.

The launch was attended by among others, a Kenyan delegation comprising of the Commissioners of the National Cohesion and integrity Commission and Members of the Kenya Parliamentary Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities. The delegation was in Zambia for a COMESA-AU training on COMWARN and structural vulnerabilities and resilience assessment frameworks.

Livingstone, Zambia, Monday, 17 May 20121: Kenya is set to become the second country in COMESA, after Zambia to undergo structural vulnerability and resilience assessment as part of capacity building to prevent occurrence of conflicts. In preparation, a Kenyan delegation comprising members of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the Parliamentary Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunities is attending a five-day training on the COMESA/African Union Structural Vulnerability Assessment and Resilience Assessment framework (SVRA).

The training opened today in Livingstone, Zambia, and is organized by COMESA in collaboration with the African Union and the Save the Children International. Its key objective is to train the two institutions, which are key in building cohesion and integration in Kenya, to develop a roadmap of the implementation of the SVRA process in the country.

COMESA has been implementing an early warning system (COMWARN) that provides forecasts on the structural drivers that could lead countries towards higher or lower levels of peace and prosperity.  The model, which is anchored on the COMESA Peace and Prosperity Index has the overall goal of supporting member states to build resilience.

Speaking at the opening of the training, the Chair of the NCIC Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, said violence has become a common means of expressing opposition and dissent on most issues especially in African where there are young democracies.

“One of the identified roadblocks to a violence-free election in Kenya is inadequate or total lack of immediate interventions to curb escalation of violence,” Dr Kobia said.  “In our election’s roadmap, we want to strategically disrupt violence by establishing a robust election early warning and rapid response system that will tap into the existing sub-systems across the country.”

As Kenya prepares for election next year, he said, it must address all potential sources of violence. Among the initiatives the Commission is working on includes developing a social cohesion index using a set of quantitative indicators covering critical components such as equity and trust.

During the training, Zambia, which is the first country in COMESA to volunteer for the structural vulnerability and resilience assessment process of the AU and only the third in the Continent will share its experience with Kenya delegates.   Zambia will also hold elections in August this year.

COMESA Secretary General, Ms Chileshe Kapwepwe expressed hope that Zambia’s lessons will provide enough incentives to hasten Kenya to incorporate the use SVAs into the national early warning system.  She assured Kenya, that COMESA and the AU will jointly mobilize the necessary resources to ensure its success.

“Apart from equipping your situation room, which shall be done by the AU, we shall also support the meetings and workshops as well as the recruitment of a consultant who will be identified by Kenya once the country agrees to volunteer to the process,” she said. “We shall also readily provide you whatever technical support that you shall need to ensure that the process is successful.”

Save the Children International Representative Mr. Anthony Njoroge, observed that the most burdensome brunt of armed violence and warfare is borne by children, hence his organization’s resolve to work with regional economic communities’ efforts towards this objective.

“Our commitment is to jointly support the development of child-friendly indicators to strengthen the existing Early Warning System to reflect the actual situation on the ground and provide accurate data for the better protection of children and youth in situations of conflict, for ultimately, a peaceful, secure and stable Africa” he said.

Head of delegation of the Kenya Parliamentary Committee Hon. Prof Zadok Ogutu observed that politicians contribute to political conflicts and the involvement of the legislators in peace building initiatives was appropriate.

The training ends on Friday.