ACORD

 Africa continues to have the greatest number of conflicts in the world. These conflicts are a result of complex factors including dispute over power relations, ethnic and cultural values, wealth, or natural /environmental resources. The human and physical consequences are enormous, especially for the poor and marginalised people.

ACORD is working in partnership with local associations to facilitate an enabling environment where marginalised communities become effective agents of conflict transformation.

Working in and on Conflict: ACORD has been present in conflict affected communities, such as in Northern Uganda, for a long time. ACORD is supporting female and child headed households with training and basic tools, working with IDPs and refugees, lobbying the authorities to make available farmland near IDP camps and providing technical and emergency support. In Angola, ACORD is supporting the re-integration of ex-combattants and reconciliation with the communities. Besides the practical interventions, addressing the consequences of conflict, ACORD has sought to find ways of addressing the underlying issues. Approaches for community social peace and security have been tested with positive impact for instance for social contracts in Burundi, where the participatory methodologies have also influenced the approaches of Ministry of Repatriation and Reintegration and in Gambella Ethiopia, where ACORD is collaborating with traditional leaders and local government.

Scaling up Community Social Peace Initiatives:  In Burundi ACORD has implemented an initiative to promote peaceful coexistence through community social contracts. It  focuses on reconciliation and conflict prevention through community negotiations which are followed by a signing of social contracts in the presence of the community, local authorities, and external witnesses. The community dialogue and negotiations bring community members of different ethnicities and groups together to talk through their situation, listen to testimonies, allowing people to admit to their wrong-doings, ask for forgiveness and ultimately reach a joint agreement to pro-actively work for peace. To consolidate this agreement, a social contract is signed between different social groups who commit to respect each other and live in peace and contribute to mutually beneficial community development efforts. The conflict in Burundi has linkages to what is happening in Rwanda, Uganda and DRC, where ACORD also operates. ACORD has observer status in the UN/AU hosted International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and will advocate there for the importance of community social peace initiatives, such as the one piloted in Burundi.