Project-Title
West African Civil
Society Forum (WACSOF)
This programme aims to build the capacity of the
West African Civil Society Forum and national civil society coalitions
in monitoring governance and human security and contributing to ECOWAS’
early warning mechanisms. Its activities focuses on training members and
national focal points of the West African Civil Society Forum in:
§
Analyzing historical and contemporary factors that
have direct or indirect bearing on the level of state and societal
stability;
§
Pursuing early warning with a pro-active programme
for combating the threats to conflict management in the sub-region, by
lobbying local and international actors and organizations working on
democratic development and economic progress in the region, as well as
relevant governments on possible threats to international peace and
security;
§
Assessing the danger signals for escalation of
conflict;
§ Address the gaps in turning warning into action
While much progress has been achieved in tracking
down triggers of conflict, including the launch of zonal observation
bureaux by ECOWAS, existing early warning mechanisms have so far not led
to any meaningful narrowing of the gap between warning and action.
Hence, while the problem has not really been lack of knowledge
about what the potential conflict triggers are, the response to
conflicts in the sub-region has largely been reactive, rather than
proactive. By developing a range of indicators to
monitor security trends, these assessments will focus on the
practicalities of observation and monitoring of broader security
situation and conflict triggers through surveys focusing on country as
well as zonal dynamics. Our monitoring zones do not necessarily cohere
to the ECOWAS Zonal Bureaux, but largely informed by a history of
similar political and social context and geographical linkages. They
approximate to a large extent to the Sene-Gambia zone, the
Zone 1 – SENEGAMBIA - Senegal,
Gambia, Cape Verde & Guinea Bissau Zone 2 -
GREATER MANO RIVER BASIN STATES -
Zone 3 – SAHEL STATES -
Zone 4 – COASTAL STATES -
[1] See Communiqué issued at the CDD-ASDR
Consultation on “The Role of Civil Society in the Implementation
of African Peer Review Mechanism” held in