West Africa Regional Conflict Transformation Programme

Introduction

West Africa has experienced decades of conflict. Some countries are dealing with the aftermath of conflict, trying to rebuild their countries and re-establish mutual trust between communities and authorities. Other areas are on the verge of new conflicts, fuelled by clashes over access to land, resources, migratory movements and the availability of arms. Due to the nature of the region, with its often permeable and at times non-existent borders, conflicts have tended to have a cross-border character.

Many of the governments in West Africa fall short in honouring their responsibilities in managing conflict, upholding human rights and promote human development and security. Human rights violations, corruption, unemployment and weak public services all too often appear to be the status quo.

Poverty is pervasive and the prices of basic necessities are soaring in West Africa. Most countries in the region are ranked as Least Developed Countries by the UN system. Furthermore, due to decades of conflict, the uncontrolled flow of weapons in the region is huge, and insecurity remains high.

The increasing strain on sustainable livelihoods has resulted in rising levels of poverty among the majority of West Africans who live on less than a dollar a day. This has the potential of creating grounds for new forms of violence. Democratic governance and peace building can play a vital role in preventing and mitigating violent conflict.

Oxfam knows from experience that there can be no sustainable development without people feeling and being secure. When people feel threatened, they quickly resort to carrying or using arms to protect themselves, creating in turn more insecurity and diminishing development opportunities. This vicious circle has to be broken in order for West Africa to become peaceful and prosperous again.

Oxfam's conflict transformation work in the region

Oxfam and its partners have been working on conflict transformation in West Africa since 2003, using an integrated strategy to link development, governance and conflict.

Our current Conflict Transformation Programme seeks to reduce violence, armed conflict and insecurity in West Africa by enhancing the capacity of partners at community level to deal with security issues, such as arms proliferation and misuse.

Oxfam’s research and consultations highlight the lack of strong, efficient and accountable governments and local authorities. It is clear that well-informed civilians and a strong capable civil society are necessary to fight the cycles of conflict and poverty.

The project’s objectives are to reduce poverty and to prevent violent conflict in order to create an environment conducive to development; not only at local level, but also national and regional level. As such, we co-operate with Non Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organisations, United Nations bodies, and regional decision-making organisations such as ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States), ECOSAP (ECOWAS Small Arms Programme), and national commissions on small arms. We also work with United Nations Development Programme country offices, journalists network and local authorities. Target countries are mostly Least Developed Countries experiencing conflict or facing possible conflict, including Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, and Togo.

Our focus

The work covers five major issues:

• research and studies
• capacity building
• the Control Arms campaign
• arms for development
• communication and dissemination strategy

The programme comprises 17 projects in ten countries, namely Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. Benin, Gambia, Niger, and Togo have benefited indirectly through the Control Arms campaign projects.

Research

The research component of the programme aims to inform governments and civil society about the supply and demand factors of arms availability. The results of the research will also help improve national regulations on small arms and serve as a tool for training and advocacy to address the demand for small arms in the region.

Work that has been carried out includes:

• In Mali, Oxfam and the National Commission on Small Arms in Mali investigated the routes of illicit trafficking of weapons in the Sahelo-Saharan region of the country (bordering with Algeria, Niger, Senegal and Mauritania)
• In Nigeria, PANAFSTRAG (Pan African Strategic and Policy Research Group) reviewed all national legislations on small arms in ten countries in the region - trying to create one harmonised legal framework for the region. This was an enormous challenge in view of the language barrier in the region and the fact that some laws date back to the early 1900s
• In Ghana, FOSDA (Foundation for Security and Development in Africa) conducted a baseline study on local production of arms in northern Ghana and its impact on local conflicts.  This is an area where local artisans produce enormous amounts of arms which provide them with a substantial source of income

Capacity building

The capacity building component of the programme aims to advance the capacity of civil society organisations and local community leaders to deal with small arms issues.

With our partners we are:

• Conducting training workshops on conflict management for community leaders
• Creating peace committees, based on traditional and existing structures, training peace management committees on public awareness activities, and monitoring community capacity building
• Building the capacity of women in formal peace building initiatives, policy analysis, monitoring and public awareness
• Developing a training of trainers’ curriculum and manual for West African civil society on small arms issues
• Conducting a series of workshops and awareness programmes on the benefits of weapons reduction through the promotion of human security and development
• Using community-based radio programmes to raise awareness among rural women on their role and capacity to manage and prevent local dispute and conflict
• Capacity building for community members and civil society organisations through conflict management training and training on small arms within the Control Arms campaign for Government representatives, the West African Civil Society Network, and West African journalists
• Supporting inter-community dialogue to reduce conflicts and increase tolerance and peace
• Carrying out peace education and peace building through non-violence campaigns and peace festivals to raise awareness on the conflict and bring small arms issues to a wider audience

Control Arms campaign

The main objective of the Control Arms campaign is to seek partnerships at local community, national and regional levels to raise awareness among governments about the benefits of arms control, and linking this to socio-economic development.

The global objective of the campaign is the adoption by UN member states of an Arms Trade Treaty. Oxfam, IANSA (International Action Network on Small Arms) and Amnesty International are jointly running this global campaign.

Together with our partners we are advocating for these treaties and training Civil Society organisations and authorities on these principles.

Arms for Development

This project sets out to sensitise communities to develop a sense of security and trust through awareness raising programmes, capacity building and training, and voluntary weapons collection. We try to assist communities in finding alternative sustainable livelihoods for arms trading and possession. For instance assisting communities in developing communal farms and providing support for livestock farming and juice pressing machines.

The project also supports reconstruction that encourage displaced persons to return to their villages. Due to the sensitive nature of this work, the first steps are to obtain support from local authorities and security services and to gain trust and confidence from the populations. The communities themselves decide what help they need in order to make the project sustainable and guarantee commitment. Women are the primary beneficiaries from these projects.

Dissemination and communication

The dissemination and communication strategy targets affected communities, governments, local leaders, and ordinary citizens and aims to share and publicise reliable information and strategies on the problem of small arms and how to address it. It also serves as a means to share good practices and lessons learnt among partners, Oxfam, and other stakeholders.

Together with our partners we:

• Developed a media strategy to reach women, particularly at grass-roots levels, on human security issues in the Mano river area
• Developed a media strategy to reach conflict prone communities in northern Ghana through working with community based radio programmes, broadcast in the local language, on issues such as human rights, peace building, and conflict prevention
• Are raising awareness of rural women through radio programmes on their role and capacity to manage and prevent local dispute and conflict

 

 

Last updated: November 08