The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) is a leading Regional Peacebuilding organisation founded in 1998 in response to civil wars that plagued West Africa in the 1990s. Over the years, WANEP has succeeded in establishing strong national networks in every Member State of ECOWAS with over 550 member organisations across West Africa. WANEP places special focus on collaborative approaches to conflict prevention, and peacebuilding, working with diverse actors from civil society, governments, intergovernmental bodies, women groups and other partners in a bid to establish a platform for dialogue, experience sharing and learning, thereby complementing efforts at ensuring sustainable peace and development in West Africa and beyond. [1]
WANEP was founded by two distinguished Africans; Samuel Gbaydee Doe and Emmanuel Habuka Bombande. Sam Gbadyee Doe is a peacebuilding and development professional from Liberia. He began his academic career from the University of Liberia where he studied Economics with the intention of being a banker and later proceeded to the Eastern Mennonite University for his MA in conflict transformation and Bradford University in the U.K. for a PhD. It was at EMU that the dream for the establishment of WANEP began when his paths crossed with John Paul Lederach and Emmanuel Bombande.
Mr. Emmanuel Habuka Bombande is a Ghanaian National Peacebuilding Practitioner with proven expertise in conflict transformation, peacebuilding, and development. After his social science degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology-Kumasi Ghana, Mr. Bombande proceeded to the Eastern Mennonite University, USA for a master's degree in Conflict Transformation. It was there he met Sam Doe leading to the birth of WANEP.
The story of WANEP cannot be completely told without mentioning the invaluable contributions of Professor John Paul Lederach especially during the formation and nurturing stages of the institution which he described as …”Beginning of a new era of peace, healing, reconciliation and hope in West Africa.” He was instrumental to bringing together and mentoring the two co-founders of WANEP.
Based on Sam Doe's background in working with trauma during the Second Liberian Civil War, and in establishing youth dialogue organizations and Bombande’s efforts with Hizkias Assefa at the Nairobi Peace Initiative [2] in resolving the Kokomba-Nanumba conflict in northern Ghana, WANEP focused on both lessening existing conflicts and preventing future outbreaks. By directing efforts toward grassroots efforts the organization helped local leaders and citizens resolve conflicts without outside intervention.
Samuel Gbaydee Doe served as the executive director of WANEP from its formation in 1998 until 2004. In 2004, then director of programs, Emmanuel Bombande was appointed executive director. In 2015,Dr. Chukwuemeka Eze, formerly the Program Director took over from Bombande as the Executive Director while Levinia Addae-Mensah is the Deputy Executive Director/Program Director.
WANEP has a niche in training CSOs, government and other practitioners in peacebuilding and conflict prevention. This niche has worked well in supporting peace and averting conflict in many situations. WANEP implements programs to equip the youth, business owners, women, traditional leaders and state agencies with requisite skills in conflict prevention and supports them to find local solutions or interventions to their unique conflict situations. WANEP emphasizes ownership and bottom-up approach to peacebuilding practice which enables the National Networks to carry out interventions that reflect the peculiarities of human security issues in their various countries. The national networks represent the WANEP brand and work in member states while the Regional Secretariat engages at the strategic level with ECOWAS, AU, UN and other intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organizations.
WANEP's key area of focus includes but not limited to the following;
Under the WIPNET program, WANEP facilitated the Liberian Women Mass action for Peace initiated by Liberian Women in 2003. The women peace activism’s intervention in Liberia under the WIPNET program, led to the eventual ceasefire in the Liberian war. The outcome of the Liberian peace process and the role of WIPNET have been acknowledged all over the world and led to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Her Excellency Ellen Johnson and Lemay Gbowe (WANEP Liberia former Coordinator for the WIPNET program). The mass action for peace is credited with urging Charles Taylor’s government and the Liberians for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) into a ceasefire and leading to the end of the conflict. WANEP also facilitated the creation of ‘Peace Hut’ in Liberia to facilitate the reconciliation process and provide environment for victims to meet and reconcile with offenders. This concept was replicated in Cote d'Ivoire.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has cited WIPNET as being one of the key factors supporting women’s prominent role in peace building in Liberia. [3] In 2015, WANEP signed an MOU with the African Union Commission to provide support to the Commission’s Peace and Security Department in the implementation of the AU Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) including the gender mainstreaming of the architecture.
The work of WANEP in establishing an early warning system has been instrumental in helping to resolve multiple conflicts in early stages. In 2014 this effort was officially recognized by Cote d’Ivoire’s permanent representative to the United Nations Youssoufou Bamba in his official remarks at the Informal interactive Dialogue on the Responsibility to Protect: "Fulfilling our collective responsibility: International assistance and the responsibility to protect,", September 8, 2014.
WANEP experience in peacebuilding has been sought for replication in East and Central Africa. The unique structure of WANEP contributed to WANEP’s choice as the Civil Society implementing partner for the operationalization of ECOWAS Early Warning Mechanism (ECOWARN).
In this regard, allow me to note the remarkable work done by the Ivorian section of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, WANEP-CI, which has set up an independent early warning system, in particular through the dissemination of monthly reports. of the collection of information, relating to human security, and which naturally aims to support actions to prevent conflicts and promote peace in Côte d'Ivoire. [4]
In September 2013 WANEP was also recognized for their work with ECOWAS to promote peace education in selected secondary schools across the region. These studies will impart new ways of thinking and new way of viewing conflict thereby leading to building new structures and cultural practices in the society that deepens peaceful coexistence. [5]
ECOWAS/WANEP relationship was the first example of civil society and intergovernmental partnership not only in West Africa but Africa generally. The partnership has been highlighted as the best practice of building alliances with CSOs in conflict prevention and is a referral point
The organization works with several regional partners including the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union’s Economic, Social, and Cultural Council ECOSOCC, and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). WANEP is also a member of the Peace and Security cluster of ECOSOCC representing West Africa, and is the West Africa Regional Representative of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) and the Focal Point for Africa CSOs on the AU-EU Joint Strategy (JAES). [6]
In 2002, WANEP entered into a historic partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the implementation of a regional early warning and response system referred to as ECOWARN. In 2004, WANEP and ECOWAS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which has consistently been renewed. this inter-governmental structure acts as a regional early warning and response system. WANEP and ECOWAS partnership enables typically non-governmental organizations a path to Track 1 diplomacy efforts early on in conflicts.
Inspired by its desire to contribute and commit to the sustenance of peace during elections, WANEP in collaboration with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is implementing a five-year project (2015 to 2019) tagged, “Mitigating Election Violence in West Africa through National Early Warning Systems (NEWS)” in target countries of West Africa namely, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Through this project, WANEP set up and operationalized an election situation room during elections in those countries. WANEP also partnered with other key stakeholders to run similar rooms in countries such as Benin, The Gambia and Nigeria.
WANEP is working in partnership with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana to run the West Africa Peacebuilding Institute (WAPI).
The First Liberian Civil War was the first of two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread corruption led to calls for withdrawal of the support of the United States, by the late 1980s. The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast to overthrow Doe in December 1989 and gained control over most of the country within a year. Doe was captured and executed by the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter faction of the NPFL led by Prince Johnson, in September 1990. The NPFL and INPFL fought each other for control of the capital city, Monrovia and against the Armed Forces of Liberia and pro-Doe United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy. Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 but fighting continued until a peace agreement between the main factions occurred in August 1996. Taylor was elected President of Liberia following the 1997 Liberian general election and entered office in August of the same year.
The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was a West African multilateral armed force established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOMOG was a formal arrangement for separate armies to work together. It was largely supported by personnel and resources of the Nigerian Armed Forces, with sub-battalion strength units contributed by other ECOWAS members — Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and others.
Peacebuilding is an activity that aims to resolve injustice in nonviolent ways and to transform the cultural and structural conditions that generate deadly or destructive conflict. It revolves around developing constructive personal, group, and political relationships across ethnic, religious, class, national, and racial boundaries. The process includes violence prevention; conflict management, resolution, or transformation; and post-conflict reconciliation or trauma healing before, during, and after any given case of violence.
Lieutenant General Seth Kofi Obeng is a former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces. He was once also the Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. He is also a special adviser on African Union matters to the President of Ghana.
The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) is a member-led network of civil society organisations (CSOs) active in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding across the world. The network is organised around 15 regional networks of local organisations, each region having its own priorities, character and agenda. Each region is represented in an International Steering Group, which determines joint global priorities and actions. GPPAC was initiated through extensive consultations in 2003-4, and officially launched as part of a global conference in 2005 at the UN headquarters in New York.
Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is a peace movement started in 2003 by women in Monrovia, Liberia, Africa, that worked to end the Second Liberian Civil War. Organized by Crystal Roh Gawding and social workers Leymah Gbowee and Comfort Freeman, the movement began despite Liberia having extremely limited civil rights. Thousands of Muslim and Christian women from various classes mobilized their efforts, staged silent nonviolence protests that included a sex strike and the threat of a curse.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1479, adopted unanimously on 13 May 2003, after reaffirming Resolution 1464 (2003) on the situation in Côte d'Ivoire and resolutions 1460 (2003) and 1467 (2003), the council established the United Nations Mission in Côte d'Ivoire (MINUCI) after determining the situation in the country to be a threat to international peace and security in the region.
Leymah Roberta Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's nonviolent peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her efforts to end the war, along with her collaborator Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, helped usher in a period of peace and enabled a free election in 2005 that Sirleaf won. Gbowee and Sirleaf, along with Tawakkul Karman, were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."
United Nations Security Council resolution 1528, adopted unanimously on 27 February 2004, after recalling resolutions 1464 (2003), 1479 (2003), 1498 (2003), 1514 (2003) and 1527 (2004) on the situation in Côte d'Ivoire, the council established the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) for an initial period of twelve months.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1941, adopted unanimously on September 29, 2010, after recalling all previous resolutions on the situation in Sierra Leone, particularly Resolution 1886 (2009), the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) until September 15, 2011.
Karuna Center for Peacebuilding (KCP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Amherst, Massachusetts. The stated mission of KCP is to empower people divided by conflict to develop mutual understanding and to create sustainable peace. The organization was named for the Sanskrit word for compassion. The organization's efforts in facilitating "post-conflict reconciliation" have led to active programs in more than 30 countries. KCP has co-implemented programs with the United States Agency for International Development, United States Department of State, United States Institute of Peace, and Fund for Peace, among others.
Youssoufou Bamba was an Ivorian diplomat. He served as the Permanent Representative of Côte d'Ivoire to the United Nations from 2010 to 2014; when he was appointed to the position by Alassane Ouattara after the latter claimed victory in the disputed presidential election of that year.
Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) is an accredited graduate-level program founded in 1994. It also offers non-credit training. The program specializes in conflict transformation, restorative justice, trauma healing, equitable development, and addressing organizational conflict. CJP is housed at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, which describes itself as "a leader among faith-based universities" in emphasizing "peacebuilding, creation care, experiential learning, and cross-cultural engagement." One of the three 2011 Nobel Peace Laureates, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, earned a master's degree in conflict transformation from CJP in 2007.
Samuel Gbaydee Doe is a conflict, peace, and development professional from Liberia. Doe was a cofounder, with Emmanuel Bombande, of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), based in Accra, Ghana. This organization focuses on collaborative approaches to conflict prevention and was founded in 1998 in response to the civil wars taking place in West Africa. The organization is known for their work with several regional partners such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union’s Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC).
Emmanuel Bombande is a conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and development professional from Accra, Ghana, and is the Chair of the Board of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict.
Mohammed Mulibah Sherif is the General Manager of regional transmission company TRANSCO CLSG based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. He is an economist and project management specialist. He is recognized for his role in Liberia’s debt relief through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) process and also for helping to stabilize the Liberian economy from the effects of a prolonged civil conflict. He is married with five children.
Ambassador William Azumah Awinador-Kanyirige, aged 61, is a retired career diplomat who served with the Ghana Foreign Service from July 1987 to May 2018. He is currently a private consultant with a focus on research and capacity building in the areas of governance, strategic planning, diplomacy, peacebuilding, youth mentorship, regional integration and development.
Thelma Arimiebi Ekiyor is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and impact investor who has served in authoritative positions within many organizations. Ekiyor has focused primarily on investing in women entrepreneurs. She started her career supporting women in peacebuilding and empowering women and youth through financial independence and educational access. She has experience with projects in more than 22 African countries. Ekiyor worked in post-conflict countries such as Liberia with the peace activist Leymah Gbowee.
In this article, NGOs in West Africa will be divided into three categories: African national NGOs, African international NGOs, and non-African international NGOs. NGOs stand for non-governmental organizations. These organizations are mostly non-profit and mostly work independently from the government, they have specific aims that range from human rights, finance, health, education and more. There are many non-governmental organizations in West Africa, and much activity between these countries, organizations and the rest of the world.
WANEP Publications and Reports (www.wanep.org/resource page)