The Gorée Institute, through our Peace-building and Conflict Resolution Program, organized a reflection seminar based on Gorée Island, Dakar,on the 29th and 30th of March,2010, around the problem –‘The Role of Youth and Students in Conflict Resolution and Peace-Building in the West African sub-region’.
This seminar brought together 20 experts in the field, representing Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal, and provided an opportunity for deep practical reflection, fruitful exchange and sharing of ideas relating to the challenges, approaches, and solutions to the issue of the role of students and youth in conflict.
Main Text
Even after independence, most West Africa countries have remained a stage for political and economic covetousness that, over time, has been transformed into pockets of tension and armed conflicts based on geopolitical, economic and socio-cultural interests ,exacerbated by cultural, ethnic, and religious issues.
These armed conflicts have disastrous impacts on the populations and economies of the countries in conflict and their neighbors, depriving the most vulnerable portion of our societies of their principal means of survival.
At the Gorée Institute we agree that one of the most critical factors of the conflicts in West Africa has been the role of youth, and particularly students. Youth in the sub-region are exploited for their energy and commitment as well as their social, economic and political vulnerability. It was considered critical to take time to further examine this aspect of conflict.
Through our Peace-building and Conflict Resolution Program we organized a reflection seminar at the Gorée Institute on Gorée Island, Dakar, on the 29th and 30th of March to examine the problem: The Role of Youth and Students in Conflict Resolution and Peace-Building in the West African sub-region.
At the Institute we believe that Reflection, in which we promote intellectual exploration, is the base for useful and effective research that can make real contributions to practical intervention. This seminar brought together 20 experts in the field representing, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal, providing an opportunity for deep practical reflection, fruitful exchange and sharing of ideas relating to the challenges, approaches, and solutions to the issue of the role of student and youth in conflict. The specific objectives of the seminar were:
- Fruitful exchange of ideas between participants from the sub-region
- Identify gaps in research on the identified topics
- Detail the existing challenges posed by identified topics on peace and security
- Contribute to innovative solutions to challenges identified, on issues such as economic integration of youth, political marginalization of youth and demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of ex combatants.
The participants spent two intensive days of discussion, presentation, exchange of experiences and group work, attempting to identify gaps in research and contribute to innovative approaches of researching and addressing the topics. They also deeply analyzed existing solutions and considered their practical application. Much emphasis was placed on learning from both the personal and professional experiences of participants. The results of this fruitful collaboration will be used by the Institute for guiding development of future work program in terms of both activities and research, as well as further act as a guide for influencing policy.
Key Reflections
While participants did not spend time deliberating causes of conflict, it became clear that they felt those causes related to economy such as poverty, unemployment and lack of access to natural resources were the more profound reasons for the conflicts in the region. Issues such as identity and religious and ethnic tensions were considered as factors that are manipulated or can exacerbate conflict, but not the essence of the cause. It was agreed that the issue of illiteracy and poor education also played a great role in facilitating and utilizing driving factors of conflict.
As a group, participants felt that while progress was being made in the management and prevention of conflict in the sub-region through ECOWAS, governments and NGO’s, there are some fundamental problems with existing approaches. The group called for current approaches to certain issues to be reexamined:
- Policy and Practice of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Programmes. There are clearly some failures and weaknesses that need to be addressed namely the failure to adequately and sustainably address the reintegration element. There are also problems related to the non-comprehensive nature of the disarmament.
- Diversifying and balancing actors of intervention. Much is written about including women in conflict prevention, management and peace building. This needs to be followed through in practice. Furthermore, there is a critical role and value for community actors and structures in supporting effective DDR and monitoring of the trafficking of small arms and light weapons.
- Nation building. The exercise of nation building can play a critical role in reducing conflicts. More value and support needs to be given to this process, especially in the form of national social dialogue that includes traditional institutions.
- Social and Political exclusion of women and youth. Real inclusion of these groups is essential for stability. One of the most critical factors that needs addressing is how to gain access to these groups in a way that their needs can be articulated and understood. Part of this process involves supporting development of formal groups of women and youth.
- Limits of the current educational system. In most West African countries the education system is inherited from Europe. With the background of conflict, perhaps it is pertinent to consider elements of real African history, peace building, respect for ethnic and religious diversity as well as civic education, as essential components of the curriculum.
- Reconciliation and Psychosocial elements. Always coming secondary to immediate basic and economic needs, addressing psychosocial impact of war and reconciliation has generally received minimal attention in terms of real engagement that goes beyond the surface. At the same time this is a critical element of motivating those who take part in the conflicts directly as well as those who may support them more indirectly.
