Johannesburg, 18 February 2020 – The APRM in partnership with the United Nations Development programme (UNDP) and the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development (SCDDD), will host the 1^st APRM Workshop on Positioning the APRM as an Early Warning Tool for Conflict Prevention in in Abuja, Nigeria, on 24-25 February 2020.

The workshop which is themed, “Civil Society’s Perspective on Implementing APRM National Action Plans and Linking APRM Country Evaluations to Early Warning and Conflict Prevention Interventions” will offer participants an opportunity to reflect and exchange views on ways to implement the January 2018 Decision of the 30^th AU Assembly of Heads of States and Government. The (Assembly/AU/Dec.686(XXX)) mandated the APRM to  take steps to position itself  “as an early warning tool for conflict prevention in Africa, in the context of harmony and synergy between the APRM, African Peace and Security Architecture, and the African Governance Architecture”.

The workshop will launch a series of APRM activities on Early Warning which coincides with the year that marks the completion of Silencing the Guns as the Agenda 2063 Flagship Project. The series aims to contribute to the overall efforts of the AU, and the PSC more by creating linkages and synergies between the APRM mandated national structural evaluations with the conflict prevention and response organs (ie. the Peace and Security Council and African Peace and Security Architecture).

The Abuja Workshop will bring together a wide range of actors from the AU Commission (Office of the Chairperson, Silencing the Guns Unit, Continental Early Warning System and the Field Offices), Regional Economic Communities, United Nations Office to the African Union, UNDP, selected partners, civil society, independent thinkers, thematic experts.

Participants are expected to consider the nexus between the APRM country reviews and early warning engagements of the AU and conflict prevention mechanisms on the continent; identify roles for civil society actors to address the implementation deficit; consider the findings of the most recent APRM country evaluations and national plans of actions and the draw conclusions and implications for the peace and security landscape and trends in Africa from 2020 to 2023; make concrete recommendations to the AU, RECs and policy makers on strengthening their approaches on the basis of the APRM findings, especially the AU Roadmap on Silencing the Guns;  Propose ways to strengthen the APRM country evaluations and National plan of actions to include early warning and conflict prevention;  Identify opportunities for collaboration between the APRM and other African conflict prevention mechanisms; as well as deliberate on a draft Early Warning APRM Framework, among others.

For inquiries please contact: Liziwe Masilela (Head of Communications APRM)