Next Advanced Conflict Transformation training: 12 October to 6 November 2009

Participants of the Advanced Conflict Transformation training in October 2008

From 12 October to 6 November 2009, Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) will run a conflict transformation course in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Advanced Conflict Transformation (ACT) training is a peace building course at the intermediate level for practitioners from all over Africa focusing on four modules (Understanding Conflict, Conflict Transformation, Conflict Intervention and Building Sustainable Peace). The course seeks to bring together peace practitioners from across the African continent to learn and share experiences in peace building. In addition, the ACT training places emphasis on culturally sensitive and sustainable responses to regional and community conflicts in the continent.

Besides including an analysis of global events and their impact on Africa, ACT also focuses on personal development and the need for individuals and organizations to form networks with others working in similar fields. Participants are provided with a space to share ideas, experiences and to learn from best practices of others as one way to inform their future strategies.

The course will be organized in four weekly modules, offering participants the opportunity to engage in the whole course, or single out those modules that are best serving their learning needs.

The ACT training is designed for practitioners working in development and/or human rights, and for peace and relief workers operating in contexts of violence, conflicts and post conflict situations in Africa.

For more information and to download the ACT prospectus and application form, please visit the COPA website.
Please note that the deadline for applications is 5 October 2009.

Women Peace Leadership Programme (WPLP) kicks off in Kampala, Uganda

Women exchanging experiences in Lira, Uganda (photo from a past project)

Women’s voices are rarely heard in post conflict reconstructions; nor are their contributions acknowledged. This is more so the case in the conflict prone clusters of Somalia and Karamoja (the border region of Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia). This realization formed the breeding ground for the Women Peace Leadership Programme (WPLP), a joint effort between COPA and Pact Inc with the financial support of USAID.

Part of the invisibility of females has been attributed to the fact that women who operate in conflict areas lack the confidence to articulate not only issues affecting them but also their contributions in building sustainable peace in these areas. In response, the WPLP project has elements of trainings, mentorship and field visits all aimed at invigorating women into reaffirming their commitment to continue investing their efforts into activities that will result in lasting peace in their areas. By building the capacity of selected women in leadership skills, the project further hopes to expand the knowledge of women on various instruments that have been developed to enhance their contribution in post conflict reconstruction. This includes the provisions of UN resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

Ultimately the WPLP project will produce a group of women capable of contributing strategically to existing peace initiatives in a way that can bring change in the region. The project is bringing together 25 women from Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda (5 from each country) in the course of one year. There will be three weeks of specific trainings and exchange visits spread across the year and the region, giving the women involved a well-deserved exposure and exchange platform. The first training and field visit took place in Kampala, Uganda, from 17 to 21 August 2009.


The Women Peace Leadership Programme (WPLP) is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of COPA and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government or Pact Inc or Pact Kenya.

Bringing the Kenya Burning exhibition to the youth

The Kenya Burning exhibition was one of the most explicit and memorable accounts of the Post-Election Violence 2007/2008 after the General Elections in Kenya. After the exhibition officially ended, youth and peace building organisations cooperated to bring this exposition to the youth as a learning experience. A total of 18 peace clubs from different secondary schools in Nairobi were targeted – coming from Huruma, Kibera, Dandora, Eastleigh, Jericho / Jogoo Road and Parklands areas. These 18 peace clubs all originate from the COPA peace education program.

The event on 8 August 2009 started with viewing the Kenya Burning exhibition photos, including a short video of media clips by way of visual documentation. This confrontation with what happened was followed by guided debates and discussions amongst the audience. Panellists guiding the debates represented YIKE (Youth Initiatives Kenya), Chemi Chemi ya Ukweli and the Ministry of Education. They were sharing personal stories and perspectives in peace building, to engage with the audience around the issues the students were bringing up from the exhibition. The situations surfacing from the discussions were related to the ongoing issues Kenya is still facing, highlighting their own interventions as peace builders in their schools and communities.

One of the main aims of the Kenya Burning exhibition is to create awareness on the significance of peaceful coexistences amongst the young students, bearing in mind that they will be the voters in the 2012 and subsequent elections. The exposition provides a visual reminder of the painful past of Kenya that we all want to forget, yet not before we learn from it and work hard so that a similar outbreak of violence should not happen again.

COPA member appointed in Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission Kenya

Prominent COPA member Tecla Namachanja Wanjala has been sworn in as member of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) in Kenya.

Tecla is one of the founders of COPA. Her experience in peace building is extensive. She has set up and managed camps for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) during the ethnic clashes surrounding the Kenyan General Elections in 1992. For seven years she worked as the coordinator of the Peace and Development Network of the NGO Council (PeaceNet). In this period she also undertook a MA course in the USA in conflict transformation.
Through her involvement with IDPs in 1992 she became the pioneer of trauma healing in Kenya, skills she has used broadly after Kenya’s Post-Election Violence of 2007/2008. Furthermore, based on her wide experience, she trained hundreds of peace practitioners from community to national level, from inside and out of Africa, in basic skills in conflict transformation.

Tecla was one of the 1,000 women nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize by the global women’s movement Peace Women Across the Globe (PWAG). These 1,000 women represent the millions of women who have devoted themselves to a future free of violence.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) is one of the pillars of the National Accord in Kenya, agreed upon after the Post-Election Violence of 2007/2008. The mandate of the TJRC involves inquiring into human rights violations, including those committed by the state, groups, or individuals. Spotlight will be on events which took place between December 12 1963 (Kenya’s independence from Great Britain) and February 28 2008. However, it will as necessary look at antecedents to this date in order to understand the natures, root causes, or context that led to such violations, violence or crimes.

The focus of the TJRC includes but is not limited to politically motivated violence, assassinations, community displacements, settlements, and evictions. In addition, the TJRC will investigate major economic crimes, in particular grand corruption, historical land injustices, and the illegal or irregular acquisition of land, especially as these relate to conflict or violence. The Commission will complete its work within two years and submit a final report, stating its findings and recommendations.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, led by Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat, was sworn in by Chief Justice Evan Gicheru at the High court. For footage of this ceremony, please visit youtube

In memory of a dedicated COPA friend

"When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed.
Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied.
Only those relationships matter…………"
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

John Siundu from Nairobi, Kenya was a dedicated COPA member having participated in the initiation of the network in its formative years in the mid nineties. He was a committed trainer at COPA often offering some of his services for free to allow the organisation to excel. He recently did an extensive evaluation of COPA in 2007 which gave recommendations that are now in operation within COPA.

As a result of this dedication, COPA board elected him as the chairman of the board on 17th July 2009. John described himself first and foremost as ‘friend of COPA’, who happened to be the new Chairman of our Board at the same time. COPA under the leadership of John was set for new heights.

But it was with sadness that we learnt of his demise on 29th July 2009. John Siundu left his wife, two sons and one grandson behind. COPA wishes them all the strength to carry on in his spirit.
COPA has lost a dedicated servant for peace. We shall remember him through our own dedication to building a continent of peace.

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.

All is well.

Henry Scott Holland ~ 1847-1918Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral ~ London, UK