The Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has contributed to the work of the African Union Commission (AUC) by participating in the validation workshop for the Advanced Mediation Training Curriculum organized on 18th and 19th June, 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This engagement is part of the Centre’s vision to support the African Union in its mandate to promote peace, human security and development in Africa; it is also in line with KAIPTC’s overall goal “to become the trusted partners of ECOWAS, AU, UN, RECs and member states in the development of their capacity to ensure peace and security in Africa”, and also with its vision “to become the leading and preferred international Centre for training, education and research that are focused on ensuring a peaceful and secure Africa”.

The main objective of the workshop was to validate the curriculum and manual to be used to develop/strengthen participants’ advanced understanding and skills required for the design, conduct and evaluation of mediation interventions. This intervention is within the framework the AU Standard Operating Procedures for Mediation Support and the AU Mediation Support Handbook.

Speaking on KAIPTC’s support to the AUC, the Commandant noted that; “KAIPTC & AUC have signed an MoU to strengthen their mutual commitment to the promotion of peace, human security, democracy, good governance and development, conflict prevention, management and peacebuilding in Africa. In light of this agreement, KAIPTC partners the AUC in the provision of technical support, capacity building, joint initiatives, research, and other activities to solidify conflict prevention, peace building including support to multi-dimensional peace operations”, he stated.

KAIPTC supports the AUC’s mandate through a variety of initiatives that relate to areas of mutual interests. The Centre’s participation in the validation of the curriculum/manual of the AUC’s Advanced Mediation Training was one of the areas of support. Some of the topics discussed during the validation workshop include preparing for mediation, negotiating in a mediation session, coordinating the mediation intervention and closing the mediation etc.

The African Union Commission (AUC) has established and begun to operationalize a Mediation Support Unit (MSU) in order to institutionalise its conflict management approaches in a more systematic manner, in particular preventive diplomacy, mediation and dialogue interventions which are approaches widely used by the AUC to prevent the escalation of violence, foster dialogue and negotiation, as well as the management and resolution of conflicts and disputes across the African continent.

The MSU is located within the Crisis Management and Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development (CM-PCRD) Division of the Peace and Security Department (PSD).