Accra, May 19, GNA - InWent, a German human resource and training institution, on Monday signed a cooperation agreement with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training centre (KAIPTC), under which it would support the Centre conduct an annual five-week training course on Regional

and International Cooperation in Security and Peace Policy. The course is part of InWent's established Development Diplomacy Programme (DDP), especially designed to build the capacities of the governments of sub-Saharan Africa on crisis prevention, peace building, human security, security policy and development. The signing of the agreement was a prelude to the opening of InWent's first-ever three-day workshop at the KAIPTC in Accra, at which some 30 political decision-makers, representatives of think-tanks, civil society, the media and some Universities in West Africa have gathered to share experiences in state-building processes in the region. InWent is also the capacity building arm of the German government.

The workshop is under the theme: "Strengthening Drivers of Change: Cooperating for Governance and Stability in West Africa", and supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany. It is aimed at discussing current research areas as well as develop recommendations for policy makers and practitioners to explore possible avenues to overcome fragile situations and to identify suitable capacity building approaches to strengthen drivers of change for governance and stability. In a speech read for him at the opening of the workshop, Dr Mohamed

Ibn Chambas, President of the ECOWAS Commission, noted that Africa in recent years had come to be known as "a continent under stress" due to the declining capacity of its governments to meet the basic needs of their people, proffering that the reasons were varied as the approaches which "have been applied overtime in addressing the problem". He, however, admitted, that challenges facing Africa were diverse and characterized by poor societal relations, poor governance, breakdown of the rule of law, insufficient mechanisms for generating power and authority and the proliferation of internal conflicts. Dr Chambas stressed the need for Africa to build and improve the knowledge and skills of individuals and institutions in distressed countries to make informed decisions in resolving the multiple challenges they faced. He added that the Commission was encouraged that international partners like InWent had highlighted the importance of capacity building as a means of overcoming fragility and were pursuing these as part of their foreign policies. He said the Commission was delighted by the global acceptance of the Fragile States Principles, saying this reflected the commitment by international partners to adapt existing approaches and policies in engaging fragile states and commended the trend towards scaling up aid to fragile states. Dr. Gunther Taube, Second Director of InWent, said the organization was interested in jointly identifying and implementing approaches to capacity building with partners in West Africa. He said the workshop would contribute to recognizing relevant areas for capacity building in the realm of governance and stability to overcome fragile situations in the region.