Involving National Commissions in post-conflict reconstruction: a new task to foster

• © Kenyan NatCom

The sub-regional seminar for strengthening African National Commissions in post-conflict reconstruction and peace consolidation process took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 15 to 17 September 2010.

The Secretaries-General of the National Commissions and the senior officials of the Ministries of Education from eight African Member States (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Zimbabwe) attended the Seminar, in order to learn more about UNESCO’s participation in post-conflict reconstruction and good practices and experiences in these areas.

Representatives and experts from the UNESCO Headquarters and the Nairobi Office, the German Commission for UNESCO and German research and study institutes shared their knowledge and experience as resource persons.

The participants keenly discussed achievements and challenges in their respective countries in relation to conflict prevention and peace consolidation and the roles that their National Commissions have been playing in these endeavours.

The Nairobi seminar was organized within the framework of the “Partnership Programme with African National Commissions for UNESCO”, an extra-budgetary project which is funded by the German Government.

During the last biennium, six sub-regional capacity-building workshops were jointly organized by the National Commissions Section, Sector for External Relations and Public Information (former ERC) and the German Commission for UNESCO in Sub-Saharan Africa (Kigali, Maseru, Antananarivo, Bamako, Yaounde, Addis Ababa) for the benefit of 43 African National Commissions. In addition, several follow-up activities were developed, such as a training workshop for East African National Commissions in Kampala, the provision of office equipment to Mali, Namibia, Madagascar, Rwanda and Lesotho.

The Partnership Programme with Africa is jointly run by the National Commissions Section and the German Commission since 2008.
The project has been successful and highly commended as a good example of North-South-South cooperation. Within the project, another sub-regional training seminar involving a group of countries in post-conflict situation is planned in Brazzaville, Congo, later this year.

Report of the meeting


Group of participants

• Source:UNESCO
• 20-10-2010

• © Kenyan NatCom - photos