March 04, 2015
EducommunicAfrik was invited by the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of the University of Addis Abeba to join othen African CSOs in Accra, Ghana to discuss
peace and security in Africa, not only discuss solutions, but
also to make African-centered solutions happen.
The
expectations were high. The Tana Forum Regional Multi-Stakeholder
Dialogues are founded on the understanding that peace is built and
sustained when all actors from local to continental, grassroots to
policy-level, participate in it. The Regional Dialogues as Director of
IPSS Kidane Kiros put it “create an enabling avenue for multiple
stakeholders to make open, critical, and substantive contributions to
the debate on peace and security in Africa reflecting regional
peculiarities and conditions”.
Collaborating with the West Africa
Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), the Tana Forum brought together
grassroots civil society organisations in West Africa on the 24th and
25th of February) to hone in on the 2015 theme “Secularism and
Politicised Faith”. The contribution of civil society on such a
deeply-personal and contentious subject was to inform "the intersection
between knowledge and dogma", according to Brian Kagoro, an independent
consultant from Zimbabwe.
Speaking before forty-five participants
drawn from seven West African states, Kiros highlighted the critical
need for this year’s discussion.
"The violent reactions in Niger
to perceived actions of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the
kidnapping of young girls by the militant group Boko Haram, and the
postponement of elections in Nigeria due to security fears have brought
issues of secularism and politicized faith to the public spotlight," he
said.
On the first day, participants highlighted the role
governments played in fanning the politicisation of faith whether
through state funding of certain groups over others to the use of
religious symbolism for electoral success. At the same time, good and
effective governance was highlighted as key to mitigating religious
conflict.
"Freedom of religion and freedom of worship are
liberties that must be protected by the state," said Isaac Albert,
Professor of International Relations at the University of Ibadan
(Nigeria). "However, the practice of religion must remain a personal
matter."
On day two of the dialogue, participants were
challenged to turn rhetoric into workable recommendations. Divided into
discussion groups using the “world café” discussion format, they
developed recommendations in the following areas: promoting peaceful
co-existence among religions; religions, civil liberties and citizen’s
security; the role of the media; and financing of faith-based
organisations.
The Tana Forum/WANEP Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue
gathered civil civil society experiences and expertise to feed help
inform discussions at Tana 2015 in April. Representatives of West
African civil society who attended the dialogue made the following
recommendations:
- There is the need to incorporate civic education into the curriculum
at all levels of education; primary, secondary and tertiary, with the
goal of inculcating and building civic consciousness and promoting unity
between and among citizens; including but not limited to formal
education.
- Government should create mechanisms for peaceful co-existence among
religions that recognises diversity and assert individual rights to
practice preferred religions without fear. They should also strengthen
national laws and regulations to provide effective oversight on the
activities of faith-based institutions.
- Government should not put itself in a position of being seen, or accused, of partiality towards any particular religion.
- There is the need for government, the civil society, and the general
public to be vigilant in ensuring that those with tendency to
politicise religion are prevented from doing so.
- Because they are closest to and embedded within the different
communities where they operate, civil society organisations should play a
more proactive role in terms of providing early warning reports on
individuals with extremist or radical tendencies; including those
capable of exploiting faith for political ends.
- The need to strengthen the family to carry out its role as the first line of civic education for children is overdue.
- There is an urgent need to fill the critical developmental gaps that
allow radical movements to thrive by creating accelerated employment
opportunities within the formal and informal sectors for young people.
- Faith-based organisations should put themselves in a position to
play a more active role in promoting peaceful co-existence, while
ensuring that appropriate checks and balances are in place.
- On regular basis, there is the need to build the capacity of
religious leaders by exposing them to inter-faith training activities
tolerant of other religions.
- There is need for strong political commitment to actively involve
women; real efforts have to be made to mainstream them in
decision-making on critical social issues, as well as in conflict
prevention.
- The media has a responsibility to be impartial and neutral in the
presentation of information and news to the general public; it is the
abiding responsibility of the media to ensure that news is in the
overall interest of society.
- There is a strong felt need to identify capacity gaps within the
media and to fill such gaps through exposure and training programmes
that continuously place premium on media ethics and professionalism.
Leadership is key so too is a conscious, active citizenry- West African CSOs on politicised faith - Institute for Peace and Security Studies
The site for the 2015 NAMLE Conference is the beautiful 
