The Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development

Africa is home to at least half of the fastest growing global economies. By 2030, one in every five people in the world will live in Africa. Its potential in resources, urbanization, industrialization and economic diversification is unmatched. However, this great potential is under threat, as a result of persisting and emerging challenges to peace, security and development, including conflict, terrorism, and forced displacement.

The last few years have witnessed the evolution of a comprehensive normative framework on sustaining peace and development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (2015), the sustaining peace twin resolutions (2016), and the interlinkages between these two agendas. The same period also saw a renewed interest in conflict prevention and addressing the roots causes of conflict. Missing so far, however, is the operationalization of these normative frameworks, by means of policies, operational guidance, programs and projects.

Acting in its capacity as the Chairman of the African Union 2019, Egypt took the initiative to launch the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development in 2019. The Inaugural Meeting of the Forum focused on the Africa-specific operationalization of the interlinkages between sustainable development and sustaining peace in practice.

The Forum, held in December of every year, presents concrete and action-oriented recommendations to African heads of states and governments, leaders from national governments, regional and international organizations and financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society.

Accomplishments

From August to November 2019, the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) in its capacity as the Aswan Forum Secretariat and the project implementing agency, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNDP and partners, conducted the following five preparatory expert workshops in Cairo on:

  1. Africa’s Forcibly Displaced: From Ad Hoc Responses to Durable Solutions
  2. Advancing the Implementation of the WPS Agenda in Africa: Overcoming Challenges and Seizing Opportunities
  3. Conflict Prevention in Africa: From Policy to Practice
  4. Towards a Comprehensive, Integrated and Coherent Approach in Dealing with a New Typology of Armed Conflicts
  5. Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace in Africa: Towards a Coherent Approach to the Peace Continuum

These preparatory workshops brought together more than 300 experts from national governments, regional and international organizations, civil society and think tanks to (1) take stock of current opportunities and challenges to peace, security and development in Africa, and (2) develop context specific and action oriented recommendations to advance the implementation of the “sustainable development” and “sustaining peace” agendas in Africa.

The outcome of these workshops was The Aswan Forum report which represents the collation of non-attributable opinions and recommendations shared by official and expert participants during these workshops. The report was issued before the Forum; it was intended as a forward-looking, action-oriented and thought-provoking conversation starter.

The Project also organized the International Advisory Board comprises eminent global personalities and leading experts in the field of peace, security and development, prior to the Forum. The Board is responsible for providing strategic counsel on global and regional opportunities and challenges to peace, security and development to the Forum’s Secretariat.

On 11-12 December 2019, the city of Aswan, Egypt, hosted the inaugural meeting of the “Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development.” Titled, “An Agenda for Sustainable Peace, Security and Development in Africa,” the meeting took place in the broader context of Africa assuming ownership of its peace and development agendas. The Forum brought together more than 600 participants from all over the world representing 70 countries and ten International and Regional Organizations, including the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and five Heads of State (Chad, Comoros, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal) and two Heads of Government (Gabon and Togo), in addition to the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, the Head of the African Union Commission, Head of the African Development Bank and over ten Ministers.

The Forum outcome was the 2019 Aswan Conclusions which represents a roadmap over the next year and a basis for monitoring and evaluating the recommendations of the Forum and their implementation into practice.

Project Document

Impact

START DATE

August 2019

END DATE

December 2023

STATUS

Completed

PROJECT OFFICE

Egypt

IMPLEMENTING PARTNER

CA Intl Ctr for Peace

DONORS

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Banque Misr S.A.E.

Dept of Forgn Afrs Trade & Dev

EFG Hermes

EGY UNIFEM

Foreign,Commonwealth & Dev.Off.

GOVERNMENT OF SWEDEN

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION

UN Women

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS

$3,839,056

DELIVERY IN PREVIOUS YEARS

2019$993,177

2020$548,556

2021$813,440

2022$611,611

2023$143,482

Full Project information