West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP)

Regional peacebuilding organization

Located in Accra with national network offices across the various West African states

Contact: Tel: +233 (0)302 411638; (0)302 406340, (0)302 426004, (0)302 408224. E-mail: wanep@wanep.org Website: wanep.org

Description

The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) is a leading Regional Peacebuilding organization founded in 1998 in response to civil wars that plagued West Africa in the 1990s. Over the years, WANEP has succeeded in establishing strong national networks in every Member State of ECOWAS with over 700 member organizations across West Africa. WANEP places special focus on collaborative approaches to conflict prevention, and peacebuilding, working with diverse actors from civil society, governments, intergovernmental bodies, women groups and other partners in a bid to establish a platform for dialogue, experience sharing and learning, thereby complementing efforts at ensuring sustainable peace and development in West Africa and beyond. In 2002, WANEP entered into a historic partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) an inter-governmental structure in the implementation of a regional early warning and response system (ECOWARN). A memorandum of understanding between WANEP and ECOWAS was signed in 2004 for five years, and has since been renewed for another 5 years. This partnership constitutes a major strategic achievement for WANEP and West Africa civil society as it offers the much desired opportunity to contribute to Track I response to conflicts and policy debates. At the continental level, WANEP is a member of the Peace and Security cluster of the African Union’s (AU) Economic, Social and Cultural Council –ECOSOCC representing West Africa. At international level, WANEP has a Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and is the West Africa Regional Representative of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). WANEP is the Chair of GPPAC. WANEP provides professional courses in conflict prevention and peacebuilding informed by several years of practice experience to governments, businesses, and practitioners throughout the sub-region and beyond. Underlying its work is a commitment to professionalism and a dedication to a world of mutual respect, tolerance and peace.

Willett, Frank. African Art. New ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002.

The art of the Fang, the BaTeke, the BaKota, and other African people sis extraordinarily vigorous and shows a brilliant sense of form. The substantial aesthetic impact that their works have had on the development of twentieth-century Western art - on Picasso, Derain, Braque, and Modigliani, among others - continues to this day. This classic study reveals the astonishing variety and expressive power of the art of a continent that contains more distinct peoples and cultures than any other. The revised edition has been updated throughout, incorporating recent research and additional illustrations, plus a new chapter and extended bibliography. It remains an invaluable resource for students and for anyone interested in African art.

[Source: Readerly].

William Kentridge

Artist (Drawing, print, sculpture)

Location: South Africa

‍kentridge.studio

Wizkid

Musician

Nigeria

www.wizkidofficial.com

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Wood, Geoffrey. “The South African Military in Transition”. Australian Journal of Political Science, 31(3), (1996) 387–400. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361149651111

This paper assesses the process of military restructuring in South Africa in the context of that country's negotiated transition. A number of key issues, ranging from the practicalities of the integration process to future defence doctrines, are explored. It is concluded that the restructuring in the military has mirrored the process of elite pacting between key sociopolitical actors. On the one hand, this has ensured the stability of the transition. On the other, radical restructuring has been deferred, and the organisational structures of the former South African Defence Force retained. While a reduction of force levels is planned, the military has rapidly expanded in the past five years.

Source: article abstract

Woods, Dwayne. "State Action and Class Interests in the Ivory Coast." African Studies Review 31, no. 1 (1988): 93-116. doi:10.2307/524585.

The Ivory Coast's economic development and political stability in the past thirty years have sparked divergent opinions. Some see it as a model for other African nations, highlighting the positive impact of incentives for rural producers and a liberal investment code on sustained economic growth, according to the World Bank. The country experienced a seven percent annual growth rate between 1960 and 1975. Critics, however, argue that the economic crisis reveals the limitations of the liberal economic model adopted by the Ivorian political elite. There's no consensus on whether this approach benefited the majority of Ivorians or made the country overly dependent on Western nations for capital and technology. The role of the Ivorian state is central, with its function varying depending on the analytical perspective. Nevertheless, its pivotal role in the last three decades is indisputable, and the debate centres on whose interests the state serves: the Ivorian peasant, as mall planter bourgeoisie, or the bureaucratic elite itself.

Source: adapted from article's abstract culled from Cambridge.org

Wright, Marcia. “African History in the 1960’s: Religion.” African Studies Review 14, no. 3 (1971):439–45. https://doi.org/10.2307/523775.

Of all the “subfields” of African history, religion is in the most preliminary condition. It is also, in all probability, the most difficult to treat in an orderly fashion, owing to the constant spillover in toother areas generally regarded to be more pre-emptive in modern historiography. Our task in isolating religion as a subfield entails in part an operation of retrieval from political, social, and intellectual sectors of the discipline. Problems of definition must also be tackled. Are we primarily concerned with religion in history or the history of religion? Where is the cut-off mark in considering myth, ritual, and other phenomena that are related, but not at all times central, to religion?

(Source: Extract of article culled from https://www.cambridge.org)

Yaëlle Biro

Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

Sector: Art

Location: USA

Level of Influence: International

https://univ-paris1.academia.edu/Ya%C3%ABlleBiro

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