Location

Cameroon (Far North and North region)

Chad (Provinces du Lac and Hadjer-Lamis)

Niger (Diffa)

Nigeria (Borno, Yobe, Adama States)

UNDP Regional PVE Project, jointly with the UNDP Global Programme on Strengthening the Rule of Law and Human Rights for Sustaining Peace and Fostering Development, guided the establishment of a Civil Society Organizations-led Network on Inclusive Reintegration in the Lake Chad Basin. This sub-regional Network, officially launched in June 2021 in Abuja, and closely aligned to and embedded within the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) Regional Stabilization Strategy, lies under a coordination framework of the LCBC Civil Society Platform to operationalize the pillar 3 of the Strategy .

This initiative builds on the recommendations from the UNDP-CSO Reintegration Symposium of November 2018, which mapped best practices of CSO-led reintegration efforts in Africa and sent a unified appeal to form an African-wide civil society network to reinforce the quality of programming through better building on and sharing existing good practices and lessons learned in the field. The sub-regional Network on Inclusive Reintegration represents the first chapter of the Africa continental-wide CSO Network – Peace by Africa – which aims to facilitate technical capacities and enhance south-south collaboration across community-based organizations engaged in Community-based Reconciliation and Reintegration (CBRR) and PVE. This Network of CSOs based in communities in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria aims to broaden the civic space and create stronger societal alliances, and enhance offline and online cooperation to improve the efficacy of community-led reintegration practices.

Since its inception the LBC CSO chapter has achieved the following results:

• Instituted an inclusive governance structure consisting of 10 core member CSOs, of which 4 of them also serve as interlocking Country Focal Points, with 61 grassroot-level CSOs with experience in CBR in the Lake Chad Basin territories.
• Conducting capacity assessment and capacity building support led by the country focal points in the subregional LCB network through organized trainings on community-based reintegration strategies, advocacy, human rights, DDR, psychosocial support and trauma healing and reconciliation efforts to the membership of the network and with external stakeholders.
• As part of the continental vision, the broader network has launched a digital and bi-lingual platform www.peacebyafrica.com, which provides a virtual infrastructure to enhance knowledge sharing, a peer-to-peer community of practice for local-based CSOs research and a resource platform.
• Influencing regional and national level policy and programming through the subregional LCB network’s engagement with the four UNDP country offices and the RSS Stabilization teams to serve as an extended arm in advocacy and programmatic efforts led by UNDP on CBR. Network members also participated in a consultative process to inform the development of the regional CBR policy to foster a common approach to community-based reconciliation and reintegration across the affected territories.
• Ensured commitment and continuous engagement of CSOs beyond the official closure of the pilot phase in December 2021 building on the momentum has carried over into 2022 with continued online and offline meetings in the subregional LCB network, information and best practice sharing and joint regional advocacy among the Network members, often relying on self-funding of the activities
• Advocacy on CSO: The LCBC CSO network was with support from UNDP participated in the Paris Peace Forum on 11-12 November and had a speaking role in the side-event on “Peace by the People: Involving Civil Society in Conflict Resolution”, as an opportunity to present key results of the network to date and to strengthen visibility of the network, build and leverage partnership and alliances and knowledge sharing.

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