Political Development Forum

Whole of Society Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding (WOSCAP)

WOSCAP is a project that includes multiple partner institutions world-wide, including both academics and practitioners, that aims at enhancing the capabilities of the EU to implement conflict prevention and peacebuilding interventions through sustainable, comprehensive and innovative civilian means.

The project assessed capabilities, and identified gaps, best practices, lessons learned and research priorities, through a community practice and dialogue forums, it also gathered together policymakers, civilian and military practitioners, academic experts and the beneficiaries of EU interventions. who tailored a set of recommendations on the policy priorities and information and communication technologies needed for effective civilian conflict prevention.

One of the most important outcomes of the Development Forum’s participation in this program is the study of the Yemeni case presented by the team of researchers formed by the Political Development Forum on March 22, 2017. The Political Development Forum also organized a policy roundtable in Sana’a during July 2017, this policy roundtable additionally focused on discussing recommendations for the EU to improve its engagement in peacebuilding in Yemen, among those who attended the policy roundtable were Yemeni policymakers and civil society actors who spoke critically about the European Union’s interventions in Yemen over the past period.

To learn more about the WOSCAP world-wide project

https://www.woscap.eu

Strengthening inclusive local governance

The Political Development Forum, in partnership with the German Berghof Foundation and the German International Cooperation Agency GIZ, is implementing a project to strengthen comprehensive local governance and build peace in Yemen. This project is (part of the program to support stability in Yemen) funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Foundation Berghof implements the project in partnership with the Political Development Forum in Yemen and close cooperation with GIZ, which implements a separate but closely related project that forms part of the overall project to support stability in three Yemeni governorates Hadhramaut, Al Mahra and Dhamar Governorates.

The project’s overall objective is to support stabilization in three selected governorates in Yemen: Hadhramaut, Dhamar (Project Phase I), and Al Mahra (Project Phase II). The project supports an inclusive consultative committee in each governorate that complements the existing administrative setup and advises the governors on development and peacebuilding needs and priorities. In cooperation with GIZ, these committees also act as the steering committees for small project grants implemented by district authorities with support from GIZ.

In addition, the project supports local peace initiatives in the three project governorates. It facilitates discussions and the uptake of evidence at international and national levels to generate political support for more effective and inclusive local governance in Yemen.

Project Stakeholders

The project works to communicate and coordinate with local and international actors interested in and working on local governance issues in Yemen. Namely local authority officials and consultative committee members (including members of local councils, representatives of political parties, prominent social figures, businessmen, tribal leaders, women, youth, and civil society activists). At the international level, there is close coordination and work with the project partner, GIZ, and coordination with other international actors, such as the United Nations Development Programme, funded by the European Union in a similar project.

Project Activities

1 Engaging key officials

• Creating policy support requires informal discussions with governors and authorities at the national level. Through informal conversations and meetings with central government officials in Sanaa and Aden and governors and governorate-level officials will accompany other activities throughout the project’s life.
• Workshops in Sana’a and Aden: The project holds workshops to discuss issues related to local governance in Yemen during the project period.
• International workshops: International workshops were held at the international level to bring together local authority officials in the governorates and the center and international donors to ensure that support for local government in Yemen remains on the international agenda.
• Local dialogue meetings: The project provides a space for discussions between officials at the district and governorate levels about the challenges facing local government while seeking to develop concrete strategies to address them. These advisory committee meetings are held within their activities on a monthly basis in the three governorates.
• Research papers and policy papers: The project provides updated information about local governance in Yemen to international stakeholders and contributes to broader discussions about supporting stability by conducting some studies and papers, in addition to establishing an electronic platform that provides scientific and technical materials about local governance in Yemen, collected from various sources. It can be accessed via the project link.

2 Support Consultative Structures

• The project supported the establishment of a consultative committee in each governorate. This committee formed a representative group of local councils, representatives of the main political and social parties, social figures, businessmen, tribal leaders, women, youth, and civil society activists.
• The project supports regular meetings for the consultative committees, which focus their meetings on analyzing local conflicts, which in turn destabilize the governorates. It also identifies mechanisms for conflict prevention and mediation processes.
• On the other hand, and within the specific roles of the consultative committees, they work with the GIZ in determining local development priorities by communicating with the districts in the governorates in which the project works to submit their needs to determine the activities in which they will intervene after conducting comparisons and evaluations of these needs using bigger grants between 5000 to 50000 USD.

3 Support peace and mediation activities

• The project supports peace and mediation initiatives led by consultative committees in its governorate. It identifies community conflicts that have caused communities to be deprived of access to basic services in the selected governorates.
• The project provides small grants (five thousand dollars) to develop immediate solutions to conflicts resolved through consultative committees. Committees have also resolved many community conflicts related to development services. For example, rehabilitating water networks, providing necessary medical equipment to stalled health facilities, completing stalled construction works, or compensating damaged objects to consolidate mediation gains carried out by consultative committees.
• The project mobilizes and calls on local communities to assume their responsibilities and contribute to providing the necessary materials and resources to complete stalled or disputed projects through continuous and direct communication with the business sector and prominent social figures in the project’s areas of work.

4 Capacity Building

Among the project’s activities is working to raise capabilities in three tracks. The first track: raising the capabilities of advisory committees by funding training programs in local development, conflict resolution and mediation, project management, and writing so that they can carry out their common tasks and responsibilities with the project. The second track is raising the capabilities of civil society organizations by providing training programs in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and local development. The third track is providing training programs for local authority structures in the selected governorates on the topics presented for project management

To learn more information about the project, you can visit the project website

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