COVID-19 has brought forth significant challenges to peace processes on the African continent, threatening to erode hard won peacebuilding and development gains. African governments and their partners have struggled to adapt to the multi-layered implications of the pandemic. Nonetheless, Africa has also witnessed some progress in advancing peace processes in post-conflict settings. Such progress underscores the imperative for recalibrating international, continental and national efforts towards building and sustaining peace through concerted reconstruction and development engagements. It also provides an opportunity for strengthening national and local ownership of peacebuilding processes, which is made all the more pressing by significant cuts in peacebuilding funding.

This session will take stock of lessons learned and best practices from peacebuilding efforts exerted by international, continental and national actors in African post-peace agreement settings. In that vein, it will discuss the potential role of the newly established AU Center for Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development in Cairo (AUC PCRD), as the provider of relevant expertise on policy and programming options to the AU, including its contribution towards strengthening coherence among relevant African actors and external partners, mobilizing funding, supporting capacity building and advancing innovative and evidence-based programming. To this end, the deliberations will address enhancing synergies and collaboration between the AU, the UN, including the peacebuilding architecture, international and regional financial institutions, and other partners, in support of the national priorities set out by the countries concerned.