News
/ Research
Publication: "CEWARN’s Strategy Framework and Civil Society Partnership: Lessons for early-warning and response systems"
The mandate of the Conflict Early Warning and Response Network (CEWARN) is to detect and respond timeously to the potential escalation of violent conflicts in the member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa. Michael Aeby's article reviews the implementation of CEWARN’s partnerships with civil society organisations (CSOs) for data collection, analysis and response.
Abstract
After focusing on pastoralist conflicts in three cross-border areas for ten years, the Conflict Early Warning and Response Network (CEWARN) adopted an ambitious new Strategy Framework in 2012. The strategy transformed CEWARN into a system to detect and respond timeously to the potential escalation of violent conflicts that may be triggered by economic, environmental, governance, security and social matters in all member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Besides expanding the thematic and geographical range, the strategy enhanced CEWARN’s partnership with civil society, which was initiated by the pioneering CEWARN Protocol in 2002. This article reviews the implementation of CEWARN’s partner-ships with civil society organisations (CSOs) for data collection, analysis and response under the current Strategy Framework. It identifies outstanding challenges and lessons for (inter)governmental conflict early-warning and response systems (CEWRS).
