On 27 November SIPRI and its partner organization, Conascipal, launched the Mali Civil Society and Peacebuilding Project with a seminar and press conference at the Centre International de Conférence Bamako (CICB) in Bamako, Mali.
SIPRI Senior Researcher and project head Elisabeth Sköns (pictured above, second from left) presented the main elements of the project, while Mariam Maiga, the director of Conascipal, presented the rationale for the project.
Mahamadou Niakaté, a former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Internal Security and Civil Protection and Chairman of the Police Reform Commission in Mali, presented a study on the conflicts in the Sahel, with an emphasis on the case of Mali.
Boubacar Bah, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Shared Governance Programme, and SIPRI Researcher Gaudence Nyirabikali gave presentations on the process on peacebuilding and reconciliation.
The seminar had some 50 participants and the event was covered in the Malian news media and on two Malian television channels.
Then, on 28–29 November, SIPRI organized a workshop in Bamako, hosted by Conascipal, to prepare for and provide training for the project field research, which will be carried out in December. Four teams of three field researchers will conduct focus group and individual interviews in Gao, Kidal, Timbuktu and Bamako.
The purpose of the field research is to collect information required for the development of a strategy for civil society’s participation in the peace process in Mali.
Read a short paper by Gaudence Nyirabikali: 'The importance of field research for civil society organizations’ peacebuilding strategies' (PDF).
For more information about SIPRI's Mali Project contact Helen Palmgren.