Country/region: Burkina Faso
Conflict: Ethnic conflicts
Organisation: West Africa Network for Peacebuilding
Field of work: Early Warning Systems, conflict analysis and prevention
Boris Somé is the National Network Coordinator for WANEP-Burkina Faso. The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding is the leading regional civil society organization in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. It was conceived in 1996, and officially launched in 1998 in response to the civil wars, instabilities and humanitarian crises that plagued West Africa in the 1990s. Over the past 15 years, WANEP has succeeded in establishing strong national networks in every Member State of ECOWAS, with over 500 member organizations working in peacebuilding across West Africa. The focal action area of WANEP is conflict prevention and peacebuilding within the framework of human security. Unlike many CSOs who take on an “activist approach” WANEP has chosen to function as a professional partner to civil society groups, governments and inter-governmental bodies in joint research, development, implementation and review of solutions to peace and security threats in the region. By this approach, WANEP is able to co-create and implement with these partners, field-tested mechanisms, structures, and capacity development programs in peacebuilding and conflict prevention to CSOs, government and state institutions, business owners and other local actors and stakeholders towards reducing and eliminating the occurrence, frequency, escalation and severity of violent conflict.
WANEP is also a member of the Peace and Security Cluster of the African Union ECOSOCC. At the international level, WANEP has a special consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC and is the West Africa Regional Representative of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)
A major strength of WANEP is its strategic partnership with ECOWAS since 2002 in the Early Warning and Response Mechanism. WANEP has been highly instrumental in the development and operationalization of ECOWAS Early Warning System, ECOWARN, and accounts for the significant role CSOs and communities play in early warning data collection and analysis in West Africa.
Mr. Boris Somé is a young peace and conflict management expert with in-depth knowledge of African security challenges and its consequences on development issues, particularly in the conflict-weakened region of West Africa. He has extensive knowledge in West African Civil society and early warning and response mechanisms. He has extensive knowledge in Conflict Analysis, Peace Advocacy and Conflict prevention mechanisms in the sub-region. He is an experienced trainer in policy advocacy, networking and alliance building, conflict analysis and management, mediation and negotiation as well in CVE. Through his leadership, WANEP-Burkina played a tremendous role in the post-uprising Burkina. Indeed WANEP-Burkina organized national consultation (before the coup d’Etat) and national dialogue (after the coup) to promote dialogue and facilitate debates on the issue of democratic transition in Burkina Faso. WANEP-Burkina played a significant role in mitigating electoral violence through its national early warning and early response system. WANEP-Burkina is currently in the process to partner with the High council of reconciliation and national unity (HCRUN) through the “Supporting multi-stakeholder dialogue for reconciliation and resilience in Burkina Faso” project. The peacebuilding organization is still looking for other partners to implement such an ambitious project.