This event will take place at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. 

The 2018 Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP) Conference will be held from 16-19 July at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. This year, the theme of the conference is “National, Regional, and Global Infrastructures for Peace in Africa.” Participants in the conference will comprise mostly heads of organizations and senior officials from the SVNP, along with external stakeholders and practitioners from Africa and beyond. The conference will include both private and public sessions on topics related to the overall theme. Panel discussions will explore the nature, scale, and scope of the infrastructures in place for peacebuilding at the national, regional, and global levels; evaluate the extent to which they are functioning; and, provide best practices and ways forward for building off of or reforming current infrastructures.

Join us on Tuesday, 17 July, for a session on “The Changing Nature of Elections in Africa: Impact on Peacebuilding.” Discussants will share perspectives on elections in Africa, including key challenges to consolidating democracy. They will also explore the link between elections and peacebuilding; assess how elections are considered as a part of the larger peacebuilding frameworks; and, consider the development of elections on the continent and share lessons learned and best practices on their changing nature. This session will focus on sharing concrete recommendations for improving and safeguarding the integrity of elections in Africa, and for ensuring stronger and more effective integration into peacebuilding efforts.

The Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP) is a continent-wide network of 22 African policy and research organizations that works with the Africa Program to bring African analyses and perspectives to key issues in U.S.-Africa relations. Funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York since 2011, the project provides avenues for African researchers to engage with, inform, and exchange perspectives with U.S. and international policymakers in order to develop the most appropriate, cohesive, and inclusive policy frameworks for the issues of peacebuilding and state-building in Africa.