National Peace and Reconciliation Forum

Social and Human Development Consultancy Group (SAHDCG)

The National Peace and Reconciliation Forum is a Sudanese initiative designed to ensure the promote peace and reconciliation in Sudan. The initiative grew out of a consultation organised by Concordis International that took place May 25th-27th 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya, where participants achieved a level of consensus on a number of pertinent issues. Participants, including senior policy makers from North and South Sudan, committed themselves to establish a forum to ensure implementation of the recommendations stemming from the consultation.

In a major contribution to supporting the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), a secretariat and steering committee are coordinating a program of policy level consultations to enhance key national level CPA processes. The consultations are informed by established Sudanese analysts from the North and South, and seeking to engage Sudanese policy makers at the highest level to establish and consider consensus based policy options.

The forum aims to culminate in establishing the Peace and Reconciliation Committee as stipulated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In doing so, forum activities, from full scale consultations to targeted private meetings and technical support, also feed into and enhance other CPA processes such as border demarcation (North-South and within and across the States).

The project brings together policy makers, CSOs, academics, and friends of Sudan to facilitate resolution of key issues pertinent to stability in the interim period and beyond. Concordis is providing technical, logistical, and financial support to a steering committee tasked with coordinating the forum. The steering committee coordinates activities, selects venues, substantive issues, and participants, and involves groups from North and South Sudan, as well as the regions.