International Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Peace Education and Conflict Management and Resolution Conference, Accra 2011

Ghana Association of Certified Mediators and Arbitrators (GHACMA)

And

The Center for African Peace & Conflict Resolution,CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

Present

The Third International Africa Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference on:
ADR AND PEACE STUDIES IN AFRICA, 15 YEARS LATER: LESSONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

JULY 26‐28, 2011

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and related conflict resolution programmes emerged in Africa in the mid 1990s, followed by peace studies in the 2000s. During the said periods, many government and educational institutions and non‐governmental organizations have been created in different parts of Africa; various related programs and projects have been developed or implemented, and certain enabling legislations, policies and institutions created. However, there is paucity of knowledge or research on the key lessons and networking prospects of these various peace and conflict resolution initiatives and their effectiveness in reducing conflicts, increasing peace and development, and promoting social justice.

This 3rd international meeting, following earlier meetings in 1998 in Accra and 2008 in Addis Ababa, will attempt to fill the void by identifying the best practices or lessons of current programs, projects and initiatives and assessing gains or progress achieved; it will also examine the state and nature of regional network in peace building and propose future directions. Filling the current void will provide opportunity for self assessment and reflection among advocates, practitioners and scholars, analysis of common practices and experiences, and ensure sustainability of emergent popularity and promise of peace studies and conflict resolution projects in Africa.

The meeting will also facilitate regional networking and development of common standards of ethics for ADR and/or conflict resolution practice and training as well as articulate evaluation benchmarks. In your abstract, please include your title, 100 word descriptions of your data, key findings and recommendations, plus your institution/organization and contact details.

CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadline for submission of Abstracts
May 2, 2011.
Send proposals to: uwazieee@csus.edu

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS
Only online submissions will be accepted.


Abstracts must be 100 words and should include your title, description of your data, key findings and recommendations as well as your institution/organization with which you are affiliated or identified.

Submissions must be in MS Word.
Font style: Calibri body.
Font size: 12 with double spacing.

Early submission is strongly encouraged.
Please endeavor to use the same email address for all correspondence.

Full Papers
Papers must be of of 15‐20 pages, including illustrations/tables and references.

Interactive Presentations
An interactive presentation, for the purposes of this conference, is either a photographic presentation or a video‐graphic presentation. Some researches are easily adapted to this style, especially in the area of case studies and role plays. If your presentation is in this category, please indicate it in your proposal and also indicate what accessory it may require.

Panel Sessions
Proposals for panel discussions must, in addition to satisfying the requirements for abstracts and paper presentations, include a 50 – 75 word rationale to appear in the conference programme, participant’s name and their background information. The rationale should explain the importance of the topic and why it is of interest to participants.The panel members you propose must agree in advance of submission to
participate as panel presenters AND to register for the conference.
Please note that this conference has not established registration waivers.

Ethical Considerations
Authorship: Authors must give credit through references or notes to the original author of any idea or concept presented in the paper or proposal. This includes direct quotations and paraphrases.

Publication or presentation history: If material in your presentation has been published, presented, or accepted for publication or presentation, this must be disclosed in your paper or proposal. And note that depending on the decision of the reviewers, this may render your material ineligible.

Conference attendance: If your panel, paper, or interactive display presentation is accepted for this conference, you have a commitment to register for and attend the conference and perform your assigned role. All chairs and respondents also make this commitment. If extenuating circumstances prevent you from attending, please find a substitute to perform your duties and notify the organisers through the contacts given in this Call for Papers.

Conference Registration fee: US$100
The fee caters for space, refreshments, supplies/materials, and logistics/arrangements.

Hotel/Lodging: Accra (to be determined).
Participants are responsible for their travel costs and arrangements. Travel grants for researchers from soft‐ currency countries are yet to be established.

Paper Distribution
Select papers will be published in a post –conference /follow‐up book project.
For the conference, we will have a CD‐based paper distribution system. All conference registrants, as part of their fees, will have automatic access to all papers from the conference. Papers distributed will be those submitted/accepted during the review process. Non‐attendees should contact the conference organisers
on how to obtain copies of the papers after the conference at a fee. Fees will be used to support some conference needs.

Submission of Papers, Rights, and Agreement
By submitting papers, abstracts, author names, diagrams, and other data (the “submission”) to the conference organisers for inclusion in the 2011 conference, authors understand that they become part of an agreement between the organisers of the conference, CAPCR and GHACMA, and stipulates as follows:
As part of the conference, this submission may be included and/or made available in an online conference website, printed conference documents, or other online or electronic media. After the conference, accepted submissions will be archived and distributed as a participating submission of the PCR conference.

Authors grant certain rights and privileges to CAPCR and GHACMA.
Authors grant to CAPCR and GHACMA, a nonexclusive, royalty‐free, transferable license to reproduce, distribute, create derivative works from, publicly perform, and publicly display the submission in all
languages, in whole or in part, to end users through a direct online or relicense or sale of information products, including but not limited to all formats of magnetic digital, CD‐ROM, tape, online hosts, Internet services, and other electronic, laser, or optical media or other formats now known or hereafter discovered.

CAPCR and GHACMA shall have the right to register copyright to the submission and the accompanying abstract in their name as claimant as part of the conference proceedings or other medium in which such submission is included. An author submitting a paper to this conference retains the right to publish this work in a journal or other publication without limitation by CAPCR or GHACMA or other affiliates.

Co‐sponsors/Partners:
Institute of Peace & Conflict Resolution, Abuja, Nigeria
Peace and Conflict Studies Programme, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Negotiation Conflict Management Group, Nigeria
West African Research Center, Senegal
Search for Common Ground, Liberia
Kofi Annan Institute of Peace & Conflict Transformation, University of Liberia
Peace and Conflict Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone
Centre for Conflict Resolution, University of Cape Town, South Africa
ACCORD, South Africa
Center for Conflict Resolution (CECORE), Uganda
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Kenya
Ethiopia Dispute Resolution Association, Addis Ababa
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐More‐‐‐‐‐

CONTACTS
USA
Prof. Ernest Uwazie
uwazieee@csus.edu
www.csus.edu/org/capcr

GHANA
Mr. Saeed Musah‐Khaleepha
saeed@ghacma.org
www.ghacma.org


Topics
Presentations are invited from all areas of experience and case studies of alternative dispute resolution and peace studies at/by governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations, educational institutions, Chambers of Commerce and Election Commissions among several others.

Thematic Areas include and not limited to the following:

1. Governance Disputes
Including political disputes, government administration/ civil service disputes and
electoral/election disputes

2. Extractive Industries Disputes
Including mining, oil and gas and quarrying

3. Commercial Disputes
Including employment and labour relations

4. Cultural/Ethnic Disputes
Including chieftaincy issues and succession, community and indigenous
justice systems

5. Construction Disputes

6. Property/Assets Disputes
Including land disputes

7. Family Disputes
Including marriage and divorce, child custody and inheritance disputes

8. Peace Education
Peace education as part of the curriculum of educational institutions and peace
education in institutions and to the larger public

9. Mainstreaming ADR:
Including judicial justice reform, challenges, Lessons and the way forward,
ADR legislations and legislations that give room for ADR

10. National Reconciliation and Transitional Justice

11. Gender

12. Human Rights

13. Youth non‐violence and leadership

14. Disability issues

15. Building a culture of Peace and its sustainability
Including national architectures for peace, the role of peace councils and civil society and non‐governmental organisations

16. Crisis Response and national security concerns.
Including the role of the Red Cross/Crescent organizations, disaster
management and other relief efforts

17. Trends in the usage of ADR Mechanisms

18. Congregational/Religious Disputes
Including intra‐faith and inter‐faith disputes

19. Security interventions and armed conflicts
Including declaration of state of emergencies and imposition of curfews,
peacekeeping operations and Deescalation, Disarmament and Reintegration
(DDR) efforts

The conference will be divided into four sessions comprising ADR, Peace Education, Conflict Interventions and Allied Fields respectively.

Special Workshops
Subject to available resources and personnel
special workshops will be held in the following
areas:
1. ADR in electoral disputes;
2. Kidnapping and hostage negotiation;
3. ADR in Oil and gas cases.

The Potential of ADR - Jammeh

President Yahya Jammeh shares his view on the potentials of ADR.
I reproduce below, parts of the text for those who may have difficulty accessing the link.
Happy reading, and I hope you would not be distracted by title(s) of the President.
SMK.


Banjul — The Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya AJJ Jammeh, has said that Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has the potential of promoting accord and peace among people living together as neighbours; thus forester national peace.


These remarks of the president were contained in a statement read on his behalf by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Aja Marie Saine-Firdaus yesterday during the opening ceremony of the two-day ADR conference in Paradise Suits Hotel. The purpose of the conference is to sensitise stakeholders and the general public about the potential benefits ADR possesses in solving disputes.

According to President Jammeh, apart from having considerable support from his administration, the phenomenon of ADR is very much in tune with our traditional justice delivery system which have been in existence well before the coming of colonisation in this country and has been used successfully to settle disputes in our respective communities. ?Experience has shown that our formal justice delivery system has left much to be desired in justice delivery in The Gambia. Court proceedings are slow, time consuming and costly due to inordinate delays in the proceedings and processes,? he said.


He added that having possed all the key essential ingredients that underpinned access to justice, the ADR mechanism will provide a useful alternative to more formal justice delivery system which is plagued with backlog of cases dragging on for a long time. ?This will in turn contribute meaningfully to reducing backlog of cases and turn around time for judgement in the conventional courts. The facilities provided through the ADR are comparatively cheaper than filing a civil suit in court. The ADR structure is not as rigid as those implemented by the courts and the terminology used is easily understood by all parties involved. Therefore, it is believed that ADR will find favour with the majority of people living in the provinces,? he said.


President Jammeh then highlighted the importance his government attaches towards nurturing the mechanisms of the ADR, noting that its means of conflict resolution should be encouraged and constantly nurtured so that capacities of those dealing with conflict resolution would be broadened and in turn benefit parties involved. He then welcomed all hands on deck to make the facilities of the ADR accessible to all.