Project description

Title: Support for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Africa, transnational; headquarters: Bujumbura, Burundi, with a branch office in Nairobi, Kenya
Lead executing agency: Executive Secretariat of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) / Conférence internationale pour la Région des Grands Lacs (CIRGL)
Overall term: 2004 to 2014

Context

Civil wars, failed states and refugee disasters have for many years scarred the African Great Lakes region, and are hampering its social and economic development. Complex conflicts are unquestionably impacting across national borders, and are characterised by their many different actors and interests. The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) laid down the supraregional preconditions for peace and development in the “Pact on Stability, Security and Development” concluded in December 2006 between eleven states – DR Congo, its nine neighbours and Kenya. During years of consultation, the signatory states agreed on common urgent problem areas and approaches to solving them. This enabled even the most controversial issues between member states to be explored and made the subject of agreements.

In 2007, a permanent ICGLR secretariat was established in Bujumbura, Burundi, and national coordination mechanisms tasked with implementing the pact were set up in member states. However, these institutions do not yet possess sufficient skills and experience to implement the pact’s provisions and thus establish the prerequisites for lasting stability and development.

Objective

The national coordination mechanisms and the conference secretariat fulfil their purpose, and the pact’s core initiatives begin to bear fruit.

Approach

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ), GIZ is supporting the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in implementing initiatives to promote peace, stability and development. Regional and transnational cooperation is intended to control the causes and triggers of violent conflict in the eleven member states.

Promotional components comprise:

• enhancing the capacity of the conference secretariat and national coordination mechanisms
• helping to implement regional initiative to control the trade in conflict commodities
• helping to implement regional development measures that promote peace in the Great Lakes region.

Results achieved so far

The project has significantly increased the efficiency of the ICGLR institutions that have been established in the first two years. Priorities and procedures for implementing ICGLR projects have been documented in a strategic activity plan. All four action programmes defined in the pact are already being implemented. The support provided has enabled the executive secretariat to hold regular ministerial meetings and summits of the heads of government and, via this network, contribute to overcoming crises such as that in eastern Congo in 2008/2009.

Support for regional initiatives is still in its infancy. The project has facilitated field research into the illegal trading in raw materials in order to document the existing activities of member states. Based on this study’s recommendations, national coordinators and experts agreed on measures for the pilot phase of this regional initiative, which also received high-profile support in the L’Aquila G8 summit declaration (Article 131c) in June 2009. The project has promoted exchanges with regional economic communities. Planned cooperation with the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (Communauté Economique des Pays des Grands Lacs – CEPGL) has also been enshrined in a memorandum of understanding, a fact that will significantly speed up the implementation of regional development measures in the heart of the African Great Lakes region.

Further information

• International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)
  Conférence internationale pour la Région des Grands Lacs (CIRGL)
  http://www.icglr.org