“The Angola Country Program Lessons Identified Seminar (LIS) took place in Luanda, Angola,on 01 and 02 October 2008. The overall goal of the seminar was to create a forum for sharing of experiences, analysis, and reflections by various stakeholders working in different sectors of peacebuilding in Angola. The seminar also aimed to evaluate peacebuilding and reconciliation processes that have been implemented in Angola since the end of the civil war in 2002. The richness
of the discussions ranged from the variety of
themes presented to the broad representation of national and grass-roots institutions.
The overall assessment based on the analysis and debates that unfolded during the two-day seminar in Luanda provide useful information about the current state of affairs in terms of peacebuilding in Angola as well as direction for future action plans. One of the conclusions from the seminar was that Angola is in transition from conflict, and that there are institutional actors that are playing an important role in the different peacebuilding tasks. However, the challenges for a deep transformation of Angolan society are still quite formidable. The priority areas for the next five years therefore
centre around three Bs: better mechanisms of
dialogue and coordination of activities between the various stakeholders in the field; better and systematic evaluation of the various programs and projects on the ground; and better commitment for understanding the complexities of the Angolan
transition without ignoring the examples and lessons from other post-conflict transitions in Africa.This report ends with some recommendations that could be the basis for a renewed commitment to Angola.”
