Institute for Democratic Governance

The Institute for Democratic Governance, through the Africa Transitional Legacy Fund, has partnered with the Department of Political Affairs at the African Union Commission (AUC), to organize the first of a series of regional meetings to launch an implementation strategy for the recently adopted AU Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP) and initiate discussions around the framework. The AUTJP is a continental policy aimed at providing guidance to the African Union (AU) Member States emerging from violent conflict, war and repressive governance. The Policy is meant to, among other things, support Member States to develop their own context specific and comprehensive policies, strategies and programmes towards achieving democratic and socio-economic transformation, sustainable peace, justice, reconciliation, social cohesion and healing.

The regional workshops are therefore intended to popularize the policy among all the different stakeholders for effective implementation. The significance of this popularization and awareness creation on the AUTJP will ensure a clear action plan that encourages joint priority setting for all stakeholders to coordinate transitional justice initiatives and shared objectives at a national and regional level with context specificity, inclusivity and gender mainstreaming.

In partnership with the African Union Department of Political Affairs, the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), through the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF) will host a high-level panel discussion on implementation strategies for the African Union Transitional Justice Policy in advance of the official launch of the policy. Senior government officials, African Union representatives, officials from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and representatives from the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights will attend this discussion. The objective is to develop a consensus on the best ways to use the AUTJP, and to discuss efforts to integrate the policy in national and regional frameworks. This conversation and its outcomes will set the tone for the launch and civil society convening that will be held a day later.

The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) was founded in 2000, to contribute to the establishment of just and free societies in the West Africa sub-region. Established at a time of growing public interest in the advancement of democracy and good governance in previously authoritarian, turbulent, and fragile regimes, IDEG has earned a reputation for cultivating resources for democracy and development through technical assistance to governments, capacity building of civil society, and responsive and solution-oriented strategies for citizen participation. With grant resources from MacArthur and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, IDEG is administering a new Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund designed to strengthen the capacity of a cohort of civil society groups to advocate for justice through continental, regional and national transitional justice policies that address the needs of victims of atrocity crimes and war-affected populations in West Africa.