Operating Principles
- Local ownership of peacebuilding processes. Those who directly or indirectly are involved in a conflict situation are critical to peacebuilding efforts. Third party must ensure that they are empowered to make decisions and not making decisions for them. WANEP's strategy is to locate, empower, support and accompany local actors as they respond to conflicts of their communities.
- Peacebuilding is a process not an event. It can be gradual or rapid depending on the nature of the conflict and the personalities of the parties. All this must be consider as we set goals and form expectations.
- Reconciliation is at the heart of peacebuilding. Peacebuilding is about repairing broken human relationships. It includes empowering victims to work for the healing of their trauma, increasing the awareness of the perpetrators to take responsibility for their actions and facilitating communication amongst the two sectors that will restore both their humanity and relationships.
- Collaborative peacebuilding. Peacebuilding is about complementarity and not duplication; about collaboration and not competition. WANEP's strategy focuses on mobilizing actors to clearly delineate their roles, responsibilities, strengths and limitations and evolve a coordinated and harmonized response to any conflict and process of change.
- People and their transformation are crucial to peacebuilding. Transformation instead of ad hoc management or resolution of conflict is at the core of WANEP's philosophy. We believe people are the agents of their own change. Conversion instead of manipulation or coercion is central to WANEP's transformative philosophy. WANEP targets people's attitude, understanding, behavior, interest, culture, and context for transformation.
- Peacebuilding is a call to commitment and not to a career. Sacrifice and endurance are the intangible fortresses that guide WANEP.
- Peacebuilding is strategic and requires long-term commitment and flexibility. It cultivates imagination where immediate reactive tendencies are prevalent. It leads protagonists to look beyond their problems and see a future. Envisioning is the strategy that WANEP initiates as first entry in any conflict situation.
- Understanding the root causes of conflict is key to any intervention. Beginning with an in depth assessment of all conflict situations is the strategy.
- Inclusiveness in response by involving all actors and stakeholders. There are many different actors, instruments, and systems that affect the peace of a relationship, community and society. Bringing all actors on-board and planning with the whole picture in mind is critical.
- Keeping the process simple . Conflicts already lead to confusion and bewilderment. By helping the parties to respond gradually in a less complicated fashion removes the fear that conflicts especially intractable conflicts are insurmountable
- Respect for the dignity of any and every person irrespective of sexual, religious, or cultural orientation is the bedrock of human relationships. Peacebuilding is about demonstrating reverence and appreciation for our common humanity and living with our differences.
- Accountability. Our first line of accountability is to those who are the beneficiaries of our intervention. The source of WANEP's legitimacy is the members and the communities we serve. We ensure that our reports are sensitive to the needs of this audience.
- The second group is the partners who support us financially and the third includes all interested parties in the work of peacebuilding.
- Solidarity. African traditions and values impel us to see beyond our territories and give a hand to any human being in need, especially a fellow African. Problems are never individual's they are communal.
- Cost effectiveness. We work in a cost effective way.
