The short courses program is designed to deal with the role of the private sector in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding. The course is part of building the capacity of the business sector in general and its engagement in peacebuilding activities in particular. The short course
targeted business executives who are influential in their sector and who can inspire and influence others working in the realm of business to engage in peacebuilding and mainstream peace in their business architecture. The program’s overall goal is to engage the business sector in peacebuilding and good governance issues in Ethiopia. The first course was held from 21-25 September 2022 at Bishoftu. The course welcomed middle-level managers, business executives, and representatives from private banks, corporations, business chambers as well as private business persons. Initiative Africa (IA), Institute for Peace & Security Studies (IPSS)-Addis Ababa University, Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) and Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI) are participating organizations.

The Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (ENDC) held a consultative meeting on Friday 26 August 2022 at its headquarters with Initiative Africa (IA) and the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral Associations on the role of the private sector in National Dialogue.IA presented to the ENDC some of the various activities it has been undertaking to date in collaboration with multiple stakeholders: business for a peace fellowship, national business-peace index, intensive peacebuilding course for business executives, capacity building for women business leaders, awareness-raising dialogues and e-learning packages for regional and national chambers of commerce and sectoral associations on National Dialogue.

IA also presented key information in the online resource center (National Dialogue Resource Center) it has exclusively built for National Dialogue-related matters in Ethiopia. Ready to be officially launched soon, the virtual center is designed to be a go-to hub of National Dialogue-related resources that will be freely accessible to the Commission, would-be dialogue participants, facilitators, the media, the public, researchers, etc. who want to access information, knowledge, and facts, etc. on National Dialogue in various formats and packages.

Initiative Africa officially launched the ‘Business for Peace Fellowship’ with eight fellows who have taken part in the First Cohort of the program. The three-month fellowship program was designed to introduce business owners, business advisors as well as business aspirants to the various peacebuilding approaches and the analytical tools they will use to understand, analyze and resolve conflicts.

The program is deemed to be instrumental in allowing the business community to have a say in peacebuilding activities and in fostering local ownership. The seminars of the First Cohort Fellowship Programs have been implemented in partnership with the Institute of Security Studies
(ISS). Fellows have taken various seminars on such topics as conflict, violence, peace and business leadership, the economic cost of conflict, and doing ethical business as well as other supplementary workshops meant to boost fellows’ media and communications skills. The Fellows also had a field visit to Arba Minch where they participated in a seminar held with Gamo elders who shared their traditional conflict resolution mechanisms followed by visits to Dorze village, Crocodile Ranch, and the 40 Springs. The visit afforded fellows to get insights into the practical application and importance of knowledge and practices of customary institutions in conflict resolution and transformation

Initiative Africa (IA) organized a workshop and invited participants from the private sector to contemplate its potential role in the upcoming National Dialogue (ND). The private sector should understand its role as well as its own capacity and seize the moment to invest in the National Dialogue (ND) knowing that its outcome (whatever it might be) would anyway affect the sector. Thus the support and investment in the process of ND are tantamount to an insurance v that would avertthe risks and tradeoffs the ND might entail.

The National Dialogue (ND) must be approached with an outcome in mind that would determine its objectives and what to do to meet the objectives. There might be various possible scenarios as potential outcomes of the ND; however, whatever the outcome might look like, weneed to approach the ND as a cultural moment for us Ethiopians to learn the culture of dialogue rather than to resort to machineguns to solve our political differences

Initiative Africa was part of an event organized by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) together with Bahirdar University under the theme “Importance, Process, Stakeholders’ Role, and Scenario Analysis of the National Dialogue for Ethiopia’ (አገራዊ ምክክር ለኢትዮጵያ አስፈላጊነት፣ ሂደት፣ የባለድርሻ አካላት ሚና እና የቢሆን ትንታኔ) at Bahirdar Kuriftu Resort on June 29, 2022. As part of its initiative to engage the private sector in peacebuilding and National Dialogue, Initiative Africa (IA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Peace has organized a half-day dialogue forum in Adama city on July 26, 2022, for businesses operating in the Oromia region including business owners, and business chambers.

Initiative Africa in its part believes that the private sector can help to preserve the social and civic fabric by continuing to do business across different conflict lines and work together with other civil society groups. The sector can, at both the macro and micro levels, be a catalyst for positive change in the relationships between conflicting factions; act as a facilitator of constructive activities with other actors that have an interest in peace; and be an influencer of actors who, by virtue of their official position or informal authority and legitimacy, can say “yes” or “no” to peace. Initiative Africa takes this as an opportunity to support the flourishing of dialogue culture within the private sector, on the one hand, and the latter’s role in the upcoming National Dialogue, on the other. Initiative Africa (IA) will thus work closely with the Ministry of Peace, the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce, regional chambers, associations, and like-minded organizations towards boosting the sectors’ role and potential in peacebuilding.