Through its Africa Programs Office (APO), the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities (AIPG) designs and delivers an array of training and capacity building programs that familiarize African state officials and civil society leaders with the necessary knowledge and skills to prevent genocide and other mass atrocities. AIPG believes that the development and implementation of effective preventive mechanisms will sustainably curb future conflict across the African continent. To this end, AIPG’s APO works directly with governments to develop and implement prevention projects at regional, national and community levels, and is instrumental in encouraging and facilitating the cooperation of states through regional and international networks to advance prevention.

Core Principles‍

The goal of AIPG’s Africa Programs Office is to provide in-depth genocide and mass atrocity prevention education, training, and technical assistance that reflects the latest concepts and strategies developed by authorities in the field. The APO accomplishes this by organizing in-person and virtual seminars, and by producing tools, such as resource manuals, to familiarize leaders and other key stakeholders with the concepts of genocide and mass atrocities, the processes by which they occur, and the methods for their prevention.

Partners‍

The Auschwitz Institute collaborates with a wide variety of actors, including individual practitioners, regional organizations, and national mechanisms in their programming. In the course of its work, AIPG’s APO has entered into Memorandums of Understanding with prominent international and regional organizations, such as the African Union Commission, the East African Community, and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). With UK Aid from the British people through the Jo Cox Memorial Network Grant, the APO has conducted a series of training programs in the Great Lakes Region to strengthen capacities for the prevention of identity-based violence.
As states engage with AIPG’s Africa Programs, they become involved in collaborative and sustainable approaches to the shared objective of preventing genocide and atrocity crimes in the region. The APO places a particular emphasis on providing training and technical assistance to national governments who, through membership in the ICGLR — a regional intergovernmental organization — have a mandate to establish and maintain National Committees for the prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities. In recent years, the Auschwitz Institute has accompanied and assisted these bodies to facilitate their launch, develop tailored national action plans, and increase the capacity of these committees to fulfill their mandates. Since 2013, the APO has worked with the National Committees in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and Zambia.

Working Priorities

Beyond its work with National Committees, the APO offers practical training measures to key actors within African Union member states and directly contributes to the development and implementation of policies and mechanisms for prevention. The APO provides further support through the production of resources to aid in formulating and implementing prevention sensitive policies that promote democratic citizenship and human rights, as well as election management, good governance initiatives, and other actions that increase resilience to mass atrocities. As countries work to develop mechanisms to identify and react to early-warning signs for the outbreak of atrocities, AIPG continues to provide regular training and assistance to maintain and improve their efficacy.

An additional priority for AIPG’s APO is strengthening international and regional networks for cooperative approaches to atrocity prevention by engaging a wider spectrum of practitioners and states. This entails strengthening cooperation within and among existing regional and international bodies, as well as conducting regular consultations with local, national, regional, and sub-regional actors to ensure the most comprehensive and thorough approach to prevention. Recently, the APO has expanded the reach of its programming to a wider spectrum of key actors through tailored online programs targeting the entire African continent.

Impact

Reflecting the Auschwitz Institute’s core methodology of providing long-term training and support to officials, after completing a foundational learning program participants become members of AIPG’s “2Prevent” alumni community. This not only promotes an active exchange of best practices and ideas among practitioners across thematic and geographical areas, but also functions as a platform for the Auschwitz Institute to provide continued training and professional development opportunities. To fulfill its mission of building a world that prevents genocide and other mass atrocities, the Auschwitz Institute’s Africa Programs Office trains and supports individuals who are making a difference in public and international institutions across Africa. The effectiveness of AIPG in this endeavor relies on the backing of partners whose generosity provides us with the necessary resources to engage key public officials and sustain vital regional and international networks dedicated to the prevention of future genocides and other mass atrocities.