The Republic of Sudan, is engaged in the promotion of peace-building at all levels, post conflict reconstruction, and sustainable development, in 8 states (including, the Blue Nile, Darfur, Kassala, Kurdufan, etc) that are experiencing a post-conflict recovery process. Although these states have begun to enjoy the dividends of peace, they still face complex challenges, particularly with regards to conflict management. Conflicts in these states involve clashes between a diversity of ethnic and linguistic groups and essentially emanate from the competition over shrinking resources, which is a direct consequence of environmental degradation.

At the request of the Government of Sudan, the Capacity Development Division (CDD) will support the capacity building of key actors involved in the Sudanese peace-building project, in order to positively impact the efficiency of undertaken actions. To this end a retreat will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 18-22 August 2014.

The objectives of the retreat are to promote a peaceful coexistence between divergent groups (farmer-pastoralist, different ethnic and linguistic groups); to create dialogue and social cohesion by building trusts between grassroots stakeholders (community leaders, civil society, etc), states officials and federal state; to sensitize all actors in peace-building from the grassroots; and to provide an opportunity to familiarize with traditional mechanism of conflict resolution in eastern Africa by allowing sharing of experiences throughout the region.