Center for Policy Research and Dialogue (CPRD)
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Center for Policy Research and Dialogue
Bole Sub-city Kebele 03
House Number 2199
P.O. Box 24721/1000
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: +251-11-661-4649/ +251-11-663-9319
Email: cprd@ethionet.et
Website: http://www.cprdhorn.org
Lt. General (retired) Gebretsadkan Gebretensae, Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Medhane Tadesse, Executive Director
Mr. Yemane Kidane, Senior Researcher
Description
The Center for Policy Research and Dialogue (CPRD) is an independent, nonprofit organization established in 2005, whose mission is to promote policy dialogue and debate and to inform policymakers, the public and other development partners about advances in the Horn of Africa region with the ultimate objective of fostering peace and prosperity. It aims to provide data and conduct multidisciplinary research and, on this basis, propose policy alternatives and strategic directions on key issues that affect peace and economic development of the Horn of Africa and the well being of its citizens. CPRD’s main research themes include: Peace and Security; Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution; Economic development; and Democratization. To ensure that its research findings influence policy, CPRD maintains an active dissemination strategy targeting policymakers, development partners and the general public. Products include policy memos, briefings/seminars for policymakers, analysis and review of policies and current events, media briefings, organizing seminars/conferences/workshops, presentations and testimony in parliamentary hearings, White papers, working paper series, articles in refereed journals, training, and facilitating exchange of ideas through roundtable discussions.
Track Record
In its short existence, CPRD has registered a number of achievements. Its project to address Local Conflicts and Regional Security has begun to successfully influence the policy debate at the African Union. The objective is to get the RECs to pay greater attention to local conflicts, which has not been the case in the past. CPRD has been able and to spark interest from the AU in some of the region’s key low-level conflicts in the sub-region, and to link them with the AU’s Continental Early Warning System and policy process of the AU Peace and Security Council.
Another major focus is Security Sector Reform (SSR). CPRD has spearheaded this agenda in the Horn of African region and is highly influential in this regard. It serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the African Security Network (ASSN, see separate profile) and is responsible for liaison with the AU in promoting the SSR agenda at a continental level. CPRD has organizing a regional conference on SSR in a bid to galvanize continental and regional support. CPRD is also in the process of operationalizing the Horn of African Security Sector Network (which it helped to create), and is developing a long-term SSR strategy and implementation framework. Its work in this area involves research, advocacy, and implementation of policy recommendations.
Another key area of work is HIV/AIDS and Security, with CPRD a key player in an international initiative titled ‘HIV and the Uniformed Services Project’. CPRD has worked hard to attract the attention of the AU to the HIV/AIDS and Security debate, has sought to influence AU policies so that strategies to prevent and mitigate HIV/AIDS are part and parcel of the regional peace and security architecture, particularly the African Standby Force. Aside from conflicts and regional security, and all aspects of demilitarization, this is a major theme that CPRD wants to push forward as a research focus at policy levels and with a regional perspective.
Challenges
Financing its emerging policy agenda constitutes CPRD’s biggest challenge so far. All funding received so far is project based, and it has not as yet been able to secure program or core funding that adequately covers its administrative costs and helps build it as an institution. Indeed, and for the first year or so, CPRD’s running costs were contributed by its founders. In order to take forward what is a new set of issues through research and policy advocacy, CPRD needs stable staffing and a consistent profile, all of which require an enhanced resource base.
Opportunities
There is growing urgency for substantive and authoritative research and policy engagement on peace and security issues in the Horn of Africa region. Conflicts and peace processes in Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, among others, have raised the ante, in an environment where there are only a few research institutes with the stature, vision and ability to develop prospective ideas and influence policy. CPRD presents an opportunity for private foundations to invest in ensuring that a promising organization grows into a key actor in the peace and security landscape in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
