HE Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African Union Commission, has launched seven knowledge products, marking another important milestone towards strengthening institutional knowledge management at the AU. The seven products comprise;

1. The Handbook for Standardizing and Enhancing Working Documents;
2. The African Union Stabilisation Guidelines;
3. Strategic Training Manuals with Facilitators’ Notes;
4. Operational Guidance on Security Sector Reform;
5. Pan-African Youth Leadership Manual
6. Citizens Engagement Strategy
7. Training of Trainers manual on youth participation in Political and Electoral processes in Africa;

The launch was held during the Political Meeting of the African Governance Architecture-African Peace and Security Architecture (AGA-APSA) Platform held on 11^th February, 2025 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Collectively, the products seek to strengthen workflow systems and processes within the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security (D-PAPS), deepen a culture of inter-departmental collaboration and knowledge exchange within the AU, and foster a cohesive strategy and response among Member States to address issues of peace and security in Africa.

The Training for Peace (TfP) Programme supported the development of the first five of the seven-listed products as part of its institutional and capacity support to the AUC.

The D-PAPS, as part of its mandate, contributes significantly to the development of innovative solutions to global and continental challenges. With all the great work implemented by the Department, there was no structured process and practice to capture and preserve knowledge, best practices, and expertise into tangible knowledge products that were accessible, transferable and available for institutional learning and stakeholder reference. This led to knowledge loss and duplication of efforts. To address this, D-PAPS under the leadership of Commissioner Bankole Adeoye, with intentionality, began to document insights and lessons from its initiatives to deepen the culture of learning, collaboration and synergy among directorates, divisions and units through the dissemination, use and application of knowledge products.

These products constitute a rich repository to inform decision-making by Member States, policy makers and practitioners on emerging issues and peace and security, and further strengthens AU’s recognition and reputation as a hub for knowledge and innovation in addressing continental challenges.

Speaking at the launch, HE Amb. Bankole Adeoye noted that the occasion marked a critical step forward where knowledge drives progress and change, and contributes to building a more peaceful, secure, stable, and prosperous Africa. He announced that the Department will officially launch its knowledge management strategy in the course of the year. He expressed his gratitude to the Government of Norway, through the TfP programme, for their unwavering support over the years.

As part of its support to the D-PAPS, the TfP has over the years, supported the development of key knowledge products, including the establishment of a digital repository which provides a one-stop platform for the outcome documents of the Peace and Security Council. The Repository has enhanced the work of the Secretariat of the PSC, by making relevant documents for the PSC and other statutory meetings available electronically. The Repository also serves as a depository for lessons learned studies, making them available to relevant stakeholders for information, learning and innovation.