Tomorrow (2 November), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1376^th session on the ‘Review of Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development in Africa.’ The meeting will be held as an open session.

Following opening remarks from Anthonin Benjamin Biéké, Special Envoy of Côte d’Ivoire to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for November 2026, Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), is expected to make introductory remarks. A representative of Egypt, as AU Champion on Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD), is also expected to make a statement. Further statements are expected from PSC Members, AU Member States, Representatives of RECs/RMs and partners.

The last time the PSC convened on PCRD was at its 1312^th session held on 17 November 2025. The PSC requested the AU Commission to ‘extend the period for the commemoration of the PCRD Awareness Raising from one week to one month, effective from 2026.’ This 6^th edition of the AU PCRD commemoration marks the first transition from PCRD Awareness Week to a month-long observance, from 1 to 30 November 2026. This year’s commemoration also marks the 20^th anniversary since the adoption of the AU PCRD Policy in Banjul in 2006. Marked under the theme ‘Twenty Years of Building and Sustaining Peace: From Policy to Action,’ this PCRD Month will provide an opportunity to take stock of the 20-year journey, reflect on lessons learned and identify priorities for implementation of the revised AU PCRD Policy for the next decade, having regard to the profound changes both on the continent and globally. Tomorrow’s session is the first of the month-long engagement on AU PCRD and is the most authoritative platform for taking stock of and outlining the strategic direction in AU’s pursuit of its PCRD policy.

Tomorrow’s session is expected to reflect on, among other things, progress made towards the operationalisation of the policy framework over the last 20 years. In this respect, a major development since the 2006 adoption of the PCRD policy was the revision of the Policy following the AU Assembly decision at its 35^th Ordinary Session of February 2022, calling for the urgent review of the 2006 PCRD Policy with a view to realigning and adapting to the evolving continental security dynamics. It is to be recalled that the PSC, at its 1047^th session in November 2021, emphasised the imperative of broadening the scope of AU PCRD activities, which includes incorporating a peacebuilding dimension, thus covering the entire conflict cycle phase — pre-conflict, during conflict and post-conflict. Following the review process, in January 2024 the PSC, at its 1198^th meeting, adopted the revised AU PCRD Policy, which now comprises of nine pillars, including Political Governance and Transition, Security Governance, Humanitarian Assistance, Socio-Economic Reconstruction and Development, Women, Peace, and Security, Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Reconciliation, Youth Inclusion, Child Protection, and Environmental Sustainability. It was subsequently endorsed by the AU Assembly during the 37^th Ordinary Session held in February 2024.

In terms of the institutional architecture of the PCRD, a major development was the official launch of the PCRD Centre in December 2021. The Centre became fully operational with the appointment of its head in 2023 and the designation of a dedicated office infrastructure. Subsequently, in August 2025, the PSC convened its 1297^th session, in which it adopted the Terms of Reference for this Sub-Committee. The Sub-Committee, established under Article 8(5) of the PSC Protocol, is sought to serve as a mechanism to receive assignments and mandates on specific post-conflict situations from the PSC (see our insight here for a comprehensive overview and analysis of the PSC Sub-Committee on PCRD and its ToR).

Against this background, several developments have happened since then. The sub-committee on PCRD had its inaugural meeting in February 2026, chaired by Haidy Ahmed Abdelghani of Egypt, as Chair of the subsidiary body for that month. The meeting featured Libakiso Matiho, Executive Secretary of the AU-PCRD Centre, who briefed the Sub-Committee on the Centre’s priorities and key focus areas. The meeting further deliberated on ways to support the Centre in achieving full operational capacity, while recommending that it avoids duplication of efforts and strengthen coordination with relevant AU entities to ensure complementarity.

In terms of the translation of the ambition of the policy into operational reality shaping the transitional trajectory of countries coming out of conflict, there remains a huge gap between ambition and reality. Some implementation efforts, including the implementation of Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) and Peace Strengthening Projects (PSPs) in Somalia; the development of the Regional Stabilisation Strategy for the Lake Chad Basin and the Stabilisation Strategy for the Sahel; and the AU’s support in the areas of reconciliation and healing (e.g. South Sudan), Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR), as well as Security Sector Reform (SSR), as in the case of Central African Republic (CAR), can be cited as some of the best practices in terms of AU’s PCRD interventions.  The most notable PCRD policy implementation in a specific transitional setting was the PSC’s deployment of a PCRD mission to The Gambia, the AU Technical Support Team to The Gambia (AUTSTG). Unfortunately, this mission ended owing to a lack of funding before the conclusion of its objectives.

It is to be recalled that the PSC in its 1157^th session and most particularly its 1221 session of 11 July 2024 tasked the AU Commission, through its PCRD Centre, to urgently conduct needs assessment in CAR to identify priority areas for peacebuilding. In May 2026, the PCRD Centre, through AU PAPS, conducted a 2-day mission to Bangui, CAR, to assess priority needs and identify Quick Impact Projects to support implementation of the revised AU PCRD Policy. The mission engaged government institutions, health sector stakeholders, youth associations and local partners to strengthen access to quality healthcare, youth inclusion, peacebuilding and sustainable development in the country.

On 9 June 2026, the AUC-PCRD, in collaboration with the Africa Business Council (AfBC) and the Cairo International Centre for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA), convened a High-Level Dialogue themed ‘Towards a Roadmap for AUC-PCRD and Private Sector Partnership: Unlocking African Private Sector Engagement and Business Opportunities,’ in Cairo, Egypt. The forum aimed to explore innovative approaches to strengthen private sector engagement, mobilise African solidarity and advance the implementation of PCRD activities. This was followed by a Consultative Meeting on the Review of the African Solidarity Initiative (ASI) under the theme, ‘Towards an African Mutual Support Strategy for Peacebuilding,’ on 10 and 11 June 2026, still in Cairo. This meeting aimed to discuss how to transform continental solidarity into tangible action through technical cooperation, in-kind support and mutual assistance that respond directly to nationally identified priorities. It is worth recalling that the African Solidarity Initiative was launched at the 19^th Ordinary Session of the policy organs of the Union that was held in Addis Ababa, in July 2012, as an AU-led process for mobilising support from within the continent for countries emerging from conflict, in line with the AU PCRD framework adopted in 2006. The ASI, however, has largely failed at its core goal of raising resources. Previously, its two pledging conferences (2014 and 2017) raised only about US$25,000 in traceable donations. The initiative has not been formally abandoned; however, it was cited in AU communiqués as needing revitalisation.

Furthermore, on 16 and 17 September 2026, the PCRD Centre convened a two-day Validation Workshop in Cairo, Egypt, to review, discuss and validate the 2026 – 2028 Strategic Framework. The Strategic Framework is aimed at guiding the Centre’s strategic direction and priorities for the coming years. Tomorrow’s session serves as a useful occasion for the presentation of the strategic framework to the PSC.

Various challenges remain in terms of the implementation of the PCRD policy. The first of these is funding. Some of the options proposed include the establishment of an African PCRD Fund (this was considered by the Council during its 528^th meeting) and dedicating a percentage of the AU Peace Fund to PCRD activities as suggested by the Council at its 593^rd and 958^th sessions. Another challenge relates to the planning of PCRD as part of AU’s peace processes. In a Press Release of 31 October 2026, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, commemorating the 20^th anniversary of the AU PCRD Policy, pointed out that sustaining peace requires recovery to be planned from the earliest stages of peace efforts and supported beyond immediate crisis responses. He also calls for more predictable and sustained financing for recovery, with transparent management, effective oversight and clear accountability for results.

Tomorrow’s session therefore provides an opportunity to assess not only the strides made since the last PSC session, but also in the context of the commemoration of the 20^th anniversary of the AU PCRD policy. It will be important for the discussions to rethink and approach differently several interlinked challenges, especially that the PSC may wish to consider in reviewing of PCRD in Africa. The most pressing is the persistent resource gap: the stalling of ASI and pledges made at the 2014 conference remain unhonored, while declining official development assistance deepens dependence on unpredictable external donors. The Peace Fund’s PCRD contribution is still modest. Institutional follow-through is, on the other hand, also a concern, while at the same time the Cairo-based PCRD Centre requires adequate resources. The policy-to-practice disconnect is evident in fragile transitions such as South Sudan, CAR and Libya and finally, the PSC may wish to note the weak African ownership of PCRD knowledge production and the limited local capacity for emerging technologies such as AI-based early warning.

The expected outcome of the session is a communiqué. Among others, the Council may commend the progress made in the operationalisation of the PCRD Policy during the past twenty years, including the establishment of the PCRD Centre and the operationalisation of the PSC sub-committee. The PSC may underscore the need to sustain the emerging practice to mainstream PCRD programmes in all relevant country and thematic agendas of the PSC. The PSC is also likely to encourage the AU Commission, through the AU PCRD Centre, to always pursue the implementation of the PCRD Policy through and with AU peace support operations (PSOs), and AU Liaison Offices (AULOS), which remain platforms for AU’s national-level engagements. The PSC may also echo the Chairperson’s statement that PCRD needs to be planned from the earliest stages of peace efforts and, as such, should be reflected when initiating peacemaking or mediation processes. The PSC may also affirm the importance of the strategic leadership of the PSC in the implementation and deployment of PCRD interventions. It may also reaffirm the importance of securing adequate, predictable and sustainable funding for AU’s PCRD and peacebuilding initiatives to fully realise the objectives outlined in the revised Policy.