Darfur Joint Assessment Mission: The Journey to Development

The Darfur Joint Assessment Mission is a process, outlined in the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, to highlight the need for early recovery and development initiatives in the region.

By Abdullahi Shuaibu

The Darfur Joint Assessment Mission (DJAM), a mechanism designed to identify early recovery and long-term reconstruction and development needs for Darfur, was initially mandated in the now-defunct Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed in Abuja, Nigeria, on 5 May 2006. At that time, the DJAM process was led by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Minni Minawi, with support from the international community, particularly the United Nations, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. But with the failure of the DPA to ensure peace, security and stability in Darfur, the DJAM mechanism did not come into play.

With the signing of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) on 14 July 2011, and in accordance with provisions contained in Article 32 (Chapter III), the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), an entity stipulated in the DDPD, reactivated the DJAM mechanism. The process launched in May 2012 to highlight and facilitate needs related to economic recovery and development in the post-conflict reconstruction phase of the peace agreement.

The DRA is currently the principal DJAM organ for preparing and implementing a broad-scale assessment about Darfur’s development needs. Findings from the DJAM process are expected to form the basis for an international donor conference scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar, in January 2013.

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Read the full story in the November issue of Voices of Darfur. Download the magazine (PDF) here.