"Civil society’s visibility and influence in conflict prevention and peacebuilding has grown globally. Civil society actors have increasingly become vital forces in discourses, initiatives and programmes that foster peace and security across the world. Specifically, civil society has been instrumental in the reconceptualization of security from a “state-centred” process to one that is “people centred”. Thus the focus of this paper is to look at various contributions civil society organizations (CSOs) have made to conflict prevention in West Africa." (Quoted from paper)