The Conference on Security, Stability Development and Co-operation in Africa (CSSDCA) is a policy development process created to function within the framework of the African Union and was adopted at the 36th Session of the Assembly in Lomé, Togo in July 2000. It is one of two special programs of the African Union, the other being the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
The idea of the CSSDCA can be traced to 1990, when the Africa Leadership Forum, in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), held a meeting in Paris, France, to discuss what would happen to the African continent in the midst of the Cold War. At the end of the meeting it was decided that the continent must respond by seeking answers to the difficulties of security, stability, development and cooperation dealing with it through its own way and dealing with the rest of the world within parameters shaped and conducted by Africans.
The meeting was similar to Europe's Helsinki process on the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), and recommended that Africa should pursue a similar process in its own way. Following this, the Africa Leadership Forum led by President Olusegun Obasanjo, met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), a meeting of prominent African personalities, drawn from the private sector, government and non-governmental organisations, and intellectual circles to discuss an appropriate framework for advancing this agenda. That meeting established a Steering Committee which proceeded to hold a series of consultations with Africa NGOs, governments, and the African private sector in Africa to prepare for a continental gathering on the matter.