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The Kofi Annan Foundation hosted 'The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation: One Year Later'. Through a number of panel discussions, the two-day meeting drew lessons from the mediation in Kenya that can be shared with Africa and the wider world.

The dispute over the results of the Kenyan presidential election in December 2007 led to unprecedented violence, ethnic animosity and mass displacement in what was considered a peaceful and stable country. The rapid escalation of the crisis provoked swift reactions from the international community. These included visits to the country by the then Chairperson of the African Union and President of Ghana John Kufuor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and the Forum of Former African Heads of State and Government led by former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano. When all efforts to halt the violence failed, the African Union mandated a Panel of Eminent African Personalities, chaired by Kofi Annan with former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa and former Mozambican Minister and First Lady Graça Machel as members, to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Under the chairmanship of Kofi Annan, the meeting held in Geneva at the end of March 2009 brought together key actors who participated in the mediation effort in early 2008, as well as international and Kenyan civil society representatives, academics, analysts and members of the media who were observers of the events during that time or who have since studied the process that led to the National Accord.