Comment
Apr 2012
Thirty-eight countries have signed up to a ‘New Deal’ for engagement in fragile states, which includes a commitment to prioritise five peacebuilding and statebuilding goals. Sophie Haspeslagh, our Policy Analyst, has been closely involved in the process leading up to, and at, the Busan High-Level Forum where these commitments were made. Here, she reflects on some of the things she has learned from the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding and offers some thoughts as to where it might go next.
Apr 2012
There are significant challenges to peace prospects In East and Central Africa. With the African Union and United Nations’ recent joint declaration to launch a regional military strategy against the Lord’s Resistance Army, added to public attention focusing on calls for an escalation of force, we share our local partners' concerns that the response must centre on the protection of civilians. Lessons must be learnt from the past.
Mar 2012
Jenny Norton travelled to Uganda to work with local partners who were keen to build up their community media capacity. Here she reflects on the five days she spent with members of the Regional Civil Society Task Force and how their local peacebuilding backgrounds are helping to amplify grassroots opinions on the LRA conflict.
Mar 2012
Approaching two million people throughout the South Caucasus lost their homes as a result of ethnic mobilisation, confrontation and conflict through the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their fate remains a key challenge for both the Nagorny Karabakh and Georgian–Abkhaz peace processes. Through film projects, TV discussions, and policy papers, Conciliation Resources and our partners in the Synergy network have recently been bringing new thinking to bear on these issues. At the heart of these activities are the peacebuilding perspectives of local people.
News
Mar 2012
We've been working with peacebuilding partner Saferworld on an 18-month project to bring the opinions of local people in conflict-affected communities to the attention of national and international policymakers. Now, together in Brussels, we're presenting the lessons learnt from all 18 national and regional conflict analyses. Find out more about the project and watch a short film that explains why the voices of people most affected by conflict must be heard when policy and programming decisions are being considered.
Mar 2012
Building peace takes time. What does ending conflict mean in practice? How do good governance, justice and human security strengthen each other? These are pressing issues for any society recovering from violent conflict and just some of the questions addressed in Accord 23: Consolidating Peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The findings from this review of peace initiatives have been presented recently to local and international policymakers in West Africa and the USA.
Mar 2012
The Kony 2012 viral campaign has caused a media storm. It’s been successful in bringing the LRA conflict to the attention of an audience who hadn't previously heard of Joseph Kony or the violence that's been terrorising people in East and Central Africa for decades. But we urge that there can be no purely military solution to this problem. There must be a political solution that promotes civilian security. Find out how we’re helping communities cope with the conflict and build peace.
Mar 2012
In March staff from our Accord programme travelled to Beirut to meet with partners, project advisers and authors as momentum builds towards our upcoming edition on Lebanon. Provisionally titled 'Positive peace? Reconciliation, reform and national self-determination in Lebanon', this publication will review peacebuilding in the country to examine its effectiveness, as well as opportunities and priorities for progress. Find out more about the project so far and the final stages towards publication.
Mar 2012
Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) recently visited Catalonia during a trip organised by Conciliation Resources and the School of Peace of Barcelona. The MILF and the Government of the Philippines are currently negotiating an end to more than four decades of armed conflict in Mindanao. As part of the International Contact Group for this dialogue we have been providing assistance to the ongoing negotiations. Find out more about what lessons the MILF group drew from the situation in Catalonia.
Mar 2012
We welcome the announcement by Fiji's Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, on 9 March of a process and timeline for the development of a new constitution. We believe Professor Yash Ghai is an excellent candidate as chair of the Constitutional Commission that will conduct national consultations. We support our partners the Citizens' Constitutional Forum in their call for their call for a "conducive environment which encourages freedom of speech and welcomes dialogue".
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Media contacts
Connecting journalists to our peacebuilding experts
Sarah Bradford
Communications Manager
Clare Richards
Media and Communications Officer
Multimedia
People living in the midst of conflict often have the greatest insight into its causes. This film is an overview of how the People's Peacebuilding Perspectives (PPP) project brought the opinions of local people to the attention of policymakers, and what's been learned about the participatory process itself. Funded by the European Commission, the PPP project was an 18-month joint initiative between Conciliation Resources and Saferworld.
This is the first documentary film to be shot on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).
Making the film was a significant success in itself as the two journalists who produced it – Mohammad Arif Urfi and Pawan Bali – are from either side of the LoC in Kashmir and were not able to meet in their home region.
Partner features
Resilience in the face of displacement
Lali grew up in Abkhazia's Gali region. She lost her home during the 1992-93 war and now lives as an IDP in western Georgia. Find out about how Lali's campaigning for the rights of fellow displaced people.
