Research this month
A Million Voices: The World We Want
There are also calls for a truly transformative agenda to tackle the challenges that were not addressed in the MDGs, as well as those that are now becoming critical. Many of these issues were addressed in the Millennium declaration: inclusive growth and decent jobs, governance, peace and security, freedom from violence, and environmental sustainability. People are demanding a universal agenda that tackles challenges both for people and for the planet. Equality and non-discrimination also stood out as a key message: people are demanding justice, participation and dignity.There is no progress if people are left behind.
A Million Voices, from the UN Development Group, hopes to inform the debate around a successor framework to the Millennium development goals. It draws together the views of over one million people from all over the world who have taken part in a series of consultations, discussions and surveys, on what they want post-2015.
Non-conventional armed violence and non-state actors: challenges for mediation and humanitarian action
New approaches to dealing with humanitarian and human rights abuses are needed to address the activities of violent actors in both these conflict and non-conflict contexts. This is partly an effect of the exposure of civilian populations to acts of extreme violence, which has become an intrinsic parts of armed groups’ strategic outlook – a means of ensuring local control, exercising rudimentary justice and engaging in asymmetric warfare.
Non-conventional armed violence and non-state actors, from NOREF, looks at trends in non-conventional armed violence and what this means for peacebuiding. The paper argues that the peacebuilding community has not yet developed a response the the challenges these forms of violence present, and suggests areas of policy and practice in need of further research.
Countering Violent Extremism: A Peacebuilding Perspective
Peacebuilders know also that working within existing local mechanisms, networks, and practices ensures the sustainability, relevance, and impact of any conflict prevention program.
Countering violent extremism, from USIP, examines how peacebuilding approaches can enhance countering violent extremism (CVE) practice. The report looks at the areas of weakness in CVE that peacebuilding can fill.
Common Strategies for Women in Transition Countries
Across countries, lack of security for women leaders and their families is an overriding concern. Women also fear a major rollback of their rights, have been largely excluded from reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts, and still see significant walls between government and civil society. Many men and women in these four countries remain unaware of the rights women already have. Moreover, enforcement of laws that protect the rights of women is weak.
As part of an ongoing project to build a community of practice looking at supporting women in conflict and post-conflict environments, USIP gathered together 14 women leaders from Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and Tunisia. Common Strategies for Women in Transition Countries summarises the discussion between them on the common problems affecting their countries.
The Power of Perceptions: Localizing International Peacebuilding Approaches
The international community's priority was the restoration of the state because they saw the conflict as a breakdown of authority at the national level. The liberal state that the international community had foreseen was however hybridized with local authority structures in the course of its interaction with local perceptions and experiences. At the same time, international strategies eschewed or only belatedly included local priorities, such as reconciliation between antagonistic communities and land conflicts.
The Power of Perceptions, by Sara Hellmüller, looks at how different perceptions of the conflict in DR Congo influenced local and international peacebuilding strategies and the interaction between them. (Subscription required).
From the blog
Religion and conflict: What is neutral space?
2013 prize winner: Peace Solutions International, Uganda and DR Congo
By Insight on Conflict: Peace Solutions International works with refugees in Uganda to produce films that educate people how to build peace and motivates them to return home ready to do so. Read more »
2013 prize winner: Kapamagogopa, Philippines
By Insight on Conflict: Kapamagogopa counteracts prejudice between Muslims and Christians in the Philippines by introducing Muslim volunteers into organisations run by Christians. Read more »
2013 prize winner: Community Network for Social Justice, Uganda
2013 prize winner: Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó, Colombia
Tomorrow’s Peacebuilders awards 2013 – the winners
Chronicle of a strike foretold: Protests and discontent in Colombia
Re-evaluating risk when localising aid
Local people seize a chance for peace in Southern Thailand
Local peacebuilders demand an end to conflict in Kashmir
Baraza Peace Courts: ensuring fair and non-punitive justice in DRC
Inclusive peacebuilding in Nepal: challenges and opportunities
Breaking the silence: Colombian César López fights violence with music
