Day 3: September 12, 2024

Making Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding a First Order Priority Issue
Making Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding a First Order Priority Issue - Since 2018, the world has continued to experience rising record-breaking levels of fragility and violent conflict. While leaders and donors claim that conflict prevention is essential to turning the tide of conflict and fragility, it is still a second order issue, and resources are significantly diminishing. This session will explore how we can hold leaders accountable for their prevention promises and change the narrative and social norms so that we can more effectively advocate for innovative and adaptive approaches. High-level speakers will offer game-changing solutions so that conflict prevention and peacebuilding become a first-order, well-resourced priority in conflict affected and fragile states.

Moderator:

• Ambassador Nic Hailey, Executive Director, International Alert

Speakers:

• Dr. Maleeka Glover, Executive Director, Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation

• Rob Jenkins, Public Policy Fellow, Wilson Center

• Haim Malka, Executive Vice President, Metropolitan Group

• Abdul Tejan-Cole, Executive Director, African Center of Excellence for Access to Justice

If Peace Could Speak: How Linguistic Practices Can Promote Sustainable Peace

Speakers:

• Dr. Peter T. Coleman, Professor of Psychology and Education, Columbia University; Director, Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution; Founding Executive Director, Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity

• Dr. Larry S. Liebovitch, Professor of Physics and Psychology, Queens College of the City University of New York; Adjunct Senior Research Scientists, Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity

Digital Technologies for Environmental Peacebuilding: Opportunities and Risks in Practice
Digital technologies are increasingly used in environmental peacebuilding. This session, based on the flagship report, Digital Technologies for Environmental Peacebuilding: Horizon Scanning of Opportunities and Risks (United Nations Environment Program and Environmental Peacebuilding Association 2024), provides a survey of applications and analysis of conflict risks and peacebuilding opportunities. The discussion will highlight the potential opportunities and risks for communities, governments, and international actors in harnessing digital technologies for environmental peacebuilding, as well as evaluate strategic decision-making processes at this increasingly important intersection. This session will explore conflict risks and peacebuilding opportunities related to environmental governance, sustainable use of natural resources, and climate change adaptation stemming from using digital technologies in early warning, preventive diplomacy, mediation, peacekeeping, humanitarian response, and post-conflict peacebuilding. In addition to raising awareness about the approaches and considerations in deploying the various digital technologies, the conversation will be a first step to inform upcoming frameworks addressing digital technologies, including the Summit of the Future and the Global Digital Compact, as well as data and digital approaches of the European Union in relation to climate, peace, and security.

Speakers:

• Carl Bruch, Director of International Programs, Environmental Law Institute

• Asim Zia, Professor and Associate Dean of Research, University of Vermont

• Albert Martinez, Program Manager for Climate and Environmental Peacemaking, European Institute of Peace

• Rana Novack, Communications Expert

Cross-Partisan Organizing to Mitigate Political Violence
U.S. democracy faces several interrelated threats, including the rise of political polarization, declining trust in institutions, increased harassment of public officials, as well as other forms of political violence. These issues undermine the democratic norms and social cohesion necessary for a stable democratic system. This session will explore strategies for fostering collaboration among diverse political groups, enhancing public trust in democratic institutions, and deploying proactive messaging to counteract polarization. Participants will explore practical approaches to election education, community mobilization, and rapid response to political violence.

Speakers:

• Ron Barber, Senior Advisor, Arizona Democracy Resilience Network

• Lisa Lorenzo, Senior Advisor, Sunshine 100

• Nathan Stock, Associate Director, Conflict Resolution Program, The Carter Center

Are We Making a Difference? Global and Local Ways of Assessing the Effectiveness of Peacebuilding
In the 17 years since the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) published a call for the community to collect more evidence showing the effectiveness of peacebuilding efforts, we continue to wrestle with what constitutes peacebuilding effectiveness and how we demonstrate it. Although important work has been done, questions continue to be posed by practitioners and funders surrounding how we “know” peacebuilding has been effective and for whom. These questions are increasingly urgent given the global decline in peacefulness and need for tangibly positive and effective peacebuilding approaches. This session will explore what it means to be “evidence-based,” what kinds of evidence “count,” and innovations being made to assess and build sustainable peace.

Speakers:

• Stacey L. Connaughton, Professor and Director of the Purdue Policy Research Institute, Purdue University

• Jasmine R. Linabary, Assistant Professor and Director of the Co-Design Collaborative (Co-Lab), The University of Arizona

• Yara M. Asi, Assistant Professor at the School of Global Health Management and Informatics, University of Central Florida

• Nell Bolton, Technical Director for the Equity, Inclusion and Peacebuilding team, Catholic Relief Services

• Adrienne Lemon, Senior Director of Strategy, Search for Common Ground

Getting Inclusion Right: Re-Imagining the Role of Non-State Actors in Diplomacy and Peace Processes
Amid a rapidly changing political and security landscape, diplomacy remains a critical tool to prevent, de-escalate, and resolve conflict. Often, non-state actors with a stake in conflict are excluded from the high-level decision-making at the heart of prevention and resolution. The result can marginalize organizations and communities that have a role in sustainable peace and reinforce existing inequities and conflict drivers. Guided by former diplomats, scholars and previous participants in conflict resolution diplomacy, this interactive workshop will encourage participants to rethink the role of non-state actors in traditional and non-traditional peacebuilding processes. It will explore the shifting landscape of multipolar peacebuilding processes and the diverse range of non-state actors with a stake in influencing those processes, and generate practical recommendations to strengthen inclusive diplomacy.

Speakers:

• Marlene Spoerri, Director of Inclusive Diplomacy and Systems Change, Independent Diplomat

• Ambassador Bisa Williams (ret), Co-Founder and Managing Director of Williams Strategy Advisors, LLC

• Summer Ahmed, Activist and Foreign Affairs Representative for the Southern Transitional Council to the United Nations

• Kevin Irakoze, Academic Advisor, Independent Diplomat

 Atrocity Prevention at a Crossroads: The State of Global Institutions and the Atrocity Prevention Architecture
Atrocity prevention (AP) work is at a crossroads. The return of great power conflict, interstate war, mass displacement, and large-scale human rights violations are occurring against the backdrop of a dysfunctional United Nations (UN) Security Council, an overstretched UN system strained by weakening multilateral commitments, and the retreat of democratic norms and institutions around the world. Simultaneously, AP actors have turned to alternative spaces to pursue prevention and mitigation work, such as the International Court of Justice and various regional civil society and government networks. This session will examine the current state of the global AP architecture, strengths and weaknesses, and lessons learned from past successes. Speakers will assess what practical short-, mid- and long-term steps can be taken to strengthen AP policies and practice given the current political context.

Moderator:

• Ernesto Verdeja, Associate Professor of Peace Studies and Global Politics, University of Notre Dame / Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Genocide

Speakers:

• Savita Pawnday, Executive Director, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

• Kate Ferguson, Co-Executive Director, Protection Approaches

• Ilhan Dahir, Program Officer, Atrocity Prevention, USIP

• Wes Rist, Atrocity Prevention Policy Advisor, Bureau of Conflict Stabilization and Operations, U.S. Department of State

Systems Thinking and Peace
Every social system is complex and so the process of understanding it is no less so. How do we even start? What are some of the recognized practices, and how do we ensure that our actions (although no doubt well-intentioned) don’t lead to unintended negative effects? Should we even strive to create systems change, is it possible, and if so what does the effort entail?  One thing is clear, prior to action a good understanding of the social system is key.

Please join us then, as we explore systems thinking as an actionable tool to help build peace. The session will feature an introduction from Alliance for Peacebuilding highlighting the benefits of systems-thinking across the humanitarian/development and peace nexus, followed by highlights of Democracy Fund’s work to better understand models of impact, and analysis from IEP highlighting the factors that most commonly nudge a social system towards higher levels of peace. We will end with a 30-minute audience-led exercise leveraging systems thinking to help better understand our social system of choice.  

Speakers:

• Liz Ruedy, Senior Advisor to the President, Democracy Fund

• Michael Collins, Executive Director, Institute for Economics & Peace - the Americas

• Michele Piercey, Deputy Executive Director, Alliance for Peacebuilding

  
  

Walking the Talk: Organizing for Power and Care
The current moment is replete with compounding crises, competing priorities, and deepening division. To address these challenges, the peacebuilding community needs to rethink the way we organize ourselves as institutions and agents of change. The session will examine how our organizational structures impact our work for peace and how restructuring with more attention to creating a culture that nurtures the well-being of employees could lead to greater transformation in our work. This session builds on conversations about how governance contributes to or hinders the change we seek in the peacebuilding field. The session invites participants to share their experiences, challenges, and dreams about the relationship with our employment and organizational structures, the well-being of those who do the work, and how we impact the broader system.

Speakers:

• Angela Maria Baez Silva, Peacebuilding Practitioner 

• Claude Gatebuke, Executive Director, African Great Lakes Action Network

• Jason Ferenczi, Program Director and Operations Director, unRival

• Kassamira Carter-Howard, Director of Programs, Resonance Network

  
  

Evidence on Social Cohesion in Divided Societies: Challenging Conventional Wisdom and Identifying Gaps
What are the most promising strategies for building social cohesion in fragile settings? The evidence base on this question has grown significantly in the last decade, but particularly in the last few years. In this session, speakers from Innovations for Poverty Action, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, Mercy Corps, and the World Bank will present discuss learnings from impact evaluations on social cohesion, provide a framework for how to generalize these findings, and guide participants interactively through applying this evidence base to their work. This session will offer an opportunity for participants to critically reflect on what the evidence base says about the efficacy of social cohesion programming, assess how these findings can be generalized and applied, and build priorities for future evidence generation.

Speakers:

• Nessa Kenny, Associate Director, Peace & Recovery Program, Innovations for Poverty Action

• Ana-Maria Colina, Senior Policy Associate, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

• Ifeoluwa Olawole, Director of Research for Peace and Governance, Mercy Corps

• Marine Gassier, Consultant, Social Cohesion and Resilience Global Unit, World Bank

From Invisible to Indispensable: Youth in Education and Conflict Reporting
Youth impacted by humanitarian emergencies often have no  chance of attending school. This magnifies the harmful impacts on their lives, even after conflicts are resolved. This is a lost opportunity in places like Sudan, where local youth nonetheless play an important role as advocates of peace, change, and innovation. This joint session of the Carter Center and youth and education expert Marc Sommers opens with Sommers’ research on severely limited access to education for out-of-school youth in emergencies and protracted crises globally. He will highlight key findings and recommendations in “Lost Opportunity,” his new study on this topic. The Carter Center’s Sierra Ballard will then showcase remarkable Sudanese youth innovations undertaken in the midst of conflict and humanitarian crisis. Facing acute insecurity in Sudan, where access to community institutions like school is limited if not impossible, youth are utilizing technology, citizen journalism and grassroots networking in important new ways.

Speakers:

• Marc Sommers, Author and Independent Consultant

• Sierra Ballard, Senior Associate, Conflict Resolution Program, Carter Center

  
  

Social Movements: Key to Global Peace
At the same time that violent conflict is on the upswing, millions of ordinary people are mobilizing for peace and justice. Research shows that citizen engagement through small and large-scale social movements have tangible, positive impacts on societies before, during, and after conflicts. Yet, these movements are not well understood and often excluded from peacemaking efforts. This session will present real-life examples of how social movements have moved the needle towards conflict prevention and peace using storytelling, reflections from key decision-makers, and the accounts of those involved in social movements for peace. The discussion will also consider how peacebuilders and policymakers can most effectively support social movements to maximize their impact and mitigate risks to those who participate.

Moderators:

• Ivan Marovic, President, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict

• Roselie Vasquez-Yetter, Co-Executive Director of PartnersGlobal; A uthor of the ResiliencyPlus Framework (R+)

Speakers:

• Roselyn Akombe, Chief of Peacebuilding Strategy and Partnerships,  United Nations Department for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs

• Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, Ambassador of Denmark to the United States

• Jahan Ara Rafi, Afghan Painter and Artivist

• Toe Aung, Founding Chairperson, Ah Nyar Institute  

Vision Forward, Plan Backward: What Can We Do Now to Make Environmental Peacebuilding Future Ready?
Climate change is amplifying and compounding existing sources of economic, social, and political violence. However, evidence is emerging surrounding how environmental change, including climate dynamics, are catalyzing joint action across communities, strengthening social cohesion and the ability to weather further shocks. Practitioners and donors are developing and applying new methodologies to equip humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding actors with needed insights and analyses for unpacking the contributing variables to climate fragility and identifying solutions to support community adaptation and increased cohesion and resilience in the face of shocks. The peacebuilding field is at a pivotal moment where it can coalesce around what success looks like across key objectives and move from the present to a desired future. This hands-on workshop will frame environmental peacebuilding from the perspective of futures thinking, seeking to articulate pathways through which the wider peacebuilding field can advance forward collectively, anticipate and manage disruptions and challenges, and seize emergent opportunities. Through facilitated work and group exercises with practitioner and donor colleagues, participants will explore and prioritize definitions of success for climate-conflict nexus/environmental peacebuilding programming, and then identify synergies and new questions to guide further research, policy considerations, program design, and operational decisions.

Speakers:

• Charles Christian, Peace and Conflict Senior Advisor, Mercy Corps

• Ruth Rhoads Allen, President and Chief Collaboration Officer, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects

• Dr. Daniel Abrahams, Senior Climate Security Advisor, Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization, USAID

Peace in Our Cities: Addressing Urban Violence to Strengthen Social Cohesion
A majority of global deaths occur outside of conflict areas, in communities ostensibly at peace—primarily cities. Addressing violence, therefore, requires whole-of-society approaches in the context of diverse, population-dense, and interconnected cities. This session draws together insights for the localization agenda, city-based violence prevention, and those working to address global trends in peacebuilding. When city-level actors create structures that act as the connecting tissue to local violence prevention ecosystems, it strengthens cohesion and connects populations and prevention efforts, and can create a particularly enduring peace. Through a narrative approach, speakers from REACH Edmonton, in Edmonton Canada, and from the PAZOS program in Palmira, Colombia will share urban violence prevention strategies that have yielded positive results. This session will unpack how these strategies have been implemented, distill key aspects for their success, and explore what is possible when cities, regions, national governments, and larger peacebuilding-minding institutions collaboratively invest in violence prevention.

Speakers:

• Rachel Locke, Director of the Violence, Inequality and Power (VIP) Lab at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego

• Daniela Reina, Mayor’s Advisor and Deputy Director of International Relations, Santiago de Cali Mayor's Office

• Jan Fox, Executive Director, REACH Edmonton Council for Safe Communities
  
  

Ctrl+Alt+Empower: Unleashing Digital Champions Against Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence
As technology evolves, so do the platforms for violence and abuse, disproportionately impacting women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities. Drawing on experiences from diverse regions, including East Africa and South and Central Asia, this session will showcase innovative interventions that promote safe and inclusive digital use. Through cross-learning and sharing best practices, speakers will provide valuable insights into how community-driven approaches and technology can be harnessed to raise awareness, enhance response mechanisms, and campaign against technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV).

Speakers:

• Christine Sumog-oy, Regional Project Manager, Search for Common Ground

• Myrzagul Baialieva, Thematic Lead on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, Search for Common Ground Kyrgyzstan

• Caroline Hubbard, Senior Gender Advisor and Gender Team Lead, Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, USAID

• Negar Ashtari Abay, Ph.D., Senior Program Officer, Women, Peace and Security, USIP

  
  

No Justice, No Peace: Steps to Integration of Rule of Law and Conflict Prevention Programming
Though justice and peace are inherently inseparable objectives, in the world of international development, they live in different programs and sectors and even USAID Bureaus–one belongs to Governance and the Rule of Law, the other to Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding, and Stability. This session takes a participatory and asset-based approach to explore recent efforts to connect these two areas of programming, including USAID's people-centered justice framework. Speakers will identify barriers to integration, and highlight opportunities for more proactive and cohesive strategies to both strengthen justice systems and build peace in conflict and fragile states.

Speakers:

• Cecilia Barraza, Deputy Chief of Party, USAID/Colombia Inclusive Justice Activity (implemented by Chemonics International)

• Sahar Tabaja, Advisor, Peace, Stability, and Transition Practice, Chemonics International

• Shelley Inglis, Senior Policy Advisor, USAID

Gaming Out Peace: Can You Design Your Own Peacebuilding Portfolio in Post-Conflict Contexts?
Peacebuilding is often ad hoc and siloed, with many donors and international actors engaged in disconnected programming with limited national and international buy-in. Can we do better? What does a holistic peacebuilding portfolio look like in a country transitioning out of conflict? This session will introduce recent research on peacebuilding effectiveness and then give participants/players an opportunity to "game it out.” Attendees will apply their knowledge of peacebuilding to a fictional country context in small working groups to design their own integrated peacebuilding portfolio in a post-conflict environment. Participants will be challenged to design a peacebuilding portfolio that is bigger than any individual project and the sum of its parts to create sustainable peace.

Speakers:

• Gary Milante, Independent Peace Researcher

• Joe Hewitt, Senior Advisor, Office of Foreign Assistance, U.S. Department of State

  
  

Cultivating Belonging and Restoring Dignity Through Building Trust in U.S. Universities During the Protests of 2023-2024
College campuses—historically epicenters of assembly and free expression—play a unique role in grappling with global conflicts. Focusing upon the necessity of social cohesion to foster resilience to shocks and build sustainable peace, speakers will share findings and reflections from two large U.S. public universities’ responses to recent protests and counterprotests on the Israel-Hamas war. The session will explore how university leadership can constructively interact with state authorities and constituents, as well as lessons learned from initiatives aimed to prevent violence and promote understanding. Through real-world stories, discussions, and role-playing, the discussion will examine systemic successes and failures in building trust and promoting nuanced narratives in a world where many feel morally compelled to predict and pick the “right side of history.” This session will enhance understanding of the broader societal tensions reflected in these protests and their implications for the hyper-polarized political landscape ahead of the November elections.

Speakers:

• Patricia Shafer, Executive Director, NewGen Peacebuilders

• Annie Rappeport, Lecturer, Researcher, and Dialogue Facilitator, University of Virginia

• Brian N. Williams, Professor of Public Policy, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia

From Best to Standard Practice: Archetypes for Conflict Integration in Economic Development Programs 
While the significance of integrating conflict prevention and conflict sensitive approaches in global development is widely accepted, the peacebuilding field has sometimes struggled to communicate the successes, what they mean, and how other practitioners can apply the approaches in their own work. One place where conflict integration and conflict sensitive practice are happening is in the economic development sector—particularly at the local level and with local practitioners. How can we capture those lessons and adopt their tools and approaches that can be applied and contextualized elsewhere? CDA Collaborative Learning, Fund for Peace, PIND, and Chemonics International will share findings, recommendations, and success stories from projects in fragile and conflict-affected contexts in the economic development sector. This session will engage participants in a sector-specific problem-solving exercise to practice linking interventions to conflict dynamics.

Moderator:

• Paul Turner, President and Executive Director, Fund for Peace

Speakers:

• Diana Campos, Program Manager, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects

• Michele Bradford, Chief of Party, Libya Economic Acceleration Program, Chemonics International

• David Udofia, Peacebuilding Program Manager, Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND)
  
  

Peace Starts Here: Reclaiming Our Narrative
Peacebuilding is not only about the prevention of violent conflict, but also an active process of peaceful living, with everyone having a role to play. This session will encourage attendees to broaden their understanding of “peacebuilding” and “peacebuilders,” pushing the borders of what is traditionally understood as peacebuilding by showing the real stories of peace. Using group interactive activities, presenters will reconcile individual identity, allowing participants to question their assumptions and revise their definitions to reclaim peacebuilding narratives and show that peace starts with all of us. Facilitated by local peacebuilders from the Peace Starts Here campaign, this session will begin by building common ground between all participants, revealing that even as strangers, we are connected by experience. Together, attendees will delve into the multifaceted world of peacebuilding and meet inspiring individuals who dedicate themselves to creating it.

Speakers:

• Luis Alejandro Alvarado Bruzual, President, Fundación Váyalo; Co-Creator, Peace Starts Here

• Regina Portilla de Rosenzweig, Policy and Partnerships Officer, Peace Direct

  
  

Lessons from Ecuador: Shaping Social Cohesion as a Crime and Violence Reduction Strategy
As Ecuador experiences a rapidly deteriorating security situation, diverse actors are joining forces to build safer communities. The Municipality of Quito, civil society, and the private sector are working together on several initiatives designed to build social trust and enhance cohesion as an effective crime prevention and response strategy. In this sense, Quito becomes an excellent case study of how cities can work with communities and use public space as key elements of a comprehensive crime prevention strategy. This interactive panel, sponsored by Palladium International—implementer of the USAID/OTI Ecuador PILARES program—will feature representatives from Quito’s municipality, civil society, USAID/OTI, and the private sector. Panelists will include the General Secretary of Security and Governance of the Municipality of Quito, the Founder and President of Fundación Tandem, a leading CSO on social cohesion and responsive governance, the Deputy Director of the Alliance for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and the USAID/OTI’s Latin America and Caribbean team. The discussion will share perspectives on holistic citizen security programming and how to facilitate greater connectivity between public institutions with diverse constituents, particularly in polarized environments.

Speakers:

• Carolina Andrade, General Secretary of Security and Risk Reduction, Municipality of Quito

• Daniela Chacon, Founder and Executive Director, Fundación TANDEM

• Natalia Almeida, Deputy Director, Alliance for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

• Gabriella Reimer, Program Manager, Latin America and Caribbean, USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives

• Juan Pablo Castro, Chief of Party, USAID/OTI Ecuador PILARES Program

  
  

AI Innovations for Empowering Peacebuilders and Driving Ethical, Data-Driven Action  
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has created exciting opportunities to utilize the technology to empower peacebuilding organizations and civil society stakeholders. This session will share innovative AI applications that can inform peacebuilding and policy. Examples include using open-source investigation (OSINT) for tracking illicit flows of weapons during disarmament efforts, monitoring indigenous rights, the application of data science analytics to USAID conflict transition programs, and data-driven decision-making for conflict analysis and peace research. This session will generate constructive debate about AI´s disruptive effects, addressing the digital divide in complex contexts, and “do no harm” practices for AI, and share recommendations for how peacebuilders and their partners  can quickly access, learn about, and begin using AI tools to build durable peace.

Speakers:

• Andrei Serbin Pont, President, CRIES

• Fermin Selva, Program Coordinator, CRIES  

• Gloria Steele, Chairperson, DevelopMetrics

• Greg Maly, Chief Technology Officer, Exchange.Design

• Patrick Tobin, Technical Manager, Peacebuilding and Stabilization, Management Systems International, a Tetra Tech Company

• Brian Atkinson, Senior Technical Director - Democracy, Governance, and Conflict, Management Systems International, a Tetra Tech Company

  
  

Unlocking the Power of Diplomacy: Measuring Diplomatic Engagement for Effective Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Under the Global Fragility Act
This panel discussion will explore innovative tools and approaches for measuring Diplomatic Engagement (DE) under the Global Fragility Act (GFA). Experts from Itad and the United States Institute of Peace will share insights from their work, highlighting practical tools that include the Political Access and Influence (PAI) Framework and Outcome Harvesting. The session aims to raise awareness of integrated approaches to measuring diplomacy, build participants' understanding of tools for DE measurement, and create meaningful conversation around the importance and impact of measuring DE. Speakers will share practical knowledge to assess DE's impact and contribute to global peacebuilding efforts through robust measurement strategies.

Speakers:

• Erin Lynch, Associate, Itad

• David Fleming, Partner, Itad

• David Connolly, Director of Learning, Research, and Evaluation, USIP

• Pamela Aall, Senior Advisor for Conflict Prevention and Management USIP

Investing in the Next Generation of Peacebuilders in Coastal West Africa
The Central Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa currently accounts for over half of all global deaths from terrorism. Unarmed non-state actors are expanding across borders, dividing communities, and further eroding trust among citizens and their governments. Geographic areas that face political or economic marginalization are particularly at-risk of suffering high levels of violence. Fortunately, the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Violent Conflict and Promote Stability—as required by the Global Fragility Act (GFA)—lays out a first-ever whole-of-government and long-term approach to prevent violence and build peace in Coastal West Africa (Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo). This session will feature young local peacebuilders participating in the regional GFA initiative “Peacebuilding Education and Capacity Enhancement for West African Youth (PEACE-WAY),” funded by the Department of State and implemented by PartnersGlobal. Speakers will reflect on the GFA’s impact on their communities and provide recommendations to U.S. Government and other policymakers on how to further prioritize coordinated and multi-sectoral approaches to address drivers of conflict.

Speakers:

• Patricia Benamba, PEACE-WAY Fellow – Ghana

• Yendoube Francois d'Assise DAME, PEACE-WAY Fellow – Togo

• Mamadounou Faya Janvier, PEACE-WAY Fellow – Guinea

• Alice Bokuma, Peacebuilding Expert, Early Warning Specialist, WANEP-Ghana

• Jeffsky Poincy, Program Manager, PartnersGlobal

• Marc Henry Germain, Togo Country Coordinator for the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict & Promote Stability

*Not Live - Video will be available later in the day

Making Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding a First Order Priority Issue
Making Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding a First Order Priority Issue - Since 2018, the world has continued to experience rising record-breaking levels of fragility and violent conflict. While leaders and donors claim that conflict prevention is essential to turning the tide of conflict and fragility, it is still a second order issue, and resources are significantly diminishing. This session will explore how we can hold leaders accountable for their prevention promises and change the narrative and social norms so that we can more effectively advocate for innovative and adaptive approaches. High-level speakers will offer game-changing solutions so that conflict prevention and peacebuilding become a first-order, well-resourced priority in conflict affected and fragile states.

Moderator:

• Ambassador Nic Hailey, Executive Director, International Alert

Speakers:

• Dr. Maleeka Glover, Executive Director, Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation

• Rob Jenkins, Public Policy Fellow, Wilson Center

• Haim Malka, Executive Vice President, Metropolitan Group

• Abdul Tejan-Cole, Executive Director, African Center of Excellence for Access to Justice

*Not Live - Video will be available later in the day

If Peace Could Speak: How Linguistic Practices Can Promote Sustainable Peace

Speakers:

• Dr. Peter T. Coleman, Professor of Psychology and Education, Columbia University; Director, Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution; Founding Executive Director, Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity

• Dr. Larry S. Liebovitch, Professor of Physics and Psychology, Queens College of the City University of New York; Adjunct Senior Research Scientists, Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity

Grassroots Emergency Responders’ Role in Building Peace: Stories from the Front Lines
With global violent conflict on the rise and governments and the international community struggling to respond to it, local actors are often the vanguard of urgent assistance to communities affected by violent conflict. From emergency workers rescuing people from bombed buildings to local groups providing food, medicine, and shelter for the displaced, grassroots first responders continue to play a crucial role in providing immediate support to their communities. First responders are often the first to look past divisions that drive conflict and see the humanity of civilians caught up in it. In this session, leaders of grassroots emergency response organizations from Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine will share how their organizations have spearheaded emergency response efforts in times of crisis and emerged as leaders, change agents, and peacebuilders. Through their stories, the panelists will provide recommendations for policymakers, donor agencies, and implementers to refit traditional approaches to peacebuilding to better address conflict in a multipolar world.

Moderators:

• Elizabeth Dallas, Vice President, Conflict Prevention, Stabilization, and Transition, DT Global

Speakers:

• Raed Saleh, Head, Syria Civil Defence 

• Maysoon Abdullah Abdallmuttalib, Founder, Sudan Bahri Youth Initiative and Emergency Response Room

• Dina Urich, Director and Board Member, Helping to Leave

Mediating Self-Determination Conflicts: Ongoing Needs and Some Lessons Learned
To address the unique causes and impacts of self-determination conflicts, resolution efforts require peacebuilding and mediation support at different levels, in different spaces, and by a range of local, state, and international actors. This session will consider the legal and political framework that often hampers—but also provides opportunities for—addressing drivers of conflict and crisis related to self-determination. Drawing on research conducted by Conciliation Resources, in partnership with the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, speakers will share insights from innovative practices, such as approaches that are inclusive and people-centered and aim to shift harmful conflict narratives—particularly in the absence of functioning high-level mediation processes. The session will surface practical, actionable solutions for preventing and reducing key drivers of self-determination conflicts that meet the challenges of the evolving global political environment and increasingly fragmented and crowded mediation landscape.

Speakers:

• John Packer, Director, Human Rights Research and Education Centre and Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa (Canada); Special Adviser, Conciliation Resources-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Partnership on Mediating Self-determination Conflicts

• Sally Holt, Head of Accord, Conciliation Resources

• Tahir Aziz, Senior Advisor, South Asia, Conciliation Resources

• Akiko Horiba, Program Director, Asia Peace Initiative Department, Sasakawa Peace Foundation

  
  

Schools: Unlikely Civic Spaces for Fostering Social Cohesion and Community Development
Schools are often center points and anchors of their communities, fostering civic engagement, conflict management, and peacebuilding. In this session, Counterpart International will lead a storytelling session to explore how schools—particularly school meals programs—can serve as an entry point to augment inclusive civic participation, foster social cohesion, and mitigate local grievances. Speakers from Mauritania, Mozambique, and Senegal will share insights and lessons learned how youth engagement in schools can address drivers of conflict and violent extremism and promote peace and development. 

Moderator:

• Mehreen Farooq, Governance Technical Expert, Counterpart International (US)

• Theresa Becchi, Associate Director of Resilient Food Systems, Counterpart International (US)

Speakers:

• Desire Yameogo, Chief of Party, Counterpart International (Mauritania)

• Casimiro Manuel Sande Antonio, Chief of Party, Counterpart International (Mozambique)

• Kathryn Lane, Chief of Party, Counterpart International (Senegal)

  
  

Bridging the Divide: Social Cohesion and Trust-Building in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Borderlands 
Today, rising levels of conflict directly affect many border areas across the world, while increasingly state-centric and security-led policy responses risk undermining local coping mechanisms and cohesion. This session will explore peacebuilding tools, approaches, and lessons for rebuilding social cohesion and trust in complex contexts, such as the Horn of Africa, Bangladesh, as surfaced through the Cross-Border Conflict: Evidence, Policy and Trends (XCEPT) research program. Community-level research will be presented to assess causes of marginalization and conflict along borderlands, as well as opportunities to foster inclusivity in efforts to address drivers of conflict. 

Speakers:

• Ahmed Musa, Independent Researcher

• Tasnia Khandaker Prova, Climate Research Lead, Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University

• Daniel Tucker, Project Manager, West Africa, Conciliation Resources

• Hannah Stogdon, Horn of Africa Program Manager, Rift Valley Institute

Promoting Social Cohesion and Trust Through Youth-Based Peacebuilding Programs
A significant challenge to rebuilding a society in the aftermath of conflict is overcoming the deep-seated divides. However, youth-based peacebuilding programs have been successfully used to foster trust and social cohesion in a range of post-conflict settings. This session will briefly describe design elements and key findings of impact evaluations of peacebuilding interventions for youth from three post-conflict settings—Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Northern Ireland. Speakers will then discuss strategies for enhancing program effectiveness and building the evidence base to demonstrate impact.  

Moderator:

• Linda R. Tropp, Professor of Social Psychology and Faculty Associate in Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Speakers:

• Brooke Burrows, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Appalachian State University

• Liora Morhayim, PhD Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Danielle Blaylock, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast

  
  
  

Peacebuilding in a Multipolar World: Peacebuilders’ Perspectives from Yemen, Syria, and Sudan
In today’s multipolar world, traditional power structures are shifting. On one hand, countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates have increased influence over the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. On the other, prolonged conflict in the region has led to the emergence of diverse new political groups that could play essential roles in negotiation processes and peaceful resolutions. Featuring local peacebuilders, this session will explore the barriers and opportunities for local civil society organizations in Syria, Yemen, and Sudan to engage constructively with influential regional actors in support of peace.

Speakers:

• Maha Tambal, Senior Program Manager for Sudan, DT Institute

• Patricia Karam, Senior Policy Advisor, Freedom House

• Mounzer Alsalal, Executive Director, Stabilization Support Unit (Syria)

• Mutahar Al-Bathigi, Executive President and Co-Founder, The Yemeni Coalition for Monitoring Human Rights Violations/Rasd Coalition

• Vukasin Petrovic, Chief Program Officer, DT Institute

Building Relationships for Peace: The Colombian Truth Commission and Movilizatorio—Examples of Successful Civil Society Engagement in Peacebuilding 
Colombia has engaged in multiple peace processes in the past 60 years. Some of those processes have brought about crucial positive transformations, yet others have not been completed successfully. Throughout these initiatives one things has become clear—top-down negotiations and peace accords fall short, as only peacebuilding rooted in communities and with high participation of civil society can bring about sustainable social transformation. Colombia’s civil society organizations have won a seat at the negotiation table and their inclusion has become an essential part of all peace efforts. They have gained increased attention, participation, and impact in both the design and implementation of peace accords. In this session, scholar-practitioners will share two examples of diverse civil society participation and the power they yield to advance sustainable peace in Colombia: the network Movilizatorio and the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition. 

Speakers:

• Joséphine  Lechartre, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Interamerican Policy and Research at Tulane University

• Matthew Bocanumenth, Manager of External Affairs, Council for Global Equality

• María Prada Ramírez,  Visiting Fellow, Kroc Institute for Peace, University of Notre Dame

• Josefina Echavarría Alvarez, Professor of the Practice and the Director of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) Project at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies

• Mariana Díaz Kraus, Director of Partnerships and Strategy, Movilizatorio

  
  

  
  

Insights from Conflict Sensitivity Hubs: DRC, Honduras, and South Sudan
This session will identify and share concrete lessons on effective Conflict Sensitivity Integration (CSI) within organizations. Many discussions on CSI tend to focus on the barriers and challenges to uptake and sustainability of CSI outcomes within organizations. These discussions often fail to identify tangible examples and best practices where CSI has broken down a siloed programmatic approach, tackled the correct conflict drivers, and led to sustainable change. This session will explore a range of experiences in Conflict Sensitivity Hubs in different contexts, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras, and South Sudan. Speakers will highlight examples of where CSI support, capacity development, and technical assistance gave rise to concrete changes in practice to address the drivers of conflict. Participants will discuss standards that can be applied to any activity or context, answering the question of how CSI can achieve the integration of peacebuilding and conflict prevention across in any effort.

Speakers:

• Lisa Chandonnet-Bedoya, Senior Conflict and Peacebuilding Advisor, Center for Conflict and Violence Prevention, Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization, USAID

• Orfilia Peres, Team Lead, Conflict Analysis and Training—Conflict Sensitivity Integration Hub (CSIH) Honduras, FHI360

• Abdourahamane M. Saley, Director, DRC Conflict Sensitivity Hub, International Alert

• Robert Morris, Conflict & Security Adviser, Conflict Advisory Unit, Saferworld
  
  

(Story)Telling Your Peace: Crafting a Collaborative Guide on Reframing Peacebuilding Journalism 
Are you overwhelmed by the never-ending loop of news stories? Information overload and fatigue affect us all, with repetitive narratives creating a cycle of confusion, frustration, and exhaustion. This workshop aims to address this by bridging the communication gap between peacebuilders and journalists. In an interactive exercise of collective narrative building, participants will roleplay different national identities and work with assigned news articles to construct conflict-sensitive stories. This session seeks to foster reflection and critical conversation about journalism's impact on peacebuilding processes. Through collaborative discussion, participants will share insights and experiences to identify misconceptions and areas for improvement in media coverage. By developing actionable recommendations, the session will create a practical guide for more accurate and compelling storytelling. This initiative not only seeks to enhance communication strategies among peacebuilders, but also aims to bolster public and policymaker understanding and support for peacebuilding efforts—transforming the way peace stories are told and acted upon.

Speakers:

• Méline Laffabry, CEO and Founder, aidóni

• Iliana Moridou, Community Engagement Officer, aidóni

• Nikola Turière, Executive Administrator, aidóni

• Yousr Sharawy, Academia Editor, aidóni

Reframing Peace Narratives in South/Southeast Asia and Automatic Classifiers for Peace
This session will feature two presentations exploring key issues within the digital peacebuilding landscape. In the first half, FHI 360 will spotlight their efforts to reach “extreme” audiences to support peace and inclusivity in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand by understanding audiences who are at-risk to extremism views and mapping out their online habits and attitudes in order to promote inclusive and positive views. Participants will learn practical strategies for how to target susceptible audiences with persuadable content, identify niche audiences for qualitative research, and develop data-driven and locally-led peacebuilding communications strategies, putting evidence to action with local partners and peacebuilding practitioners. In the second half, Build Up will explore the innovative technology and open-source community behind machine learning classifiers used to monitor and counter toxic and harmful online content. This session will introduce the Automatic Classifiers for Peace (ACfP) community, delve into the technical and ethical aspects of classifier deployment, and provide hands-on demonstrations to equip participants with practical skills. The session aims to empower participants with the knowledge and tools needed to leverage technology for peacebuilding effectively.

Speakers:

• Allan Cheboi, Data and DigiTech Lead, Build Up

• Lilli Baldwin, Networks for Peace Technical Advisor, FHI 360 

• Mike Wilson, Research Director, LoveFrankie
  
  

Rebuilding Social Cohesion and Trust in Guatemala Using Mayan Practices and Worldview
Indigenous peoples are among the most excluded groups globally. The historic and pervasive marginalization of indigenous people in Guatemala has resulted in communities that are particularly vulnerable to conflict and violence. This coincides with a decline in social cohesion and trust, particularly between citizens and government institutions. However, indigenous groups are key actors in the peaceful and sustainable resolution of social conflict and the rebuilding of trust. Their ancestral knowledge, systems, and practices are fundamental for the implementation of effective, alternative mechanisms of dialogue, mediation, and negotiation. This session will amplify the voices of indigenous leaders from Guatemala in sharing how they address drivers of violent conflict and implement locally-led solutions to build social cohesion. Participants will hear from three indigenous authorities on their experiences in rebuilding social cohesion and trust in rural Guatemala, using indigenous practices and the Mayan worldview.

Speakers:

• Florinda Púac, Peacebuilding Project Member, Creative Associates

• Sebastiana Par, Associación Miriam

• Rosa Elvira Patá Alvarez, National Movement of Midwives Nim Alaxik

• Martin Toc, Former President, 48 Cantones, Guatemala
  
  

Students Sharing Surprising Stories About Women and Peace Movements
The Student Consortium on Women, Peace, and Security will present four TED Talk-style stories about what peace looks like through a gendered lens. Speakers will present research looking at Kurdistan, India, Colombia, and Palestine to illuminate how women have used different approaches to mobilize, innovate, and lead movements for change, pushing against authoritarian/right-wing regimes and misogynistic narratives, to claim their space at the peace table and transform social norms.

Speakers:

• Dr. Shirley Graham, Director, Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs (GEIA); Associate Professor of Practice in International Affairs, George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs

• Barrett Liebermann, Student, George Washington University

• Elina Salian, Student, George Washington University

• Daniela Herrera, Student, George Washington University

• Sanjana Nihalani, Student, George Washington University

Scaling Urban-Based Local Solutions for Peace: A Case Study Approach 
Beyond established and proven peacebuilding routes like dialogue and diplomacy, many different avenues for building peace and overcoming conflict exist. This workshop will explore scalable, locally-led, evidence-based peacebuilding interventions around arts, nature, and science in a series of case studies from the North-Rhine Westphalia Region of Germany. The presentation will discuss, for example, the use of urban peace gardens that promote intercultural exchange, well-being, and creative and regenerative healing with nature to advance community peace. The session will also explore the use of peace platforms such as the one in Essen, Germany, which empower non-traditional actors to take power in local peacebuilding.

Speakers:

• Asli Telli, Academics for Peace, Wits University

• Burcu Eke-Schneider, Independent Peace Worker

• Andreu Ginestet, Independent Artist

• Rochus Ehlen, Independent Life-Coach

• Semra Sevin, Lawyer and Peace Activist

• Hassan Atie Harati, Peace Artist

  
  

Reframing the Narrative of Police Officers to Become “Peace Officers” for Rebuilding Public Trust in Institutions
The problem of decreasing public trust in institutions is among the most serious issues facing America today. When people lose faith in institutions, they often take matters into their own hands, sometimes resorting to violence. One of the most visible institutions in any community is the police force. Police officers are often the most direct and frequent point of contact between the public and government. Restoring citizen trust in the police is essential to rebuilding public confidence in American institutions. How do we reframe the narrative of police officers, shifting their perceived role from enforcers to "peace officers?” Such a pivot requires not just a semantic change; it represents a fundamental shift in approach and philosophy emphasizing the role of police in maintaining peace, fostering community relations, and preventing conflict rather than merely responding to it. Key aspects of this approach include enhancing community policing, greater training and education, and a commitment to accountability, transparency, and cultural change from the top down. This session will explore innovative approaches and successful case studies of community policing, offering new perspectives on how to foster trust and collaboration between police and communities.

Speakers:

• Lisa Broderick, Founder and Director, Police2Peace

• Perry Bradley Jr., Founder and CEO, Building Better Communities

• Chief Robert Spinks, Chief of Police, Parson’s Police Department in Kansas

• Chief Tommy Tunson (ret.), Professor of Criminal Justice, Bakersfield College CA

• Felicia Cross, Senior Supervisor, Community Liaison, Washington State Office of Independent Investigations