Initiative for Peacebuilding: Celebrating Achievements and Sharing Lessons of Three Years
On 18-19 November, Partners for Democratic Change International and other civil society organizations in the field of peacebuilding and conflict prevention met in Brussels, Belgium, to celebrate the end of their three-year project, the Initiative for Peacebuilding.
The Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP) is a consortium led by International Alert and funded by the European Commission that combined the thematic and geographic strength of 10 civil society organizations, among them Partners for Democratic Change International (PDCI), across Europe and in conflict-affected countries to share understanding, harness knowledge of peacebuilding and to address its challenges. The project aimed to assist governments, NGOs and especially the European Union build more conflict-sensitive development assistance policies and programs.
On 18-19 November, the end of the three-year project was celebrated with the event "Milestones on the Road to Peace", which was attended by more than 40 participants from the various partner organizations, the
European Commission, NATO and Brussels-based NGOs. The conference started with an informal panel discussion on the question "Peacebuilding: Losing Sight of the Big Picture?" on November 18. Panelists included Daniela Kolarova, Director of PDCI, Dan Smith, Secretary-General of International Alert, Tuija Talvitie, Executive Director of Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), as well as Henry Smith, Director of Saferworld. The second day of the conference was organized around four workshops, one of which was led by PDCI on the topic of integrating peacebuilding practices into development.
In three years, members of IfP produced over 80 publications on diverse topics like justice and security in Nepal; land conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo; mediation in Georgia; the African Union’s mediation capacity; regional water cooperation in the Middle East; impunity in Guatemala; and security sector reform in Afghanistan. The IfP publications are available on online at www.initiativeforpeacebuilding.eu.
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