EPLO lunch events are 1 - 1.5 hour-long, informal round-table discussions on a wide range of geographic and thematic topics with relevance for the EU and its support for peacebuilding and conflict prevention. Participation is free and (usually) open to all.

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

Title	Civil society perspective on the situation in Somalia
Date	Thursday 23 February 2012
Time	13.00–14.30
Venue	Search for Common Ground Office, Rue Belliard 205 (3rd floor), 1040 Brussels (map)
Short Description	On 23 February 2012, policy makers from key regional, Western and Islamic powers will meet in London to discuss the international approach towards Somalia. Against this background, Oxfam will present the main findings of its briefing paper, A shift in focus: Putting the needs of Somali people first, which will be followed by a discussion with a civil society representative from Somalia who will speak about the situation in the country in light of the current accelerated fighting between regional actors.
Registration	Please RSVP to Josephine Liebl if you would like to participate

 

 

Title	Leaving the past behind: the perceptions of youth in Bosnia
Date	Thursday 1 March 2012
Time	12.30-13.30
Venue	European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, Rue Belliard 205 (3rd floor), 1040 Brussels (map)
Short Description	The People's Peacemaking Perspectives (PPP) project which is implemented by Saferworld and Conciliation Resources is an 18 month project in 18 different conflict contexts, that aims to connect European policy makers with people affected by conflict. The work in Bosnia builds on a previous Saferworld study entitled ‘The Missing Peace’, where the growing divide between the generations and the potential role of young people as drivers for peaceful change were highlighted as a feature of conflict dynamics in Bosnia. This new study, therefore explored this issue in-depth, providing an updated conflict analysis for 2011 focusing on the role of youth in peace and conflict dynamics. The project brought together young people from different ethnicities and regions, many for the first time, and as such was part of a peace-making process. Their role in their research also helped develop their skills and the ability to think critically about their situation, their role, and possible policy solutions – particularly important in a context where young people are discouraged from participating in civic processes and are often ignored by local authorities. Saferworld’s project partner Nansen Dialogue Centre, Sarajevo, will present together with colleagues from Saferworld Brussels. The informal presentation will be followed by questions and a discussion.
Registration	Please RSVP to Josephine Liebl if you would like to participate

 

 

Title	"How to" Guide for Peacebuilding Design, Monitoring and Evaluation
Date	Friday 16 March 2012
Time	12.00-13.00
Venue	European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, Rue Belliard 205 (2nd floor), 1040 Brussels (map)
Short Description	One of the long-standing challenges to successful peacebuilding has been the difficulty of measuring results and generating evidence that can help identify what types of interventions work best. Part of the challenge is that peace itself is an elusive concept, made up of innumerable factors that can be hard to define. Peacebuilding projects often seek changes in people’s perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards one another – areas that are less tangible than, say, their health, or access to credit, and often more difficult to measure. If an intervention is successful in preventing a conflict, a further challenge is demonstrating the counterfactual (i.e. what would have happened in the absence of the initiative). Moreover, agencies have struggled to demonstrate how interventions that target grassroots level actors ‘add up’ to building peace at the national or even regional level. CARE International and International Alert decided to undertake a two and a half year research project to assess how using theories of change in a ‘light touch’ way could contribute to monitoring and evaluating peacebuilding projects in three conflict-affected countries: Uganda, Nepal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This “How to” Guide is a ‘light touch’ guide to using theories of change and theory-based evaluation in researching, monitoring and evaluating the projects. Our aim was to improve the quality and effectiveness of civil society and government peacebuilding and conflict prevention programming by critically evaluating assumptions underpinning peacebuilding programming. It was envisioned that this would be accomplished through developing and piloting means to demonstrate results, and building local capacity in design, monitoring and evaluation. The tools that were developed and piloted during this project have been refined and are now presented in this “How to” Guide for peacebuilding design, monitoring and evaluation. It is the hope that practitioners will find it useful in designing and reviewing peacebuilding interventions. Heidi Ober has been managing the Peacebuilding Design, Monitoring and Evaluation Project for CARE International for the past 2.5 years. She has a background in conflict with a specific focus on assisting partners in applying DME to peacebuilding projects. A brief presentation will be followed by questions and a discussion.
Registration	Please RSVP to Florian Kadletz if you would like to participate

 

 

Previous Events

 

2012

22/02/2012: Turkey's accession process to the European Union: Aysegül Dogan - IMC TV

 

20/02/2012: Georgian and Abkhaz civil society perspectives on conflict and EU responses: Margarita Akhvlediani - Director, Go Group/Eyewitness Reporting Studio; Marina Elbakidze - Project Coordinator, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD); Liana Kvarchelia - Deputy Director, Centre for Humanitarian Programmes, and Rachel Clogg - Caucasus Programme Director, Conciliation Resources

 

02/02/2012: Inter-ethnic tensions and xenophobia in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus: Andre Kamenshikov - Programme Manager - Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States, Nonviolence International; and Regional Coordinator - Eastern Europe Network, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Conflict.

 

19/01/2012: The Logical Framework Analysis method applied to Resolution 1325 in Afghanistan: Joan Ferrier - Director, E-Quality; and Mr Diederik Stolk - Project Manager, Pax Ludens Foundation

 

18/01/2012: Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities: Dr Georgy Tatar - Chair of the Board of Trustees, Foundation for the International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities

 

12/01/2012: Traditional justice mechanisms in Pakistan: Chamila Hemmathagama – Team Leader, Asia, Saferworld; Naveed Ahmad Shinwari - Chief Executive, Community Appraisal & Motivation Programme (CAMP); and Neha Ali Gauhar - Research and Campaign Officer, CAMP

 

2011

15/12/2011: Yemen, Public Protest and Visions of Change: Saleem Haddad - Yemen Programme Coordinator, Saferworld; and Joshua Rogers - Middle East and North Africa Programme Associate, Saferworld

 

07/12/2011: Presentation of two studies on conflict analyis in West Africa: Pewee Flomoku - Carter Center, Koffi Sylvere Tchedoh - West African Action Network on Small Arms, and Janet Adama Mohammed and Sophie Haspeslagh - Conciliation Resources

 

24/11/2011: Presentation of Land and Conflict Prevention: Professor John Packer, Dr John W. Bruce and Sally Holt, Initiative on Quiet Diplomacy

 

21/11/2011: The Nansen Dialogue Network - Peacebuilding in the Western Balkans: Bente Knagenhjelm, Nansen Dialogue Network Senior Adviser and EPLO Steering Committee Member, and Tanja Popovic, Director of Nansen Dialogue Centre Serbia

 

09/11/2011: Drawing boundaries in the Western Balkans: A people’s perspective: Representatives from the Centre for Security Studies (CSS) in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Forum for Civic Intitiatives (FIQ) and the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) in Kosovo; the Centre for Security Studies (CSS) in Montenegro; and the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP)

 

08/11/2011: Presentation of Conflict and Development: Dr Eleanor O'Gorman

 

26/10/2011: Climate change and conflict along the Niger River Basin: Lulsegged Abebe - Senior Advisor, International Alert

 

17/10/2011: Implementation of the World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development: Joel Hellman - Director, Global Center on Conflict, Security and Development, World Bank

 

11/10/2011: Women, Peace and Security in Colombia: Claudia Duque - Director, Sisma Mujer

 

27/09/2011: Peacebuilding in Cyprus: Lorraine Marriot - Director, NGO Support Centre

 

06/09/2011: Human Security Chapter of draft CONCORD Report on Policy Coherence for Development: Peter Söborn - EU Policy Officer, CONCORD Sweden; and Romina Vegro - European Policy Officer, BOND

 

31/08/2011: Latest developments in the Mindanao Peace Process: Dr Tim Wallis - International Executive Director, Nonviolent Peaceforce

 

05/07/2011: War to peace transitions in Liberia and Sierra Leone: Presentation of the initial policy findings from Conciliation Resources latest Accord series project: Elizabeth Drew - Research and Publications Officer; and David Newton - Director of Policy, Practice and Communications, Conciliation Resources

 

22/06/2011: Presentation of the Peace Report 2011: Dr Corinna Hauswedell - Associate Researcher, Bonn International Center for Conversion; Dr Margret Johannsen - Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, University of Hamburg; and Dr Bruno Schoch - Senior Research Fellow, Peace Research Insitute Frankfurt

27/05/2011: Local Ownership in Rule of Law Development in Kosovo - Florian Qehaja, Head of Operations and Senior Researcher, Kosovo Centre for Security Studies (KCSS)

 

14/04/2011: Kosovo: Delegation of 5 mayors from Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo, and representatives of IKV Pax Christi and Fractal

 

13/04/2011: Women’s Economic Empowerment in Jordan and Kosovo: Raja Hiyari, Executive Director, Partners Jordan; and Shukrie Gashie - Director, Partners Kosovo

 

07/04/2011: Presentation of Conciliation Resources' report: Displacement in Georgia: IDP attitudes to conflict, return and justice: Magdalena Frichova Grono - Programme Associate, Conciliation Resources; and Rachel Clogg - Caucasus Programme Director, Conciliation Resources 

 

29/03/2011: Tools for the implementation of the participation pillar of UNSCR 1325 and Initiative on Quiet Diplomacy: Professor John Packer

 

29/03/2011: Human rights in Azerbaijan: Dr Leyla Yunus - Director, Institute for Peace and Democracy

28/03/2011: The strategic role of UNRWA in the Middle East, and the importance of Palestine refugees in achieving lasting peace: Michael Kingsley-Nyinah - Director of Executive Office, UNRWA

 

24/03/2011: Presentation of Oxfam report: Whose aid is it anyway? Politicising Aid in Conflicts and Crises: Elise Ford, Oxfam International

 

15/03/2011: Presentation of Conciliation Resources' report: Paix sans frontières: building peace across borders (Accord Issue 22): David Newton - Director of Policy, Practice and Communications, Conciliation Resources; and Sophie Haspeslagh - Policy Analyst, Conciliation Resources

 

09/02/2011: Côte d’Ivoire: a return to civil war?: Patrick Zadi Zadi, Peace Advisor and Trainer (Côte d’Ivoire, Sudan and Mali)

 

21/01/2011: Human rights in Chechnya: Group of civil society representatives from leading human rights and women’s rights organisations

 

 

2010

 

15/12/2010: Presentation of the People’s Peacemaking Perspectives Project: Ben Stevenson - Advocacy and Communications Coordinator, Saferworld

 

08/12/2010: Egypt: Dalia Osman, Journalist, Al Masry Al Youm (independent Egyptian newspaper)

 

29/10/2010: Mauritania: Lucia Montanaro

 

14/10/2010: Gender in CSDP missions: Malin Palm

 

20/09/2010: EU-Africa relations: Civil society co-operation: Emmanuel Bombande - Executive Director, WANEP

 

21/06/2010: Burma: Euro-Burma Office

 

26/05/2010: Northern Uganda: Kennedy Tumutegyereize - East and Central Africa Programme Director, Conciliation Resources

 

02/02/2010: The Philippines: Cynthia Petrigh - Director of Policy and Comparative Learning, Conciliation Resources

 

26/01/2010: The Nabucco Pipeline: Neil Endicott - Policy Officer, Quaker Council for European Affairs