Event: Aid Effectiveness in Fragile States

Dec 15, 2011 

Post-Busan Debrief on Aid Effectivess in Conflict-Affected Regions

U.S. government and civil society representatives who participated in the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Republic of Korea Nov 29 - Dec 1 offered analysis of the major outcomes of the historic forum and what it means for US-sponsored aid mechanisms and the larger discussion of development effectiveness, especially in conflict-affected and fragile states.

 3P initiated collaboration with the Alliance forPeacebuilding, the Woodrow Wilson Center, USAID, InterAction, and CDA Collaborative Learning Projects to host a post-Busan de-briefing event on Dec 15th. 

Click here for the event agenda.

Click here for a recording of the event.

From left: South African Ambassador to the U.S. Ibrahim Rasool,3P Program Manager John Filson, and World Vision Senior Policy Advisor Randy Tift

 Leaders of the official USG delegation to Busan and several CSO participants in Busan provided analysis of the historic forum and its implications for the way USAID and other donors approach international development cooperation. The second of two panels focused on the effectiveness questions in conflict-affected and fragile states, such as G7+ countries in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa where the lack of effective development is a major obstacle to human security. Most of the 19 G7+ countries have not yet reached a single Millennium Development Goal, and it was the sense of both U.S. officials and CSO representatives that the US must do more to foster genuine improvement.

Steve Pierce, Senior Advisor, Office of Donor Engagement,
 Bureau for Policy, Planning  and Learning, USAID

Alliance for Peacebuilding Fall Gathering

Dec 7, 2011

3P organized two policy events for the Fall Gathering of members of the Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), the leading U.S.-based network of peacebuilding institutions and practitioners working worldwide:

Conflict Prevention Capacities in the U.S. Government:

The first was a panel presentation by Gustavo Delgado and Tod Wilson of the State Department's new Conflict and Stabilization Operations(CSO) Bureau and Mary Stata, the Coordinator of the Prevention and Protection Working Group about the new structures the government is putting in place to improve its overall capacity to prevent violent conflict and mass atrocities. The State Department officials described the vision and creation of the CSO Bureau, and Ms. Stata informed AfP members about the new inter-agency Atrocities Prevention Board, as well as updates on key Congressional budget accounts that provides the funds for conflict prevention activities. 

 Material Support Regulations that Restrict Critical Peacebuilding:

The second event was a participatory discussion of U.S. "material support" to terrorism regulations that have placed a chilling effect on important track II peacebuilding, development, and humanitarian relief activities around the world. AfP members heard from Kay Guinane of the Charity and SecurityNetwork (CSN) and Sharon Bradford Franklin of The Constitution Project about the latest discussions with the State Department, Treasury, and Justice Dept. exploring various potential legal mechanisms that would allow critical peacebuilding activities to resume without the fear of being prosecuted for material support

Civil Society - State Relations

December 5, 2011 

National Security from the Outside-In

Stimson Center and Global Systems Initiative, Washington DC
Lisa Schirch presented with Clare Lockhart of the Institute for State Effectiveness on the need for more complex understandings of civil society-state relations. 

Bonn Civil Society Forum Afghanistan

Dec 2 - 3, 2011 

3P attended the Bonn, Germany Civil Society Forum on Afghanistan

Also read our Common Ground News Service Article: Afghan Civil Society Calls for Just Peace.

Watch our 5 minute YouTube video to hear about Afghan civil society and their messages to the international community: Civil Society Forum Afghanistan - Bonn 2011

Civil Society-Military Relations

November 30, 2011

International Models for Stability Operations

National Defense University

Lisa Schirch presented at The 7th International Lessons Learned Conference with Danish Ambassador Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin and James Kunder of USAID.  Panelist addressed the need for improving communication and coordination mechanisms between governments, civilian and military personnel and between civil society and state actors.  The conference was attended by over 500 military and government leaders from around the world. 

Click here for the full event agenda.

The principal objectives of this conference were to develop guidelines for the design of stability operations and conflict prevention initiatives in the following areas:

• Political transitions. How the international community can support a smooth political transition, political settlement, reconciliation with former regime supporters, and social and political stability; how it can expedite and strengthen transition to host nation control; and how it can encourage greater citizen participation while maintaining social stability.
• Local security forces. How the international community can shape military assistance and security cooperation to enhance security without infringing on individual freedoms; how it can improve the reform and reintegration of existing local security forces and enhance the advise, train, and equip function; and how it can improve local police functions especially when only military forces are present to guide the development of the police force.
• Cultural intelligence. How the international community can better understand operationally relevant socio-cultural aspects of local societies and how it can bridge the gap between improving intelligence related to the local population and the typically more robust intelligence related to kinetic operations. This may include topics such as local governance structures, informal and formal justice systems, tribal relations, and the relationship between the central government and the periphery.
• Economic engagement. How the international community can use the economic element to foster political settlement; how it can improve job prospects of local populations; how it can improve its understanding of the relationship between donor assistance, local absorptive capacity, and corruption; and how it can help governments build a long-term revenue base that does not depend exclusively on donor, military and development aid.

Afghan Peace Process in Comparative Perspective

November 29, 2011

Designing a Comprehensive Peace Process for Afghanistan
3P presented research at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) and at private briefings at the Pentagon and State Department.  The panel discussion event at USIP focused on a recent USIP PeaceWorks report, “Designing a Comprehensive Peace Process for Afghanistan.”  Presenters included Lisa Schirch from 3P, Nilofar Sakhi who also contributed to the same paper.  Other panelists included Hamish Nixon, Project Coordinator USIP, Peace Research Institute Oslo and Caroline Hartzell, USIP Jennings Randolph Fellow.
 

Research on this topic was undertaken by 3P during five trips to Kabul, Afghanistan, and one trip to Pakistan between 2009 and 2011. This report, sponsored by the Center for Conflict Management at the U.S. Institute of Peace, draws on comparative research literature on peace processes to identify lessons applicable to Afghanistan and makes recommendations to the international community, the Afghan government, and Afghan civil society for ensuring a more comprehensive, successful, and sustainable peace process.

Forum on US Leadership After UNESCO

November 17, 2011

After UNESCO: Implications for U.S. Leadership

3P's Israeli-Palestinian Congressional Forum organized a November 17 briefing for 40 Congressional staff from both Republican and Democrat offices.  The forum discussed the October 31 UNESCO vote to grant the Palestinian PLO full membership.

This historic vote has led to a legislatively mandated cut-off of U.S. funding to UNESCO.  Possible future non-payments of U.S. financial contributions to other UN entities that admit Palestine as a member include agencies that represent important U.S. national interests.  Agencies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called into question the strategy of linking U.S. policy toward the PLO and its funding of the UN. 

Click here to read the report After UNESCO: Implications for U.S. Leadership

(From left to right): Nizar Farsakh, General Director, PLO General Delegation to the U.S.; Roee Ruttenberg, Independent Tel Aviv-based Israeli-American journalist; Amb. Mark P. Lagon, Former U.S. Amb. at Large to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Dept. of State, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, Moderator, Center for Conflict Management; Amb. Nancy Soderberg, Former Deputy Asst. Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; Jeffrey Kushan, Former Alternate Representative to the UN, Intellectual Property/Patents expert, Sidley Austin LLP.

What Is Human Security

October 20 - 22, 2011

3P asked global civil society colleagues from around the world,

 "What is the meaning of human security?" 

These peacebuilders gathered in New York City in November 2011 to articulate a global civil society position toward prevailing counter-terrorism measures (CTMs) employed by governments and inter-governmental organizations. Read a seminal report on CTMs titled, Friend Not Foe: Opening Spaces for Civil Society Engagement to Prevent Violent Extremism produced by the Fourth Freedom Forum and the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at Notre Dame University. 

Global civil society organizations who participated in the summit include the following, along with many others:

Africa CSO Platform on Principled Partnership

Centro de Investigacion y Educacion Popular

Clingendael

Cordaid

GPPAC

Initiatives for International Dialogue

Nahdatul Ulama - Indonesia

Nonviolence International 

Rights Now Collective for Democracy

WANEP

3P Human Security

Afghanistan: Corruption Monitoring

July 5 - 8, 2011 

Integrity Watch Afghanistan Visits Congress

3P hosted the Afghan NGO Integrity Watch Afghanistan visit to Washington DC, setting up meetings for their Director of Policy and Communications Karolina Olofsson.

 The U.S. has an important role in supporting community-based corruption monitoring by requiring contractors to share information with local communities who can hold them to account for reconstruction projects.  Corruption is a central issue in Afghanistan; one that needs to be addressed so the country can move from war to peace. 

Click here to visit Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) website.

Policy and Communications Director Karolina Olofsson of Integrity Watch Afghanistan speaks to professional staff of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill about citizen-led participatory methods of combating corruption in Afghanistan.

 

Watch a short YouTube interview with Ms. Olofsson as she explains the problem of corruption in Afghanistan and how community-based corruption monitoring can help.

Director of Policy and Communications, Integrity Watch Afghanistan with Program Director John Filson of 3P Human Security