English

Between September 2007 and January 2008 International Alert and Friends for Peace conducted a research and dialogue process with affected youth in Sunsari and Morang. The overarching aim of this project is to strengthen youth voices on community security needs and perspectives across different identity lines in the eastern Terai. The aim of this paper is to outline the key community security concerns voiced by young people in Morang and Sunsari districts and reflect these voices up to policy and decision makers at the national level.

Briefing paper

This tool is designed to be a resource for civil society organisations (CSOs) engaged in oversight of the security sector, as well as those CSOs that seek to play a more active role in this regard. The tool is also relevant for policymakers and officials in national governments, international and regional organisations, and donor countries around the world that are engaged in designing and implementing security sector reforms and that could play an active role in strengthening and supporting civil society engagement.

Full report

As part of the Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit, this tool provides an introduction to thebenefits and opportunities of integrating gender issues into national-level security policy making.As strategic documents, security policies are critically important in establishing a coordinated response to security threats, and can serve as a platform for security sector reform (SSR) processes. This includes national security policies (NSPs) as well as sector-specificpolicies, such as a white paper on defence.

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This report focuses on the EU’s response to the "Women and Armed Conflict" (WAC) study, in particular on the development cooperation dimension. The report describes international approaches and legal obligations to WAC, identifies and discusses the most salient issues, gives an overview and assessment of the EU response and provides findings and recommendations.

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This paper aims to provide initial thoughts and options for integrating conflict-sensitive approaches (CSA) into value chain analysis and interventions in conflict situations. It uses a value chain framework as a starting point and explores how CSA can be applied to the analysis both of different levels and the various components of the chain. While the focus is on the initial analysis stage of a project cycle, the paper also presents preliminary points for practitioners to bear in mind in implementation.

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This is the report of a consultation workshop jointly organised by International Alert and the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) in partnership with the Women and Gender Studies Department at Makerere University. The workshop is part of a regional research project aimed at assessing the impact of women’s political participation in countries emerging from conflict in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

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This study outlines the particular development challenges confronting international actors in fragile and conflict-affected countries, and gives a summary of the World Bank’s evolving approach to those challenges. The study then sets out certain key problems which, despite recent improvements, continue to reduce the quality of the Bank’s impacts. Noting the inconsistencies in the Bank’s approaches, it assesses the factors that determine the Bank’s ability to deal with, and help address, the immense complexity of its operating environments.

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Executive summary

This briefing outlines the key findings of the recent study on Enhancing the EU Response to Women and Armed Conflict commissioned by the Slovenian Presidency of the EU, and discusses the recommendations in relation to the European Commission. Although the EU has repeatedly committed itself to the need for the full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, current EU interventions in conflict-affected contexts lack a clear gender and conflict analysis and women continue to be marginalised from peacebuilding initiatives.

Briefing paper

This report was produced as a background paper for CHD’s Oslo Forum, an annual gathering of senior international conflict mediators. This paper will discuss the diverse roles played by the private sector during Track 1 peace processes in particular, drawing on a variety of examples from different contexts.

Full report

Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights provide a broad framework that can help companies operate in ways that provide security to their facilities while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. Several companies have developed their own guidelines to implement the principles. In this paper, International Alert, a founding member of the VP process, has developed performance indicators for companies, to help establish benchmarks in the longer term.

Paper

The attention and interest of the various stakeholders in rebuilding Northern Uganda’s economy as part of peace and recovery present critically important opportunities for positive change and a move to sustainable peace in the region, following years of economic decline and underdevelopment during the decades of conflict. But how strategic are these plans, given the challenges that persist, and when seen from a peacebuilding perspective? Are the opportunities to address root causes, immediate consequences, and ongoing threats of war being seized?

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This report reflects some of the perspectives and lessons learned from the Philippine-Nepal Exchange on the Peace Aspects of Constitution-making that took place in Kathmandu in August 2008. The report includes pertinent lessons from the Philippines experience of constitution-making from the perspectives of a Filipino peace practitioner, who served as a member of the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Philippines Constitution.

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Women peacebuilders in various conflict-affected countries face very similar challenges as they attempt to integrate women’s interests in peacebuilding policy processes and civil society actors from different countries can potentially learn a lot from exchanging experiences with each other. This report outlines the findings and recommendations of a workshop with representatives from Burundian and Sierra Leonean civil society organisations working in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment organised by International Alert on 25th to 29th February 2008.

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The accessible and accountable provision of security and justice is a key requirement for ensuring sustainable peace and economic and social development. In Nepal, there is an urgent need to address issues related to security provision and the security sector as part of the ongoing peace process. Success in security sector reform (SSR) is vital in ensuring the improvements to governance, without which further violent conflict in Nepal is likely.

Breifing paper

The Global Monitoring Checklist is a pilot research project designed to contribute towards international understanding on women, peace and security efforts. It highlights relevant activities at the local and national level by women, civil society, national governments and the international community. It is not a comprehensive survey of all initiatives relating to women, peace and security; rather, it is a first step in gathering and collating information that links directly to UNSCR 1325 implementation.

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