Listing the peacebuilding NGO’s strategic achievements in the last 12 months, the report is also candid about the challenges the organisation faces, in light of global economic turbulence and the attendant risks to regions prone to violence in many of the 20 plus countries in which they work.
In this context the report sets out Alert’s Strategic Perspective for the coming 5 years, illustrating how the organisation intends to pursue its three part mission – to work with people affected by violence and make a positive impact for peace, to improve the substance and implementation of international policies that affect peacebuilding and peace and to strengthen the peacebuilding sector – in a changing world context.
The report itself presents both Alert and its activities in a new layout, intended both to engage the reader in the complexity of the work while retaining a simple and easily navigable structure, while the authorship of the publication has involved teams from every part of the organisation, including every team based in overseas offices.
Commenting on the report Dan Smith OBE, Secretary-General, said:
The world is getting progressively more dangerous, with new challenges arising out of the impact of a global economic slowdown and other factors. One of the things we are calling for from governments around the world is transparency in how they respond to those challenges – this report is our contribution to that process by illustrating our own transparency.
We are clear about what we have achieved and are rightly proud of, while being equally clear about the factors which limit our work. Our organisational focus is on the positive impact we can bring to those regions most vulnerable to armed violence, and the dialogue between nations about them. This report illustrates that a relatively small NGO can have real impact, and does so in a way that I hope informs but also inspires the reader.
