General News

10 years ago the groundbreaking UN Resolution 1325 was passed.

This extraordinary Resolution recognises the devastating impact of conflict on women and states that women must be involved in building peace.

Whilst 1325 is extraordinary in principle, a decade later, a lack of implementation means its impact is not being felt by women.

Between 4th-6th February 2011, International Alert’s economy and conflict project partners, the Caucasus Business and Development Network (CBDN), organised a regional beekeepers’ meeting to discuss challenges and possibilities for regional cooperation in the beekeeping sector.

On 9th August 2010, Alert convened business leaders from Acholi and Lango sub-regions of Northern Uganda for a meeting titled “Business and Peace in Uganda: Lessons from Sri Lanka and Kenya” aimed at exploring the role of the private sector in ensuring a peaceful electoral process in the 2011 presidential and parliamentary election in Uganda.

In January 2011 International Alert teamed up with the Royal Commonwealth Society to take eight British youth of Sri Lankan heritage, and from both Tamil and Sinhalese backgrounds, to Sri Lanka as part of our Sri Lankan programme and our work with Sri Lankan diaspora who live in the UK.

International Alert, together with partners Equal Access Nepal and Youth Action Nepal, recently completed a training course in Nepal for interns who will be responsible for undertaking research on Nepali youth’s experiences and perceptions of current security challenges and responses.

International Alert recently facilitated two discussion fora in Northern Uganda’s districts of Amuru and Kitgum, which brought together stakeholders from different sectors of Uganda’s society and local communities to promote peacebuilding as part of the economic recovery of Northern Uganda.

In Amuru, the discussion focused on creating an understanding between oil companies and local communities; while in Kitgum, participants discussed how local business leaders can be key stakeholders in building peace at the local level.

In December International Alert held a two-day dialogue workshop in London that convened the leaders of the youth and student wings of the 17 main Lebanese political parties.

From Dan Smith’s blog, which can be found at www.dansmithsblog.com.

During a recent community meeting in the north-western Liberian town of Vahun, in Lofa County, International Alert has been able to ascertain the positive impact its project on human security and gender-based violence has had on the communities in this part of Liberia.

The battle lines are starting to be drawn over how development assistance and peacebuilding do or don’t support each other, or can or can’t be made to work together, and about whether bad governance and insecurity are the right targets for international development policy and assistance. 

Earlier this month, International Alert organised a three-day seminar for civil society aimed at exchanging information and increasing transparency in the management of oil revenues in the island state of São Tomé and Príncipe.

International Alert recently attended the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women which undertook a 15-year review and appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA).

In partnership with the Eastern Africa Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), Alert organised a panel discussion to present the preliminary results of a joint research project on the nature and impact of women’s political participation currently being carried out in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

In February this year, International Alert organised an awareness campaign around the West African island of Príncipe aimed at informing those living in rural areas about forthcoming oil extraction. The island state of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea is the second smallest country in Africa and one of the poorest countries in the world.

International Alert recently conducted research into perceptions of security and access to justice among stakeholders in three districts of Lofa County in northwest Liberia, as part of its EC-funded Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP) project. The eruption of communal violence in Voinjama while Alert’s team was visiting the county seat provided a stark reminder of the fragility of peace in Liberia and the challenges of security provision in a remote and sensitive region.

Between 25th-29th March 2010 International Alert held an Armenian-Azerbaijani Youth Peace Forum in Amman, Jordan. 25 participants from across the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict divide travelled to Jordan to meet with counterparts from the other side.

The young Armenians and Azerbaijanis took part in training workshops as well as in interactive exercises. The trainers and the facilitators of the Youth Forum were representatives of the older generation of peace activists who have been working in the region with Alert for more than a decade.