General

Through a participatory afternoon we will share experiences and approaches to working with young people on issues of conflict both in the UK and abroad. Contributors include the British Red Cross, Marsden Heights Community College, Refugee Youth, International Alert and Y Care International.

For more information and to download a booking form, see the attachments below.

This paper uses Alert’s peacebuilding framework to explore questions about peace and peacebuilding in South Sudan and Sudan.

Important underlying factors of conflict remain unaddressed within both countries, and the paper makes three broad recommendations to those in South Sudan and Sudan who are concerned to build a more comprehensive and more stable peace, and to those in the international community wishing to support their efforts.

Full report (Low-res version)

Full report (High-res version)

This report focuses on how theories of change can improve the effectiveness of peacebuilding interventions. A review of 19 peacebuilding projects in three conflict-affected countries found that the process of articulating and reviewing theories of change adds rigour and transparency, clarifies project logic, highlights assumptions that need to be tested, and helps identify appropriate participants and partners. However, the approach has limitations, including the difficulty of gathering theory-validating evidence.

Full report

A group of emerging political leaders from Sri Lanka’s Parliament and civil society have been spending the week here in the UK as part of a programme aimed at fostering reconciliation in that country’s progress toward peaceful development following the end of the three decade civil war there in 2009.

Over 120 people packed into a large Committee Room in the House of Commons on Wednesday night to hear the Voices for Reconciliation group of young British Sri Lankan diaspora members describe their vision for peace – at home and in Sri Lanka.

In September 2011, International Alert invited the famous Ossetian artist and humanist Magrez Kelekhsaev to conduct art master classes for schoolchildren in three districts of South Ossetia, as part of Alert’s post-war psychosocial rehabilitation programme.

This summer, two amazing fundraisers (Will Gibbs and Thomas Samuel) took on the challenge of sailing around Britain, and raised some much needed money for International Alert. We managed to catch up with Will to find out how it went…

1. How does it feel now that you have completed your sail around Britain?

Потребность в большем «вовлечении» Абхазии получила широкое признание со стороны международного сообщества и в настоящее время даже закреплена в официальных Европейской и Грузинской стратегиях. Однако столь «значимое» вовлечение не спешит материализоваться - наблюдается тенденция скорее к отчуждению, чем к сближению.

Full report

В данной работе грузинские и абхазские исследователи рассматривают один из фундаментальных поляризующих вопросов конфликта – политический статус Абхазии. Хотя Россия официально признала Абхазию независимым государством в августе 2008 г., «непризнание» Абхазии остается краеугольным камнем политики Грузии, а также международной политики. Грузинские исследователи рассматривают, насколько устойчивой является политика непризнания, при каких условиях эта политика может потерпеть крах, и что будет должна делать Грузия в таком случае.

Full report

The usual August calm was shattered by the disturbances across England two weeks ago. Whilst the debris is now cleared from the streets, the boarded-up shop windows and fire-blackened facades remain, reminding us of the harder process of rebuilding both physically and socially that needs to follow.  

A study visit of analysts and journalists from across the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict divide to South East Asia took place in July and August 2011.

The group visited South East Asia to look at the peacebuilding experiences of the Philippines, where they focused on both separatist and ideological conflicts, and Indonesia, where they looked at the conflicts in East Timor and Aceh.

This month, rioting and looting gripped England. At a time of uncertainty, it seemed salient (and perhaps inevitable) to ask, if the UK were a fragile state, how would we approach the events of last week, their aftermath and the future?

Building stability overseas