Global

International Alert recently launched a new publication series, part of the project ‘Strengthening the Economic Dimensions of Peacebuilding’.

Who?
My name is Hannah Simon. I am from Switzerland and I am currently in the process of completing my second masters degree in the UK.

Background

Only one in forty signatories to peace agreements over the last twenty-five years were women, reveals a new report by Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS), a UK research and advocacy group of which International Alert is a member.

The Global Monitoring Checklist on Women, Peace and Security, a vital report on the political, legal, and socioeconomic progress of women in five conflict-affected regions, was recently launched in Parliament to an audience of parliamentarians, civil servants, journalists and members of civil society.

Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP), a consortium supported by the European Union and led by International Alert, recently launched six synthesis papers which summarise lessons learnt, conclusions and recommendations drawn from evidence-based research conducted in the last year and a half by Alert and its partners.

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

Mid August to Mid September 2009

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet you can listen to the following interviews this month:

Could overseas aid be doing more harm than good?

We might have accepted climate change as a given, but what do the rest of the world really think?

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

It can be safely predicted that ideas and the terms of discussion about international development will change fundamentally in the coming five years.  A major policy statement from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) marks an important milestone on this road, though it’s a long way from being the endpoint. In this very long post, I explore the White Paper and a way of taking DFID’s logic forward.

Mid September to mid October 2009

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet this month you can listen to the following interviews:

Why is it that some large western corporations have a negative effect on peace and yet others can be at the very heart of peacebuilding?
Are children the hidden victims of a conflict – their plight forgotten while the adults fight and then their needs ignored once peace returns?

International Alert was recently invited to speak at the GLOBECRAFT Conflict and Climate Change Symposium hosted by the Geneva School of Diplomacy on 7 – 9 September 2009. The symposium brought together experts from the security, climate change, development and humanitarian relief sectors to discuss the emerging security implications of climate change. Participants ranged from high-level climate scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, directors and advisors of relevant UN bodies and NGOs, to government ministers and CEOs of climate-related corporations.

These are extraordinary times for those who work in overseas development. We are living through a recession of historic proportions, and yet thus far there are few overt calls for a reduction in overseas development aid. The main questions for the 2010 election will be about public spending: where to make cuts, and how deep should they be? In the past, faced with similar pressures, there would have loud and widely voiced calls for a retrenchment of overseas development assistance (ODA), and a refocusing of government priorities on issues closer to home.

International Alert recently organised and hosted a roundtable discussion in Brussels on “Socio-Economic Reintegration of Ex-combatants – What Role for the European Union?”. The roundtable brought together experts, practitioners and policymakers for a lively and productive discussion about the issues and problems that arise when working towards the socio-economic reintegration of ex-combatants into post-conflict societies and communities.

International Alert’s Training and Learning Team recently held a four-day training course on Conflict Sensitivity for Development and Humanitarian Organisations, aimed at helping such organisations to include the “conflict” dimension into their work.

The Conservative Party is set fair to win next year’s UK general election. What will happen to development policy?

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet this month you can listen to the following interviews:

Can reconciliation after conflict really work? Hear about a boy from Liberia who became friends with his father's killer and a ground-breaking peace and cultural festival that took place in the country.

Plus, when it comes to negotiating peace, why a woman's touch often succeeds where men fail, and why some local chiefs are deferring to the women of the tribe?

International Alert recently hosted a roundtable on Climate Change, Conflict and Effective Responses bringing together people from a range of think-tanks, NGOs and government departments to start a discussion on the complexities of responding to climate change in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.