Interpeace and UNICEF partner to contribute to peace through work with children

A partnership between the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Interpeace contributes to the sustaining peace agenda which calls for contribution to peace at all levels and across all sectors. UNICEF drives change for children every day, by saving their lives, defending their rights, and helping them to fulfil their potential. The organization has long recognized that the sustainability of its work around the world requires addressing the root causes of fragility, conflict, and violence rather than merely responding to their consequences. Based on the recognition of this interrelationship, UNICEF leverages its programming in social services delivery and community engagement focused on realization of child rights for peacebuilding and sustaining peace, as demonstrated through its previous “Peacebuilding, Education, and Advocacy Programme”, and ongoing programming in over 50 countries.

UNICEF’s contribution to peacebuilding is centered on the social and economic dimensions of peace. It supports contributions to sustaining peace at multiple levels including individual capacity to transform conflict, fostering relationships between and within groups ( horizontal social cohesion), and (re)building state-society relations (vertical social cohesion).

In line with the second facet of Interpeace’s mandate – to assist the international community (and particularly the United Nations) to play a more effective role in supporting peacebuilding efforts around the world – Interpeace has embarked on co-learning processes with a number of UN agencies. The Interpeace Advisory Team (IPAT) provides accompaniment on the operationalization of the sustaining peace agenda, including the integration of contributions to peace in humanitarian and development work. This work is guided by key peacebuilding principles including local leadership, fostering horizontal and vertical trust - between people as well as between people and governments - and carefully crafting processes that enable these.

“We are delighted to be supporting UNICEF in its endeavor of fostering peaceful and inclusive societies for the realization of children’s rights. This work constitutes a part of Interpeace’s efforts to partner with other organizations in fostering peace responsive humanitarian, development, and stabilization action,” said Martina Zapf, Senior Manager at Interpeace.

Photo credits: Interpeace.

UNICEF has partnered with Interpeace on an evaluative review of its peacebuilding, social cohesion, and violence prevention programming. The objective of this review, carried out by IPAT, is to identify effective approaches that could be scaled up as well as opportunities to further enhance UNICEF’s work in these areas, drawing on its unique added value. UNICEF and Interpeace have also worked together in several countries to improve the situation of children and peace - as seen in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau (read more here).

Further consolidating the partnership, UNICEF has concluded a long-term services agreement with Interpeace. Under this framework agreement Interpeace will collaborate with UNICEF in the areas of peacebuilding, social cohesion, and violence prevention. Interpeace’s Advisory Team will provide hands-on assistance to country and programme teams on conflict analysis, programme design and implementation; providing capacity development and supporting organizational change processes; developing action-oriented and field-tested guidance; as well as providing reviews and a sounding board. The two organizations will also continue to identify opportunities for jointly designing and implementing programmatic activities contributing to peace.

The overall aim of the collaboration between UNICEF and Interpeace is to identify and practically act on ways of further enhancing UNICEF’s contribution to peace, in line with its mandate. Recognizing and enabling the important role that social and economic interventions play in fostering peace, gives concrete expression to one of the core tenants of the sustaining peace agenda.

Photo credits: Interpeace

Interpeace Governing Board welcomes three new members

Interpeace is pleased to announce the appointments of three new members to its Governing Board: Ambassador Simon Geissbühler, as the new Representative of the Host Government, Switzerland; Mohamed Khaled Khiari, as the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General; and Nathalie Delapalme.

“I am delighted to welcome Ambassador Geissbühler, Mr. Khiari and Ms. Delapalme as new Board members,” said Monica McWilliams, Chair of the Interpeace Governing Board. “These individuals bring diversity, expertise and very rich experience in their different fields, from which Interpeace will benefit enormously”.

Nathalie Delapalme is the Executive Director of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Before her appointment to the Foundation, Nathalie was a French senior civil servant, and served in various roles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in other departments. A recipient of several awards, Nathalie is Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, and sits on the Board of Institut Francais des Relations Internationales (IFPRI).

Nathalie Delapalme. Photo credits: Mo Ibrahim Foundation

Ambassador Simon Geissbühler is a Swiss diplomat, historian, and political scientist, currently serving as Head of the Human Security Division at the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs. He previously served as Switzerland’s Deputy Head of Mission to the United States in Washington D.C. from 2017 to 2020, and has held various other positions in the Swiss Foreign Service.

Simon Geissbühler. Photo Credit: Human Security Division of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs

Mohamed Khaled Khiari, a Tunisian diplomat with over 35 years in diplomacy and foreign affairs, is currently the Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations of the United Nations. Before his appointment as Assistant Secretary-General, Mr. Khiari was Director General of Americas, Asia and Oceania in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia.

 

Photo credits: UN

Together with existing members of the Board, the new members of the Governing Board will provide strategic direction, counsel and guidance to Interpeace.

Welcoming the appointments, the President of Interpeace, Scott Weber, said, “Our new Board members are deeply committed individuals who share Interpeace’s mission of reinforcing the capacities of societies to address conflict in non-violent and enduring ways. The new members bring a wealth of expertise and a rich diversity of experience that will add value, wisdom and impact to Interpeace’s crucial peacebuilding work worldwide.”

The Interpeace Governing Board is comprised of prominent individuals from the government, international, and business sectors. The Board is the top decision-making body of the organization and provides direction to Interpeace’s overall strategy.

Two permanent seats on the Governing Board are reserved for founding institutional members – one for the Host Government, Switzerland, and another for a designated representative of the United Nations Secretary-General. These permanent institutional memberships cement the commitment of Interpeace, the Government of Switzerland and the United Nations to continue to work together for sustained peace worldwide.

Engaging communities to end violence in eastern DR Congo

Several violent confrontations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have killed, wounded, and displaced many people. Amid the armed conflict, humanitarian actors have been targeted by communities fearing and resisting interventions.

The spike in violence at a time when communities faced epidemics like the Ebola, and now the COVID-19 pandemic, has also forced people to flee for safety – making it difficult to control spread of the diseases. Responding to humanitarian needs during an epidemic can be challenging, especially if it creates conflicts within communities. The Interpeace team in Ituri is engaging communities to find opportunities for peace and enhance trust between communities and responders.

Photo credit: Interpeace

Since November 2019, Interpeace is actively identifying and engaging, through a participatory and inclusive approach, various actors to collaborate in finding solutions to the violent conflicts in communities affected by epidemics in eastern DR Congo.

“We select them based on their availability and willingness to engage with Interpeace in building durable peace, their community’s acceptance, their capacity to critique research findings, and their leadership and influencing capacities at different levels from local to national scale. Inclusion is a very important criterion to ensure that everyone is represented, and the people engaged must be of good moral standing in society,” said Espoir Kitumaini, Interpeace’s Senior Programme Officer in Ituri.

The Interpeace team has facilitated consultation meetings of different actors in Bunia, Mandima, Komanda and Djugu communities, to share their concerns and propose solutions to address conflict drivers in their communities, including epidemics.

“Interpeace has brought us together with the parents and brothers of militiamen from Lendu community who kill our Hema families in Djugu. I’m thankful for this sitting today because some Lendu people have joined this project support group,” said Elegge Ibrahimu Bamaraki, leader of the Ente community.

“I call on Interpeace to continue its efforts, and especially for sincere dialogues without hypocrisy, so that this long-sought peace is found. Raise awareness among the parents, brothers, and sisters of these militiamen who leave Djugu in mourning, and those in Irumu to tell their children to lay down their arms. And Ituri will have true and lasting peace” said Mr Bamaraki.

 

Photo credits: Interpeace

The Interpeace team held meetings with the different stakeholders on 22 and 29 May in Bunia to validate the mandate of members of the project support group in the Ituri province. The meeting was attended by over 20 participants representing different local communities, civil society, academia, humanitarian organisations, religious, youth and women groups.

In his opening speech, the Provincial Minister of Planning, Pascal Karoraki said: “Inclusiveness is vital and can contribute effectively to the implementation of the tasks of members of the project support group in Ituri, and to get new strategies for seeking genuine peace.”

Building community trust is key to Interpeace work in support of response operations in eastern DR Congo. The inclusion and active participation of communities are the foundation for lasting peace.

 

Photo credits: Interpeace

“I did not know that some communities could meet in a room after the killings happening between communities in Djugu and Irumu. Thank you Interpeace for this meeting which brought us even closer,” said 50-year-old Ms Fatuma, Women Leader of the Mambasa community.

For decades, violent conflicts have killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others in eastern DR Congo. The violence and insecurity are major obstacles to humanitarian interventions and can reverse all positive gains already made in response efforts.

“I have understood that Interpeace wants to accompany the provincial government of Ituri in the search for peace, with a community engagement approach of the children of Ituri. Ituri will find its peace through its children, to begin with. Behold, the project support group set up and comprising representatives of different communities can help a lot to push this peace without hypocrisy,” explained Hon. Heritier Bahati, a 33-year-old elected member of the National Assembly and parliamentarian for Djugu.

This participatory community engagement project in Ituri is funded by the European Union (EU) Commission, through the EU Delegation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

EUROPEAN UNION

 

Day of the African Child: Empowering communities to break the cycle of injustice and exclusion

On the Day of the African Child, marked today, Interpeace joins the African Union, governments, civil society, the international community, and other stakeholders to reflect on the cycle of injustice and exclusion that children face in Africa.

The Day of the African Child is observed every year on June 16. It was first initiated in 1991 by the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union (AU). This year, 2020, the day is held under the theme “Access to Child-Friendly Justice System in Africa”.

Children in Africa are particularly vulnerable to falling behind in the global development agenda as laid out by the United Nations in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While there has been significant progress in parts of the continent to advance children’s rights, children growing up in fragile societies or areas affected by violent conflict continue to face inequality, violence, and injustice.

The Day of the African Child is being commemorated this year in the context of the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States of America and the wider fight for equality and justice for all globally. This period of social unrest is fanned by shared rage and distress of black people and descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the English colonies over 400 years ago. The protests, some of which have turned violent, have exposed entrenched systems of injustice and exclusion in societies around the world – and are a stark reminder for everyone to fight inequality and injustice at all times, everywhere, and at different levels.

Photo credits: UN - Marco Dormino

Addressing exclusion of children in Guinea Bissau’s traditional justice systems

Interpeace works with local and international partners, and governments across Africa to achieve the SDG targets with the greatest impact for everyone, including children and young people. In line with SDG Goal 10 - to reduce inequality within and among countries, and Goal 16 – to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, Interpeace implemented a project on traditional justice and youth in Guinea Bissau. Through this project, Interpeace and its local partner Voz di Paz provided informed technical support to UNDP and UNICEF to support more inclusive traditional justice systems for children and women in Guinea Bissau.

We rarely take our problems to traditional leaders. We look for the child’s family, because when a child has a problem, traditional leaders do not listen to him/her, only their father is heard, which is wrong because the child can contribute ideas about the problems that concern her/him,” explained Eliezer Monteiro, a young participant in the project from Guinea Bissau’s Children’s Parliament.

Funded by the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), the project successfully carried out a study on how traditional justice mechanisms or alternative dispute resolution mechanisms operate in the country, with a focus on how women and children are treated by traditional justice systems.

“The child can never be right, in a conflict s/he is involved in, especially if it is a conflict between a child and his or her own parents. For us, a child is a child, s/he has no thoughts,” said Lamine Camará, a Traditional Leader.

The project effectively engaged traditional leaders, members of the community, women and young people from the Children’s Parliament in Guinea Bissau’s three regions of Oio, Gabú and Tombali, to tackle exclusion and injustice that women and young people face in their traditional justice systems.

The communities have become more inclusive to give access and allow meaningful participation for women and children in their traditional justice systems.

Photo credits: UN - Marco Dormino

Supporting integration of Islamic school children in Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire, a country in West Africa, has 1.6 million children not learning in its formal education system. At least 237,000 of them study in local Islamic education structures not recognized by the state. The content of education from these local Islamic schools does not equip children with the skills required to succeed professionally in future, and the certificates obtained, if at all, are not recognized.

“Talibés” - an Arabic word for pupils, have experienced some form of social injustice in the Ivorian society due to the “religious-only” education they receive, which generally gives them access to only a few livelihood opportunities in the informal sector only.

To ensure that all children get access to the state-recognized education curricula and equal access to opportunities, the government of Côte d'Ivoire is working to integrate non-recognized Islamic schools or their pupils into the formal education system.

In 2017, Interpeace and its partner in the country, Indigo Côte d’Ivoire, supported the Ivorian government’s efforts by working with the National Education Ministry to conduct a Participatory Action Research (PAR) on traditional Quranic schools and the talibé children. The research, financed by UNICEF and the European Union (EU), provided important data and recommendations that influenced the Ministry’s strategic and inclusive integration approach.

Interpeace and Indigo Côte d’Ivoire have continued to bring their technical and policy-oriented support to the Ministry within the framework of the development and currently, the implementation of its national strategy on the integration of Islamic school pupils into the formal education system. This contribution will offer greater social and economic integration opportunities to these children in the future, thus allowing them to enjoy equal opportunities with other Ivoirian children. It also supports efforts by the international community to combat child labour and build lasting peace in Africa’s Sahel region, as well as, contribute significantly to SDG Goal 4 that seeks to ensure quality education for all.

Additionally, in October 2019, Interpeace organized the Peace Talks, for the second time in Africa. The Peace Talks is a global initiative which builds on the idea that everyone can play a part in building peace. Held for the first time in West Africa, the Abidjan Peace Talks organized by Interpeace in Côte d’Ivoire was part of a three-day public event named “Youth for Peace Côte d’Ivoire. It aimed to create an inclusive platform for young Ivorians to dialogue with decision makers and amongst themselves, as young peacebuilders, and share innovative ideas that contribute to sustainable peace in the country.

“More than just an event, "Youth for Peace Côte d’Ivoire” was the symbol of young people committed to peace in Côte d'Ivoire. We don't talk enough about these young people, but their stories inspire everyone," said Mathilde Boddaert, Interpeace’s Senior Programme Manager in Côte d'Ivoire.

“Youth for Peace Côte d’Ivoirecreated an opportunity for young Ivorians to speak up against exclusion and the injustices they face in their communities, including the common stigma of youth as perpetrators of violence.

The Day of the African Child is observed in memory of a June 16th students’ uprising in Soweto, South Africa in 1976. The day celebrates the brave action of these children who marched to protest poor quality education, in defense of their right.

Photo credits: UN - Marco Dormino

Integrating peace into development and humanitarian work: Interpeace launches Peace Responsiveness Facility

Interpeace is delighted to announce the launch of the first international Peace Responsiveness Facility in June 2020. The Facility will provide expert advice and develop practical field work  with international organizations – including UN bodies such as the FAO, WHO, UNICEF and others – to ensure that future development and humanitarian policy, as well as field activities worldwide, are better equipped to identify conflict risks and to contribute to long-term peace.

After successfully trialing ‘peace responsiveness’ from 2017 to 2020 with several specialized agencies, as well as practical fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, the concept is now being scaled-up to a full Facility which is funded for the next three years.

Despite the fact that over 80% of humanitarian and development work is carried out in contexts of violent conflict, many organizations acknowledge that their actions are insufficiently adapted to those complexities. As a result, humanitarian and development interventions in such settings are less sustainable and miss crucial opportunities to contribute to peace and ending need.

To assist international organizations in seizing those opportunities, Interpeace has launched its Peace Responsiveness Facility (PRF). The Facility supports organizations operating in conflict-affected or fragile settings in designing and implementing programmes that not only achieve technical outcomes such as food security and health interventions among others, but that contribute to enhancing peace at the same time.

“COVID-19 has made it even more urgent for development, humanitarian and peacebuilding organizations to work together, mitigate critical humanitarian needs and address pressing underlying conflicts. The Peace Responsiveness Facility will support translating this way of working into practice,” said Scott Weber, President of Interpeace.

The Facility, which Interpeace has piloted for years, will play a vital role in facilitating learning on how the COVID-19 pandemic interacts with peace and conflict dynamics as well as providing policy and programmatic guidance for peace responsive COVID-19 interventions.

“COVID-19 is affecting relationships in communities as well as between communities and governments and we need to plan together with international organizations, a peace responsive approach mitigating these effects,” said Martina Zapf, Senior Manager at Interpeace.

Peace responsiveness is an approach to the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus enabling all interventions undertaken within different sub-sectors to ultimately contribute to social cohesion and trust in state-society relationships.

The Facility will involve joint programmatic efforts on the ground, with Interpeace and partner organizations working together for locally owned, sustainable, and peace-oriented humanitarian and development activities.

“Interpeace’s role is to assist the international community – especially the UN – to improve peacebuilding through its innovative thought leadership, and to deliver practical peacebuilding on the ground. We had achieved a proof of concept that ‘peace responsiveness’ works, and the new Facility will now create lasting change in the international system and in people’s lives,” Scott Weber added.

Photo credits: UN Photo/Gema Cortes

The Peace Responsiveness Facility will develop new partnerships and also build on Interpeace’s previous and current work with partners such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Labor Organization (ILO), the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

“We are starting to see the impact our peace responsive work can have. Our work with FAO and other partners is testimony,” said Martina Zapf. “Interpeace has worked with agencies like the FAO to identify good practices and put in place methods that enable programmes to systematically identify and seize opportunities to contribute to peace,” she explained.

The facility supports humanitarian, development, and stabilization organizations to play a more effective role in also supporting peace efforts around the world.

“As the current chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and a candidate for the UN Security Council in 2021-2022, I am proud of Canada’s ongoing commitment to promote integrated responses to conflict. We are therefore delighted to support the Peace Responsiveness Facility, building on the important work Interpeace has done to support all pillars of the UN system in analyzing and responding to risks of conflict,” said Marc-André Blanchard, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York.

Our partner FAO has welcomed the creation of the Peace Responsiveness Facility at Interpeace with support from the Government of Canada, to respond to a multitude of interventions beyond health, livelihoods, and food security among others.

“FAO and Interpeace have partnered since 2017 to better address and prevent conflict, particularly in those contexts most affected by food crises. Together we have developed and tested tools enabling more systematic and intentional conflict-sensitive programming, strengthening our internal capacities and processes, and helping FAO better understand how we can contribute to local peace impacts,” explained Dominique Burgeon, Strategic Programme Leader – Resilience Director, Emergency and Resilience Division at FAO.

He added: “This kind of support is at the heart of this new Facility, helping agencies like FAO play a more effective role in supporting efforts that contribute to sustaining peace. Support like this will be essential for the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus approach to be made a programmatic reality.”

Interpeace has also supported efforts by organizations responding to the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It designed and supported community engagement which allowed international actors to better understand community concerns and adapt their technical interventions to create greater trust and better humanitarian and development outcomes. It is key that lessons learned in the context of the Ebola response in conflict affected contexts are considered for COVID-19. In this vein, the launch of our Peace Responsiveness Facility is timely.

Special thanks to our Partner, the Government of Canada for supporting the Facility.

Interpeace welcomes Ambassador Umej Bhatia of Singapore to the Advisory Council

We are pleased to welcome Ambassador Umej Bhatia as representative of Singapore to Interpeace’s Advisory Council.

The Adivsory Council is a high-level statutory body that provides the organization with key strategic advice and guidance on peacebuilding policy and practice. It plays a key role in guiding the organization and serves as a testing ground for new ideas. The Advisory Council is made up of prominent governmental or intergovernmental individuals with extensive diplomatic experience in fields related to peace and security.

 

Photo Credits: Interpeace.

Ambassador Bhatia is Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva and the United Nations Office in Vienna, resident in Geneva.  Ambassador Bhatia is concurrently Resident Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency and Permanent Representative to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization.

Ambassador Bhatia joined the Foreign Service in 1996 and has served in various capacities on issues covering Southeast Asia, Middle East and the United Nations in the Ministry’s headquarters.  He served overseas as First Secretary in Singapore’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, from 1999 to 2003, and as an Alternate Representative for Singapore on the United Nations Security Council from 2001 to 2002.  In 2006, he was appointed as the first Chargé d’Affaires in the Singapore Embassy in Doha, Qatar where he served until 2011.

He was Singapore’s Consul-General in Dubai from September 2011 to December 2012.  Ambassador Bhatia was Singapore’s first resident Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from January 2013 to December 2016.  He served as Director-General Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia from January 2017 to May 2019. (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sigapore)

 

Photo credits: Interpeace.