The Berghof Foundation and the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany are organising the launch event of the ‘National Dialogue Handbook. A Guide for Practitioners’. It is the product of an intensive two-year project (2015 – 2017) by the Berghof Foundation, in cooperation with swisspeace, and supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Over the last decade, National Dialogues have gained considerable popularity as a promising mechanism for conflict transformation. While the practice has advanced significantly over the past decade, there has barely been any comparative and practice-oriented resource on this topic. Existing publications mainly offer an academic view on thematic issues or country-specific cases, providing little strategic advice or best practice recommendations to inform and further develop such processes. The Handbook—based on comparative lessons learned and best practices from past and ongoing National Dialogue processes—has sought to address this gap by providing a comprehensive hands-on resource and policy guide for conflict stakeholders, civil society, peacebuilding practitioners, (inter)national development donors and policy-makers to prepare, design, support and implement National Dialogue processes.

The launch event will bring together these actors for a day of engagement and discussion. We will be presenting the Handbook – the process, methodology, contents, and insights from the case studies that informed its development. This will be followed by the opportunity to reflect on current best practice in the field, with particular attention to dilemmas, challenges, needs and the main critical questions conflict stakeholders are faced with in the different phases of potentially emerging National Dialogues. A detailed agenda follows.

If you would to participate in this event, please confirm your participation as soon as possible with Damjan Denkovski.