UNESCO has long held that education is one of the essential pathways to building an enduring peaceful future for humanity. As we face an unprecedented influx of violently-displaced refugees and migrants into the EU, it is particularly crucial to reflect on how education contributes to peace. While recognising that education offers both support and an […]

Gender sensitivity is essential to inclusive and effective peacebuilding. However, including gender in policies and programmes can be a hard task. In order to respond to this challenge, Conciliation Resources developed a Gender & conflict analysis toolkit for peacebuilding practitioners. A complementary toolkit has been developed by Saferworld: “Gender in Conflict Analysis”. In this Brown […]

Although the democratic election of a new government in 2014 ended five years of political crisis in Madagascar, the situation in the country remains fragile and volatile with potential for increased tensions and possibly even a new crisis in the run-up to presidential elections in 2018. Poverty is widespread and the country’s overall economic and […]

In the absence of political progress in Geneva to end the war in Syria, Syrian civil society groups are working together to end the Syrian crisis and establish a future Syria where equal rights and responsibilities are granted to all Syrians. In this EPLO Brown Bag Lunch discussion, a delegation of Syrian civil society activists […]

In this EPLO Brown Bag Lunch discussion, Dr Ken McDonagh and Dr Maria-Adriana Deiana will present the findings of their project ‘Add Women and Hope? Assessing the gender impact of EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions’ which focuses on the EU’s mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR Althea) and the EU’s rule of […]

Depuis que la crise actuelle a éclaté en République Centrafricaine (RCA) en 2013, les efforts du gouvernement national, des Nations Unies et des bailleurs de fonds extérieurs, ainsi que des communautés locales et des acteurs de la société civile, ont contribué à un retour au calme relatif dans le pays. Malgré ces améliorations sur le […]

Civil society, including women’s organisations, is at the forefront of efforts to build peaceful and prosperous societies. Their activity in the Western Balkans is, however, undermined by serious political, security and financial challenges, and governments’ attempts to discredit and weaken those civil society organisations which criticise them is a particularly worrying trend. A delegation of […]

As part of national and international counter-terrorism efforts, Tunisia’s highly marginalised border regions have been the focus of the Tunisian state and international partners in attempts to strengthen security in the country and the region. However, the experience of people living in these areas shows that restrictions on border trade as a result of these […]

In the light of the peace and reconciliation process, in November 2016, Search for Common Ground (SfCG) conducted a conflict assessment in North Okkalapa, Yangon; and Lashio, Shan State, in Myanmar. This study, entitled ‘Urbanization & Conflict in Myanmar’, yielded fascinating insights into conflict dynamics at the national level in Myanmar, as well as the […]

The 2015 electoral season in Burundi saw protests, violence and open political conflict at the local level, with a particular concentration in Bujumbura. In 2016, the country settled into a “new normal” characterised by low-level insecurity with regular disappearances, arrests and imprisonments, as well as severely restricted freedom of expression. This context has evolved against […]