The role of civil society in peacebuilding and sustaining peace is no longer debatable. Responses to and recovery from COVID-19 provide opportunities for the UN and its partners to foster new partnerships and explore new areas of focus. These are key messages emerging from a new report on a global online consultation with civil society co-hosted by the Foundation in June 2020.
On 2–4 June 2020, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, Peace Direct and the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) in the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs conducted a three-day online consultation entitled “Reflecting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace”.
Representatives of civil society from across the world were invited to participate in the consultation, share their perspectives on peacebuilding and contribute their views and experiences.
Over 280 participants from 97 countries logged in and engaged in a rich discussion and contributed more than 1,000 comments across the three days. Discussions took place through Peace Direct’s Platform4Dialogue.
A summary report, ‘Reflecting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace’, is available now via the Peace Direct website.
The consultation focused on what has changed since the adoption in 2016 of the twin UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on sustaining peace (A/RES/70/262–S/RES/2282).
There was a special emphasis on the impact of UN support for peacebuilding at the field level. Participants were also encouraged to reflect on how their peacebuilding work has been affected by COVID-19.
The discussions informed the 2020 Review of the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture and the 2020 Report of the Secretary-General on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace (A/74/976–S/2020/773).
‘Reflecting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace’ presents 14 recommendations for sustainable peacebuilding across a number of areas, including the role of civil society in peacebuilding and sustaining peace, the impact of COVID-19 on peacebuilding and sustaining peace, and funding for local peacebuilding work.
Read more about the Foundation’s work on peacebuilding and sustaining peace.