Blog

Evelyn Pauls shares valuable insights on participatory peacebuilding approaches and lessons learned from her work with female ex-combatants.

Lasting for five weeks, attacks attempted to slander Choman Hardi and represent her as corrupt, dishonest, and disconnected. Civil society organisations responded to these efforts by awarding her a prize for persevering in the face of hostility. The following is her prize acceptance speech.

This blog builds on the recent report “Gendered Dynamics of International Labour Migration: Migrant Women in Greater Beirut, Lebanon”, looking at migrant women’s lived experiences and work conditions in the Lebanese capital city, Beirut.

Paul Kirby, Hannah Wright and Aisling Swaine look at the UK’s contribution to the WPS Agenda, discussing the strengths and limitations of the UK’s work and providing recommendations for future WPS plans. The authors also summarise the distinctive characteristics of UK WPS, the persistent limits of state action, and the practical possibilities for a policy platform to come on their recent policy brief the future of the UK’s Women, Peace and Security Policy.

Why is Sierra Leone, which has been recognised as a model for successful postwar liberal peace and neoliberal development in Africa, experiencing repeated episodes of political violence? What does this trend of political violence, more prevalent at the local level, tell us about the country’s postwar peacebuilding and reconstruction strategy?

ow can civil society be supported and enhanced in post-conflict scenarios? Despite the recognition of their added value and importance, NGOs often come under significant strain as they guard the frontline of accountability during conflict and are often seen as the guardians of the peace agreements post-conflict.

The recent migration chaos on the border of Belarus and Poland once again brought to the fore the issue of emigration from the Middle East. In the last few months, over 5,000 people, mostly from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen have been trapped between Poland and Belarus.

With plans to do fieldwork in Kathmandu, Bogotà and Belfast, bookended by conferences in Beirut and Freetown, we had an exciting, and busy, 2020 planned. And then, of course, came COVID-19, and travel was suddenly the last thing on our minds.