Third Annual Conference

 Read the following documents for an impression of the day:

News item  & summary report

Blog posts

Video response by Rachel Kleinfeld

Our third Annual Conference seeks to connect the dots between past and ongoing activities of the Platform. With forward-looking speakers, representatives of the research consortia implementing the NWO-WOTRO funded research, and a range of experts, the conference is an opportunity to take stock and build on previous work by engaging in creative thinking and development of ideas for future activities on the intersections of our thematic program. Participants will leave the conference with new networking connections and the energy and support to take their ideas forward.

Speakers

• Robert Serry, Former Diplomat & UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
• Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Associate, Democracy and Rule of Law Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 
• Jan de Vries, Deputy Director, Netherlands Helsinki Committee
• Marco Lankhorst, Senior Research and Learning Officer, International Development Law Organization

Moderator

• Petra Stienen is an author and independent advisor. She worked as a human rights diplomat at the Netherlands Embassies in Egypt and Syria from 1995-2004. After she left the Foreign Ministry in 2009 she has established her own business as an independent advisor for various clients in the field of democracy, diversity and diplomacy to the government, NGOs and companies.

Program 

Registration (09:00 - 09:30)

Welcome and opening (09:30 - 10:00)

Keynote conversation (10:00 - 10:45)

Rober Serry will share important lessons on working in conflict situations drawing from his own experience. 

Break (10:45 - 11:15)

Conversation with the Platform’s Steering Group (11:15 - 12:15)

Last year’s Annual Conference has been agenda setting: what has been done with this agenda; how has it informed the activities of the Platform; what has been developed; what have been the outputs and outcomes of all these different activities? How successful has the Platform been so far, what are the lessons learned for the future? This is an interactive conversation between the participants and the members of the Steering Group, on the work and progress of the Platform, including ideas for the future.

Deconstructing the reconstruction tender (12:15 - 13:00)

In this session special attention will be given to a critical review of the proposals for the reconstruction tender, and drawing general lessons for the network of the Platform to increase the effectiveness of policy and programming.

Lunch (13:00-14:30)

Change of venues 

Afternoon breakout sessions (14:30-16:30)

Our afternoon breakout sessions are designed to draw lessons from the Platform’s past and ongoing activities, with the aim of harnessing new insights to chart innovative future directions in our various projects.  The breakouts sessions are organized around three headers.

1. Innovative solutions for security and justice

Security and rule of law interventions are traditionally state-centered, but at local levels a wide range of alternative actors are involved in the provision of security and justice. How do citizens deal with this variety of actors? Where do they turn with their security and justice needs, and what is the role of elites and politics in this process? How do these dynamics affect international efforts to effectively support citizens in their quest for security and justice?

• Citizens seeking justice and security in fragile contexts

This session brings together knowledge about the provision of justice and security in fragile contexts, and how citizens seek access to justice and security. How do these two sectors interact? What lessons can be drawn from contrasting the experiences in both sectors, and what are the implications for programming? This topic strongly challenges conventional Rule of Law programming, with its state-centric focus on service delivery. What are implications for state-building and peacebuilding approaches? What would development interventions look like, and how can international actors usefully engage?

• Avoiding political entanglement, or embedding justice in politics?

Interventions often seek to steer clear of politics, as this often raises difficult questions regarding legitimacy and elite involvement. Security and Rule of Law programming is, therefore, often presented and undertaken as a purely technical endeavor. However, is this realistically possible? What are the first findings about the political economy of justice provision in fragile and conflict-affected contexts? How should the development community deal with politics, and what is the appropriate level and scope for engagement?

2. Testing assumptions: development and (in)stability

The relationship between development and stability is complex. Many programs and policies focus on stimulating economic development to increase stability and to contribute to peace. But what are the assumptions underlying our interventions, and how can these be tested? 

• Testing assumptions: the private sector’s contribution to peacebuilding and stability

An important focus of the Platform has been to better understand the role of the private sector in building and promoting peace and stability in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. The private sector is seen to contribute to broad economic recovery, along with trust and reconciliation, a stronger political framework, and security. The Platform has undertaken activities and supported research to investigate the assumptions underlying these claims. What is the evidence to support the assumptions? What questions remain, and what new challenges have been identified?

3. New crises? Dealing with transnational dimensions

In a world of unprecedented flows of finances, information, people and goods, increasingly complex transnational crises challenge the adequacy of the existing toolbox for international engagement in fragile and conflict-affected situations. How to effectively integrate policies and interventions focusing on migration, countering violent extremism and criminal justice with the existing comprehensive approach? And how to deal with issues like coordination and coherence in an increasingly crowded and entangled policy field? 

• The current crisis in Burundi: the effectiveness of international engagement

The recent turmoil in Burundi raises questions about the effectiveness of international engagement in the country. Taking into account what we know now, was the Dutch strategy to focus on security sector reform, but also economic development and access to justice, the right approach? Has it been executed in the best possible way? Was the approach comprehensive or did we miss specific actors and sectors? What is the way forward, and what lessons do we need to take up to further work on peace and security at local, national, regional and international levels?

• Migration: exploring the potential of the comprehensive approach

Comprehensive approaches were developed to involve and align a wide range of actors and programs to deal with complex, multi-faceted crises. The current situation in the Mediterranean, where unprecedented flows of migrants have resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, represents a nexus of issues. Can we draw lessons from our experiences with comprehensive approaches to deal with this new crisis? Are existing policy instruments fit for purpose? How can we deal with the root causes driving migration, and take into account local perspectives and ownership of solutions? Should we attempt to develop a comprehensive (European) approach? What are the alternatives?