Conciliation Resources 2016 - March 2020

GOAL 1 CAUSES AND DRIVERS OF CONFLICT ARE PEACEFULLY TRANSFORMED Significantly, after Conciliation Resource (CR) having accompanied the peace negotiations between the Government of Ethiopia and the Ogaden National Liberation Front throughout the six years of negotiations, a peace agreement was signed in October 2018 (according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program this was one of the five peace agreements signed globally in 2018). CR helped drafting the agreement and after the peace agreement was signed CR continued working with the parties and brought together the Somali Regional Government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front leadership (ONLF), contributing to the creation of a Joint Committee – one of the pillars of the 2018 peace deal. In Nigeria, CR facilitated the signing of three formal peace agreements between herding and farming communities during 2019. In Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, CR provided core facilitation support to the ‘Post-referendum Ministerial Planning Taskforce’ in partnership with the United Nations – engaging both the national Papua New Guinea and Autonomous Bougainville Governments. This helped ensure a smooth and peaceful referendum on the political status of Bougainville in December 2019 and laid out the framework for intergovernmental dialogue post referendum.  In the Caucasus, CR has continued to facilitate the Limehouse Discussion Platform on the Abkhazia-Gerogia conflict (which is a semi-official alternative to the Geneva based talks that have not made a lot of progress). Following engagement with the Limehouse Discussion Platform dialogue and work by Conciliation Resources on access to higher education for students and young professionals from the disputed territories of the South Caucasus German Foreign Ministry officially endorsed German engagement in Abkhazia through education initiatives. These dialogues also helped feeding ideas into the formal Geneva Talks. CR continued work on the Karabakh Conflict Archive. CR also made material from the Memory Project archives on the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict public for the first time through an innovative exhibition held in Tbilisi. GOAL 2 APPROACHES TO BUILDING PEACE SUPPORT INCLUSION In 2017, Conciliation Resources was asked by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to contribute to the Progress Report on the UN Security Council Resolution (2250) on Youth, Peace and Security. Conciliation Resources undertook primary data collection, via a total of 43 focus group discussions with a total of 494 youth (61 % male) in Afghanistan, Kashmir, South Sudan, Georgian-Abkhaz context and Ogadeni diaspora in the UK. The results of the research were presented in Conciliation Resources’ January 2018 report, Youth aspirations for peace and security, and were used to feed into the report by the Independent author of the Progress Report, which was submitted by the UN Secretary General to the General Assembly and Security Council in March 2018. With specific and additional financial support from Sida, CR continued to deepen the work on youth inclusion further and could, among other things, engage the same youth on the content of the Progress Report. The additional funding also helped the organisation to draw important lessons on the work on youth inclusion in the coming years.  Furthermore, CR published an issue of the Accord (their series of regular research and policy reports), with 21 articles exploring different aspects of inclusion, and looking at examples from Colombia, Syria an Afghanistan among others. This publication offers research and practice-based insights to help better understand what inclusion means in practice in peace processes, and what need to considered in the ways CR pursue it, as well as influence wider sector discourse. One example of CR's work with groups that have been severely affected by conflicts is the work together with partners on the situation of 'half widows' in Kashmir. The half widows are women whose husbands ‘disappeared’ during the conflict in Kashmir (and have not been confirmed as either dead or alive). CR and partners have in various ways worked on improving the rights of this group. The Association Project estimates their total number in Kashmir at between 1,500 and 2,000. Conciliation Resources’ partner, Kargil Development Project (KDP), with sustained policy advocacy support and engagement from Conciliation Resources, has been engaging with Muslim religious leaders (the Ulema) in relation to the rights of half-widows, leading to a consensus statement on recognition of property rights for the half-widows. CR's work in Nigeria - both in the northeastern states of Borno and Yobe affected by the Boko Haram insurgency and the Plateau State affected by herder-farmer conflicts - has increased substantially during this period of Sida support. In Nigeria, CR together with local partners have established 25 Youth Peace Platforms (YPP). The youth-led groups focus on engaging at-risk and vulnerable young people, who are traditionally perceived as being the hardest to reach in society – often substance abusers, sex workers, orphans and victims or perpetrators of extreme violence. Through this network of 25 YPPs, young people are supported to rebuild their confidence, process the traumas of their past, analyse conflicts and voice their needs and concerns.  By showing their commitment for peace, these young people are beginning to challenge society’s negative stereotypes, and lay the foundations for greater trust and understanding between youth, their communities and officials.  GOAL 3 POLICY IS PRIORITISING CONFLICT PREVENTION AND PEACEBUILDING Leading a working group with the UK government, banks and NGOs, CR explored solutions to the impact of UK counter-terrorism legislation on the work of peacebuilders and humanitarian organisations. Through this, the group was successful in securing an exemption for humanitarian aid in the UK government counter-terrorism and border security legislation. Primarily with support from the UK, CR has established the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth network, which raised the profile of women mediators in international circles and contributed to the establishment of a Global Alliance of Regional Women Mediator Networks. Work on gender-sensitive conflict analysis has also been a key part of CR's work in the last few years. 

The contribution will support Conciliation Resources to implement its strategic plan during the period 2016 - 2019. According to this plan, Conciliation Resources will make significant and documented contributions to preventing and transforming violent conflicts and promoting peaceful and inclusive societies. Moreover, Conciliation Resources has updated their theory of change which is, in the short version, formulated as follows: "Conciliation Resources aims to develop an environment conducive to and supportive of locally-led peacebuilding (‘Peace Enablers’), in the belief that this will build a foundation for constructive formal and informal peace processes. Peacebuilding initiatives and processes that are both politically sensitive and inclusive will contribute to sustainable and transformative peace outcomes."