9th Advisory Group Meeting of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers

UNAOC is participating at the 9th Advisory Group Meeting of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers taking place at Lasse Maja, Sweden May 4-6, 2018. The Advisory Group Meeting will focus on further improving the functioning of the Network, including strategy development and clarifying the structure of the Network. In addition, the themes covered and discussed will include inclusivity in peace work and concrete collaboration building among the Network members and partners as well as exploring opportunities for strengthening collaboration with UN departments and agencies. The recommendations drawn from this Advisory Group Meeting will direct the strategic development of the Network from 2018 onwards. The main themes discussed and objectives of the Meeting include:

• Sharing the key findings and recommendations from the evaluation of the Network commissioned by the MFA Finland and advancing strategic discussion thereafter.
• Inviting Network members and partners to share strategic thinking, knowledge and best practices on how to further improve the functioning of the Network, how the Network can better serve and support its members and partners better and how to clarify the structure and further define the strategy of the Network.
• Exploring what we have learnt from peace processes which women have been leading, how are we still falling short of the promise of inclusivity in peace work and how can we better support women, youth and marginalised groups in peacebuilding and to show evidence- based impact of inclusion.
• Exploring the synergies and ways that Network members and partners can deepen their cooperation at regional, country and thematic levels, and together with the UN agencies in order to create effective responses.
• Hosting a space for networking and concrete collaboration building especially with regards to thematic focus areas of peace support, inclusivity, reconciliation and prevention of violent extremism and to learn from and shape each other’s thinking in order to collaboratively form effective responses.