More Information - Decision-makers, Policy Makers and Funders

In our experience, one of the greatest boundaries in the peacebuilding field is between those who make decisions and those who have to live and work by those decisions. So if you are a decision-maker interested in and/or involved in this field, and curious to understand the perspective or theorists and practitioners in this field, you will find the symposium of interest. We’re particularly looking for participants whose area of focus is peacebuilding in the Great Lakes region of Africa and other parts of Africa, the Balkans, and diaspora communities, and/or in one or both of the themes of the symposium - "Diaspora Dialogues" and "Cultural Approaches to Peacebuilding".

We expect the symposium to encourage dialogue between the different constituencies involved in peacebuilding work. Focal areas particularly relevant to you may include: How theories and practices in peacebuilding translate into policy; policy guidelines and documents that may be helpful in this field; barriers and opportunities; and issues of accountability and whether they can equally serve the needs of the funding agencies/policy makers and the needs of the projects.

Before the symposium: We invite you to send relevant background materials related to the symposium themes. Examples include policy documents and funding guidelines and the rationale behind them. We also encourage all prospective participants to have reflected on the issues before coming to the symposium. In particular, we’d like you to think about theories you’d like to be shared, tested and discussed, and ways you could see the theories being applied. We’d also like you to think about the questions that you have about the conference themes in particular and community-based peacebuilding more generally. We plan to begin the dialogue by sharing background documents and responses to the questionnaire prior to the symposium and setting up a discussion forum through the website and/or listserv.

At the symposium we’d like policy-makers to present their perspectives and experiences in peacebuilding in a way they can taken up in a dialogue with others, including practitioners, theorists and other policy-makers. (Please review the philosophy of the symposium). We are looking for presentations that encourage dialogue, allow for the testing of theories, and generate ideas and questions for the other participants and the presenters themselves. We also encourage you to bring relevant materials (e.g. policy documents, videos) to the ”Marketplace of Ideas”, an informal, interactive session where people can walk around and see what others are doing.

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