GPPAC at the DPKO Workshop - 17 January 2017

On 18-20 January GPPAC participated in a retreat of the UN Department of Peacekeeping's Civil Affairs section in New York. Heads of the Civil Affairs from missions in the Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Mali and South Sudan were gathered in New York to discuss and reflect on their work on community engagement, local conflict resolution and contribution to peace processes in their various contexts. 

Based on our work on the Handbook on Human Security, GPPAC contributed to a discussion on how peacekeeping missions can best engage with civil society and include local communities in their work. This was part of a broader mutual effort to identify how UN missions and local civil society can constructively engage for the enhancement of inclusive and sustainable peace. As Civil Affairs have furthered this issue internally by initiating a review on the issue of civil society engagement, CSOs stand much to gain by understanding the limitations and opportunities of UN peacekeeping missions in this regard.