Building on the Pathways for Peace: Towards a More Effective International Architecture for Prevention

2023 marks the Fifth Anniversary of the 2018 United Nations and World Bank 'Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict' report. For the UN, the World Bank and its partners, it is a timely opportunity to reflect on its legacy and the continued relevance of the report in an evolving global landscape.

Specifically, the anniversary presents an opportunity to highlight some recommendations for the next steps in strengthening the international architecture for prevention, with an emphasis on the development of data and evidence to inform more effective prevention programming. The key aspiration is that the 'Pathways for Peace' report needs to be updated and its power re-invigorated through creative "policy entrepreneurship".

The discussion organized by the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation (DHF), GPPAC and Quaker UN Office on 12 June 2023 focused on the need for building the data and evidence base around the impact of prevention programming in a way that responds to local priorities and perspectives, reflecting the people-centred approach to prevention called for in the 'Pathways for Peace' report. The summary note outlines five key opportunities to strengthen global prevention action moving forward:

• One opportunity presented by the recent policy landscape is the New Agenda for Peace, which could support Member States in providing some guidance on what effective prevention action could look like.
• The second opportunity is to capitalize on the adoption of the 2022 resolution on financing for peacebuilding and the options presented in the report of the Secretary-General on investing in prevention and peacebuilding.
• The third opportunity is strengthening existing data collection tools and improving coordination among them.
• The fourth opportunity is to continue collecting the data and good practices on prevention.
• The fifth opportunity is to strengthen EWER mechanisms and make them available globally.