Mind the gaps: a whole-of-society approach to peacebuilding and conflict prevention

External peacebuilding interventions have moved towards comprehensive strategies to tackle the complex problems of peace, security and development. This paper proposes a ‘Whole-of-Society’ (WOS) approach which seeks to enhance the effectiveness of externally- led peacebuilding and conflict prevention through recourse to the social contexts within which they are implemented. The aim of WOS is to see complexity, both within local society and in the relations between external peacebuilders and local society, as an opportunity to be grasped, as much as an impediment to effective outcomes. A WOS approach adds a practice dimension to debates on ownership, local peace and hybridity, trust-in-peacebuilding and their conceptualisations of local agency and dynamics . It seeks to address the operational gaps that emerge within a societal perspective to peacebuilding, in particular by suggesting ways of achieving appropriate configurations of external and local resources, agency and initiatives

Joint Final Conference Report of WOSCAP & IECEU Research Projects: “Effectiveness and Inclusivity of EU Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention”

On 8 November 2017, IECEU “Improving the Effectiveness of Capabilities in EU Conflict Prevention” and WOSCAP “Whole of Society Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding” organised their final conference together on the following theme: “Effectiveness and Inclusivity of EU Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention”. The purpose of the conference was to bring together all relevant stakeholders and end-users in the field of European Union’s conflict prevention and peacebuilding to present both H2020 projects research results and recommendations as well as to contribute to further debate and improvement in EU’s conflict prevention and peacebuilding interventions through sustainable, comprehensive and innovative means

Maximising business contributions to sustainable development and positive peace: a human security approach

This report examines how business can contribute to meeting the challenges of a world struggling to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and make changes to traditional models of capitalism and investment. Faced with growing pressures from customers, employees, investors, and the wider public, business leaders have sought to respond with commitments to the SDGs, alongside adopting new ethical standards on human rights, transparency, and good governance