Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has signaled plans to launch a national dialogue and there are other efforts to build a national consensus on the political structure of Ethiopia. However, the country’s polarization — further deepened by the war — has created significant challenges in putting together an inclusive, genuine dialogue. On November 2, USIP hosted Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, for an address to take stock of the Biden-Harris administration’s policy toward Ethiopia and pathways toward halting violence and renewing the promise of reform, peace and prosperity.

Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman 

Lise Grande, moderator 

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/taking-stock-us-policy-ethiopia-conversation-ambassador-jeffrey-feltman

As part of this year’s World Mental Health Day, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom’s Strategic Religious Engagement Unit hosted a discussion on religion, MHPSS and migration. The conversation drew on findings from USIP’s initiative on Religious and Psychosocial Support for Displaced Trauma Survivors, which has identified specific ways in which faith-sensitive mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) can increase the effectiveness of trauma healing interventions for migrants and refugees. Panelists offered insight on actions that can be implemented in current efforts to assist migrants from highly religious contexts and to improve the quality of and accessibility to MHPSS to facilitate integration and reconciliation.

Palwasha Kakar, opening remarks 

Dan Nadel, opening remarks

Dr. Alastair Ager

Dr. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh

Dr. Wilson López López 

Cristal Palacios 

Andres Martinez Garcia, moderator 

Jerry White, closing remarks 

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/incorporating-religious-sensitivity-trauma-healing-displaced-persons

The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) Women Building Peace Award, now in its second year, celebrates extraordinary women from conflict-affected and fragile regions working to build peace. On October 20, we honored these heroic finalists and announced the recipient of the award. In addition to honoring the awardee and all the finalists, this year USIP paid special tribute to all Afghan women.

Lise Grande

Kamissa Camara

Nancy Lindborg, Women Building Peace Council Honorary Chair

Megan Beyer, Women Building Peace Council Co-Chair

Marcia Myers Carlucci, Women Building Peace Council Co-Chair

Nelufar Hedayat

Michelle Howard

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/2021-women-building-peace-award-ceremony

For four years, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has met with youth leaders from conflict-affected regions for an intergenerational exchange at his compound in Dharamsala, India through the Generation Change Fellows Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. In Session 2 on October 14, they spoke about education for the heart and mind.

• Lise Grande, welcoming remarks 

• Lise Grande, moderator    

• Soukaina Hamia 

• Lise Grande

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/conversation-his-holiness-dalai-lama-and-youth-leaders-compassion-education-and-equality

For four years, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has met with youth leaders from conflict-affected regions for an intergenerational exchange at his compound in Dharamsala, India through the Generation Change Fellows Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. In Session 1 on October 13, they spoke about gender equality.

• Lise Grande, welcoming remarks 

• Lise Grande, moderator            

• Gharsanay Amin

• Lise Grande

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/conversation-his-holiness-dalai-lama-and-youth-leaders-compassion-education-and-equality

October 23 marks 30 years since the Paris Peace Agreements (PPA) formally ended the Cambodian civil war. USIP and the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) hosted a discussion on October 14 that reflected on the principles of the agreements, the extent to which signatories have adhered to them and the continued relevance of the agreements today.

Ariel Eckblad, remarks 

H.E. Chum Sounry

Lise Grande, opening remarks

Chak Sopheap

Andrew Wells-Dang, moderator

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/30th-anniversary-cambodias-paris-peace-agreements

As Pakistani leaders meet with the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan continues to make the case for a new era of relations with the United States based on geoeconomics. On October 13, USIP hosted a conversation with Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on the country’s economic future, efforts to pivot to a geoeconomic relationship with the United States, and the impact of Afghanistan’s crisis on regional stability.

Lise Grande, opening remarks

Dr. Peter Lavoy, moderator

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/pakistans-economic-future

On September 23, USIP hosted a conversation with newly-elected Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and a panel of experts that explored Hichilema’s governing priorities, as well as his approach toward key continent-wide issues such as Africa’s engagement with China, implementation of the African Union Agenda 2063, youth and gender issues, and lessons learned to strengthen democracy across Africa.

Lise Grande, welcoming remarks

Ambassador George E. Moose, moderator

His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema

Dana Banks

Ambassador Johnnie Carson

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/conversation-republic-zambia-president-hakainde-hichilema

Violent conflicts are increasingly defined by overlapping webs of alliances, proxies and other types of “support relationships” between state and non-state belligerents. To help policymakers understand the stakes of these partnerships, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recently launched its seminal report, “Allies, Partners and Proxies: Managing Support Relationships in Armed Conflict to Reduce the Human Cost of War.” On September 16, USIP and ICRC held a discussion on the report’s findings, how they can be applied to security partnerships, and the practical steps that U.S. and international policymakers should consider to better protect civilians in today’s increasingly complex crises.

Lise Grande

Peter Maurer

Lieutenant General Michael K. Nagata, USA (Ret)

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/peril-and-potential-war-zone-partnerships

On September 10, 2021, USIP reflected on how the tragic events of 9/11 have shaped the field of peacebuilding. USIP Board Chair and former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, USIP Vice Chair Ambassador George Moose and USIP President and CEO Lise Grande discussed how the field of peacebuilding has changed in the last 20 years — and how it should evolve to meet the challenges that will define the next two decades.

Lise Grande

Stephen J. Hadley

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/twenty-years-after-911-how-peacebuilding-has-changed