By War Child, International Labour Organisation (ILO)

This is a War Child Podcast developed with young people in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the International Labour Organisation, the Managing Exits from Armed Conflict project, and the US Department of Labours’ International Labour Affairs Bureau.    

In this programme “Help them forget this bad life in the bush”: how the participation of young people formerly associated with armed forces and armed groups is a cornerstone for long-lasting peace, we will discuss the participation of young people in peacebuilding, the state of reintegration programming and the lack of young people's participation within it.  

We will hear from members of one of War Child’s VoiceMore groups in Masisi, Eastern DRC. The young people are working on their own advocacy project into the ‘push and pull’ factors into armed groups and will offer their thoughts on young people’s participation in peacebuilding and reintegration.   

Then the panel below will react to the points shared by the young people.  

• Siobhan O’Neil, Project Director, Managing Exits from Armed Conflict project, the Centre for Policy Research at UN University.   

For more information about War Child’s youth advocacy programme please see: What is VoiceMore? 

To read more about the work of the International Labour Organisation, the Managing Exits from Armed Conflict project and the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, please follow links below:  

• Child labour and armed conflict (IPEC) (ilo.org) 

Contributions to the Geneva Peace Week 2021 Digital Series do not necessarily represent the views of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, its partners, or the partners of Geneva Peace Week.

By United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The availability of high quality and innovative data as well as the computational capacity to analyse them are growing. These advances have a potential to improve our understanding of the complex,context-specific impacts of climatic and environmental events. They could provide a vital basis for anticipatory action to reduce and avoid current and future security risks in a changing climate. Several data-driven approaches to analyse the interlinked climate and environmental change and security risks are currently being developed. Our podcast, that consist of two episodes, will bring together representatives of three prominent initiatives that use state of the art climate security modelling to support policy making and programming for peacebuilding operations: Weathering Risk, STRATA - The Earth Stress Monitor, and Tools for climate change and fragility, conflict and violence (FCV). All three initiatives are aiming at a better understanding of the complex climate-security risks in order to provide entry points for action to prevent the escalation of climate related conflicts and promote sustainable peace. Importantly, we will not merely introduce the initiatives, but we will also discuss their comprehensiveness and suitability together with practitioners from the ground.

In the first episode, we will introduce and discuss the Weathering Risk initiative from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and adelphi, and STRATA – the Earth Stress monitor from the UN Environment Programme. The second episode introduces the listeners to the World Bank’s initiative Tools for climate change and fragility, conflict and violence (FCV) from the World Bank, before elaborating on the opportunities and challenges of the initiatives and climate security modelling in more general terms in a joint discussion.

The first Episode will be with: Barbora Sedova, Marie Schellens, Ifrah Hassan Farah, Issa Lele, Francis Eitomhen.

The second Episode will be with: Barbora Sedova, Marie Schellens, Corey Pattison.

Email us at:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Contributions to the Geneva Peace Week 2021 Digital Series do not necessarily represent the views of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, its partners, or the partners of Geneva Peace Week.

By United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The availability of high quality and innovative data as well as the computational capacity to analyse them are growing. These advances have a potential to improve our understanding of the complex,context-specific impacts of climatic and environmental events. They could provide a vital basis for anticipatory action to reduce and avoid current and future security risks in a changing climate. Several data-driven approaches to analyse the interlinked climate and environmental change and security risks are currently being developed. Our podcast, that consist of two episodes, will bring together representatives of three prominent initiatives that use state of the art climate security modelling to support policy making and programming for peacebuilding operations: Weathering Risk, STRATA - The Earth Stress Monitor, and Tools for climate change and fragility, conflict and violence (FCV). All three initiatives are aiming at a better understanding of the complex climate-security risks in order to provide entry points for action to prevent the escalation of climate related conflicts and promote sustainable peace. Importantly, we will not merely introduce the initiatives, but we will also discuss their comprehensiveness and suitability together with practitioners from the ground.

In the first episode, we will introduce and discuss the Weathering Risk initiative from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and adelphi, and STRATA – the Earth Stress monitor from the UN Environment Programme. The second episode introduces the listeners to the World Bank’s initiative Tools for climate change and fragility, conflict and violence (FCV) from the World Bank, before elaborating on the opportunities and challenges of the initiatives and climate security modelling in more general terms in a joint discussion.

The first Episode will be with: Barbora Sedova, Marie Schellens, Ifrah Hassan Farah, Issa Lele, Francis Eitomhen.

The second Episode will be with: Barbora Sedova, Marie Schellens, Corey Pattison.

Email us at:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Contributions to the Geneva Peace Week 2021 Digital Series do not necessarily represent the views of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, its partners, or the partners of Geneva Peace Week.

By New York University Center on International Cooperation

New and emerging technologies, data science, and other data-driven methods can bring immense potential to support peacebuilding and humanitarian work. However, we must recognize that these methods come with extreme risk to both the privacy and lives of vulnerable populations if the data is misused or used inappropriately. Although these risks exist across different contexts, the sensitive nature of conflict or violence-affected areas uniquely exacerbates these challenges. In order to “do no harm” while utilizing the potentials of the digital sphere for peace, we must be able to understand and tackle both ethical and technical issues of working with data about crisis-affected people.

Afghanistan is the latest reminder of our urgent need to understand all aspects of merging new technologies with humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development work. As the Taliban seized control of major cities, people grew concerned that the group could use social media and other online information to identify citizens who previously worked for the Afghan security forces, civilian government, or foreign organizations. People still struggle to understand the full scope of the situation left behind by national and international actors and their data-driven projects. Activists are now stressing the risks to Afghans created by all actors who were providing assistance through data and digital tools and calling for greater protection. The situation in Afghanistan is another dire reminder about the need to establish a mechanism that ensures the responsibility of actors in conflict and fragile settings to protect vulnerable populations from both intended and unintended consequences.

Our topic today is Digital Pieces of Peace, and our guests share their experiences and recommendation on how to ‘do no harm’ in the digital age and how to ensure conflict sensitivity, data and civilian protection in the digital age.

Contributions to the Geneva Peace Week 2021 Digital Series do not necessarily represent the views of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, its partners, or the partners of Geneva Peace Week.

By University of Geneva, GCSP

Listeners are invited to follow the journey of Jessica Libertini (US), Emma Ortuño Lattur (Spain), Eduardo Meñez (Philippines), Adriana Hondora (Zimbabwe), and Abubakar Yakubu (Nigeria) as they arrive in Geneva for UNIGE's MAS in International and European Security and the GCSP's Leadership in International Security Course. In this podcast, this international team learns about international security and inclusive leadership, and then applies those lessons to examine the complex issue of climate migration in the context of small island developing states (SIDS). After introducing climate migration in the SIDS and the courses in which this team met, the five team members share some of the lessons they learned, their inclusive groupwork processes, the policy recommendations resulting from their foresighting analysis, and some challenges the team faced. The podcast closes with reflections on the feasibility, importance, and value of the intentional creation of diverse teams in addressing the globe's most pressing security challenges.

The University of Geneva's Masters of Advanced Studies in International and European Security, in partnership with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy's Leadership in International Security Course, offer security professionals from a wide variety of sectors, and from around the globe, an opportunity to come Geneva for eight months, to learn together, and to broaden their perspectives through a synergistic arrangement of academic and professional development programs.

Contributions to the Geneva Peace Week 2021 Digital Series do not necessarily represent the views of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, its partners, or the partners of Geneva Peace Week.

By IHEID, WILPF

For this year’s iteration of the Geneva Peace Week, one of the thematic tracks investigates topics related to “Moving Beyond Securitisation: What risks and new horizons for peacebuilding”. Military recruitment is a prerequisite for military engagement and as such it is often investigated with regard to the underlying strategies employed to motivate people to join the military. Gender roles for example often get exploited for recruitment purposes. More precisely, militarised masculinities are often instrumentalized which is further supported by various private industries that have financial ties with the military.

In this podcast, our research team consisting of four IHEID master students and Dean Peacock, director of a multi-country initiative of WILPF and the MenEngage Alliance, will discuss how militarised masculinities are instrumentalized for recruitment purposes. In particular, we will look at the US as an instrumental case study in order to develop a global perspective on the projection and reproduction of militarised masculinities. Next to an intersectional analysis of military recruitment material and the arms industry’s involvement, we will discuss how other global industry actors such as Hollywood more covertly influence the general understanding of gender roles, thereby creating the image of an “ideal militarised hero”. Subsequently, we will discuss how and to what extent this hegemonic image of the ideal man is reproduced and present in a selection of focus countries that differ culturally as well as with regard to other aspects such as mandatory conscription. Lastly, we will discuss how this instrumentalisation can be and already has been addressed in various cases.

Contributions to the Geneva Peace Week 2021 Digital Series do not necessarily represent the views of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, its partners, or the partners of Geneva Peace Week.

A podcast by Economics and Peace, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, IHEID Peacebuilding Initiative (Graduate Institute Geneva).

Humanity is nearing a tipping point and facing challenges unparalleled in its short history. Many of these problems are global in nature, such as climate change, increasingly scarce stock and overuse of natural resources, population growth, social discontent, deadly pandemics, as well as the proliferation of extraordinarily destructive weapons. How can we build sustainable peace and resilience so that societies are better equipped to withstand the inveitable shocks of the future?

Join Steve Killelea, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Institute for Economics & Peace, and Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Director of The Geneva Centre for Security Policy Centre, as they discuss ways to move beyond securitization and towards systemic peacebuilding. Ambassador Greminger and Mr. Killelea will be joined by Miranda Baker and Juan José Ruiz Quintero of the Peacebuilding Initiative at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, to highlight real-world examples and future possibilities for systemic approaches to peacebuilding and development.

To learn more about Positive Peace, please visit www.visionofhumanity.org

For questions regarding the content of this podcast, please contact or connect via social media:

Facebook and Instagram: @globalpeaceindex

Twitter: @globpeaceindex

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-for-economics-and-peace

Geneva Peace Week 2021 theme is From seeds to systems of peace: Weathering today’s challenges. Challenges to peace today have been compounded by the COVID19 pandemic. Geneva Peace Week 2021 nurtures seeds of peace in the new approaches and tools necessary to “weather” the contemporary challenges, while seeking to engage and affect change at the systemic level. 

This year we have different Digital Series Contributions within our 4 thematic tracks:

Our Digital Series Contributions will be coming straight to you, wherever you consume your videos, podcasts, and media. Particularly as COVID-19 introduces the necessity of new modes of work and learning around the globe, people interact with new kinds of media and educational methods. This digital series will be free to view, listen, download, and interact with during and after GPW21.

Details on how to engage with the Digital Series can be found on our website here: www.genevapeaceweek.ch.

An Interview Series about Careers in Peacebuilding explores the pathways taken by both young and seasoned peacebuilders in Geneva and in other parts of the world. It aims to provide some guidance and hope to young professionals who look forward to exploring the field of peacebuilding. As peacebuilding is a globalised local initiative that requires a step away from systems that cater to the few, we have made a conscious effort to include voices of and speak to the issues faced by populations who do not find their roots in Europe. 

We have an array of episodes lined up:

•  Podcast Episode 1: Career stories and recruitment criteria in the NGO sector

Featuring: 

• Erhan Vural, Protection Officer, IOM - International Organization for Migration

An Interview Series about Careers in Peacebuilding explores the pathways taken by both young and seasoned peacebuilders in Geneva and in other parts of the world. It aims to provide some guidance and hope to young professionals who look forward to exploring the field of peacebuilding. As peacebuilding is a globalised local initiative that requires a step away from systems that cater to the few, we have made a conscious effort to include voices of and speak to the issues faced by populations who do not find their roots in Europe. 

We have an array of episodes lined up:

•  Podcast Episode 1: Career stories and recruitment criteria in the NGO sector

Featuring: 

• Erhan Vural, Protection Officer, IOM - International Organization for Migration