GPPi holds Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue on security and development

In Berlin from 30 – 31 May 2013, the Global Public Policy Institute, together with the organizations InterAction and Saferworld, held a Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue, which focused on the theme security and development. The conference was titled ​“Finding Common Ground on the Security and Development Nexus,” and it was part of an ongoing research and dialogue project supported by the European Union.

The Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue is a process for civil society organizations in the European Union and the United States to provide input into the official EU-US Development Dialogue on policies around fragile states and peace- and state-building. More efficient and coordinated support in these areas is critical given the changing nature of global poverty. Over the past six years, the share of the world’s poor living in fragile states such as Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Somalia or South Sudan is estimated to have doubled from 20 to 40 percent. Recent research from the Brookings Institution projects that this share is rising further and will likely exceed 50 percent in the next few years.

The high-level conference provided a platform for addressing a number of crucial issues when engaging with low-income, fragile or conflict-affected countries – for instance, the role of global factors and weak social and economic institutions shaping conflict and fragility; the design of potential EU and US support to the New Deal on Fragile States; and conflict, violence and peace-building in the Post-MDG debate.

A mix of panel and working group sessions took a closer look at these issues and developed preliminary ideas and recommendations that will be shared with the wider civil society community. This consultation process leveraged the established networks and constituencies of the project partners to generate as much civil society input into the recommendations as possible. Recommendations will be forwarded to policymakers and practitioners within the US government, the European Union and European governments, among others.

The Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue in Berlin brought together participants from different parts of civil society, including development and humanitarian NGOs, civil society networks, religious organizations, research institutes, think tanks and universities to promote a strategic community for building bridges between the US and Europe.